From Control to Design: Parametric/Algorithmic Architecture

Along with the new architectural freedoms offered by contemporary technologies come new questions. increasing importance has been given to the role of parametric design, a process based not on fixed metric quantities but on consistent relationships between objects, allowing changes in a single element to propagate corresponding changes throughout the system. In parallel, recent developments in algorithmic design processes have opened the way to scripting and other procedures that allow complex forms to be grown from simple iterative methods while preserving specified qualities. If the parametric is a technique for the holistic control and manipulation of design objects at all scales from part to whole, the algorithmic is a method of generation, producing complex forms and structures based on simple component rules. The question today is how these related but distinct techniques - the parametric and the algorithmic - will affect design practice. Leading practitioners of parametric and algorithmic design will be invited to contribute research and projects that illustrate their view on the new possibilities offered by these new technologies, their similarities and their differences. Rather than a compilation of individual projects, the next Verb monograph presents the work of each author as an extended contribution, through research and projects, that reflects a particular attitude towards the potentials of parametric and algorithmic design today.