So Sandford Kwinter, an associate professor at Rice, released his new book last night– Far From Equilibrium. Sanford spoke to us about the ideas behind the book. He said it contained the answer to a question he had always wished someone would ask him.
(Someone) Sanford, what do you think has been the one defining concept of the 20th century?
The explanation is complex and I’m still not quite sure I get it but Chreods are the ultimate determinants of form!(?) And the exploration of its science has been the single most significant influence over the field of architecture in the ‘post blob’ era.
So basically, Sanford reckons that by looking at the work of early mathematical biologists and physicist like Conrad Waddington, D'Arcy Thompson and Rupert Sheldrake, whose work revolves around the concept of the chreod and the epigenetic landscape (waaaa?), you can trace the emergence of recent concepts in architecture and the proliferation of tools like algorithms, string theory, parametric design and scripting to generate form.
So here is a recent studio project of mine and Viktor Ramos from Christopher Hight's studio. Yes, I also plead guilty.