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.

With the increasing sophistication of CAD and other design software, there is now a wide array of means for both designing and fabricating architecture and its components. The proliferation of advanced modelling software and hardware has enabled architects and students to conceive and create designs that would be very difficult to do using more traditional methods. The use of CAD technologies in the production of physical models, prototypes and individual elements is increasingly widespread through processes such as CAD/CAM, CNC milling and rapid prototyping. This translation of computer-generated data to physical artefact can also be reversed with devices such as a digitiser, which traces the contours of physical objects directly into the computer. This book focuses on the inspiring possibilities for architecture that can be explored with all the different technologies and techniques available for making complete designs or their components.

This book presents the recent computational developments inspired by swarms in art known as swarm art and discusses applying swarm intelligence concepts in architecture. Non-human art is a great leap in the evolution of contemporary art, removing the requirement of an artist’s production from the creative process. Furthermore, it is a critical declaration in opposition to the anthropomorphic vision which is so destructive for all other life forms and the planet’s ecology. When accepted and integrated into human culture, non-human art done by artificial systems or machines boosts creativity and stimulates innovative fusions. We analyze 120 swarm systems with unique and diverse conceptual contexts, agent design, and audience engagement that can be utilized as inspiration for future projects or to design new swarm algorithms by artists, architects, or computer scientists.

The essential reader on fabrication in architecture for practitioners and producers alike An original and informative reader on the subject of translating architectural ideas from conceptual propositions to physical manifestations, Manufacturing the Bespoke is an essential resource for students and practitioners of architecture, as well as producers and suppliers of architectural products. At a time where roles, methods and capabilities within the disciplines of building production are in unprecedented flux, this book: Provides a unique and highly current treatment on the subject of fabrication in architecture with its emphasis on contemporary technology, cultural history and theory A key source book for students and professionals engaged in manufacturing/fabrication projects Includes extended articles by internationally renowned critics, theorists, educators and designers, such as Mathias Kohler, Nevi Oxman, and Michael Stacey Articles will examine and refer to key portfolios of the 20th and 21st Century including works by Pierre Charreau, Peter Salter and Rural Studio Featuring essays from pioneering architects, engineers, academics and designers from around the world on both existing and yet-to-be-built projects, the book covers architecture across the ages.

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.

This book is an analytical enquiry of ‘reflex phenomenon’ in spatial components of a reflexive space. It is a quest in search for meaning of building a reflexive spatial system. The study analyses the ways in which emergent technologies can transform built spaces from being mere mute objects in an environment to elevate them into adaptive experiential spaces for the people who use it. It is envisioned to briefly and clearly understand the forces in a responsive built environments in the digital age that manifest itself in various forms of spatial flexibility. Here it specifically intends to address the issues of a ‘reflexive spaces’, and how such spaces can transform the experience of a user through technological advancements. The document also tends to explain how reflexive spaces are built and maintained to follow different patterns of behaviour in a singular space.