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Books : reviews

Michael Hensel, Achim Menges, Michael Weinstock.
Emergence: Morphogenetic Design Strategies.
Wiley. 2004

Emergence, or evolutionary optimisation, is an important new concept that in recent years has been applied to artificial intelligence, information theory, digital technology, economics, climate studies, material science and biometric engineering. In an architectural context it involves harnessing evolutionary processes for not on the design of buildings, but also the composition of new materials and structural design. In so doing, architecture is aspiring to a new level of complexity as it seeks to match the restless perfection of systems in the natural world.

This title is compiled by Michael Hensel, Achim Menges, and Michael Weinstock, the directors of the Emergence and Design Group and the new Emergent Technologies and Design masters programme at the Architectural Association {AA} in London. At the AA the group is leading an international research-based unit that is at the very forefront in the tectonic application of emergence. As well as featuring the group’s own work, this publication includes interviews with Frei Otto; Farshid Moussavi and Alejandro Zaera Polo of Foreign Office Architects (FOA); and Charles Walker, leader of the Advanced Geometry Unit (AGU) at Arup. It also features articles Professor George Jeronimidis from the Centre for Biomimetics at Reading University, and Johann Sischka, managing director of Waagner Biro, the manufacturing contractor renowned for its complex geometry construction.

Michael Hensel, Achim Menges, Michael Weinstock.
Techniques and Technologies in Morphogenetic Design.
Wiley. 2006

This issue of AD introduces a new approach to architectural practise based on the interrelationship of emergence and self-organisation concepts. A sequence to the successful Emergence: Morphogenetic Design Strategies title by the same guest-editors, it advances on the previous publication by taking on board the latest developments for fully integrated design evolution, manufacturing and construction.

Emergence requires the recognition of architectural structures not as singular and fixed bodies, but as complex energy and material systems that have a lifespan, exist as part of the environment of other active systems, and as an iteration of a series that proceeds by evolutionary development. Thus the focal point of this issue will be the exploration of techniques and technologies that enable the implementation of such morphogenetic strategies, requiring a new set of intellectual and practical skills. Though the publication stands alone as an investigation and presentation of cutting-edge techniques and technologies within the design and construction field supported by examples from adjacent industries, it also introduces a new springboard for understanding and rethinking the radical changes in which architecture is now being conceived, designed and produced. While representing a timely exploration of the embedding of techniques and technology in an alternative design approach, it also presents wholly new strategies for tackling issues of sustainability.

Michael Hensel, Achim Menges.
Versatility and Vicissitude: performance in morpho-ecological design.
Wiley. 2008

This third AD by the guest-editors of the highly successful Emergence and Techniques and Technologies in Morphogenetic Design titles shifts the morpho-ecological design project into the realm of performance. Whereas the dictionary definition of performance – to ‘carry out an action’ or ‘to fulfill a task’ – invokes a tired utilitarian debate, Hensel and Menges inject the meaning of the word ‘performance’ with an entirely new life. In this context, form is redefined not as the shape of a material object alone, but as the multitude of effects, a milieu of conditions, modulations and microclimates that emanate from an object’s exchange with its specific environment; a dynamic relationship that is perceived and interacted with by a subject. A synergetic employment of performance and morpho-ecological techniques combine to create integral design solutions that will render an alternative model for sustainability. This issue presents historical precursors and precedents for this approach, as well as the current state of the art of morpho-ecological design. Key contributors include: Klaus Bollinger and Manfred Grohmann of Bollinger & Grohmann, Aleksandra Jaeschke, OCEAN, P rofessor Remo Pedreschi, Defne Sunguroğlu, Peter Trummer and Michael Weinstock.