omnispace

Cymatics

An intriguing study into wave formations (mostly sound) Cymatics looks at the mesmerizing organic shapes created by invisible waves. Founded by Swiss doctor and scientist Hans Jenny who used simple sine waves to create patterns in powders, liquids and pastes, the book collects images developed over 14 years. The resulting mandalas reference art (like the work of Herwig Weiser), architecture, geometry and nature, among other disciplines. www.cymaticsource.com

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins is the world's most controversial evolutionary biologist. Publication of his 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene," thrust Dawkins into the limelight as the handsome, irascible, human face of scientific reductionism. The book provoked everything from outrage to glee by arguing that natural selection worked its creative powers only through genes, not species or individuals. Humans are merely "gene survival machines," he asserted in the book. Dawkins stuck to his theme but expanded his territory in such subsequent books as "The Blind Watchmaker," "Unweaving the Rainbow" and "Climbing Mount Improbable." His recent work, "The Ancestor's Tale," traces human lineage back through time, stopping to ponder important forks in the evolutionary road. Currently, Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, a position created for him in 1995 by Charles Simonyi, a Microsoft millionaire.

BibliOdyssey

Starry Night by Tom Harper
BibliOdyssey is a blog that deals in archive images from obscure sources (usually old books). Typically, it presents old scientific diagrams, pattern samples, anatomical studies, ancient maps or just anything that has a strong visual attraction combined with a sense of the obscure and arcane. All told, it is a delightful image resource for anyone with even a slight sense of the magical.

Catalytic Formations

Catalytic Formations by Ali Rahim
Ali Rahim teaches at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and is the Design Director of Contemporary Architecture Practice which has established an award winning profile in futuristic work using cutting edge digital design and production techniques. Above is taken from his designs for the Reebok Flagship store in Shanghai.

His work has a seamless 'ethereal' quality, as seen here in a recent London residential project. He has been published extensively in the press and most recently selected into 10x10_2 and for the Architectural Record Design Vanguard 2004, as one of eleven architectural practices worldwide "building the future of architecture". His books include Catalytic Formations: Architecture and Digital Design 2005 and two Architecture Design [AD] volumes; Contemporary Techniques in Architecture, 2002 and Contemporary Processes in Architecture, 2000.

Neural Patterns

The recent study of complexity and patterns (fractals) via physics has relevance to architecture. A fascinating path by way of Nikos A. Salingaros, Mathematics Professor at the University of Texas in an article entitled "Architecture, Patterns and Mathematics" theorizes that: "Man's visual system is especially receptive to patterns." In Salingaros' treatise patterns are defined as "regularity in some dimension" and that mathematics is a science of patterns. Thus I began to see how mathematics, patterns and gestalt psychology began to intertwine and be applied to architecture. The paper referred to mankind's need to "generate patterns out of some basic inner need" and applying basic psychology we might ask, are human beings insecure in a perceived wildly chaotic universe? If the answer is yes, then does architecture fulfill man's craving for meaning? And if symmetry and patterns are preferred or considered 'beautiful' does this conversely imply that random design, empty walls, little colour, no pattern be judged as non-preferable or even 'ugly'?

Salingaros informs us that historically architects were mathematicians and that the two disciplines were indistinguishable. The Medieval stonemasons had a strong understanding of Platonic philosophy, proportion and mathematics and to them all their work was grounded in the ancient Pythagorean maxim "all is number." Studying the Gothic structures geometry and mathematics are completely woven into the structure's physical features. Ancient Classical cultures and Western European Renaissance architect mathematicians designed their structures with patterns in mind and thus the structures themselves reflected processes which are inherent in the human mind. see also gestalt

Fractal Architecture

Melbourne's Federation Square by Lab Architecture Studio
Bestselling architectural reference The New Paradigm of Architecture by Charles Jencks tells the story of postmodernism, a movement that has changed the face of architecture. It synthesises the main trends of current architecture motivated by environmental issues, complexity theory, fractals, landforms and cosmology.

Lucy Bullivant: Responsive Environments

Topotensegrity by Robert Neumayr
Responsive Environments by Lucy Bullivant defines spaces that interact with the people who use them, pass through them or by them - have in a very short space of time become ubiquitous. Not just confined to the fantasy worlds of films ... digital technology-enabled spaces, notoriously employing unprecedented levels of CCTV as well as demonstrating the seemingly infinite powers of multimedia, have invaded our lives, fundamentally affecting the identity of public, corporate, retail and cultural spaces, and connecting remote environments. Lucy has curated a wide range of ground-breaking and successful exhibitions. Featuring creatives from a range of disciplines, her exhibitions and conferences deal with topics including architecture's role as a social art, models of best practice in the emerging field of responsive environments, new design strategies for housing, the design of children's environments within and beyond the Western world, inclusive design and young architectural practices.

Linked: everything is connected

A cocktail party. A terrorist cell. Ancient bacteria. An international conglomerate. All are networks, and all are a part of a surprising scientific revolution. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Europe's foremost expert in the new science of networks, takes us on an intellectual adventure to prove that social networks, corporations, and living organisms are more similar than previously thought. Grasping a full understanding of network science will someday allow us to design blue-chip businesses, stop the outbreak of deadly diseases, and influence the exchange of ideas and information. Just as James Gleick brought the discovery of chaos theory to the public, Linked tells the story of the true science of the future.

Creative Class

Richard Florida is a professor of regional economic development at Carnegie Mellon University. He is best known for his work in developing his concept of the creative class and its ramifications in urban regeneration. Simply framed, he believes cities attracting gays, bohemians, and ethnic minorities are the new economic powerhouses because they are also the places where creative workers, the kind who start and staff innovative, fast-growing companies want to live. To lure this workforce, Florida argues, cities must dispense with stuffy old theories of economic development like the notion that low taxes are what draw in companies and workers and instead must spend heavily on cultural amenities and pursue progressive social legislation. Researchers have critiqued Florida's work for shortcomings in its methodology questioned his empirical evidence, suggesting his observed correlations may be spurious, overly simplistic, or even that the official Standard Occupational Classification System data-sets he uses may be questionable. His first book, the Rise of the Creative Class came at the tail of the dot-com boom, and the conditions it describes may no longer exist. In his sequel book, Florida argues that the health and growth of the U.S. "creative class" is at threat because potential immigrants to the US cannot easily obtain entry-permits post 9/11.

The Augmented Body

Stelarc the Monograph
Stelarc is the most celebrated artist in the world working within technology and the visual arts. He is both an artist and a phenomenon, using his body as medium and exhibition space. Working in the interface between the body and the machine, employing virtual reality, robotics, medical instruments, prosthetics, and the Internet, Stelarc's art includes physical acts that don't always look survivable -- or, as science fiction novelist William Gibson puts it in his foreword, "sometimes seem to include the possibility of terminality."