Architectural Materialisms: Nonhuman Creativity (New Materialisms)

This book gathers 14 voices from a diverse group of architects, designers, performing artists, film makers, media theorists, philosophers, mathematicians and programmers. By transversally crossing disciplinary boundaries, new and profound insights into contemporary thinking and creating architecture emerge. The book is at the forefront of the current contemplation on matter and its significance for and within architecture. The premise is that matter in posthuman times has to be rethought in the rich and multifaceted context of contemporary computational architecture, and in the systemic and ecological context of pervasive computer simulations. Combining the dynamism of materiality and the capacities of nonhuman machines towards prototyping spatiotemporal designs and constructs, leads to alternative conceptions of the human, of ethics, aesthetics and politics in this world yet-to-come. The reader, through the various approaches presented by the authors’ perspectives, will appreciate that creativity can come from allowing matter to take the lead in the feedback loop of the creative process towards a relevant outcome evaluated as such by a matter of concern actualised within the ecological milieu of design. The focus is on the authors’ speculative dimension in their multifaceted role of discussing materiality by recognising that a transdisciplinary mode is first and foremost a speculative praxis in our effort to trace materiality and its affects in creativity. The book is not interested in discussing technicalities and unidirectional approaches to materiality, and retreats from a historical linear timeline of enquiry whilst establishing a sectional mapping of materiality’s importance in the emergent future of architecture. Maps materiality's importance in the emergent posthuman future of architectureExamines how contemporary materialist philosophies affect the theory and practice of architecture Addresses the consequences of the strong impact of information technology and computation on the conception on matter and on the processes through which it can be modelled and testedThe interdisciplinary approach allows architecture, philosophy, materials sciences, humanities and media theory to cross their disciplinary boundaries to offer more profound insights into contemporary architecture This book gathers 14 architects, designers, performing artists, film makers, media theorists, philosophers, mathematicians and programmers. They all argue that matter in contemporary posthuman times has to be rethought in its rich internal dynamism and its multifaceted context. By transversally crossing disciplinary boundaries, new and profound insights into contemporary thinking and creating architecture emerge.Combining the dynamism of materiality and the capacities of nonhuman machines towards prototyping spatiotemporal designs and constructs leads to alternative conceptions of the human, of ethics, aesthetics and politics in this world yet-to-come.ContributorsJen Archer-Martin, Subject Coordinator of Spatial Design, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Levi R. Bryant, Professor of Philosophy, Collin College, USA.Vera Bühlmann, Professor of Architecture Theory, Vienna Technical University.Mark Burry, Architect and Founding Director of the Smart Cities Research Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Marcos Cruz, Professor of Innovative Environments and Director of the BiotA Lab, The Bartlett, University of London, UK.Manuel DeLanda, Lecturer in Architecture, Princeton University School of Architecture, USA; Lecturer in Architecture, University of Pennsylvania School of Design, USA; Adjunct Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, Pratt Institute, USA; Gilles Deleuze Chair and Professor of Philosophy, European Graduate School, Switzerland.Pia Ednie-Brown, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, Australia. Kas Oosterhuis, Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Qatar University in Doha, Qatar.Jussi Parikka, Professor in Technological Culture & Aesthetics, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK.Luciana Parisi, Reader in Cultural Theory and Co-director of the Digital Culture Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.Julieanna Preston, Professor of Spatial Practice, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University, Aotearoa, New Zealand.Lars Spuybroek, Professor of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA.Maria Voyatzaki (Vogiatzaki), Professor of Architecture, Anglia Ruskin University, UK; Professor of Architectural Design and Technology, School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Fernando Zalamea, Professor of Mathematics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia Maps materiality’s importance in the emergent posthuman future of architecture - Examines how contemporary materialist philosophies affect the theory and practice of architecture - Addresses the consequences of the strong impact of information technology and computation on the conception on matter and on the processes through which it can be modelled and tested - The interdisciplinary approach allows architecture, philosophy, materials sciences, humanities and media theory to cross their disciplinary boundaries to offer more profound insights into contemporary architecture This book gathers 14 architects, designers, performing artists, film makers, media theorists, philosophers, mathematicians and programmers. They all argue that matter in contemporary posthuman times has to be rethought in its rich internal dynamism and its multifaceted context. By transversally crossing disciplinary boundaries, new and profound insights into contemporary thinking and creating architecture emerge. Maps materiality's importance in the emergent posthuman future of architecture This book gathers 14 architects, designers, performing artists, film makers, media theorists, philosophers, mathematicians and programmers. They all argue that matter in contemporary posthuman times has to be rethought in its rich internal dynamism and its multifaceted context. By transversally crossing disciplinary boundaries, new and profound insights into contemporary thinking and creating architecture emerge. 0Combining the dynamism of materiality and the capacities of nonhuman machines towards prototyping spatiotemporal designs and constructs leads to alternative conceptions of the human, of ethics, aesthetics and politics in this world yet-to-come This volume gathers 14 architects, designers, performing artists, film makers, media theorists, philosophers, mathematicians and programmers. They all argue that matter in contemporary posthuman times has to be rethought in its rich internal dynamism and its multifaceted context. By transversally crossing disciplinary boundaries, new and profound insights into contemporary thinking and creating architecture emerge. Combining the dynamism of materiality and the capacities of nonhuman machines towards prototyping spatiotemporal designs and constructs leads to alternative conceptions of the human, of ethics, aesthetics and politics in this world yet-to-come Edited By Maria Voyatzaki. Includes Index.