Formal Mutations: Variation, Constraint, Selection

Abstract

Formal mutations explore tectonic possibilities in architectural form and space. They build upon the observation that editing already existing data is more native to the digital environment than inputting new data. In an architectural context, this means that transforming already existing forms is a potent and effective way to derive new forms, ideas and designs. This is achieved by animating an initial form with the use of space warps, morphs and form modifiers. Any form can be subsequently deformed and used as a seed for another design. In a further step the process of change is paralleled to other processes such as those found in nature and evolution. As a result, design methodology has to account for the creative error-mutation that helps a designer break away from the obvious and predictable, while setting design on unexpected but meaningful trajectories. Terms such as contaminations, traces, seeds, thresholds, attractors, etc. are becoming building blocks of the design process.

Novelty in human clocks requires independent acts of creation. Novelty in biological clocks seems more suited to iterative modification from a common origin.

M. Kirschner and J. Gerhart (2005: 7).

First published as: Andrejz Zarzycki , “Formal Mutations: Variation, Constraint, Selection”, pp. 33–46 in Nexus VII: Architecture and Mathematics, Kim Williams, ed. Turin: Kim Williams Books, 2008.