Environmental Conditioning of Performative Architecture: Exploring non-standard methods of construction in performative architecture

Abstract

This body of work notes that design explorations of ‘environmental conditioning’ negotiate alternative methods of designing and constructing architecture. This research focuses on synchronising the formation process of architecture with real-time micro-climate conditions. By establishing a synchronicity between architecture and environment, a language of place is embedded into the materiality and shape of architectural form. Buildings become more than occupiable objects; in addition to providing habitation, buildings which respond to place become comprehendible systems which converse with users about qualities of the local environment. This conversation can be read through the visual cues in the architectural facade as a result of kinetic tracing. The following discussion on this alternative architectural typology, explores proponents of parametric design and the methods which have been used to manage the complexity of this non-standard architecture. Design responds to literature studies of parametric design, navigating the criticisms and discussing the relevance of digital computation as a valuable type of architecture when applied as a tool to collect environmental information.