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Evolutionary Algorithms In Architecture

Prof. Dr. Peter Schwehr (Competence Centre for Typology & Foresight Planning in Architecture Lucerne School of Engineering and Architecture Technikumstrasse 21 CH-6048 Horw / Luzern Switzerland)

Open House International

ISSN: 0168-2601

Article publication date: 1 March 2011

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Abstract

Change is a reliable constant. Constant change calls for strategies in managing everyday life and a high level of flexibility. Architecture must also rise to this challenge. The architect Richard Buckminster Fuller claimed that “A room should not be fixed, should not create a static mood, but should lend itself to change so that its occupants may play upon it as they would upon a piano (Krausse 2001).” This liberal interpretation in architecture defines the ability of a building to react to (ever-) changing requirements. The aim of the project is to investigate the flexibility of buildings using evolutionary algorithms characterized by Darwin. As a working model for development, the evolutionary algorithm consists of variation, selection and reproduction (VSR algorithm). The result of a VSR algorithm is adaptability (Buskes 2008). If this working model is applied to architecture, it is possible to examine as to what extent the adaptability of buildings – as an expression of a cultural achievement – is subject to evolutionary principles, and in which area the model seems unsuitable for the 'open buildings' criteria. (N. John Habraken). It illustrates the significance of variation, selection and replication in architecture and how evolutionary principles can be transferred to the issues of flexible buildings. What are the consequences for the building if it were to be designed and built with the help of evolutionary principles? How can we react to the growing demand for flexibilization of buildings by using evolutionary principles?

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Citation

Schwehr, P. (2011), "Evolutionary Algorithms In Architecture", Open House International, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 16-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/OHI-01-2011-B0003

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Open House International

Copyright © 2011 Open House International

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