Living Architecture Rachel Armstrong The Bartlett School Of Architecture v5o51

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# h ͞Historically, the city has been seen as either mechanistic or biological in its order͟ Neil Spiller, Digital Dreams

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h ]se of biological metaphor h Common conceptual framework h Doctrine that formal structure rather than content is what should be represented h Shared methodological tools h the practice of scrupulous adherence to prescribed or external forms h Top-down process



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# % & h ͞... Like any organism [a city] has a circulatory system in its streets, railroads and rivers, a brain in its universities and planning offices, a digestive system in its food distribution and sewage lines, muscles in its industrial centres and any city worthy of the name has an erogenous zone ...͟ catthew Dumont, Arthropods

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£ # h The city is not an organism ʹ it is made of inert materials h The built environment consists of unrelated objects that are secondarily connected to each other to create the urban landscape h Apparent vitality conferred by the behaviour of living systems within the built environment

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# %c h caterials of built environment are not dynamic, they are simple, including the current generation of ͚smart͛ materials h Limited meaningful embodied integration of different media h Currently parallel architectural spaces are accessed by cross-referral, analogy, metaphor & interfaced via human ͚experience͛

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# '( h aequires a fundamental change in the organization model that describes the relationship between building materials and the environment

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h New model of sustainable architectural practice that directly connects the built environment to nature h The unit of Living Architecture is the Architectural protocell

$ h A protocell is a primordial atomic globule, connected to the environment through the languages of physics and chemistry. ]niquely, protocell technology possesses material complexity, and is capable of self-organisation

$ h Vrotocells can be made of pre-existing biological materials such as protoplasm ʹ for example, the protoplasm of the green algae O and slime mould ʹ or can be fabricated from scratch using organic and inorganic chemicals

$ h This gives rise to the possibility of Vrotocell Architecture, as protocell units work together to generate their output

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h re want to change the world with almost nothing. h It is possible to generate complex materials and architectures through harnessing the fundamental energetics of matter. In other words, doing more with less

c ) h rhat we call protocell architecture is, at root, a piece of Dadaist and Surrealist research, in which all the lofty questions have become involved h The novel self-assembling material systems that arise from protocell architectural practice make no reference to, nor attempt to mimic bio-logic. As such, protocell architecture is an alien to the natural world, yet speaks the same fundamental languages of chemistry and physics. The results of these conversations and interactions constitute a parallel biology and second biogenesis whose aesthetics are described by Surrealist agendas

c ) h Architecture is dead, long live architecture h Vrotocells constitute a disruptive technology for architectural practice since they are capable of reaching a transition point when evolution emerges within the system, the outcome of which is unpredictable and therefore offer novel and surprising ways of constructing architecture that will succeed and replace conventional technologies

c ) h Vrotocell architecture swallows contrast and all contradictions including the grotesquery and illogicality of life h Vrotocell technology is at the beginning of an evolutionary pathway that is connected to and dependent on the environmental conditions around it. The responsiveness of protocells to stimuli, means they can be regarded as computing units. Consequently, protocells do not seek to generate idealized architectural forms but reflect and interpret the full spectrum of the processes they encounter in the real world

c ) h rhat is generally termed life is really a frothy nothing that merely connects h Vrotocell technology offers an opportunity for architects to engage with the evolutionary process itself. ]nlike natural biological systems that evolve randomly according to Darwinian evolution, protocell technology allows deliberate and specific interventions throughout the entire course of its coming into being. By moving and metabolizing, protocells may form the basis for a synthetic surface ecology. These interventions are the basis of what we call protocell architecture

c ) h re do not wish to imitate nature, we do not wish to reproduce nature, we want to produce architecture in the way a plant produces its fruit. re do not want to depict, we want to produce directly, not indirectly, since there is no trace of abstraction. re call it Vrotocell Architecture h Vrotocell Architecture embodies the principles of emergence, bottom-up construction techniques and self-assembly. It is equipped with design ͚handles͛ that enable the architect to persuade rather than dominate the outcome of the system through physical communication. As such, these systems are unknowable, surprising and anarchic.

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h re want to collage effective biological machinery that composes itself according to the drivers of design h Vrotocell Architecture is chemically programmable and operates in keeping with the organizing principles of physics and chemistry

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h re want over and over again, movement and connection; we see peace only in dynamism h Vrotocell Architecture gathers its energy from the tension that resides at an interface between two media such as oil and water, which causes movement, disruption and change. Vrotocell Architecture resists the equilibrium since this constitutes death

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h The head is round, so thoughts can revolve. The head of architecture is green, robust, synthesized and exists everywhere simultaneously, whether it is large or very, very small h Vrotocell Architecture is fashioned from ͚low tech biotech͛ characterised by ubiquitous, durable and affordable materials

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h re wish to blur the firm boundaries, which self-certain people delineate around all we can achieve h Vrotocell Technology becomes a co-author in the production of architecture through the possession of living properties and its ability to self-assemble

c ) h re tell you the tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow h Vrotocell Architecture is better adapted to the prevailing physical and social conditions since it is founded on a new set of technologies that are not ͚alive͛ but which possess some of the properties of living systems. As such these technologies are qualitatively different to the industrial and digital technologies that have become the mainstream tools of the twentieth century

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h re will work with things that we do not want to design, things that already have systematic existence h Vrotocell Technology has the capacity to transform and modify existing building materials and architecture with the potential for surprise

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h 6ou know as much as we do that architecture is nothing more than rhythms and connections h Vrotocell Architecture embodies the complexity of materials in a literal, rather than metaphorical manner and becomes a physical part of our existence

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h re will construct exquisite corpses not dead but alive and useful h Vrotocell Architecture is central to the understanding of living systems. It allows us to work with and enhance the unavoidable inconsistency which is the essence of life itself

c ) h re deal in a second aesthetic, one that initiates beginnings and moulds with natural forces h Vrotocell Architecture is connected to the environment through constant conversation and energy exchange with the natural world in a series of chemical interactions called ͚metabolism͛. This involves the conversion of one group of substances into another, either by absorbing or releasing energy - doing more with less

h Living Architecture is part of the biosphere h Integrated through common chemical language called metabolism h cetabolism connects living systems to the environment

c c h caterials that are capable of metabolism h These materials are ͚living͛ and can be thought of as Living Technology

% h Vossess some but not all of the properties of living systems h Qualitatively different to 20th century technologies with which we are familiar h Capable of growth, movement, sensitivity, repair, complex behaviour and even reproduction

h Ror practical purposes in the built environment, these materials need to be robust, safe, ubiquitous and inexpensive

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h ]se existing metabolic systems and materials to create the desired outcome: h Crystal growth (biomorphic) h ͚Cellular Gardening͛ of indigenous microorganisms for selected characteristics

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£ %£ h Low tech, chemical computers h Vrotocell technology: an example of Living Technology h NO DNA h Based on the chemistry of oils h Vrogrammable using inorganic chemistry h Can produce architectural outcomes

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% h Vrotocell technology programmed to move away from light and deposit limestone under the wood pile foundations of the historic city h Generation of an artificial reef h New ecological niches for marine organisms

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% h Living Architecture is a new way of thinking about creating the built environment since it uses a bottom up approach to construction h Living Architecture is in direct conversation with the environment through the physics and chemistry of the fundamental matter which can be thought of an ͚architectural protocell͛

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cartin Hanczyc Alexandru Vladimirescu Neil Spiller Christian Kerrigan Shin Tseng Andrew Vaine Andrew Loxley Soichiro Tsuda Simon Vark catthias Hollwich