Manuel DeLanda recognizes in the book “Nonorganic Life” that the practice of studying and perceiving phenomena in science is changing culturally (1). We have new technologies and have clearer and flexible views on the possibilities of nature that previously were not possible to see or to comprehend. At one point, all of western civilization thought the world was flat and there was no convincing otherwise, yet now we are capable of traveling to outer space and view the planet as a sphere. With the improvement in technology and more open conception of the world around us, we are recognizing science at a more biological level, rather than a physical level. Even in a controlled and constructed environment, there are factors which are unseen at one moment in time which can shed light on how a city grows and pulses as an organism.
On YouTube, you can find time lapse videos of the city of Vancouver (2). Although this city is a contemporary city, there are many systems and networks interacting that are clearly visible through a sped up video. It is clear to see the oscillations of the sun, tides and fog as they cause the city to light up or be hidden at certain times of day. At the same time, there are networks through the street grid which act as patterns and connections similar to neurons in the brain. It acts as a pattern that pulses with the flow of traffic. At the same time, lights in the buildings are switching on and off due to different reactions constantly. As DeLanda explains, these reactions are not counterintuitive and can be caused by several factors that are likely not to be represented in a linear model (3). Vancouver is constantly beating with life.
As architects, it is imperative to understand buildings as in the “Emergence in Architecture”. The Emergence and Design Group acknowledges that,
“Emergence requires the recognition of buildings not as singular and fixed bodies, but as complex energy and material systems that have a life span, and exist as part of the environment of other buildings, and as an iteration of a long series that proceeds by evolutionary development towards an intelligent ecosystem.”(4)
Although buildings are controlled and constructed objects, the effects to itself from the surrounding networks and systems as well as the effects of itself to the surrounding networks and systems are deeply imbedded in a higher organization.
There is a hierarchy in the city that links individual structures and beings together in a larger overarching institution with many layers of information. As more individuals link to the institution, it becomes more complex at one level of understanding, yet more refined at the higher level of understanding (5). With the technology and perspective society uses today, the complexities of organisms are revealed as sophisticated and clear systems.
- Nonorganic Life
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xMz2SnSWS4
- Nonorganic Life
- Emergence in Architecture
- Nonorganic Life