Part 2: pushing the envelope. A process perspective for architecture, engineering and construction

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Soar, R. ORCID: 0000-0002-6523-5957, 2015. Part 2: pushing the envelope. A process perspective for architecture, engineering and construction. Intelligent Buildings International. ISSN 1750-8975

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17508975.2015.1014461

Abstract

In this article, I am building on an emerging 'process view of nature' and how biological membranes emerge through the combined action of (locally) autonomous construction agents. In Part 1, we considered the simultaneous aggregation and disaggregation of matter around embedded processes, used to create, sustain and regulate matter, energy and information gradients from which 'work' is derived for the benefit of the agents or organisms present in the system. In Part 2, I intend to demonstrate that emerging digital design, simulation and fabrication techniques, when linked to sensory and effector feedback, memory and actions, directed by pre-encoded objectives (as rules or algorithms), produce the same fundamental unit of 'agency' as biological agents possess. By understanding how biological membranes emerge in nature, as the outcome of 'negotiated agency', to regulate matter, energy and information exchange between adjacent spaces, we can begin to consider the building envelope as a biological interface or membrane from which 'work' can be derived from the environment we inhabit, as a physiological extension of ourselves.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Intelligent Buildings International

Creators:

Soar, R.

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date:

2015