Smartgeometry (SG) has had an enormous influence on the emerging
architectural community interested in exploring creative
computational methods for the design of buildings. An informal
international network of practitioners and researchers, the group
meets annually to experiment with new technologies and collaborate
to develop digital design techniques.
SG was founded in 2001 by London-based architects and friends
Hugh Whitehead (Foster + Partners), J Parrish (Aecom) and Lars
Hesselgren (PLP). At the time there were little in the way of
parametric tools for architecture. SG was founded to encourage
development, discussion and experimentation relating to new digital
design environments that could be driven by design intent rather
than based on construction specifications. The need for new ways of
design thinking led to the parallel development of software
GenerativeComponents which was tested in the early years of the
annual workshops. In response to the needs of designers, the
ecology of these design environments has diversified to include
multiple software platforms, as well as innovative fabrication
techniques and interactive environments.
SG calls for a re-consideration of the design process, where the
creation of computational mechanisms become an integral part of
designing - not a task done prior to or separate from the process.
From pencil to algorithm, the tools that architects use directly
influence their creative process. New design tools and new design
environments therefore mean a requisite re-thinking of what
architecture is, and can be. "Inside Smartgeometry" examines and
contextualizes the work of the SG community: the digital spaces,
prototypes, and buildings designed using bespoke tools created in
response to architectural ideas.
From interactive crowd-sourcing tools to responsive agent-based
systems to complex digitally fabricated structures, this book
explores more than a decade of advances that have influenced both
the practice of architecture and the theory that drives it. SG has
grown from a handful of experts to an international network of
designers who are helping to define design environments of the
future. Founded by digital pioneers it creates the algorithmic
designers of the future.
This book can be seen as a retroactive manifesto for SG,
celebrating the varied approaches to computational design explored
by forward thinking practitioners and researchers. Through
twenty-three original texts including reflections by the founders,
and texts by Robert Aish, Martin Bechthold, Rob Woodbury, Chris
Williams and Mark Burry, the book offers a critical state of the
art of computational design for architecture. SG has been relevant
to many international design and engineering offices and the book
includes chapters by practitioners from offices such as Foster +
Partners, Grimshaw, SOM, Design2Production, CASE, and Populous.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!