Transparent movement breaking the surface /

by Cristofaro, Nicholas M.

The relationship between the architect and virtual environment in which buildings are created has been changed by the introduction of the computer into the field of architecture. Some architects, using advanced software, have used the computer to explore the relationship between movement and architecture. The architect can, with the aid of computers, simulate environmental forces in the virtual space. The technology is new, but the attempt to reconcile architecture with movement is not the first. Architects of past generations, inspired by the technology of their own time, sought to create buildings based on their own understanding of movement. As technology has allowed architects to look at buildings in new ways; it has brought a new set of problems with it. Architects working with simulated environments have developed their own formal vocabulary derived from the ability of the computer. The amorphic “blobs” that are often the result of simulating force have been the most controversial and problematic product of these architects. The amorphic building becomes particularly problematic in the urban environment. A combination of the conceptualization of the building and the construction generate a surface that disconnects the building from the urban environment. The building, disconnected, creates a void in the fabric of the city that becomes detrimental to the life of the city. This document examines the methods, past and present, of the representation of motion and the underlying ideas that make that representation possible. ii