Metamorphosis

Architecture 209X, Spring 2007

Words and Cities: The rhetoric and meaning of statistically improbable phrases

Nicholas De Monchaux

Qing Wang

Metamorphosis

The definition of metamorphosis is quite clear. According to the article, it comes from Greek and means cross-form, namely, transformation from one form to another form. Now we deal with the controversial topic like form and transformation. It is not issue only architects concerns. It almost involved all the visual creative activities. It has been discussed for centuries by the philosophers. A static form is hard to understand in terms of that it only shows the results of the forming not process. Transformation gives the opportunities for us to witness the changing form. It shows the magic how form has been generated or evolved. The invisible force which shapes the form has been seen by this process. It is so intriguing that numerous films and paintings try to capture as much detail as they can to anatomize, unfold and expose to the viewers. Unfortunately, these slowing down images are never true enough to represent the natural transformation. People are familiar with Darwin’s theory already, but they don’t see it in nature because it takes longer than their patience. For them, understanding form may be just a fun. As architects who deal with artificial form generation, take it extremely serous. Exaggeratively, all the architecture education is to understand forms and make forms. We know forms existing in nature. They are done by some forces. We learn from nature and physics to analogize. Comparing to nature, architectural form is limited to a pathetic degree. We simply take the mathematic geometry as our default basic form to add on some kinds of architectural conventional forces: circulation, program, sun angle, and view angle, etc to finish the design. We do that because we can understand simple geometry. Our brain cannot do such complicated analysis. Computational simulation makes this happen. It can represent the natural evolution more accuracy by counting more and more potential impacting force. We might not understand the form like the box which we deal with hundreds of years, but with the aid of computational simulation, we can generate form more free. John Frazer believes this ultimate form can also adjust to its environment like the creatures. The responsive form can be evolved, recycled like other natural objects. We are far away to understand nature. The best form maker is still nature itself. I wonder if the ultimate form is the nature or we can go beyond that.