The Complexity of Architecture

Philip Rutten (Radboud University Nijmegen)

Abstract:

The digitalization of design production of the last decades has seen a parallel increase of biological ideas in architecture. The collective focus of these ideas is best represented by the term morphogenesis, and the ambition to apply morphogenesis as a generative design procedure in architecture.

Many of the concepts and techniques behind today’s morphogenetic design practices find their roots in the convergence between biology and the computer sciences, which occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, and the blurring of philosophical boundaries between the natural and the artificial that was a direct consequence of this convergence. The present focus of these practices is on coupling computational design techniques to the notion of ‘material systems’; this is accompanied by advances in digital fabrication. Therefore these practices now have the potential to make the philosophical continuity between the natural and the artificial an actual physical reality.

The Speaker:

Philip Rutten is an architect and researcher living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research focuses on the concept of morphogenesis in philosophy and science, and the application of morphogenesis as a design procedure in architecture. Currently, he is working as 3d-visualizer for Benthem Crouwel Architects while doing a PhD at the Radboud University Nijmegen. He holds a Master’s degree in Architecture, Building, and Planning from the University of Technology Eindhoven.