neo:natures - wordpress.com · fig 1- hernan diaz alonso fig 2- hector guimard, castel beranger the...

Neo:NaturesAbigail Whitelow

University of Greenwich

Neo

:Nat

ur

es

by A

big

ail

Whit

elo

w

Neo:Natures

Abigail WhitelowUniversity of Greenwich

7

Contents 3

Research Methodology 4

Introduction 6

1. Neo:Natures of Art Nouveau 11

1.1 Origins 12 1.2 Technologies 18 1.3 Discoveries in Biology 22 1.4 Eugene Viollet le Duc 26 1.5 Hector Guimard: Paris 30 1.6 Vienna Secessionist 34

Conclusion: Key Virtues and Analyse of Art Nouveau 38

2. Neo:Natures of Digital Nouveau 39

2.1 Origins 40 2.2 Technologies 44 2.3 Discoveries in Biology 48 2.4 Greg Lynn 52 2.5 Henan Diaz Alonso 56 2.6 Mark Foster Gage 62

Conclusion 66

Appendix 70 Bibliography 71

Contents

98

Research for this thesis was conducted in a number of methods:

Literature Survey

This involved collecting existing information and theories around the existing field, to do this I used the RIBA Library and Greenwich University Library, online databases such Wiley, Ethos, Jstor, Journals and Magazines, Internet searches, through social media and finally through sites such as amazon and google books. The literature survey was carried out throughout the thesis, as resources kept leading on to new information, so a good overview of the total subject area was created.

Image Searches

These were mainly done online using search engines, also using books from libraries, journals also using sites such as Pinterest and Flikr. Image search were extremely important for this thesis as Technology SurveyAs this thesis looked at the aesthesis of nature, but the technologies that have developed and changed the way that nature has been represented, it is important to do a technical review into the materials and technologies that have made the natural aesthetic in architecture possible and how this is developed and speculate on future developments. Research shall be done by using online sources, up to date technology sources.

Lectures

Watching online lectures, debates and interviews were another important research method. It was important to see how the architects in the Digital Nouveau described their work, and by watching debates it gave many different viewpoints to a topic, especially the ideas of aesthetics.

Research Methodology

Research Methodology

Documentaries

There was an important series of documentaries about the Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau, it gave many insights to the social/ political issues at the time of Art Nouveau and showed a range of different Art Nouveau work.

Case Studies

Initially a broad range of different Art Nouveau and Digital Nouveau Architects were researched to gain a broad understanding of the ideas, I then choose specific architects on each era to focus on, firstly choosing Viollet-le-Duc and Greg Lynn, who were both initiators of Art Nouveau and Digital Nouveau respectively. Then choose Hector Guimard and Hernan Diaz Alonso, both very confident men, who committed to a style and finally the Vienna Secessionists and Mark Gage, who both began with very fluid work, but then moved in different ways.

Reviewing

The first part of the thesis analysed Art Nouveau to gain an understanding of the key virtues of the architects and also to understand how and why Art Nouveau happened and also ended. These virtues were then used to compare the relationship between the 2 eras. This was then used to critically analyse the innovation of the designs and ideas of the Neo:Natures of the Digital Nouveau to see if the ideologies of architecture design had developed since Art Nouveau.

See Introduction for further Research Methodlogy.

1110

Introduction

Key Terms

Neo:Natures

The synthesis of nature and new technologies generating new architecture forms.

Art Nouveau

A style of decorative art, architecture and design from 1890-1910, characterised by designers moving away from past styles, embracing modern technologies and ornamental designs; flowing curvilinear lines, natural forms, geometrical details.

Digital Nouveau

The concept ‘Digital Nouveau’ (Goldemberg 2012), will refer (for this thesis) as an extension of Art Nouveau using digital technologies where the architecture generated in digital environments and contains complex ornamental designs showing flowing curvilinear lines, natural forms, geometrical details, focussing mainly on the work of Greg Lynn, Mark Gage and Hernan Diaz Alonso (even though there are many other architects working in this way). This thesis shall investigate if Digital Nouveau is occurring in architecture today.

Fig 1- Hernan Diaz Alonso Fig 2- Hector Guimard, Castel Beranger

The advancement of digital technologies at the turn of the 21st century, has brought about the flourishing of Neo:Natures; with fluid, complex and ornamental forms in architectural design, for the purpose of generating new spatial experiences (see fig 1). At the turn of the 20th century, there were similar types of forms with the Art Nouveau style (see fig 2), but these were related to the industrial revolution and were created using the technologies available in this period. Through both these periods, developments in biology have also impacted the architects understanding of nature and has generated an interest of how they could be applied to architecture. The relationship between new technologies, discoveries in biology and fluid forms, has created a new image of nature in architecture which is apparent in both eras, displaying a possible connection that will be explored throughout this thesis.

The subject of this relationship has been briefly mentioned by architects, such as Winy Maas and Greg Lynn. Maas (1999) described the digital designs of Lynn and other contemporises as ‘Neo-Art Nouveau’, Lynn thought it was an interesting proposal, and mentioned that it was because of two principles that he felt he shared with the Art Nouveau designers; a focus on new technologies and moving away from ‘classical orders towards an abstract of nature’. (Lynn 1999) This thesis will explore these principles and also investigate further to see if there are any other principles that they share. Even though Lynn thought the idea was interesting, the comment was meant by Maas as a damming condemnation as Art Nouveau can be seen as a negative, elitist style, only interested in aesthetics. (Lynn 1999) The fact that there has been a lack of investigation into Art Nouveau as a precedent to the digital designs in architecture today could be due to this negative image of the style.

Eric Goldemberg and Armando Montilla have investigated the two periods in more detail and developed the concept of ‘Digital Nouveau’ which has been defined as ‘a continuum of pulsating geometries that brings together design sensibilities of two different, but intricately connected eras’ (Goldemberg 2012). Their research has brought about a number of interesting ideas such as, highlighting a number of key characteristics the two eras share; ‘Flow and pattern as derived from organic models, deep ornament as pulsating rhythm, exuberant curvilinear geometry, holistic ambience and immersive space, synthesis/integration of art and architecture via technique and finally movement as generative principle for design’ (Goldemberg 2012). The depth of their investigations however lacks substantial referencing; questioning the reliability of their information, and their focus is mainly on the aesthetical ‘ornamental and rhythmic’ connections between the two eras. Therefore this thesis will endeavour to build upon the ideas mentioned, and look into the

Introduction

1312

Introduction

areas in more depth, also include ideas of how discoveries in biology and new technology has impacted the designers.

This thesis will explore the relationship between architecture, biology and technology to see how and why nature has been represented through new technologies in architecture at the turn of both the 20th and 21st century, also analysing the social, economic and political changes at these times, to see if these impacted the designs. The aim of this thesis is to acquire an understanding of the representation of nature through new technologies from Art Nouveau to Digital Nouveau with the intention of speculating future Neo:Natures in the authors design project.

Many people have commented how new and innovative the architecture designs and concepts of the ‘Digital Age’ are ‘…the concept of non-standard, non-normative, non-repetitive design had become a major theoretical focus of this new phenomenon recognized today as digital design’ (Oxman 2005) and with books also called ‘New forms of the Digital Age’ (Zeller 1999). By comparing Digital Nouveau to Art Nouveau, the newness of the digital designs and concepts will be questioned, and speculation shall take place to question if more could be done with digital technologies.

This thesis will be divided into two main studies, Neo:Natures of Art Nouveau, that will analyse the key virtues and the context that surrounded this period; and Neo:Natures of Digital Nouveau, that will also analyse the key virtues and context, but also compare these back to the Art Nouveau period to evaluate the relationship and question the newness of the Digital Nouveau concepts. Both will contain six sections that will be structured to analyse similar questions for each period. These are as follows:

Neo:Natures of Art Nouveau

Section 1: Origins Introduction to Art Nouveau; gaining an understanding of what Art Nouveau is, why it started, the changes taking place at the time that influenced the designers and why it ended.Section 2: Technologies Focussing on the key technologies that influenced the Art Nouveau designers and how they impacted the designs.Section 3: Discoveries in Focussing on the key discoveries in Biology Biology that influenced the Art Nouveau designers.Section 4: Eugene Viollet-le-Duc was not an Art Nouveau Viollet-le-Duc architect, but his theories and hypothetical designs were of great inspiration for the Art Nouveau architects. This section will explore his key principles and designs to

Introduction

see how they impacted the Art Nouveau architects. Section 5: Hector Guimard: Hector Guimard was the advocate Paris Metro of Art Nouveau in Paris, This section will explore his key principles and explore how these were developed through his design of the Paris Metro.Section 6: Vienna Secession This section will once again analyse the key principles of the Vienna Secessionists, and explore how their designs differed from Hector Guimard and how they developed away from the fluid, curvilinear ornamentation.

Neo:Natures of Digital Nouveau

Section 1: Origins Introduction to Digital Nouveau; gaining an understanding of what Digital Nouveau is, why it started and the changes taking place at the time that influenced the designers.Section 2: Technologies Focussing on the key technologies that influenced the Digital Nouveau designers and how they impacted the designs.Section 3: Discoveries in Focussing on the key discoveries in biology Biology that influenced the Digital Nouveau designers and how they impacted the designs. Many biological developments have occurred; this section will focus on Morphogenesis, as this had the biggest impact on the Digital Nouveau architects today.Section 4: Greg Lynn: Greg Lynn is seen by many as a pioneer of digital architecture, this section will critically analyse the project the Embryologic Houses, and compare back to the Art Nouveau key principles to discuss the similarities and difference.Section 5: Hernan Diaz Alonso This section will look at the work of Hernan Diaz Alonso, whose work contains many dark qualities and large amounts of detail similar to the Art Nouveau designers, his ideas will be critically analysed and questioned in relationship to Art Nouveau.Section 6: Mark Gage This section will look at the work of Mark Gage and critically analyse his ideas and question their relationship to Art Nouveau.

14 15

Neo:Natures of art NOUVEAU

17

Neo:natures of Art Nouveau

16

Orgins

Fig 1- Art Nouveau, France, 34 Avenue, Lavirotte

Fig 2- Modernisme, CataloniaCasa Batlo, Antoni Gaudi

Fig 3- Jugenstil, GermanyAtelier Elvira, August Endell

Fig 4- Liberty, ItalyVillino Giulio, Michelazzi

Fig 5- Secession, ViennaKarlsplatz Stadtbahn Station, Otto Wagner

‘We stand at the threshold of an altogether new art, an art with forms which mean or represent nothing, recall nothing, yet which can stimulate our souls as deeply as the tones of music have been able to do.’

August Endell 1899

The turn of the 20th century (fin de siècle) was a time of change, where architects and designers were responding to the developments of the modern age; creating new ways of looking at the world and using new technologies to modernise design, moving away from the classical eclectic historical styles. Art Nouveau (1890-1910) was the zeitgeist (style of the age), that took place in many European countries and in North America, and its name and some aspects of the style differed according to each country (see figs 1-5), it was called ‘Modernisme’ in Catalonia, ‘Liberty’ in Italy, ‘Jugendstil’ in Germany, ‘Secession’ in Vienna or Prague. Art Nouveau was not just a movement in architecture, but in interior design, textiles, furniture, jewellery, clothes, art, sculpture, its artists believed that all the arts should work in harmony to create a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). (Howard, 1996)

Art Nouveau was not only a concept but a way of life; it was about creating ‘art’ in all objects and art being a part of everyday life (Horth 2009). The artist’s interests were in styles, symbols, emotions and subjectivity, creating sensuality and spirituality. (Madson 1967). It took inspiration and had interrelations with many other movements, but the main sources were from Nature and Technology (see fig 6). One of the important ornamental characteristics of the style was the ‘whiplash’ line; an ‘asymmetrical, undulating line’ (Madson 1967) used as an ornamental expression of energy, rhythm, motion and growth, the idea of the line was used in many different ways (see figs 7, 8). The line was seen by Christopher Dresser (1860) as based on mathematical logic, (see fig 9) and the beauty of the curve increased with more complexity, the line was theorised as a revulsion for imitating nature directly even though it was still seen as ‘intimately bound up with views of nature’ (Madson 1967).

Art Nouveau was controversial from the moment it started and has had many mixed opinions Architect and historian Henry Russell Hitchcock (1977) believed that Art Nouveau with its application of new metal technology, its use of structure as design and its rejection of the copying past historical styles, could be seen as the first stage of modernism, Pervsner also included Art Nouveau in his book ‘Pioneers of modern design’. However, Doreen Yarwood (2010) a contemporary architectural historian thought Art Nouveau was ‘backward looking’ and that ‘It shield away from the current trend towards

Orgins

Fig 6- Art Nouveau sources

Fig 7- Whiplash, Belgian

Fig 8- Whiplash, Scotland

Fig 9

19


18

industrialization. It was an extension of the ideas of Ruskin and Morris, based upon to the craftsmanship of a smaller population in a pre-industrial age; it could not last’.

The Industrial Revolution taking place during the 19th century was greatly changing people’s ideas and views of the world, this was causing ‘massive upheaval’, the political situation around Europe was also in conflict with countries boundaries being contested and new states being formed (Howard 1996). These major changes were making many designers and intellects across the continent question the need for new art,

‘A key motivation behind the drive for modernity in the arts was the recognition that the world was changing, that technical, economic and political developments were transforming the physical environment’ (Greenhalgh 2000 p.18)

With so many changes taking place in the political, social, economic and cultural sections, it was time that design also embraced this, and looked towards changing its ideas which is what Art Nouveau attempted to do. Not only could it be seen as a reaction to the rapid changes of the time, but also a way to escape these changes, ‘This elite, fleeing from politics and social

Orgins

Fig 10- Castel Beranger Floor Plan Fig 11- Castel Beranger Facade

conflict, discovered the interior as a sanctuary of nature and female form, where monumentality was rejected for grace, rational symmetry and sensual irregularity’ (Silverman 1989). One of the main aims of Art Nouveau was to generate emotions, and connect people to design and elegance.

In general Art Nouveau was for the bourgeois society, even though some designers did want the style to be for everyone (upper and lower classes) and wanted their designs to change lives. (Horth 2009) In a glass factory in Nancy for example, some of its designs were made in two versions, one detailed design would be for the rich whereas the one with less detail would be for everyone else. Most of the designers wanted to create unique detailed pieces for special clients, but some also wanted to create items for the general public that could be industrially mass produced. (Horth 2009) Even though there were some attempts to design for all classes, there was still a divide between the quality of the objects designers for the upper and lower classes. The architecture was aimed at the new bourgeoisie; with the buildings to create homes for the middle classes; in the asymmetrical design of Castel Beranger (see figs 11-14), Guimard ignored the social hierarchy of Paris, and designed all the rooms in the building to be the same size (see fig 10), so there were no larger rooms for the wealthier, this was his attempts to create equality (even though it was still too expensive for the lower class). (Smith 2012)

Fig 12- Castel Beranger Floor Plan Entrance Fig 13- Castel Beranger Door

Fig 14- Castel Beranger Structural element

21


20

Orgins

Nature was one of the main sources of inspiration for the movement, which can be seen quite clearly in a lot of the designs (see fig 15, 16), even though it is mostly abstract and plants are usually not species specific. The 19th century architects and artists were the first to look directly at nature for inspiration since the Gothic period. One of the best known representatives of Art Nouveau; Hector Guimard (1902) said that,

‘Nature is a big book from which we can draw inspiration, and it is in that book that we must look for principles, which, when found have to be defined and applied by the human mind according to human needs’.

Guimard felt that nature shouldn’t be copied directly but used as inspiration and adapted to specific problems such as structure, form and aesthetics. This can be seen in the synthesis of the structure and ornament in much of Art Nouveau work.

For many of the Art Nouveau architects they saw ornament as a structural symbol ‘there exist a peculiar sympathy between ornament and structure. Both structure and ornament benefit by this sympathy, each enhancing the value of the other. And this, I take it, is the preparatory basic of what may be

Fig 15- Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building

called an organic system of ornamentation’ (Sullivan 1892)

There was a desire to improve on nature, to take it and work on it and to do something better and something different. Salvador Dali (1933) remarked that ‘in reality nature has produced nothing but failed attempts at Art Nouveau’ and in an article in Minotaure journal Dali included a photograph of one of nature’s creations, a stone eroded by water and wind, which he captioned: ‘A geological attempt at Art Nouveau, failed as everything fails if it comes from a nature deprived of imagination’. With the many biological advances taking place, Dali was fighting against the loss of mystery, and recognised that Guimard’s unsettling forms had made people wonder again at life.

Art Nouveau was a short lived style, spanning over a 20 year period, it ended for a number of reasons; ‘it offered no solution to the problem of how to relate the machine to aesthetic norms’(Madson 1967), the complexity of the designs were not easily mass produced and people became tired of the historical variety of ornament. ‘Art Nouveau was the first and last style which depended on ornament’ (Madson 1967). Until the turn of the 21st century? Part 2 will consider the possibilities that the digital age has moved back to ornamentation.

Fig 16- Sunflower detail 51, rue Bellegambe, Douai, France

Fig 17- 51, rue Bellegambe, Douai, France

23


22

Technologies

Fig 1- Louis Sullivan Iron work detailing

The Industrial Revolution (18th-19th centuries) saw the transition of Europe and North America from predominately agricultural nations to ones of manufacturing and machine. There were many technological innovations such as; the steam engine, new machines for power/ energy distribution and manufacturing, new chemical manufacturing, improved iron production processes, the electric light bulb, first telephone, wireless telegraphy, petrol engine, and motion picture, these were all radically changing daily life. In architecture these new advancements were changing the structural logic, materiality and appearance of the forms of standard buildings. (Zeller 1999). The Art Nouveau designers experimented with many new technologies, materials and their functions, generating new forms, with new expressions.

Art Nouveau used both the craft methods of the Arts and Crafts movements, and also embraced industrial materials, ideas of technology and using machines to help create their designs. The Arts and Craft movement rejected the machine and modern materials, they believed that mass production caused a decline in furnishing qualities and the need for items quickly meant that new designs/ styles were not being created. So Ruskin and Morris both began teaching the importance of handicraft for the renewal of art. ‘That thing which I understand by real art is the expression of man of his pleasure in labour’ (Morris 1882). They felt that art should be well designed and this could only be done by using handmade craft techniques. However engineers at the time were not as interested with the ideas of art and just wanted to explore the structural potentials of the technologies. Art Nouveau saw the integration of both art and industry. (Miller 2004)

The use of industrial materials such as, steel, reinforced concrete wrought and cast iron, which were rejected by the Arts and Crafts movement, and iron was mainly used for hidden structures and bridges, became a very important part of Art Nouveau designs. There was also a gap in the aesthetic value of new technologies which Art Nouveau began to challenge,

‘The dissonance to which Art Nouveau owed its existence- inasmuch as it is possible to discern a cause- had arisen because technological progress, as a new, now extensively autonomous phenomenon, indisputably provided increased comfort and efficiency, but was not considered to have any aesthetic value. Moreover technology was frightening in many ways, and it was commonly felt that its manifestations should be hidden behind art, or what passed for art.’ (Sembach 2002 p.14)

The undulating curves and many references to nature conveyed in the new

tECHNOLOGIES

Fig 2- Iron table detail

Fig 3- Gaudi Ironwork

Fig 4- Grand Palais 1900

25


24

Technologies

technologies and materials Art Nouveau used, such as exposed iron began to give people a way to connect to these new technologies and give them an expression and reference to natural forms that were already familiar to help make the new technologies seem less daunting to some people. It also enhanced the beauty of the sterile, machine made products and gave them an elegance that was not seen before in these new materials. (Hallock n,d)

Not only did new technologies help in the production of the Art Nouveau designs and materials used, but the ideas behind the new technologies created inspiration for the expression of the Art Nouveau designs. The invention of the first motion picture cameras and establishment of cinemas inspired the designers,

‘The condition of motion is explored in many architects of the Art Nouveau, the interaction of two dimensional patterns with three-dimensional ornamentation and objects like in the Tassel Hotel by Victor Horta, the undulating interiors by Henry Van de Velde, the potential of the use of new materiality like the Metro Stations by Hector Guimard. These projects all amount to those conditions of how form, pattern and ornament produce the sensation of motion.’ (Goldemberg 2012 p.466)

It was a period of advancements, this expression of motion in the designers work would show how times were changing and everything was moving faster. The speed in which Art Nouveau moved around Europe, inspiring many designers was also due to advancements in technology, with the steam powered rotary printing press invented in 1843 that could print millions of pages per week and could do photo illustrations (Eskilson 2007), this greatly enhanced the possibilities for mass production of printed material in combination with improved transportation, designers work in magazines could be shared quicker, inspiring designers in other countries. There were also many international exhibitions showcasing Art Nouveau, which people could now travel to with improved transportation links.

Even though the architects and designers of Art Nouveau embraced technology, the complexity, the detail and quality of the designs meant that it was expensive to mass produce which was one of the reasons that lead to end of the movement.

Fig 5- Tassell Hotel, Victor Horta 1894

27


26

Discoveries in biology

Fig 1- Stephoidea (mineral skeletons), Ernst Haeckel,

In the 19th century there were many new developments in the scientific field, which created a new way of understanding the world; cell theory, botany, neurology, psychology, the theory of evolution and microscopy. These advances in the biological sciences greatly influenced Art Nouveau, with many of the artists and architects being fascinated with the new discoveries, some of them had degrees in the sciences.

The invention of the microscope made the discovery of cell theory possible which states that all living organisms are composed of one or more cells, the cell is the most basic unit of life and cells arise from pre-existing cells. Artists around that time interpreted cell theory as proof that humans, plants and animals only differ in shape, but are essentially made up of the same thing, this is how ideas of transformations and metamorphosis became apparent in Art Nouveau, with humans, plants insects and birds merging into one another, this can especially be seen in the Art Nouveau jewellery (see fig 3).

The microscope also made it possible to see plants in extreme detail. Ernst Haeckel discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology. He believed that art was created on biology ‘nature has given birth to an inexhaustible mass of marvellous forms, the beauty and variety of which surpass any artistic form created by man’ (Haeckel n.d). The detail, science and beauty of his work greatly inspired Art Nouveau designers, the images he created were fascinating to the designers and the detail that was found in nature was incredible (see fig 1). In 1859 Darwin published his theory of evolution in his book, On Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection his theory created a great interest with the ideas of transformation. His theory demonstrated the concept called ‘natural selection’ where different species evolve from more simple forms of life, so they are not a fixed form and through random mutations in genes, if these changes are then passed on to the next generation, new species could be produced. Before Darwin it was accepted that species did not evolve. Even though there were very mixed reviews on his theory, it was still of great interest to the designers and could be why the designers began to evolve natural forms into the structure of architecture.

Galle had very honest view of nature and was aware of the work of Darwin; he appreciated the beautiful elements but also the decaying and dying. Galle wanted to portray the realities of modern life and death. This can be seen in this lamp design (see fig 2) where the flowers are blooming at the top whereas

Discoveries in Biology

29


28

Discoveries in biology

the decay is shown at the bottom with the leaves and stem wilting. (Smith 2012) He used many parts of nature in his work, but they also had deeper meaning; ‘Beetles symbolised industriousness; the thistle symbolised (the location) Nancy, Lorraine and separation from Germany; the rose symbolized France and the lover.’ (The Open University, n,d)

Developments into Neurology also impacted some designers, research into dream, hypnotism and mental disorders by Jean-Martin Charcot and Hippolyte Bernheim. Art Nouveau designers realised certain shapes and colours were beneficial to mental well-being. Also there was an attempt to reflect the work of the human mind and emotions in the colours and shapes of glass e.g. Emilie Galle.

Fig 2- Emilie Galle- Lamp

Fig 3- René Jules Lalique- Metamorphic jewelry

31


30

Eugene viollet-le-duc

Fig 1- Great Hall Vault

The theories Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (1814-79) discussed in his books influenced many of the Art Nouveau architects, including Hector Guimard, Antoni Gaudi and Victor Horta and also many ‘founding fathers’ of early modernism such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. His theories arose from investigations into the ‘Great Traditions’ of Greek, Roman and Gothic Architecture. Viollet-Le-Duc used his theories as inspiration for his own hypothetical designs such as, his iron truss (see fig 3) that showed how a number of small construction parts could be more efficient and still create a strong structural part and how the leaf was not just for ornamentation but helped to strengthen the structure. Also the Vault of the Great Hall (see fig 1), where the diagonal strut structure was inspired by the hips, ball and socket joint and the joint at the elbow. (see fig 2) As seen in both designs, it was very bold at the time for the iron structure to be exposed, and was also seen in The Assembly Building that could be seen as an inspiration from bats wings, that he studied (see fig 4). (Hearn 1990) Other than his theoretical work and hypothetical designs, which he saw as preparations for future architectural transitions, he mostly worked on restoring Gothic churches, for example Notre Dame.

One of his main principles was that architecture should be a direct expression of current material, technology and functional needs, and these should be used to create optimal forms and the rational construction should be reflected in the appearance of a building, in Lecture IX (1863) he argued that;

‘In the present day we have immense resources furnished by manufacturing skill and increased facilities of transport; yet instead of making use of these means with a view to the adoption of architectural forms adapted to our times and civilisation, we endeavour to disguise these novel appliances by an architecture borrowed from other ages’.

He wanted architects and designers to take advantage of new technologies, engineering and skill level to develop the architectural discourse rather than being stuck in the past styles. Also that the function of building should be the driver for its spatial organisation, not looking to the past designs copying ideas of symmetry and proportion without purpose. These were both ideas adopted by the Art Nouveau designers.

Viollet-le-Duc theories attempted to bring together the ideas of engineers and of artists which had seemed to have divided during the 19th century after the Industrial Revolution. Engineers were really pushing the boundaries using new technologies and new materials, making bridges and structures of

Eugene Viollet-le-Duc

Fig 3- Iron Truss

Fig 2- Ball and Socket detail- Great Hall

33


32

Eugene viollet-le-duc

unprecedented spans and heights, such as the Eiffel Tower completed in 1889. Whereas many designers such as Ruskin and Morris had very negative feelings towards the use of new machinery and new materials in architecture, such as steel and glass. Ruskin was against the new aesthetic created from using the new technologies, while Morris was against them for social reasons; he felt these new technologies were destroying good craftsmanship and pleasurable working.

Fig 4- Assembly Building

Even though many of Viollet-le-Duc drawings showed ideas of how the new engineering and the art of the 19th century could be fused together, none of them were actually built. It was Art Nouveau designers that were able to achieve this in reality, Nikolas Pervsner (1936) commented how ‘They were as much convinced of the necessity for devoted work in the crafts as Morris and his disciples, but they were also capable of achieving an occasional synthesis between the new sensitivity and the new material’. As Viollet-le-Duc had done in many of his drawings, Art Nouveau architects took advantage of industrial materials especially the qualities of wrought iron which could be used both structurally and decoratively, this began to create a synthesis between engineering and art.

Viollet-le-Duc felt like there was a lack of method in designs that could bring together all the new advancements of the 19th century and create a new architectural style. But he gave a method that could help to provoke the imagination and generate creativity; ‘metaphor’,

‘And he advanced two metaphors that were richly evocative of modernity in his own time, the machine and technology on the one hand and the natural organisms and biology on the other. In his own mind the two metaphors were parallel in their applicability to architecture and very nearly interchangeable’. (Hearn 1990)

This would be a major influence on the Art Nouveau architects; he saw technology and nature as inspirations that could to be explored to help designer’s experiment and create new architecture styles, using the new advancements in the era.

Nature was important to Viollet-le-Duc and he compared many aspects of nature to architecture and how the unity in nature was what should be used to create a complete, meaningful architectural style;

‘Nature always proceeds with logic and precision and never discovers the undiscoverable or the absurd, finding what kind of body or form was suitable for any particular purpose…The creations of nature are always beautiful -- form delineates object and makes it understandable for the purpose for which that object was produced. From the leaf we can reconstruct the form of the tree; from the architectural member we can derive the form of the building. When harmony obtains between the form, the means and the object, the work has style. Style is the visible sign of the unity and harmony of all the parts that make up the whole work of art’.

He studied organic structure; leaves, skeletons, bats wings etc. which became an important part developing his ideas and also that of future architects, who looked to his theories.

35


34

Hector Guimard: Paris Metro

Fig 1- Insect wing Metro Entrance

At the end of the 19th century (Fin de siècle) Paris was in a transitional phase where traditional, social, moral and artistic values were all being questioned, it was a time of demographic transformation, social reform and political change. The government was greatly helping the progression and development of Art Nouveau; with generous budgets being giving to aid the visual arts, it was important for France to compete with other countries.

Hector Guimard was the advocate of Art Nouveau architecture in France, however he still wanted to create his own unique style calling his work ‘Le Style Guimard’, he was a relentless self-publicist, sending out postcards of himself at home working (see fig 2). In his 20’s, he secured many major projects, such as Castel Beranger, he was a very talented architect who not only created sensual ornamental structures but also advanced solutions for housing problems. (Smith 2012).

His three main principles that should influence architectural design were; Logic-the suiting of the objects purpose, Harmony- the suiting of the object to its place and Sentiment- the emotional complement to logic and harmony which sets the object apart as a work of art. (Guimard p.41).

‘When the artist has met the demands of logic, that is to say when he has lived up to the requirements of a particular project and to the conditions in which he must labor, he has in a sense done the work of an engineer. But he must do more if he is to lift himself above the mere material conditions, if he is to achieve the harmony and feeling that characterize a true work of art.’

He believed that rationalism was not enough and architecture needed to evoke emotions. Throughout the 19th century there had been great leaps in engineering, such as the construction of the Eiffel Tower, however Guimard did not see these engineered designed structure as enough and believed architecture needed to create feelings and bring in aspects of art to create the ‘total work of art’.

The Paris Metro entrances are Guimards’ most famous works, opening at the turn of the century and ready for the 1900 ‘Exposition Universelle’; they perfectly encapsulate the social, economic, political, technical and aesthetic advancements of the turn of the century. The metro entrance designs were manufactured out of cast iron, in modular systems which allowed them to be produced in large quantities and they were designed to be easily assembled as there were over 100 entrances. The metro wasn’t just for the upper classes it was


Fig 2- ‘Le Style Guimard’ postcard

Fig 3- Guimard Sketch

Fig 4- Guimard Sketch

37


36


for everyone, it was a reminder that there are idealist aspirations of creating something beautiful for the masses; beauty wasn’t only for the wealthy. (Smith 2012)

‘Guimard sought to find a universal means of connecting people. His architecture used biological metaphors because humans react viscerally to forms that seem to undergo physical tensions and strivings. A human body undergoes such forces, and so too does a community or society’ (Clendenin 2008)

The designs of the Paris metro are stylised representations of the organic; they seem to represent the ideas of growth and motion, which is a perfect visual metaphor relation to the subway system. There were a number of different designs (see fig 1,5,6) firstly the ‘bulbous vegetal form’, the insect wing opening and the ticket offices which has aspects of fluidity and a Japanese architecture quality. Even though the designs of Guimard have been described as ‘abstract naturalism’, he was not aiming to mimic and show the image of nature, but

Fig 5- ‘Bulbous vegetal form’ Metro Entrance

rather an ‘abstraction of its fundamental processes’. He suggested that the idea of sap flowing through trees was the type of quality he wanted to develop in his work, not literally sap in trees, but the ‘sap of things’. (Graham 1970)

‘Guimard injected something supernatural or preternatural… His creations were not simply an extension of nature but a mystery that was even more stirring. Instead of the positivist’s technology that controlled nature, they showed technology that was metamorphosing back into nature.’ (Clendenin 2008)

Unfortunately when Art Nouveau fell out of fashion, 79 of the Metro entrances were hacked down and destroyed, the remaining stations are now seen as iconic of Paris. The work of Guimard is seen as ‘outstanding’ for its unique and new stance of the modern era and very forward thinking, it has been commented on that ‘He came very close to treating materials and spaces as amorphous lumps of clay. With such sculptural freedom, the only limitation is one’s imagination.’ (Graham 1970).

Fig 6- Metro Ticket Office

39


38

Vienna Secession

Fig 1- The Secession Building, Olbrich

‘To the age its art, to art its freedom’- The Secession Building

The Vienna Secessionists were an independent group of artists that established themselves in 1897, with Gustav Klimt as the president; the main architects in the group were, Josef Hoffman, Joseph Maria Olbrich and their professor from the School of architecture at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts Otto Wagner. He encouraged his students to be open minded to cultural influences and he wanted them to embrace new technologies, the needs of the modern man and a metropolitan ‘Weltanschauung’ (world view) in search for a new style (‘Zeitgeist’). (Godoli 1979)

As with the other major cities during the 19th century Vienna was going through a large amount of change. At the end of 1850 the Liberal Party gained control of Vienna municipality, and this began a new time of civic construction. With an extremely fast growing population, improvements were needed, such a water supply, sanitation, public health system, public parks and urban design. Franz Josef (Emperor of Austria 1848-1866) in 1857 decreed that a new urban development would be created at the periphery of the inner city to replace the city walls, this resulted in the Ringstrasse. The Ringstrasse and the buildings, whose functions and geographical positions that had been decided by Franz Josef were intended to be a showcase for the grandeur and glory of the Habsburg Empire. This meant that the architecture had to be on a grand scale in ornate historical styles, being an expression of the amazing achievements of the Hansburg. The Ringstrasse became a symbol of a Viennese society that was content on historicism and recycling past classical styles, it was seen as an era in a ‘slump’ which eventually began to draw to a close in the 1890’s with new technological advances which lead to the beginnings of the Vienna Secessionists, in search of a brand new style. (Godoli 1979)

Before they became the Secessionists, many of the designers were members of the Kunstlerhaus, this was an exclusive organisation that controlled the arts in Vienna, creating a lack of freedom, as they decided what and who could be exhibited, which was always traditional. Inspired by the radical Art Nouveau movement throughout Europe, the Secessionists were formed, even though it was slightly later than the other European countries. (Godoli 1979)

The Secessionists first exhibition was held in 1898, showing the range of modern international art, rather than purely presenting a stylistic integrity. After the success of the exhibition the Secessionist wanted to define their own artistic direction, so they wanted their own premises and exhibition space, which Olbrich was commissioned to design. Olbrich’s idea for the Secession

Vienna Secession

Fig 2- The Secession Building, Olbrich

Fig 3- Detail, Olbrich

Fig 4- Interior, Secession Building

41


40

Vienna Secession

building (see fig 1,2) was to create a ‘temple of art’, it has been commented that the building ‘appeared as an embodiment of the Nietzchian description of eternal struggle between rational (the Apollonian: reductive and controlled) and irrational (the Dionysian: expansive and vivacious) creative impulses’ (Howard 1996 p.69), there is a great contrast between the simple cubic forms and the crowing gilt bronze laurel dome, which symbolises the vitality of art: victory, dignity and purity. Unlike his work before the Secessionist building, there was a lot less fluidity and the interiors were much simpler.

In comparison to the Art Nouveau in Paris, Barcelona and Brussels, the Secessionist had a more geometrical architectural style, using lines, geometric elements and highly stylised floral element inspired by the Glasgow Four. As the Secessionist architecture progressed the floral elements diminished in favour of more simple geometrical forms, for example the change can be seen from Otto Wagner Majolica House (1898) and the Karlsplanz station (1899)

Fig 5- Majolica House, Otto Wagner 1898Fig 6- Karsplanz Station, Otto Wagner 1899Fig 7- Facade Project, Schlecta 1900Fig 8- Paris Exhibion Interior, Hoffrman 1900

which both had many stylised floral elements in comparison to the Austrian Postal savings bank (1904) which was very minimal and simple. There was a feeling of dualism in Wagners work at the end of the 19th century torn between the Jungendstil influences and ‘Sachlichkeit’ (Objectivity) ‘Between the Sachlichkeit of the buildings organism based on standards of economy, functionalism and simplicity, and the Art Nouveau mask of its façade there is only contradiction, not a dialectical synthesis’ (Godoli 1979 p.241).

The Vienna Secessionist seemed to be in the moment of transition away from the work of Art Nouveau, even though initially the floral, curved, fluid lines were more common such as in Facade Project by Schlecta and interiors by Hoffman (see figs 7,8) they quickly became simpler and more geometrical such as Wagners Second Villa (see fig 11) and Hoffman’s, Palais Stoclet (1905) (see fig 11, 12), leading into the modern movement.

Fig 9- Austrian Postal savings bank, 1904Fig 10- Bank Interior, 1904Fig 11- Second Villa, Wagner 1912Fig 12- Palais Stoclet, Hoffman 1905

42

From analysing Art Nouveau there seems to be a number of key principles:

- Design should be a direct expression technologies and current materials- To create something new and move away from past styles- All aspects of Nature (growth and decay) should be used for inspiration and not directly copied- Design sensibility - Logic, harmony and sentiment should influence architecture design - Creating art for in all aspects of life Gestamkustwerk- Motion used as an influence and expression of the designs

These principles shall be used to drive the analysis of the Neo:Natures of the Digital Nouveau to compare the relationship between the two eras. I will then critically analyse the innovation of the designs and ideas of the Neo:Natures of the Digital Nouveau to see if the ideologies of architecture design has developed since Art Nouveau, with the intent of speculating on future Neo:Natures.

Conclusion: Key Virtues and Analyse of Art Nouveau

42

Neo:Natures of Digital NOUVEAU

43

45

Neo:natures of Digital Nouveau

44

Orgins

Fig 1- Mark Foster Gage Stockholm Public Library 2008

Over the last 25 years digital technologies have rapidly revolutionised culture, economy, society, communication and most aspects of daily life. The digital technologies have brought about similar implications as the new technologies of the Industrial Revolution; as the Agricultural society developed into an Industrial Society, we are now developing into an Information Society (Zeller 1999) or as Manuel Castells calls it a ‘Network society…a society where the key social structures and activities are organised around electronically processed information networks.’ (Castells 2001). The developments of digital technologies such as computers, smart phones and the internet have allowed people around the world to connect instantly and access, share and store large amounts of information. Even though a lot of architects use digital tools today, many designs could have been produced without the use of a computer (Carpo 2013 p.8).; however the Digital Nouveau architects that will be discussed throughout this section have really tried to use the power of the digital technologies to create radical designs. This is similar to the Art Nouveau era, where architects embraced the new technologies and experimented with them to try and create something new.

At the beginning of the 1990’s, radical architects became fascinated with digital technologies then began to embrace and experiment with these new tools. Eisenmann commented in 1992 that very little change had taken place in the architectural production since the end of the Second World War, even though he felt a paradigm shift, from mechanical to electrical had taken place. In the early stages of using digital technologies, architects such as Eisenman and Gehry had to be really committed to continue using them; computers weren’t advanced enough so drafting designs took the same time as using digital tools. It could have been quite easy to disregard the computer and use existing methods that had been tried and tested for centuries, but they were obviously aware of the changes digital technologies were having on society, economy, culture and general everyday life, so they knew it should be embraced and developed. (Lynn & Eisenman 2013) As with Art Nouveau it took architects a while to embrace the new technologies and learn and develop them to be of use to architecture.

Architects such as Eisenmann, Gehry and Hadid have lead the way for fluid architecture construction (see figs 2,3 4), but Diaz Alonso commented that; ‘People of an older generation, like Zaha Hadid… look at the computer as a tool, as a vehicle, and say, ‘Okay, what can this thing do for me?’ I think the younger generation, or least those in my position, say, ‘What can I do for you?’ (Diaz Alonso n,d) This idea that the role of the computer becoming even greater and architects like Diaz Alonso are wanted to see what he can do for

Origins

Fig 2- City of Culture of Galicia, Eisenman Architects

Fig 3- Walt disney concert hall, Franks-Gehry

Fig 4- Aquatics Centre, Zaha Hadid Architects

47


46

Orgins

Fig 6- Greg Lynn, Flatware, Alessi

Fig 5- Monad Studio Tsunami Memorial

the computer, experimenting and really pushing his designs as far as they can.

The computer has also changed the architects interaction with creating design, from how in Art Nouveau everything would have been drawn designs by hand;

‘Where art and craft are mediated by parameters such that the human hand has been replaced in a Stelarc fashion by a digital extension on a new field of operation, dictated not by the X and Y space but by a field where the eye acts as if it were a hand, not as a receptive but as an active organ, and what is at hand is always nearby and close’ (Montilla 2003)

The idea of Stelarc, that digital technologies can become an extension of the human hand, suggests how the eye is now used to create designs, as the computer can generate an array of different forms, which the architect can choose from and manipulate if needed to create the chosen design.

As many of the Digital Nouveau designers have not built many of their architecture designs, it is hard to comment on what market the designs are aimed at. However due to the brand new technologies, materials and complex forms these designers are creating, the designs would be expensive to produce. This would require a high-end market, most probably a market similar to the Bourgeoisie class of the Art Nouveau. The designers have created a number of products that could be looked at to develop an understanding of who the designs are aimed at; Lynn’s furniture designs for Vitra, and flatware for Alessi (see fig 50, both high-end companies, or Gage’s interior designs for high-end fashion stores. It is also important to note that the Architects are not only designing architecture, they design products, future, interiors, installations, and the idea of the Gestamkunstawerk.

The Digital Nouveau architects have used many new digital techniques, and been inspired by many sources, such as science fiction, nature, film, toys, biology (with the internet inspiration can easily be accessed by the click of a finger), they have also been influenced by many theorists and philosophers, especially Deleuze. Lynns essay ‘Architectural Curvilinearity’ (1993) developed a ‘more fluid logic of connectivity’, moving away from the Deconstructivisit ideologies ‘a logic of conflict and contradiction’ (Lynn 2004). Inspired by Deleuze’s work ‘The Fold’ where he looked to the Baroque period and its aesthetics and ‘reintroduced fold as an ambiguous spatial construct, as a figure and non-figure, an organisation and non-organisation’ (Kolarevic 2003), Greg Lynn embraces a number of terms and concepts; folding, affiliation, pliancy and multiplicity, these ideas lead to the creation of continuity between interior and exterior spaces, smooth surfaces and formlessness (Kolarevic 2003).

49


48

Technologies

Fig 1- Port Authority Bus Terminal, Using motion to create form, Greg Lynn 1995

Digital technologies have been radically changing architectural practice and production since the turn of the 21st century, the rapid developments in computer and computer software have completely changed the way that some architects work and think about design.

‘Digital technologies are transforming the nature and intent of architectural thinking and creativity, blurring the relationship between matter and data, between the real and the virtual and between organic and the inorganic and leading us into an unstable territory from which, rich, innovative forms are emerging’ (Zeller 1999 p.9).

Digital technologies also seem to be blurring the boundary between technology, biology and architecture (see in the Discoveries in Biology section) the new technologies are using advances in biology and vice versa to keep advancing, will they ever boundaries ever completely blur? As the industrial design methods and materials in Art Nouveau made it possible to create the fluid curving 2D ornamentation, the digital design methods have made it possible to generate the 3D fluid curved spaces, creating immersive spaces. New modelling software based on NURBS (Non- Uniform Rational B- Splines) made it easier for these types of forms to be conceived and represented, which was very difficult before the computer. Whole architectural designs are now embracing curvilinear form, rather than just the small elements that were in Art Nouveau.

As with Art Nouveau the ideas of motion have been represented in the Digital Nouveau designs. However unlike Art Nouveau motion and animation have also been used in the process of generating the digital designs. Digital animation software have been utilised, Lynn was one of the first to use animation software; ‘The context of design becomes an active abstract space that directs from within a current of forces that can stored as information within a shape or form’ (Lynn) In Lynn’s project the Port Authority Bus terminal,1995 (see fig 1) he used a particle system to experiment and then generate the form of the design, meaning that motion was actually part of the design process. However the final form in still intended to be static. (Kolarevic 2003) So even though motion is involved in the creation of the design, the built form would still only express the idea of motion, which is the same as the aesthetics of the Art Nouveau work only expressing the idea of motion. So even with all the new advances in technology the idea of motion in Lynn’s final design is still only on an aesthetical level, this doesn’t seem to have advanced from the Art Nouveau designers a century ago. It could be argued that the project Port Authority Bus terminal was created over a decade ago, so in Hernan Diaz Alonso’s project

Technologies

51


50

Technologies

TBA 1.0 (2011) the design still only represents the aesthetics of motion even though it was also generated through animation software.

There seems to be a connection between the Art Nouveau idea of the ‘whiplash line’ and the way the Digital Nouveau architecture use the ‘vector primitive curve’, the vector curve is much more complex. Jeffrey Kipnis (2013) comments about the Digital Nouveau that ‘the projects are not drawing from nature, they are drawing from the vector primitive’, this is similar to Christopher Dresser ideas, that the whiplash would be based on mathematical logic, but in the end it still portrayed the image of nature.

New Materials and fabrication methods have made possible the digital models and designs to become built in reality. But there still seem to be a lot of designs that do not get built. Most of the designs of the Digital Nouveau architect who are looked at in this section, have designed a lot more in digital/virtual space than what they have built. The designs that have got built such as Hernan Diaz Alonso’s MOMA pavilion, 2005 (see fig 2) have been for smaller scales to architecture. The could be a number of reasons why their architectures are not built; they would be too expensive, they are still too complex for the fabrication techniques, the architect just enjoys generating the digital designs or they are waiting for technology to advance where there designs can be created in brand new ways.

Even though not many of the designs have been built, all the Digital Nouveau designs have experimented with new fabrication and production techniques such as 3d printing (see fig 3) and CNC machines. Armando Montilla (2013) has said that ‘Digital Nouveau is the first step of immaterial production having an impact into material production with no third party interface’, as CNC machines and 3d printing advance, maybe one day they will be able to create whole building. Or even further in the future the idea that the real and the virtual will one day blur and it will not be recognisable the difference between each is an interesting concept.

Fig 2- MOMA pavillion 2005, Hernan Diaz AlonsoFig 3- Mark Gage 3D printed models, 2007

53


52


Fig 1- D’Acy Thompson’s laws of morphing

Advances in biology have been a great influence to many architects at the turn of the 21st century, and they have not only been inspired by form and aesthetics of the designs (as with Art Nouveau), but have also the language that is used to discuss architectural processes to generate forms and digital technologies. The change in focus of architects and designers shows them embracing ‘concepts of emergence, self-organization, self-assembly, and self-replication, they begin to sound like biologist’ (Mitchell 2003). This emphasises architecture becoming intertwined with biological thinking and representation.

The term Digital Morphogenesis is used to describe the process of generating form using computational methods and links too many concepts now being used in architecture, such as emergence, self-organisation parametric design, metamorphosis and genetic algorithms. (Roudavski 2009) These ideas are routed in the biological process of Morphogenesis, defined as ‘the formation of the structure of an organism’, (Miffin 2011) the ideas began from the biologist, mathematician and scholar D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson and his most distinctive body of work ‘On Growth and Form’ (1917). He discussed how living organisms were determined by both physical and mathematical laws; he then used these mathematical laws and applied them to images of living organisms to transfer them into different species (see fig 1). Further developments by Turing in 1952 discovering basic mathematical algorithms as ways to generate complex patterns, developments of DNA, molecular biology, biochemistry, cell differentiation and cell growth have led to a better understanding of Morphogenesis.

Morphogenesis concepts have been embraced by Digital Nouveau architects through Digital Morphogenesis; they are using computers not only for visual purposes but as a ‘generative tool for the derivation of form and its transformations’. (Kolarevic 2003) These new methods are radically different from what would have been used in Art Nouveau, and in general, before digital technologies, as these new methods mean that architecture is not designed or drawn, in the conventional sense, ‘but they are calculated (using algorithms) by the chosen generative method’. The architects don’t actually model the form but ‘articulate an internal logic’ that then produces a number of possibilities which can be chosen and developed further. (Kolarevic 2003) Even though the idea of Digital Morphogenesis has its roots in biology, it is not an exact representation of this process;

‘.. digital morphogenesis in architecture bears a largely analogous or metaphoric relationship to the processes of morphogenesis in nature, sharing with it the reliance on gradual development but not necessarily


55


54


Fig 2- Monad studio experiment with ideas of Morphgenisis creating new forms

adopting or referring to the actual mechanisms of growth or adaptation. Recent discourse on digital morphogenesis in architecture links it to a number of concepts including emergence, self-organization and form-finding.’ (Roudavski 2009)

Even with these new computer processes through Digital Morphogenesis, the final design of computational architecture is still controlled by the designer and ‘is never solely to the aesthetic sensibility of the machine’; (Newsom, 2012)

‘In a sense evolutionary simulations replace design, since artists can use this software to breed new forms rather than specifically design them. This is basically correct but... there is a part of the process in which deliberate design is still a crucial component.’ (DeLanda 2001)

So even though the computer helps to generate the architectural designs, the architect still has control over the final design, the computer just helps to generate many options which can be changed and chosen by the designer.

Even with the discoveries in biology in the 21st century and the amount of biological references that are made about Neo:Natures the image of nature is still shown in a very similar way to that of the Art Nouveau period,

‘… There may be much talk of ‘morphogenesis’, and a rich stew of other biological concepts invoked, but the truth is that the main analogy with nature is at the level of appearances only, and specifically with the non-rectangularity of nature.’ (Steadman p.258)

Many of the Digital Nouveau Architect use biological references to describe their work, but they tend to not directly reference nature as an inspiration for the aesthesis of their work, it seems like these ideas have become so embedded (and even an unconscious reaction) in the design processes and tools that it is not needed to be directly explained.

57


56

Greg Lynn

Fig 1- Embryological Houses models

‘Architect Greg Lynn’s Embryological House is at once made and born, a hybrid of computer simulation and genetic mutation’ (Dery 2000)

The Embryologic Houses (1997-2001) was an experimental/conceptual project which commented on many of the production, aesthetic, social and economic developments at the turn of the century, the project was described by Greg Lynn (2000) as,

‘a strategy for the invention of domestic space that engages contemporary issues of brand identity and variation, customisation and continuity, flexible manufacturing and assembly and, most importantly, an unapologetic investment in the contemporary beauty of voluptuous aesthetics of undulating surfaces…’.

The idea behind the houses was to create an infinite amount of houses which were all unique through mutations, but share a ‘brand identity’ which would allow for ‘recognition and novelty’, also as each house would be variable it could adapt to future changes such as ‘lifestyles, site, climate, construction methods, materials, spatial effects, functional needs and special aesthetic effect’. (Lynn 2000). Even though Lynn comments that these building could adapt, he doesn’t express how this could be done, especially as the final building would be a static construction.

Lynn wanted these new houses to move away from traditional, modern architecture and domestic spaces that needed to be assembled using independent parts, which he thought was appropriate for the culture of the industrial times. Lynn talked about these houses as not being created by a ‘kit of parts’ he then goes on to say how the houses would be ‘composed of 2,048 panels, nine steel frames and 72 aluminium struts, networked together to form a monologue shell’ (Lynn 2000) which seems like a contradiction as a certain ‘kit’ parts are still being used, just no single panel of each house would be the same, so to some extent he is just describing a more complex assemblage of independent part, so is not moving that far from the traditional ideas. To create the unique panels Lynn speculates about a number of high tech fabrication techniques that could be used such as, high pressure water jet cutting and stereo lithography resin prototyping though computer controlled lasers. The inside of the house would be completely customisable, with floors that could ‘bulge and gastrulate’ forming any furniture and embedded with the needed appliances and can be finished a large array of materials. (Blobjects 2009) This is an interesting idea, that there would be no need for separate furniture; it would all be embedded in the whole design of the building,

Greg Lynn: The Embryologic Houses (See Appendix A)

59


58

Greg Lynn

creating a holistic Gesamtkunstwerk.

The ideas of this project begins to embrace a new stage in consumer capitalism, where each consumer see’s themselves as different, so needs products which are also different. With the new, ‘advanced advertising media culture’ the need for ‘a more advanced generic identity is not only possible, but necessary for contemporary domestic spaces’ (Lynn, 2000). People now want products that are individual, yet brand is still important.

As with Guimard’s, Castel Beranger, Lynn is creating asymmetrical houses, but the digital technologies have allowed the forms to become completely fluid, and not just fluid in the detailing. It seems like Guimard’s ideas about social hierarchy have also been conveyed, as even though each house would be slightly different in form, the overall spaces would be the same size, creating equal living conditions. However the fact that each design would be unique would be a high selling point for the homes, so if they were built they would be aimed at the wealthy consumers, again with Castel Beranger meaning the houses would not be available to all.

To create the forms for the houses Lynn used both geometric modelling software (Microstation) and character animation software (Maya) which created smooth surfaces such as in the automotive and aeronautic industries which Lynn was inspired by. The project began as a series of experiments and tests with digital software’s, creating volumetric forms (using primitive curves) and thinking about their architectural qualities. After a while of experimenting with form, Lynn began to think about how a large amount of

Fig 2- How each Embryological House is constructed

these houses could be created, and this was when parametric was first used on one of his projects, where a script was used to create a large amount of unique houses. (CCA: Greg Lynn n.d)

Evolutionary biology played a significant role in this project showing a greater influence and even starting to become entwined within the architectural discourse at the turn of the 21st century. Lynn uses many biological terms to describe the project; Embryological, embryo, egg, mutation, gastrulate and adaption, trying to connect the houses with living systems, and create the feeling of ‘living in an animal’. Yet with all the talk about evolution and generating ideas of movement and living, the final designs are still intended to be static, there is even an animation to show the creating of the form, but then the ‘evolution’ stops and the building becomes an inert piece of matter. (CCA: Greg Lynn n.d)

The processes that have been used to create the forms are seen as an evolution beginning with a ‘seed’ (a simple curved form) that is then mutated using the computer creating more ‘adult’ forms which are ready to be used. The ideas about mutating were inspired by William Bateson, a biologist who was a pioneer of the synthesis between evolutionary biology and genetics. His main focus was on teratology, studying the abnormalities in biological development. He discovered that ‘mutations reverted to symmetry’ so when information was lost in a system, symmetry would take place; symmetry was actually the lack of information, not the order of it. ’So, this whole idea of natural form shifted at that moment from looking for ideal shapes to looking for a combination of information and generic form.’ (Lynn 2005)

Fig 3- 6 Embryological Houses

61


60

Hernan diaz Alonso

Fig 1, 2- TBA 1.0, museum/art pavilion 2011

Diaz-Alonso mainly draws inspiration for his designs from science fiction and film, such as Ridley Scott’s Alien and some of Tim Burton film, also from horror films and ideas of mutation.

‘Xefirotarch’s biological simulacra might have a hint of the perverse about them, but their effect is the visual transformation of our understanding of the object towards an interiority of the organism, its guts. This is the post-modernity of the cinematic traditions of horror films, not of the reassurance of historicist signs’. (Hatzellis 2009)

Alonso is trying to create friction between to contrasting methods, using algorithmic computations methods (mathematically precise systems) whilst throwing the most nasty, dirty agents of contamination at it. (Diaz Alonso 2014) Ideas of combining perfect and imperfect has greatly influenced him, as it also seemed to with Greg Lynn and ideas of mutation from William Bateson. This idea of Diaz-Alonso’s work having a darker side is similar to some of the Art Nouveau designers, who were not only interested in showing only beauty, but also decaying and death, as in Emilie Galle’s work.

From looking back to Diaz-Alonso’s earlier work such as the Metropolitan Plaza (2001), it is obvious that this is his work, he has definitely created a certain style using the digital tools, which have evolved and become more complex, as technologies and software’s have constantly and rapidly improved but have contain the similar sensibilities. He sees the architect work that he is doing as in a time of ‘refinement’, the main advancements in digital architecture took place at the end of the 20th century and now is the time where architects are just improving and making small changes to what was done at that time, it seems like a time that is waiting for another major technological advancement that will completely change architecture. Hernan has even commented that the work he is doing on the computer is somewhat similar to what he did by hand,

‘I realised that the work I was doing in school in Argentina − drawing by hand − and what I’m doing now, at the core, are still the same. I think as an architect you’re always working on the same problem, but the techniques and the tools shape and change, and I think we establish a certain level of partnership with the new tools.’ (Diaz-Alonso 2014)

So even with the major digital advancements that have taken place, even though it has added more complexity to Diaz-Alonso’s work he still sees the basic principles in the work that he was doing by hand. It can be seen from

Hernan Diaz Alonso (See Appendix B)

Fig 3- Launter redux render, 2008

Fig 4- Launter redux section, 2008

Fig 5- Launter redux exploded axo, 2008

63


62

Hernan diaz Alonso

comparing a floor plan of Diaz-Alonso’s (see fig 8) to Art Nouveau architect Antoni Gaudi’s Casa Mila (see fig 7), that the spaces are very similar, the spaces have just become more fluid in Diaz-Alonso work. So what kind of technical advancements would it take for architecture to become something totally different? If all architects shared this opinion would architecture ever develop into something completely new?

Diaz-Alonso’s projects have been referenced greatly to biological processes, each projects has been described as a progression of genetic mutations, where certain characteristics develop and evolve, he is also interesting in creating emotions and creating a new image of beauty;

‘I am interested in the relationship between excessiveness and speciation, and how species and systems of extreme differentiation can produce a whole, but one which does not necessarily claim homogeneity…This new realm of exuberance, of mutating forms and excessive allure, imply a new conception of beauty, one that does not call upon the traditional understanding of the ‘beautiful’, but instead one that seeks the aesthetically pleasing’ (Diaz-Alonso 2012)

In many of his projects, such as TBA 1.0, Tabakalera, Dubai Tower

Fig 7- Casa Mila floor plan, Antoni Gaudi

Fig 8- TBA 1.0 floor plan, 2011Hernan Diaz Alonso

Fig 6- Tabakalera exterior 2008 HDA

(see figs 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11) he blurs the boundaries between visual, spatial, surface, decoration, and structure to creat a fluid holistic Gesamtkunstwerk. The dark qualities and excess of ornamentation is very similar to the Art Nouveau, it has just become more spatialised and has a digital materiality aesthetic.

The form and the aesthetics have become very important for Diaz Alonso, ‘The obsession about the image as a vehicle for form is an important one for me and it drives the work we do’ (Diaz Alonso 2013 p.128), however Neil Leach argues that ‘Form should be seen as largely irrelevant …Instead we should be focusing on more intelligent and logical design processes. Logic should be the new form’ (Leech 2012). To some extent this argument about logic being the new form makes obvious sense but what actually is a logical way to design? Many people work in different ways, so logical methods can vary greatly between people. These ideas of Diaz Alonso differ however from Guimard’s main principle that should influence architecture design; Logic, Harmony and Sentiment, it seem like sentiment is the most important element for him, and the logic and harmony are by products. The idea of harmony to a specific place could also be argued as lacking in his work, as all his designs have a similar aesthetic, but the different locations that he is designing for, so surely

Fig 9- Tabakalera interior 2008 HDA

65


64

the aesthetic sensibility of the designs should differ depending on location.

Guimard seemed to have a lot of control over the work that he created and had a great commitment to the ideas that he was showing, he took inspiration from natural sources and imagined ways that they could be developed to create new architectural forms and details, which he had to create directly from his mind, and put them on paper, however from Diaz-Alonso’s following comment it has made it seem like the computer has taken some of this control away from architect, ‘Having a manifesto means that you know what you’re doing, and 75% of the time I don’t have a clue what I’m doing or where I’m going’ (Diaz Alonso). However, it seems like all of his architecture has a similar style, and even the work of his students embraces his ‘style’, yet his comment suggests his method of working is not controlled, surely if this were the case there would be a large amount of variety in the aesthetic qualities of his work, as Manuel DeLanda explains;

‘Only if virtual evolution can be used to explore a space rich enough so that all the possibilities cannot be considered in advance by the designer, only if what results shocks or at least surprises, can genetic algorithms be considered useful visualization tools.’ (DeLanda 2001)

Maybe the first time that Diaz-Alonso used the tools, the design may have been surprising, but as discussed in the ‘discoveries in biology’ section the design is still controlled by the user, even though the computer generates more complexity. Also now that Diaz-Alonso has been using the digital software’s for over a decade it should be easier for him to manipulate the tools.

Fig 10, 11- Dubai Tower 2009 HDA

67


66

Mark Foster Gage

Fig 1, 2- Aurum MOMA PSI project entry, 2007, MFG

Dissimilar to the work of Hernan, the aesthetics of Mark Gage’s work is much more variable (see fig 1-5). For inspiration in his work Gage looks to a number of different sources from Japanese toys textile studies, technologies and biology, there is a fluidity in his work created by computational tools which evokes nature,

‘It’s only natural for people to use biology as a metaphor when describing architecture… but I don’t see this as imitating nature: it’s just going through the same evolution process towards complexity. Our bodies have gone through millions of years of R&D (research and development), whereas architecture has only hand around ten thousand’ (Gage 2014)

This idea is similar to Guimard’s idea of how nature should be used only for inspiration but then ‘defined and applied by the human mind according to human needs’, between both eras the architects seem to be have negative connotations with using nature directly. However in his project entry, Aurum, for MOMA PS1 in 2007 (see fig 1,2) he has obviously imitated leaves and the ‘stems’ also seem to have elements of Guimard’s metro station in them. As the design of Aurum developed Gage commented that ‘we realized we were flirting with a very custom Art Nouveau sensibility of form, and decided to take it in a more populist, non-elite direction, by fusing this historic moment with a little contemporary bling’ (Gage 2007) He does not then expand on how these designs are more populist and non-elite, the complexity and especially the use of gold usually represents luxury and high end, however as the designs would have been at a museum, which could be accessed by everyone it could be suggestive of quality design for all, similar to Guimard’s Paris Metro.

As with Salvador Dali’s comment about the developments in biology creating a loss of mystery in nature and Guimard’s work recreating the imagination, Mark Gage feels that technological and biological advancements are once again creating this loss of mystery and excitement, and how by showing all the processes and all the inspiration behind a design, makes design loose its magic.

‘…when we describe our process, we are taking are ability to create magic away, we are describing ever aspect to why our building is the way it is leaving nothing to the imagination, and I actually think we are in a moment now where imagination is something which can be desired especially in a world where you can look up anything at your fingertips’

Mark foster Gage (See Appendix C)

Fig 3- Nicola Formichetti Store, New York 2011

Fig 4- Nicola Formichetti Store, Sau Paolo 2012

Fig 5- Stockholm Public Library 2008

69


68

Mark Foster Gage

The aesthetics have become the most important part of Gages designs, as this is how it is seen by the public. He feels that the need to justify work by its processes is no longer relevant, even though these will still be used; a design doesn’t need to be described by them, but what it is aesthetically and its design sensibility. As with Art Nouveau (even though there were not all the digital processes and issues of sustainability) the architectural designs were functional, but the most important element was its sensibility. But should this be the case today when there are so many other issues in architecture, not only the aesthetics?

Schumacher (2011) has commented that ‘The ‘wild and unexpected new directions’, i.e. the freewheeling, unconstrained experimentation that Gage is calling for, was the appropriate spirit of the discipline when architecture was confronted with the crisis of modernism.’ However Gage has seen it as a reaction to the ‘desires in humanity’ and that the ‘serious tone in architecture, interest in sophistication and critical theory and judging architecture for what it does rather than what it is’ has created the need for a ‘strangeness or a delight or something out of the norm, we know that the world can produce

Fig 6, 7- Kaosuing Pop Centre, 2010, MFG Fig 8- Te Waro Bridge, 2007, MFGFig 9- Estonia Academy of Art, MFG

architecture without architects, so maybe what architects produce now is anomalies’ (Gage 2014)

The recent work of Gage has changed from the earlier fluid amorphous designs (see fig 10- 13). The designs are still very ornamental and complex, but he is using different geometries, ideas of branding and even any digital model he can find, for example his design for Helsinki Guggenheim (2015) that he controversially described as the following;

‘We designed this. There is likely a ton of bullshit that we could tell you about regarding its process, or how it’s sustainable, or how it fits into its context symbolically, but none of it would really be true. We designed it because we liked it and thought it was great.’

The idea of ‘art for art sake’ is very relevant here, it is a bold statement rejecting any need for explanation, he knows that everyone will have their own opinion, but doesn’t care as he likes it. However there are obviously still functional aspects to the design that can be seen from the section (see fig 12) and floor plans (see fig 13) but the main focus seems to be on creating an emotional response.

Fig 10, 11- Helskinki Guggenhein renders, 2015, MFG Fig 12, 13- Helskinki Guggenhein section and plan, 2015, MFG

7170

Conclusion

It has become evident through the course of this Thesis that there is a relationship between Art Nouveau and the concept of Digital Nouveau, and Art Nouveau could be seen as a precursor to the ideas and forms presented by the Digital Nouveau architects, even though these have developed to become more complex and spatial, with the ideas of completely immersing people into the 3D fluid, complex, ornamental forms, which has advanced from the Art Nouveau era. Both have responded to the social, political, economic technical and biological changes of the period and created aesthetics based on design sensibility and creating Gesamtkunstwerk.

An interest in both the beauty and ideas of growth and decay in nature is evident in both eras from the fluid forms created, however compared to Art Nouveau the Digital Nouveau designers do not seem to talk about this interest in nature, it seems like these ideas have become so embedded (and even an unconscious reaction) in the design processes and technologies it is not needed to be directly explained. Whereas the Art Nouveau designers took a lot of pride in referencing nature, but not imitating it; using it as inspiration and adapting it to specific problems such as structure, form and aesthetics. It is interesting that nature, even if not referenced directly has become integrated into architecture forms, at times of great change at the turn of the century for both Art Nouveau and Digital Nouveau;

‘… forms inspired by nature become topical when modern society finds itself in crisis, and that the use of organic forms is intended to bring about harmonization and reconciliation with an external world perceived as inhospitable or hostile.’ (Sachs 2007 p.266)

This seems true to some extent, however many of the Art Nouveau and Digital Nouveau designers such as Hernan Diaz Alonso and Emilie Galle, expressed the darker sides of nature, that seem to suggest that all aspects of life and change should be embraced and creating different emotions and new experiences, so using nature isn’t just to create harmonisation. The expression of nature has also become a good way to experiment with the new technologies and find out and push their capabilities. The image of nature has stayed very similar in both eras, it could be speculated that similar images of nature will continue to be used in the future of architecture, as a way to develop future technologies.

From the Art Nouveau period, the discoveries in biology, such as the theory of evolution and the detailed images of nature brought about by the invention of the microscope were taken as inspiration for the creation of forms. This developed greatly in the Digital Nouveau period, as Morphogenesis was

Conclusion

discovered and biological processes became the inspiration for form generation. The metaphorical relationship between digital design processes and biological ones, has had a great impact on the designers, who now not only uses biology as inspiration but also relate the designs of their forms in biological terms.

As time has developed the use of biology and technology in architecture has become more intertwined. Viollet-le-Duc commented about the two metaphors that could be used as a method for inspiration for designs, machine/technology and nature/biology and that they were nearly interchangeable, it seems like today these are still not completely interchangeable but are becoming more so, with technology using processes similar to biology, it has made designers questions the future between the two methods;

‘Biological systems as building structures. Ultimately, designer, machine, material and program will collaborate seamlessly at a nano and macro scales, physically and digitally, utilizing organic and inorganic behaviours for new paradigms of design and production’ (Tibbits 2012)

As technologies, biology and architecture are becoming blurred with time, it suggested that future architecture will be a complete seamless integration of both, where architecture will breed, evolve and develop.

Motion has been a very important aspect for all the designers from the Art Nouveau to the Digital Nouveau, the aesthetic of motion has stayed the same in the final designs in both eras and shown as a representation through the ornamental forms as ideas of growth and change. However, the process of incorporating motion into the designs has changed, as digital animation software has allowed the Digital Nouveau architects to generate their forms using movement, so motion is actually a part of the design process, not just an idea. But even though they have animation tools they don’t progress beyond motion being used for the process of generating form, as most of the final designs are static, so the only idea of motion is a representation. As the animation software is already available the future should see more designs that actually move and adapt to changes and react to people, enhancing the immersive qualities of the designs. For example the sculptures of Philip Beesley that are said to respond to movement using sensors, even though the responses are slight movement, the idea that architecture could move and respond, could be a way to move the idea of motion in Digital Nouveau away from purely just being an expression and generate new sensibilities and reactions.

From comparing Art Nouveau to Digital Nouveau, the newness of the concepts of the digital Neo:Natures has been questioned. There are many ideas, which they both share and do not seem to have progressed even though the new computational methods have allowed them to have a new visual language, their ideas are still rendering a historical basis. Even though there is a more spatialized ornamental design and new materiality in Digital Nouveau, the general layouts

7372

Conclusion

and purpose of the architecture is the same as it was in Art Nouveau. The role of the architect however, does seem to be changing and the Digital Nouveau architects now have a dependence on computers, rather than creating all the ideas in the mind and using the hand to create these designs on paper, as with the Art Nouveau, the Digital Nouveau architect now uses the computer to create forms that to some extent could not have been imagined (at least initially), so the computer has some control over the design, even though the architect still has the final say at the moment. However, this may change in the future, if technology and biology continue to develop, maybe architecture will one day be able to develop themselves.

From the amount of similarities they share it could be speculated that Digital Nouveau could end the same way that Art Nouveau did; as people become tired of the fluid ornamental designs, it goes out of style or the designs could always be limited by the digital space if the designs are too expensive and complex to produce. Then maybe at the turn of the 22nd century similar designs will once again return as a reaction to future technologies and discoveries in biology. Or the ornamental forms could move to different geometries, such as in Mark Gage’s work, where he has moved away from creating the fluid amorphous forms, to angular geometries or using a large number of differing models to create designs. However these designs could still be seen as Digital Nouveau as they are still representing similar ideas of Art Nouveau; complexity, immersive spaces, Gestamkustwerk, design sensibility and using new technologies. As with the Vienna Secessionist, who were seen as part of the Art Nouveau movement, they shared the same ideas, but they moved away from the fluid, nature inspired ornamentation after a few years to more geometrical ornamentation which became simpler and then lead the way for modernism. So maybe the Digital Nouveau designs will become simpler before they can lead on to something new. However it could also be seen that Art Nouveau ended as José Oubrerie (2014) said, it was because they ‘didn’t have computers’, so now that we do have computers the ideas will continue developing.

There were a number of unavoidable limitations to this thesis even though it has reached it aims, firstly as there are so many Art Nouveau and Digital architects with so many differing opinions and ideas, this piece of work had to focus on just a small section of these architects, so there could be some differences if more architects were analysed and compared. Time restraints also meant that it was not possible to conduct site visits or interview the Digital Nouveau architects to get first hand research, which would have greatly enhanced the discussion throughout the thesis.

This thesis has greatly enhanced the authors design project, and influenced the creation of future Neo:Natures in a post singularity society, where technology, biology and nature has completely blurred. Architecture can now generate themselves and adapt and change to situations, the architect now becomes the orchestrator, arranging the Neo: Natures (see figs 1-3)

Conclusion

Fig 1-3- The authors speculation on Future Neo:Natures

7574

Appendix A

Greg Lynn has been named as one of the most innovative and influential architects for the twenty-first century, he is a pioneer of digital architecture mostly notably ‘blob’ architecture and is also an important theoretician. Having studied Architecture and Philosophy at Princeton, he is also been a major figure for bringing together architecture, design, philosophy and computing. Before opening his own office Greg Lynn Form in 1994 he worked for Peter Eisenman. (Greg Lynn Bio, n,d)

Appendix B

Hernan Diaz Alonso is the founder of Xefirotarch an LA based design/architecture practice, he has also been a professor in a number of architecture schools; Columbia, the University of Applied Arts Vienna and he shall become the new director of SCI-Arc as of September 2015. He studied his first degree in architecture in Argentina, then his masters in New York. He then worked for Miralles architects for 4 years and Eisenman Architects for a year before opening his own practice where he wanted to create his own identity, which he has definitely achieved. Hernan sees himself as an architect that challenges the status quo and challenges the idea of architecture as a service, he sees it as a problem solving discipline, an inspiration of the human condition, technology and evolution and progress. (Diaz-Alonso 2014)

Appendix C

Mark Foster Gage has been described as an innovator in architecture and design, who combines architecture with innovative materials, digital technologies and robotic construction; he is at the cutting edge of a new generation of architects. He runs his own practise ‘Mark Foster Gage Architects’ which is more construction- oriented compared to his previous practice Gage/Clemenceau Architects and he is Assistant Dean and Professor at Yale School of Architecture. (Mark Foster Gage n,d)

Appendix Bibliography

Books

Angeli, S. (ed.) (2007) Nature Design: From Inspiration to Innovation. Switzerland: Lars Muller Publishers.

Carpo, M. (ed.) (2013) The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Diaz-Alonso, H. (2010) Exuberance, I don’t know; Excess, I like. In: Colletti, M. (ed.) Exuberance: New Virtuosity in Contemporary Architecture. London: John Wiley & Sons

Eisenman, P (2013) Architecture After the age of printing. In The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Eskilson, S. (2007) Graphic Design A New History. Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Giedion,S (1982) Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition

Greenhalgh, P. (ed.)(2000) Art Nouveau 1890-1914. London: V&A Publications.

Godoli, E (1979) Austria: To the limits of a language: Wagner, Olbrich, Hoffman. In: Russell, F. ed. 1979. Art Nouveau Architecture. London: Academy Editions. pp. 231-263

Goldemberg, E. (2012) Pulsations in Architecture. Florida: J. Ross Publishing

Guimard, H (1902) ‘An Architects Opinion of L’Art Nouveau’. In: Uhlfelder, E. (ed.) The Orgins of Modern Architecture: Selected Essays from ‘architectural Record’. Toronto: General Publishing Company Ltd.

Hearn, M. (ed.)(1990) The Architectural Theory of Viollet-le-Duc: Readings and Commentary. Massachusetts: MIT.

Howard, J. (1996) Art Nouveau: International and national styles in Europe. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Kolarevic, B. (ed.)(2003) Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing. New York: Spon Press.

Lynn, G. (1999) Animate Form. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Lynn, G. (2000) Embryologic Houses. In: The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. P.126- 130

Migayrou, F and Brayer, M (eds.)(2013) ArchiLab: Naturalizing Architecture. Editions HYX.

Miller, J. (2004) Art Nouveau. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited.

7776

Mitchell, W. (2003) The Cyborg self and the Networked City. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pevsner, N. (2005) Pioneers of modern design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius. 4th Ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Russell, F. (ed.)(1979) Art Nouveau Architecture. London: Academy Editions.

Risebero, B. (2002) Modern Architecture and Design: An Alternative History. 7th Ed. Cambridge: MIT Press

Sachs, A. (2007) From Inspiration to Innovation: Nature Design. Zurich: Lars Muller Publisher

Sembach,K. (2002) Art Nouveau. Hohenzollern: Taschen.

Silverman, D. (1992) Art Nouveau in Fin-de-siècle France: Politics, Psychology, and Style. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Steadman, P. (2008) The Evolution of Design: Biological Analogy in Architecture and the Applied Arts. 2nd Ed. Oxon: Routledge.

Sullivan, L. (1980) Kinder- Garten Chats and other writings. New York: Dover Publications Inc.

Tschudi-Madsen, S. (1967) Art Nouveau, Trans. Christopherson, R. London: World University Library. Tschudi-Madsen, S. (2002) The Art Nouveau Style: A Comprehensive Guide with 263 Illustrations, Trans. Christopherson, R. New York: Dover Publications.

Yarwood, D. (1987) A Chronology of Western Architecture. New York: Facts on File Publications.

Zellner, P (2000) Hybrid Space: New Forms in Digital Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Journals/ Magazines

Diaz Alonso (2012) Exuberance, I don’t know; Excess I Like. In Exuberance AD. London: Wiley

Grady, J. (1955) Nature and the Art Nouveau. The Art Bulletin [Online] JSTOR. Vol. 37 (3). P.187-192. Available from: http://www.jstor.org. [Accessed: 10th February 2015].

Roudavski, S. (2009) Towards Morphogenesis in Architecture. International journal of architectural computing [Online] Available at: https://www.academia.edu/208933/Towards_Morphogenesis_in_Architecture [Accessed: 25th March 2015]

Leach, Neil, and Schumacher, Patrik. ‘On Parametricism: A Dialogue Between Neil Leach and PatrikSchumacher.’ Time + Architecture no. 2012/5: 1–8. 2012.Rocker, Ingeborg. ‘Apropos Parametricism: If, In What Style Should We Build?’. Log Magazine 21.2011.

Bibliography

Montilla, A (2013) Pulsation in Architecture, Digital Pulse: The Digital Nouveau, Revisiting the Vector and the Nouveau Materiality [Online] Available at: http://www.designbook.us/magazine/issue/1/pulsation_in_architecture [Accessed: 24th February 2015]

Schumacher, P (2011) Convergence vs Fragmentation as Condition for Architecture’s Societal Impact. Fulcrum [Online] Available at: http://www.patrikschumacher.com/Texts/Convergence%20vs%20Fragmentation%20as%20Condition%20for%20Architecture%20_s%20Societal%20Impact.htm [Accessed: 21th February 2015]

Bergeron, S (ed.)(2012) Tarp: Not Nature. Architecture Manual. [Online] Available at: http://issuu.com/tarp/docs/notnature_finaldraft_041012 [Accessed: 22th February 2015]

Lectures

Berkel, Ben van, Caroline Bos, Karl Chu, Jeffrey Kipnis, Greg Lynn and Michael Speaks. (October 27, 1999). Panel Discussion Toward A New Paradigm. SCI-Arc Media Archive: Southern California Institute of Architecture. http://sma.sciarc.edu/video/panel-discussion-toward-a-new-paradigm/. [Accessed: 25th February 2015]

Bernard Tschumi, Hernan Diaz Alonso, David Benjamin, Ali Rahim, David Ruy, Ferda Kolatan, Matias del Campo, and Mark Gage. Moderated by Galia Solomonoff and Eric Goldemberg (2013) Panel Discussion: Pulsation in Architecture. Columbia Univeristy GSAPP [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xw5BoNB_sM [Accessed: 27th February 2015]

Gage, M. (2014) & Delight Symposium 6. [Online] Available at: https://vimeo.com/116584900 [Accessed: 27th March 2015]

Gage, M. (2014) & Delight Symposium 7[Online] Available at: http://soa.princeton.edu/content/delight-symposium [Accessed: 20th March 2015]Diaz Alonso, H. (2014) Hernan Diaz Alonso: What is architecture? [Online] Available at: (https://vimeo.com/70140458 [Accessed: 21th March 2015]

Diaz Alonso (2012) Dvanajst: Hernan Diaz Alonso [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZeRat-vdggGage, M (N,D) Interview: Mark Foster Gage [Online] Available at: (http://postmatter.com/#/interview/mark-foster-cage [Accessed: 10th March 2015]

Lynn, G (2005) Organic Algorithms in Architecture. TED. [Online] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/greg_lynn_on_organic_design/transcript?language=en [Accessed: 25th February 2015]

Lynn, G & Eisenman ,P (2013) The Foundations of Digital Architecture. CCA. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKCrepgOix4 [Accessed: 25th February 2015]

Gannon, Todd, Jeffrey Kipnis and José Oubrerie. (January 17, 2014). Todd Gannon José Oubrerie Jeffrey Kipnis Book Signing. SCI-Arc Media Archive: Southern California Institute of Architecture. http://sma.sciarc.edu/video/todd-gannon-jose-oubrerie-jeffrey-kipnis-book-signing/

7978

Websites

About D’Arcy (n.d) [Online] Available at: https://aboutartnouveau.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/art-nouveau-in-history/ [Accessed: 20th February 2015]

Blakeney, K. (2009) Art and Biology: How discoveries in Biology influenced the Development of Art Nouveau [Online] Available from: http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/90/art-and-biology-how-discoveries-in-biology-influenced-the-development-of-art-nouveau [Accessed: 20th February 2015]

Blobjects (2009) Blobjects in Architecture and Design [Online] Available from: http://megaelecciones.com/blobjects-in-design-and-architecture/ [Accessed: 20th February 2015]

Burns, K (2007)Gred Lynn’s Embryological House Project: the ‘technology’ and metaphors of meterm of architecture. [Online] Available at: https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ocs/index.php/AASA/2007/paper/viewFile/39/10 [Accessed: 20th February 2015]

Castells, M (2001) The Network Society and Organizational Change [Online] Available at: http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Castells/castells-con4.html [Accessed: 24 February 2015]

CCA: Greg Lynn (n.d) Greg Lynn Embryological House [Online] Available at: http://www.cca.qc.ca/en/collection/6-greg-lynn-embryological-house [Accessed: 24 February 2015]

Chan, C. (2008) Greg Lynn: Curve Your Enthusiasm [Online] Available from: http://032c.com/2008/greg-lynn-curve-your-enthusiasm/. [Accessed: 4th March 2015].

Clendenim, M .(2008) Hector Guimard, political movements, and the Paris Metro: Natural sympathies, governing harmony, and social change [Online] Available at: http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3345921/ [Accessed: February 19th 2015]Dery, M (2000) Soft House: Home Grown [Online] Available from: (http://www.artbyte.com/mag/nov_dec_00/lynn_content.shtml [Accessed: 4th March 2015].

DeLanda, M (2001) Deleuze and the use of the Genetic Algorithm in Architecture [Online] Available at: http://www.egs.edu/faculty/manuel-de-landa/articles/deleuze-genetic-algorithm-in-architecture/ [Accessed: 24 March 2015]

Diaz Alonso (2005) Hernan Diaz Alonso: winner of this year’s MoMA/PS1 Young Architects Program [Online] Available at:http://archinect.com/features/article/17584/hernan-diaz-alonso-winner-of-this-year-s-moma-ps1-young-architects-program [Accessed: 20th March 2015]

Diaz Alonso, H & Inaba, J(2007) My Work Is Like Salt [Online] Available at: http://c-lab.columbia.edu/0069.html [Accessed: 20February 2015]

Gage, M and Clemenceau, M. (2007) Aurum: 2007 Finalists [Online] Available at: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/yap/2007_gageclemenceau [Accessed: 10 March 2015]

Gage, M. (2014) Mark Foster Gage. [Online] Available At: http://www.mfga.com/bio-1/ [Accessed: 24 March 2015]

Bibliography

Goldemberg, E. (2012) Nouveau Pulsation - 100 Years of Craft Evolution: From Art Nouveau to Digital Pulsation. [Online] Available At: http://apps.acsa-arch.org/resources/proceedings/uploads/streamfile.aspx?path=ACSA.AM.100&name=ACSA.AM.100.40.pdf. [Accessed: 24 February 2015]

Goldemberg, E. (2012) Ornamental Excess: Rhythmic Memory and the Digital Nouveau [Online] Available At: http://apps.acsa-arch.org/resources/proceedings/uploads/streamfile.aspx?path=ACSA.AM.99&name=ACSA.AM.99.66.pdf. [Accessed: 24 February 2015]

Graham, F (1970) Museum of Modern Art: Hector Guimard. New York: MOMA [Online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/4430/releases/MOMA_1970_Jan-June_0027_27.pdf?2010 [Accessed: 24 February 2015]

Greg Lynn Bio (n,d) Greg Lynn Biography [Online] Available at: http://www.egs.edu/faculty/greg-lynn/biography/ [Accessed: 24 February 2015]

Hallock, M. (2010) Art Nouveau. History of Advertising (with a little design)[Online] Available at: http://historyofads.the-voice.com/art-nouveau [Accessed 25 February 2015]

Hatzellis, S (2009) Horror Show: the architecture of Xefirotarch. Australian Design Review. Available at: http://www.australiandesignreview.com/features/637-horror-show-the-architecture-of-xefirotarch [Accessed: 8 February 2015]

Hernan Diaz Alonso Appointed Next Director of SCI-Arc (2014) [Online] Available at: http://www.sciarc.edu/news.php?id=2361 [Accessed: 8 February 2015]

Horth, E. (2009) The Social Agnda of Art Nouveau [Online] Available at: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/guest-column-the-social-agenda-of-art-nouveau/ [Accessed 25 February 2015]

Mark Foster Gage, (n,d) MARK FOSTER GAGE [Online] Available at: http://www.mfga.com/bio-1/ [Accessed 25 March 2015]

Moss, E. (2013) Interview: Hernan Diaz Alonso & Marcelo Spina. The Architecture Review [Online] Available at: http://www.architectural-review.com/comment-and-opinion/interview-hernan-diaz-alonso-and-marcelo-spina/8646930.article [Accessed: 24 February 2015]=Nixon, J. (2007) Art Nouveau: An Overview [Online] Available at: www.rewardinglearning.org.uk/common/.../microsite_doc_link.aspx?...1 [Accessed 25 February 2015]

Openshow J (2014) Evolving Architecture. [Online] Available at: http://postmatter.com/currents/evolving-architecture/#/ [Accessed 25 March 2015]

Oxman, R (2006) Theory and design in the first digital age [Online] Available at: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rivka_Oxman/publication/28579013_Theory_and_design_in_the_first_digital_age/links/00463530b85289358a000000.pdf. [Accessed 25 February 2015]

Rowen, J. (2007) Hector Guimards Metro: The Adaption of an Architecture. [Online] Available at: https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/48-340/assignments/F07%20Rowen%20Paper.pdf [Accessed: 20th February 2015]

8180

Saad, M (2011) Digital Architecture Theoretical Study of Digital Design Modelling. [Online] Available at:https://www.academia.edu/1739597/DIGITAL_ARCHITECTURE_thesis_of_master_degree_in_architecture [Accessed: 20th February 2015]

The Nature of Art Nouveau (2014) [Online] Available at: http://www.jugendstilsenteret.no/exhibitions-c9929l417/art-museum-kube/earlier-at-art-museum-kube [Accessed: 20th March 2015]

(The Open University: Darwin, nd) Darwins Theory of evolution [Online] Available at: http://www.open.ac.uk/darwin/darwin-theory.php [Accessed: 20th March 2015]

Documentaries

Smith, S. (2012) Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau: Paris, British Cities and Paris [Online] Available from: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ir9t4_bbc-sex-and-sensibility-the-allure-of-art-nouveau-1of3-paris-pdtv-xvid-ac3_tech [Accessed: 16th February 2015]

Images Introduction

Fig. 1 [Image Online] Available at: http://xefirotarch.com/current/index.php/home [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 2 [Image Online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sokleine/8660233926/Neo:Natures of Art Nouveau

Origins

Fig. 1 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.wanderingeducators.com/best/traveling/discovering-authentic-paris.html [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 2 [Image Online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pauljw/8407351255/ Fig. 3 Elvira Workshop by Endell (1898) [Image Online] Available at: www.bc.edu [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 4 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.arteliberty.it/firenze_villino_lampredi.html Fig. 5 [Image Online] Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otto_Wagner_Pavillon_Karlsplatz_Wien_1010.JPGFig. 6 Howard, J. (1996) Art Nouveau: International and national styles in Europe. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p.4Fig. 7 Tschudi-Madsen, S. (2002) The Art Nouveau Style: A Comprehensive Guide with 263 Illustrations, Trans. Christopherson, R. New York: Dover Publications. P.16Fig. 8 Tschudi-Madsen, S. (2002) The Art Nouveau Style: A Comprehensive Guide with 263 Illustrations, Trans. Christopherson, R. New York: Dover Publications. P.16Fig. 9 Tschudi-Madsen, S. (2002) The Art Nouveau Style: A Comprehensive Guide with 263 Illustrations, Trans. Christopherson, R. New York: Dover Publications. P.50Fig. 10 Castel Beranger floor plan() [Image Online] Available at: https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/midterm-images/deck/7299008 [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 11 Castel Beranger facade() [Image Online] Available at: http://www.1902.info/building/view/id/75/l/en

Bibliography

[Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 12 Castel Beranger Entrance() [Image Online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/438608451181158353/ [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 13 Castel Beranger door and structure detail () [Image Online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51366740@N07/4835144629/in/photostream/ [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 14 Castel Beranger door and structure detail () [Image Online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51366740@N07/4835144629/in/photostream/ [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 15 [Image Online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mightieone/1429850269/ Fig. 16 [Image Online] Available at: http://artnouveau.pagesperso-orange.fr/en/nature.htmFig. 17 [Image Online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/355291858072737374/

TechnologiesFig. 1 [Image Online] Available at: http://uli.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/006-SullivanCenterIronwork.jpg Fig. 2 [Image Online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/422775483739274672/ Fig. 3 [Image Online] Available at: http://madamepickwickartblog.com/2011/02/gaudi-iron-maidens-heavy-metal-and-a-lightness-of-being/ Fig. 4 Grand Palais() [Image Online] Available at: http://vladimirkagan.typepad.com/vladimir-kagans-blog/2012/12/ [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 5 Tassell House, Victor Horta [Image Online] Available at: http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/603/flashcards/762603/png/untitled1333128911638.png [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 6 Discoveries in BiologyFig. 1 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.samwoolfe.com/2013/06/ernst-haeckels-art-forms-in-nature.html [Accessed 28 March 2015].Fig. 2 [Image Online] Available at: http://jojoantic33.skyrock.com/photo.html?id_article=2168387661&id_article_media=-1 Fig. 3 [Image Online] Available at: http://jackalopetattoo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/laliquemoonstone-day.html

Eugene Violllet-le-DucFig. 1 Great Hall Vault [Image Online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/475833516850465084/ [Accessed 28 March 2015]

Fig. 2 Ball and Socket Detail, Great Hall from Hearn, M. (ed.)(1990) The Architectural Theory of Viollet-le-Duc: Readings and Commentary. Massachusetts: MIT. p.244

Fig. 3 Iron Truss [Image Online] Available at: http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/spr01/282/w3c2i10.htm [Accessed 28 March 2015].

Fig. 4 Assembly Building [Image Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Viollet-le-Duc#/media/File:Viollet-le-DucConcertHallEntretiens.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015


Fig. 1 Metro 1 [Image Online] Available at: https://soundlandscapes.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/021.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]

8382

Fig. 2 Hector Guimard postcard [Image Online] Available at: http://www.delcampe.net/page/item/id,181771505,var,Le-Style-Guimard--Cabinet-de-travail-de-M-Guimard--Ed-Hector-GUIMARD-Arch-dArt-N-10,language,E.html [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 3 Hector Guimard sketch [Image Online] Available at: http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2010/04/15/hector-guimard-sketches/ [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 4 Hector Guimard sketch [Image Online] Available at: http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2010/04/15/hector-guimard-sketches/ [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 5 Metro 2 [Image Online] Available at: https://soundlandscapes.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/062.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 6 Metro Station [Image Online] Available at: https://thebeautyoftransport.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/paris_-_une_gare_du_mc3a9tropolitain_bastille.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]

Vienna Secession

Fig. 1 Secession Building 1 [Image Online] Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Secession_Vienna_June_2006_007.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 2 Secession Building 1 [Image Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Secession#/media/File:Secession_Vienna_June_2006_017.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 3 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.matthewgallaway.com/uncategorized/ Fig. 4 [Image Online] Available at: www.larcobaleno.com Fig. 5 Majolica House, Wagner [Image Online] Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Otto_Wagner_Majolikahaus_Wienzeile_40.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 6 Otto Wagner Karlsplatz station [Image Online] Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otto_Wagner_Pavillon_Karlsplatz_Wien_1010.JPG [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 7 Schlecta project for façade 1900 [Image Online] Available at: http://chambredefleurs.tumblr.com/post/21847580450/hans-schlechta-project-for-an-apartment-house [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 8 Russell, F. (ed.)(1979) Art Nouveau Architecture. London: Academy Editions. p.243Fig. 9 Otto Wagner Austrian Postal Saving Exterior [Image Online] Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Postsparkasse_Georg_Koch_Platz_Otto_Wagner.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 10 Otto Wagner Austrian Postal Saving Interior [Image Online] Available at: http://users.skynet.be/mariav/images/architectuur/Wagner_lobby%20Postal%20Savings%20Bank.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 11 Otto Wagner Second Villa[Image Online] Available at: http://www.la-belle-epoque.de/wien/wagner1e.htm [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 12 Hoffman, Palais Stocklet[Image Online] Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Palais_Stoclet%2C_vue_ensemble.JP [Accessed 28 March 2015]Neo:Natures of Digital NouveauFig. 1 [Image Online] Available at: https://vimeo.com/xefirotarch

Orgins

Fig. 2 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.mfga.com/¬ Fig. 3 Eisenmann [Image Online] Available at: http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/spain/city_culture_santiago_e100311_m2.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 4 Gehry [Image Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry#/media/File:Disney_Concert_Hall_by_Carol_Highsmith_edit2.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 5 ZHA [Image Online] Available at: http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/london/aquatics_centre_

Bibliography

oda120208_a1.jpg [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 6 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.monadstudio.com/filter/projects/TSUNAMI-Memorial Fig. 7 [Image Online] Available at: http://craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/reinvesting-mission TechnologiesFig. 1 Zellner, P (2000) Hybrid Space: New Forms in Digital Architecture. LOCATION: Thames & Hudson Ltd. P. 20Fig. 2 Hernan Diaz Alonso Moma pavillion [Image Online] Available at: http://c-lab.columbia.edu/0069.html [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig.3 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.mfga.com/¬


Fig. 1 D’Acy Thompson’s laws of morphing. [Image Online] Available at http://lamaquinadesumarceros.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/darcy-thompson-y-la-geometria-de-la.html : [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 2 [Image Online] Available at:http://www.monadstudio.com/WOLFSONIAN-Museum-Pavilion

Greg Lynn

Fig. 1 [Image Online] Available at: www.cca.qc.ca [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 2 [Image Online] Available at: http://www.docam.ca/conservation/embryological-house/GL3ArchSig.html [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig. 3 [Image Online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12951443@N07/2090558659/ [Accessed 28 March 2015]

Hernan Diaz Alonso

Fig 1-6 and 8-11 Hernan Diaz Alonso Images [Image Online] Available at: http://xefirotarch.com/current/index.php/home [Accessed 28 March 2015]Fig 7 Casa Mila Plan [Image Online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/564849978234617910 / [Accessed 28 March 2015]

Mark Foster Gage

Fig 1-13 Mark Foster Gage Images [Image Online] Available at: http://www.mfga.com/ [Accessed 28 March 2015]

Conclusion Fig 1-3 Images by Abigail Whitlow (the author)

neo:natures - wordpress.com · fig 1- hernan diaz alonso fig 2- hector guimard, castel beranger the...

Documents