Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Neuromorphic Architecture - A Development of Strategies


Either we “play dead,” and become inanimate like our surroundings,
or we animate those surroundings, and make them like ourselves" 
- Neil Leach

Neuromorphic architecture. When buildings are no longer objects but living organisms that can perceive, adapt and change in relation to the inhabitant. As an architect, how do we begin to design these 'living organisms'?

We may begin to design by adopting these three strategies:

The Empathetic Building
The building must be designed as a living organism, one that adapts to its users and enhances their spatial experience and wellbeing through kinesthetic empathy. 

How?

The building will change shape in correspondence to the inhabitant's current physiological and psychological state, with the intention of stimulating the senses and inducing a healthier mind and body. 

(i.e. Emotion to be achieved = Interest
Building Form to achieve emotion = Ambiguity)

The Utilitarian Building

The building must be ever-changing in program and adapt to the user's functional needs, as opposed to being predefined by a single application. 

How?

The building will re-configure into multiple uses for work, play and dwell scenarios for the occupant.

and...

The building will re-configure itself to provide surfaces for rest, sleep, work and entertainment. 


The Neuroplastic Building

The building will learn from the inhabitant and evolve accordingly over periods of time; eliciting the user's stimulus through building variations and thus establishing dishabituation.

How?

The building would be comprised of neuromorphic control systems that would be able to learn from the occupant and evolve in real-time.

_____

The architecture would embody a reciprocal process of adaptation with the human. 

How do we embark on the tectonics and materiality of such an architecture?
(See Images, Watch Videos Below)

Kinetic Components: Tensegrity, Hinges, Folding Geometry, Scissor Trusses
Soft Architecture - Skin: Textile, Polymers

(Courtesy of Behnaz Farahi) - Hylomorphic Canopy



(Courtesy of Unconventional Computing)

(Courtesy of Behnaz Farahi) - Alloplastic Architecture


(Courtesy of Unconventional Computing)

1 comment:

  1. Good post Ashley - this is a good presentation of the work you are looking at. The next step is to offer clarity (if not an initial take at a design of some sort) that outlines your stance on works such as Farahi's well-known works. I think that there might be a need to clarify the relationship between the utilitarian and the empathetic in the discussion of strategies you are investigating. Adaptation to empathetic forces rather than functional needs is a significant difference that is not clearly articulated in this discussion. This is where the manifestation in a design would be critical as a showcase of your ideas.
    The bigger question for this course of study would be how you wish to depict these relationships and strategies given that static imagery of opposite ends of the spectrum do not adequately showcase what your intentions are. Animations (Cinema 4D, 3DS) or fabricated prototypes/mechanics may help you follow through this rather complex articulation of operations.

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