The human eye is intuitively drawn to the organic shapes of sand dunes, curling vines, rolling hills and other natural phenomena. Because of its strong aesthetic appeal, our particular interest is in generating biologically inspired form for architects. In the past, architectural form was constrained by material and structure and was able to re ect only a small degree of natural form in examples such as rounded pillars and domed roofs. In an exciting paradigm shift in architecture, contemporary computer aided design and manufacturing in interaction with integrated, human designed materials have largely unleashed today's architects from these shackles. They can now move beyond simply appreciating the graceful form of an emerging ower that bends in response to the sun's position or admiring the evolved shape of a natural shelter that responds to seasonal elements.

Author: Martin Hemberg
Author: Una-May O’Reilly
Author: Achim Menges
Author: Katrin Jonas
Author: Michel da Costa Gonçalves
Author: Steven R. Fuchs

Publication:Juan Romero and Penousal Machado (eds) The Art of Artificial Evolution: A Handbook on Evolutionary Art and Music, Springer - Natural Computing | full text (PDF)

Year: 2008

Design problems, if they can be called problems at all, are complex. Disciplines such as architecture and planning are described as dealing almost exclusively with situa-tions in which the brief is relatively ill -defined relative to the real range of problem considerations, the perception of the problem itself may change radically as design progresses, and the solution is typically arrived at by a unique process that cannot be predicted in advance.

Author: Sean Hanna

Publication: Design Computing and Cognition '10 Workshop on Assessing the Impact of Complexity Science in Design: Alexiou K and Zamenopoulos T (eds.) | full text (PDF)

Year: 2010