The Hylozoic Soil experimental architecture series developed by architect Philip Beesley and engineer Rob Gorbet has been expanded and refined by researchers, engineers and designe rs from around the world. An interactive geotextile mesh that senses human occupants, Hylozoic Soil transforms a static building into a responsive environment, filling it with a kind of mechanical empathy. The space functions like a giant lung that breathes in and out around its occupants in peristaltic waves of lightweight pores. With contributions by:Will Elsworthy, Rob Gorbet, Jonah Humphrey, Hayley Isaacs, and Christian Joakim. Project selected as Canada's Venice Biennale entry for 2010.

In the context of recent global political and economic disruption, architecture seems no longer equipped to address the demands of contem- porary society as an isolated discipline. One solution offered in this crisis of relevance is the notion of transdisciplinarity characterised by the hybridisa- tion of distinct disciplines. Transdisciplinarity is the New Order. In ection Volume 3 explores the achievements, limitations and future implications of this transdisciplinary age, weaving together a fragment of the tapestry that is expanded architectural practice. In tracing the trajectory of this New Order, this issue uncovers the matter that binds architecture together in this fragmented, yet hyperconnected epoch. Wir contributions by Forensic Architecture, Lateral Office, Rory Hyde, Breathe Architecture and many more... In ection is a student-run design journal based at the Melbourne School of Design, Melbourne University. Born from a desire to stimulate debate and generate ideas, it advocates the discursive voice of students, academics and practitioners. Founded in 2013, In ection is a home for provocative writing – a place to share ideas and engage with contemporary discourse.

Buildings are increasingly ‘dynamic’: equipped with sensors, actuators and controllers, they ‘self-adjust’ in response to changes in the external and internal environments and patterns of use. Building Dynamics asks how this change manifests itself and what it means for architecture as buildings weather, programs change, envelopes adapt, interiors are reconfigured, systems replaced. Contributors including Chuck Hoberman, Robert Kronenburg, David Leatherbarrow, Kas Oosterhuis, Enric Ruiz-Geli, and many others explore the changes buildings undergo – and the scale and speed at which these occur – examining which changes are necessary, useful, desirable, and possible. The first book to offer a coherent, comprehensive approach to this topic, it draws together arguments previously only available in scattered form. Featuring the latest technologies and design approaches used in contemporary practice, the editors provide numerous examples of cutting-edge work from leading designers and engineering firms working today. An essential text for students taking design studio classes or courses in theory or technology at any level, as well as professionals interested in the latest mechatronic technologies and design techniques.

A sustained engagement between contemporary art and philosophy relating to our place in, and responsibility to, the nonhuman world How do contemporary art and theory contemplate the problem of the “bio” of biopolitics and bioart? How do they understand the question of “life” that binds human and nonhuman worlds in their shared travail? In Art and Posthumanism, Cary Wolfe argues for the reconceptualization of nature in art and theory to turn the idea of the relationship between the human and the planet upside down. Wolfe explores a wide range of contemporary artworks—from Sue Coe’s illustrations of animals in factory farms and Eduardo Kac’s bioart to the famous performance pieces of Joseph Bueys and the video installations of Eija-Liisa Ahtila, among others—examining how posthumanist theory can illuminate, and be illuminated by, artists’ engagement with the more-than-human world. Looking at biological and social systems, the question of the animal, and biopolitics, Art and Posthumanism explores how contemporary art rivets our attention on the empirically thick, emotionally charged questions of “life” and the “living” amid ecological catastrophe. One of the foremost theorists of posthumanism, Wolfe pushes that philosophy out of the realm of the purely theoretical to show how a posthumanist engagement with particular works and their conceptual underpinnings help to develop more potent ethical and political commitments.

This book sets out the conditions under which the need for a new approach to the production of architecture in the twenty-first century is established, where our homes and cities are facing increasing pressures from environmental challenges that are compromising our lives and well being. Vibrant architecture embodies a new kind of architectural design practice that explores how lively materials, or 'vibrant matter', may be incorporated into our buildings to confer on them some of the properties of living things, such as movement, growth, sensitivity and self-repair. The theoretical and practical implications of how this may occur are explored through the application of a new group of materials. Characteristically, these substances possess some of the properties of living systems but may not have the full status of being truly alive. They include forms of chemical artificial life such as 'dynamic droplets' or synthetically produced soils. As complex systems, they are able to communicate directly with the natural world using a shared language of chemistry and so, negotiate their continued survival in a restless world. Vibrant architecture may create new opportunities for architectural design practice that venture beyond top-down form-finding programs, by enabling architects to co-design in partnership with human and nonhuman collectives, which result from the production of post natural landscapes. Ultimately, vibrant architecture may operate as an ecological platform for human development that augments the liveliness of our planet, rather than diminishes it.

Throughout the ages architects have attempted to capture the essence of living systems as design inspiration. However, practitioners of the built environment have had to deal with a fundamental split between the artificial urban landscape and nature owing to a technological 'gap' that means architects have been unable to make effective use of biological systems in urban environments. Protocell Architecture is an edition of AD that shows for the first time that contemporary architects can create and construct architectures that are bottom up, synthetically biological, green and have no recourse to shallow bio-mimicry. In the next few decades, synthetic biology is set to have as much, if not more, impact on architecture as cyberspace and the digital. The key to these amazing architectural innovations is the Protocell.

Architecture and Adaptation discusses architectural projects that use computational technology to adapt to changing conditions and human needs. Topics include kinetic and transformable structures, digitally driven building parts, interactive installations, intelligent environments, early precedents and their historical context, socio-cultural aspects of adaptive architecture, the history and theory of artificial life, the theory of human-computer interaction, tangible computing, and the social studies of technology. Author Socrates Yiannoudes proposes tools and frameworks for researchers to evaluate examples and tendencies in adaptive architecture. Illustrated with more than 50 black and white images.

This full-color volume proposes an innovative methodology that uses the functional aspects of nature to inspire improvements in building design and form, encouraging designers to apply biomimetic principles to architectural processes. The book focuses on the analysis of various animal skins, translating the principles of communication, thermoregulation, water balance, and protection into the built environment. Illustrating how biomimetic principles can create a more sustainable way of building, this is the first time the author's new methodology-as well as the 12 case studies-has been published.

This book examines the manifestations of architecture, cities, and design processes within digital culture. Adopting a comparative and critical method, the author looks at past and present encounters of the digital with architectural discourse and practice. Along three central themes – machines, networks, and computation – the book begins by discussing transformations of the analogy between architecture and the machine since the early twentieth century, foregrounding questions about the relations between architecture, humans, machines, and the environment. It moves on to the city, to observe how big data and smart city sustainable management systems have transformed historical visions of global networked cities. Lastly, it explores computational design thinking historically and in the context of complex systems, as well as the latest technical, social, and economic developments. Exposing possible drawbacks while still focusing on what is radically innovative, this book proposes a way toward more liberating, digital, and sustainable futures for architecture. An important read for architecture students, academics, and professionals, this book connects instances of digital architecture practice and discourse throughout the history of the digital culture paradigm and their ties with sociopolitical developments. It shares the possibility that these connecting lines may be the canvas for a novel architectural history of the recent past.