Week 11: Innovations in Non Standard Designs

kentneo2 — Wed, 31 May 2006 03:49:53 +0000

Non-standard Architectures

One-north masterplan (Singapore, original proposal) by Zaha Hadid

Non-standard architectures is an exhibition of completed or experimental projects and prototypes by a dozen international
architectural teams. the exhibition provides an overview of current architectural research resulting from the increasing
use of digital techniques at every stage from project implementation to industrial production. It also demonstrates how the profession of architect (indeed the whole architectural industry) is being redefined – how the discipline is acquiring a new identity. The aim is not merely to present examples of digital or virtual architecture which deal with questions of representation (such as virtuality and hyperspace), but rather to highlight current modifications to the industrialization of architecture.
The non-standard architectures exhibition groups twelve international teams who have been researching and using
digital tools and computation for architectural conception, production and distribution for some years now.
in these areas, boundaries are dissolving, ideas are metamorphosing and time sequences are breaking down.
the principles of interrelation, variability and simultaneity now intervene at every step in the architectural process. Each team of architects present four experimental or completed projects which reflect the dynamism of their research,
using DVDs, models, panels, animations, installations, etc.

The theme of the exhibition and conference
One thing is clear: with the steadily increasing use of graphic software, architecture is going digital. what is less clear, however, is the implication of such changes. The widespread use of application programs based on algorithmic systems presupposes changes in design and production tools. Non-standard architectures is a reflection on the language of
architecture and its field of application, based on the exploitation of digital elements. traditional construction methods can now be contrasted with production based on the prototyping of prefabricated architectural elements. How has the digital chain modified (as in publishing, for example) the entire economy of architectural production, from initial conception
to end product? The aim of the exhibition is to make the whole architectural ‘process’ visible, from conceptual elements through to experimental objects and prototypes. It also proposes a reinterpretation of the history of art and architecture in terms of movement and inflection.

What does ‘Non-Standard’ refer to?

First of all, to the world of mathematics, and to the major theoretical breakthroughs (themselves non-standard) that cleared the way both for fractal and catastrophe theory and for artificial intelligence. The notion of ‘non-standard’
first appeared in the field of mathematics in 1961, with the work of Abraham Robinson. its implications are manifold and affect every discipline to which algorithmic systems can be applied, such as artificial intelligence or morphogenesis (the development of structure).

But non-standard is obviously to be contrasted with ’standard’: i.e.with the dangerous myths of modern architecture that have imposed norms in terms of comfort, space and basic hygiene – the consequences of which are incalculable. The contrast is real, but misleading too: modern architecture cannot be reduced to a norm which both represents and caricatures it. The profession’s worthiest representatives are hardly united in the cult of the right angle! instead they pick and choose from the whole inventory of forms (the line, the helicoid, the hull …). Non-standard architectures are part of a history which is now being revitalized, thanks to the development of propositions which were long stifled by standardization and technological limitations. the weaker version of the non-standard – variations on a pre-established
norm – has become fairly widespread, but the challenge for non-standard architectures is of a much more radical order: the generalization of singularity, within a new order: the non-standard. Can we trust in this individualism, with its potential weight of responsibilities, that may symbolize our 21st-century societies? Or does it just mean a succession of infinitely small variations on an ever more tyrannical norm? In other words, can society keep up with morphogenesis?

Source: Designboom

Web references on Non standard design

Vivocity - Biomorphic architecture in Singapore

Introduction to Non standard design

Cultural concerns in Computational Architecture

MIT 2004 conference on Non standard praxis

2004/06 DCC conference – digital processes of Non standard design

Theoretical wrtings on digital architecture by Patrik Schumacher

Construction approaches to Non standard architecture

Dom(info) house, pg 36

Case Studies

Greg Lynn