COMPLEXITY IN THE DIGITAL

It's a conversation I have had since I started architecture school...one that was driven in large part by classes with Ferda Kolatan. Parametric design allows for intricate complexity. We have seen many proposed strategies for how to address the complexity needed in architecture--infrastructure being one option. For me the common criteria in how to address complexity is scalability. Ferda had a theory that the same characteristics that we value in parametric design can be seen in the architecture and art of the Rococo period. Most of the designs are based on one unit, most often the rocaille pictured above. That unit is used to create an atmospheric design that is engulfing because it is used at several levels, furniture to a room to a building. 

That same strategy is used with parametric design and with firms like Zaha Hadid, we have seen how parametricism can be used at the urban scale with masterplans. There is a class offered next semester on how digital design's complexity can be used to address a wide berth of social issues. It is particularly interesting to me because most parametric programs have roots in industrial design where designs needed to be repetitive, scalable, and changed in increments. Its pretty amazing to me that yet again, architecture's roots are based in a industrial practices that when adopted by architecture become focused on aesthetics.