Part 1: a process view of nature. Multifunctional integration and the role of the construction agent

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Soar, R. ORCID: 0000-0002-6523-5957, 2015. Part 1: a process view of nature. Multifunctional integration and the role of the construction agent. Intelligent Buildings International. ISSN 1750-8975

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17508975.2015.1014460

Abstract

This is the first of two linked articles which draw s on emerging understanding in the field of biology and seeks to communicate it to those of construction, engineering and design. Its insight is that nature 'works' at the process level, where neither function nor form are distinctions, and materialisation is both the act of negotiating limited resource and encoding matter as 'memory', to sustain and integrate processes through time. It explores how biological agents derive work by creating 'interfaces' between adjacent locations as membranes, through feedback. Through the tension between simultaneous aggregation and disaggregation of matter by agents with opposing objectives, many functions are integrated into an interface as it unfolds. Significantly, biological agents induce flow and counterflow conditions within biological interfaces, by inducing phase transition responses in the matte r or energy passing through them, driving steep gradients from weak potentials (i.e. shorter distances and larger surfaces). As with biological agents, computing, programming and, increasingly digital sensor and effector technologies share the same 'agency' and are thus convergent.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Intelligent Buildings International

Creators:

Soar, R.

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date:

2015