Though parametricism has its roots in the digital animation techniques of the mid-1990s, it has only fully emerged in recent years with the development of advanced parametric design systems.

Developed over the past 15 years and now claiming hegemony within avant-garde architecture practice, it succeeds Modernism as the next long wave of systematic innovation.

Parametricism finally brings to an end the transitional phase of uncertainty engendered by the crisis of Modernism and marked by a series of relatively short-lived architectural episodes that included Postmodernism, Deconstructivism and Minimalism.

So pervasive is the application of its techniques that parametricism is now evidenced at all scales from architecture to interior design to large urban design. Indeed, the larger the project, the more pronounced is parametricism’s superior capacity to articulate programmatic complexity.

Zaha Hadid Archiects, Kartal-Pendik Masterplan, Istanbul, Turkey, 2006

[Fabric study. The urban fabric comprises both cross towers and perimeter blocks. The image shows the morphological range of the perimeter block type. Blocks are split into four quadrants allowing for a secondary, pedestrian path system. At certain network crossing points the block system is assimilated to the tower system: each block sponsors one of the quadrants to form a pseudo-tower around a network crossing point.]

Parametricism as Style

 Avant-garde architecture and urbanism are going through a cycle of innovative adaptation – retooling and refashioning the discipline to meet the socioeconomic demands of the post-Fordism era.
The mass society that was characterised by a universal consumption standard has evolved into the heterogeneous society of the multitude, marked by a proliferation of lifestyles and extensive work-path differentiation.

Contemporary avant-garde architecture and urbanism seek to address this societal demand via a rich panoply of parametric design techniques. However, what confronts us is a new style rather than merely a new set of techniques. The techniques in question – the employment of animation, simulation and form-finding tools, as well as parametric modelling and scripting – have inspired a new collective movement with radically new ambitions and values. In turn, this development has led to many new, systematically connected design problems that are being worked on competitively by a global network of design researchers.

Over and above aesthetic recognisability, it is this pervasive, long-term consistency of shared design ambitions/problems that justifies the enunciation of a new style in the sense of an epochal phenomenon.

Parametricism is a mature style. There has been talk of ‘continuous differentiation’, versioning, iteration and mass customisation among other things for quite some time now within architectural avant-garde discourse.

The defining heuristics of parametricism is fully reflected in the taboos
and dogmas of contemporary avant-garde design culture:

• Negative heuristics (taboos): avoid rigid geometric primitives such as squares, triangles and circles; avoid simple repetition of elements, avoid juxtaposition of unrelated elements or systems.

• Positive heuristics (dogmas): consider all forms to be parametrically malleable; differentiate gradually (at varying rates), inflect and correlate systematically.

The following five agendas seek to inject new aspects into the parametric paradigm and to further extend the new style’s reach:

1. 1 Parametric inter-articulation of subsystems

1. 2 Parametric accentuation

1. 3 Parametric figuration

Complex configurations in which multiple readings are latent can be constructed as a parametric model with extremely figuration-sensitive variables. Parametric variations trigger ‘gestalt-catastrophes’, that
is, the quantitative modification of these parameters triggers qualitative shifts in the perceived configuration.

1. 4 Parametric responsiveness
   

Urban and architectural environments possess an inbuilt kinetic capacity that allows those environments to reconfigure and adapt in response to prevalent occupation patterns. The real-time registration of use patterns drives the real-time kinetic adaptation.
The built environment thus acquires responsive agency at different timescales.

1. 5Parametric urbanism – deep relationality

The assumption is that the urban massing describes a swarm formation of many buildings whereby the urban variables  mass, spacing and directionality are choreographed by scripted functions. 

Book Reference:

Digital Cities AD (Architectural Design July   August 2009 Vol. 79, No. 4) by Prof. Neil Leach

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