Archigram and Metabolist: “Systems Thinking in Architecture”   Term Paper ID:36081 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: The purpose of this paper is to discuss systems theory as understood and expressed ...... More...

15 Pages / 3375 Words 11 sources, 11 Citations, MLA Format $60.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss systems theory as understood and expressed in comparative architectural design history and theories of the Archigram in the West and the Metabolism Movement in Japan. Paper Introduction: Archigram and Metabolist Systems Thinking in Architecture The objective of systems thinking is a methodology to solve problems It follows two basic premises first that reality is regarded in terms ofwholes Gestalten\' and that the environment is an essential situation assystems interact affect and are affected by their environments Why issystems thinking important for design in general and architecture inparticular Because the more research is done on disparate subjects theclearer it becomes that since all things are influenced by the environmentin which Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The antithesis of Archigramideas was the modernist aesthetic, exemplified by the Bauhaus and LeCorbusier. Because the more research is done on disparate subjects, theclearer it becomes that, since all things are influenced by the environmentin which they exist, to understand the aesthetics, functioning and relativeongoing usability of a chosen subject, one must also have an understandingof the factors which have influence in that context. Although the Archigram never actually built anything, their legacywas a series of futuristic blueprints offering a fantastic vision of whatwas possible: continually evolving technologically advanced cities thatwere made up of mobile, interconnected buildings. According to Noam Chomsky, "A stimulatingenvironment is required to enable natural curiosity, intelligence, andcreativity to develop, and to enable our biological capacities to unfold"(Putnam 1995).Systems Thinking and Comparative Modern Architectural Theory. Visioning involvesapplying understanding, insight and knowledge of the people and environmentto direct the course of the ultimate outcome. It follows two basic premises: first, that reality is regarded in terms ofwholes ('Gestalten'), and that the environment is an essential situation assystems interact (affect and are affected by) their environments. Peter Cooks work, in particular, isenjoying a renaissance. Rather than thinking in terms of form,function and aesthetics, Metabolists thought about systems of parts thatcould be used, re-used or discarded when obsolete. More scientists accepted the idea andthe field of general systems research expanded. "The Organizational Complex: Cybernetics, Space,Discourse." Assemblage 37 (1998):1 2-123.Putnam, L.R. Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and theMachine. "Wiener defined information in relation to itsopposite: entropy. This movement conceptualized the city as a machine, withinterchangeable parts on an infrastructure of mechanical systems. "You know, in the Nakagin Capsule Tower, thewhole piping system is exposed from the core so the piping and themechanical space will be changed in the short cycle as I recycle systems,so then the whole structure can live longer...The idea of Metabolism ispresent already in the expansion of systems but also in recycling systemsand ecology to keep the architecture more longer lived...So, Metabolism isnot just a technological expression, not just high tech architecture, butit is living" (Blum 27-32). Parallel to thisexpansion, there were also contribution in cybernetics, thermodynamics andinformation theory. "Science, order and creativity." London:Routledge. The urban structure of Tokyo is old -the streets are still narrow and crowded, but the buildings are relativelynew, since few old ones survived both the Earthquake of 1935 and the SecondWorld War. This leads to atransformation of the original perception" (67). Conversely, the degree of anti-entropic, informational organizationin cybernetic systems is regulated through feedback, a continuous cyclingof information obtained by artificial "sense organs" back into a system tocorrect its course, consolidate its form, or modify its output. Whether the proposed design was acceptable to critics ortechnicians, they still offered lessons in functionality. Le Corbusier sent him this message, "The new age is started asthe old age is finished and it's your turn" which led Kurokawa to writethe article, "From the Age of Machine to the Age of Life." He explainedthat "Metabolism is an important life principle. Wiener's 1948 book, Cybernetics, the first systematicexposition of the research Wiener, Rosenblueth, and others had beenconducting on parallels between communications networks and the humannervous system. It is a way to ignore the formal and stylisticdifferences of the various individualistic and unique schools in order toprovide a unifying alibi, or defining foundation, for architecturalmodernity (Vidler 64). These buildings were made up of linkedmultistory blocks from which homes and buildings would be cantilevered,hung or bridged between massive cores that would hold ducts, elevators andstairs and other such living necessities. The original members of the MatabolismGroup included the architects Kiyonori Kikutake, Fumihiko Maki and MasatoOtaka, but Kikutake played a notably key role, designing many futuristicurban projects including a Floating City which was planned to be locatedover the sea, in recognition of the limited availability of land in Japan. Many of the Archigram's proposals, while extreme for their time, arenow acknowledged to be prophetic. However, theyalso are actively engaged in a social exchange of ideas and opinions;according to Bohm and Peat (2 ), "Motivations, questions, and attitudesarise out of these dialogues, so that all research and theory, in the end,arises out of the whole sub-cultural matrix of science ... Ecology is an important concept of life principle" andMetabolism was selected as a name because it was one of the importantconcept of life principles. "Successful Leaders Employ Strategic Intelligence." ResearchTechnology Management 44.3 (2 1): 58-6 .Martin, R. They are harder to control because thebehavior of the individuals in the workplace (design, fabrication and otherareas) cannot be designed in and predicted as can the behavior of themechanical (non-organic) elements. Archigram members felt that Bauhaus designs were an "insult tofunctionalism" (Gibson 4 ). The second issue is how buildings express the modern world andtechnology; high tech materials projected images and electronics createbuildings that expand our senses and give the buildings the ability to sendtechnological messages. Synthesizers are able to understand how elementsinteract, how they fit together to make a whole or a system. Ackoff further distinguishes three types of systems: mechanical,organic and social. The Instant City, involved the creation of a network that would offerthe provinces "a taste of the metropolitan dynamic", and incorporated theuse of airships for transporting audiovisual display systems and exhibitsacross the country - some see this as a design prediction of the Internet.They also endeavored to make technological objects appear natural such aswith the "LogPlug" and "RokPlug" components of the Plug-In City. The second competency, systems thinking, requires the ability tosynthesize or integrate elements rather than breaking them into parts forthe purpose of analysis. Mechanical systems such as those comprising a car or amotorcycle are designed and engineered so that the component parts andtheir interactions serve the system's purpose: transportation. "An Interview with Noam Chomsky." The Reading Teacher 48(1995): 328-333.Wiener, N. This is a rare trait and isoften accompanied by other indications of what the mundane call 'genius'.For example, some people who are technically proficient at envisioning andcreating mechanical systems lack understanding of social systems, which arefar more complex and variable. Wiener haddeveloped his theory of feedback through wartime research onelectromechanical systems designed, in his words, "to usurp a specificallyhuman function" (Martin, 1998). For example Tokyo does not have a historicalcharacter, nor open space availability that are evident in other cities;this places architects at both an advantage and a disadvantage. He also producedthe Nakagin Capsule Tower in Ginza, in which residential capsules areplugged into structural cores. Creativeintelligence has the same origin in every area of life; the system (ororganism) uses experience, whether physical or mental, emotional orintellectual and creates a solution and determination of how to act (Bohmand Peat, 2 , pp. This was whatthey meant by their focus on functionalism. Information is an important concept of lifeprinciple. According to Bohm and Peat(2 ), "Theories have become science's most important link with reality... Visioning is not only a matter of knowinghow component function independently and together, but also having andapplying a creative spark to give the created system and/or its applicationan elegance, efficiency and uniqueness of function that provides benefitand distinction to the object and the ultimate outcome. The Archigram was comprised of a groupof six men (Peter Cook, Warren Chalk, Dennis Crompton, David Green, RonHerron and Mike "Spider" Webb), radical urban planners and designers whosevision and work was influenced by everything from Pop Art to BuckminsterFuller (Lacayo 52). Interviewed, Kurokawa noted, at that time, Japanese architecturalsociety was one of the most informed groups of contemporary architects,because they were open and interested in everything that was going on inthe world. theories determine not only the design of scientific instruments butthe kinds of questions that are posed in the experiments themselves... This can also be related to the context in which Japanese architectureoperates. In recent years, there has been aresurgence of interest in an airbrushed version of the 196 s. "Back to the Future. "Out of the Box." Time Canada 164.13 (2 4): 52-53.Maccoby, M. The second law of thermodynamics holds that the overalllevel of entropy, or disorder, tends probabilistically to increase in anyclosed system. Thanks to the new 'retro-chic', Archigram ideas and designs arecurrently receiving another look. Cambridge, Mass.: The Technology Press, 1948. In design, when something new is encountered by the open system, thesystem responds by the development of the creative action of intelligence.Creative intelligence responds to new situations with 'new proposals'.These are considered and tested in further thought and action. Long before the end of the 2 th century,members foresaw the inevitability of the information and entertainmentsociety which characterizes life today. 216-217). However,unlike the technological focus of the Archigram, the Metabolists were notinterested in architecture as an expression of high tech, nor as a machine,but through the concept of a living system that must grow and change toremain alive and not become obsolete. Since the Archigramideas were informed by pop culture, they are suddenly consistent withwhat's "in". (1998). The renewed interest in this type of design is also attributed tothe renewed interest in recent design and pop culture. The buildings proposed were often large megastructures, conceived aswhole sections of cities. Such agendas would stimulatethe development of architecture construed according to what might be calledthe "technologies of the everyday." It would be flexible and adaptive,inventive and mobile in its response to environmental conditions andtechnological possibilities. Conclusion: In architectural theory and design, the first competencyis foresight, the ability to think in terms of forces that are not obviousand cannot be measured but are shaping the future. The first issue of the magazine Archigram in May,consisted of a single page with a foldout and David Greene's polemicalsubstitution of the "poetry of bricks" with a poetry of "countdown, orbitalhelmets, and discord of mechanical body transportation and leg walking".Eight issues followed, during the years from 1963 to 197 , developingthemes embracing issues of expendability and consumerism at the broadestscale. The third issue involves incorporating the"Japanese-ness" of the country and the environment. evenraw data that they yield are fed directly into computers in the form ofnumbers and digitized signals." Systems thinking can be defined as the ability to synthesize orintegrate elements rather than breaking them into parts for the purpose ofanalysis. The designs proposed included the "Blow Out Village", which was aninflatable canopy that could be raised to provide large areas of shelterfor masses of people made homeless by disaster or other displacement;"Walking City", a city made up of giant structures that were mobile - builton massive, controllable legs; and "Plug-In City", in which buildings wereconstructed of component parts that could be updated and exchanged at will. One of the most important members of the Metabolism school was KishoKurokawa, who designed a number of buildings made up of interchangeableparts. Works Cited"The Design Museum's Show Reveals Archigram's Lasting Influence on BritishCulture." Campaign (UK) 26 March, 2 4: 12."The Shock of the New." Japan Today Website Accessed 12 December, 2 5;Available:http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyfeaturestoriesarchive349/3 4/toofeaturestoriesinc.htm.Banham, Reyner. Thewinning design was for an entertainment center, but due to lack of funding,it too was never built. Symbiosis is an importantidea of life principle. Somethingabout that decade's brash optimism -- its confidence that, thanks to the"white heat of technology", civilization had a bright future -- appeals tous. At a time when terror and incompetence are combining to bring manymodern cities to a standstill, we embrace retro-futurism as a means ofescape" (Gibson 39). Design collaboratives have adopted theinterdisciplinary team approaches of scientific research; fabrication is nolonger so distinct from conception since the development of sophisticatedoutput technology. It is also thought that there is a feeling that thesegroundbreaking artist architects should be appreciated while they are stillalive. The essence of the general systems theory was expressed as "the wholeis more than the sum of its parts". The Kunsthaus Graz in Austria was one of theArchigram designs; it has been called a "friendly alien" by architecturalcritics. " New Statesman 133.4683 (2 4): 38-4 .Lacayo, Richard. The closest the group came to actually getting one of their ideasbuilt was following their victory in a design contest in Monte Carlo. A contemporary application of form and function would imply theintegration of the ethical and environmental conditions of specific sites,which are considered as agendas in themselves. The newer cities in the Western World that are similarly lackingin consistent style, often are helped by their incorporation of open space,which Tokyo does not have. Their designs addressed the need to change,and gave the environment the ability to do so in response to dynamicconditions and changing tastes and demands of the users. "The effect of Archigram's work between 1961 and 197 was to projectinto society a program and an aesthetic for the total environment--not"environmental design" or "computer-aided design," nor the high-techidealism of a Buckminster Fuller or the naturalist organicism of a PaoloSoleri, nor the psychological nihilism of the Situationists or the ironicnihilism of groups like Superstudio or Archizoom--but an environmentalismthat worked with every aspect of the contemporary environment, fromconsumer desire to ecological demand, from media to medium, from dream tothe dream machine, from the suburban kit to the electronic tomato. History has been less than kind to Archigram. Theymeant to invent not ways of being determined by the technologies ofconservation and sustainability; not ways of being confined by buildingcodes and practices founded on existing market economics and distribution;not ways of reinventing architecture or ways of killing architecture; notways of rewriting theory or simply introducing "new" concepts into oldtheory; not ways of redistributing architectural languages and forms acrossnew technological surfaces; not ways of arguing one language againstanother, one historical precedent against another, one politic of classagainst another--but rather to throw out the whole, baby with bathwater,and start again with the elements of the known, and combine them acrossgenres, species, and disciplines in hitherto unknown ways" (Vidler 63). In anorganic system like the human body, the parts are genetically designed tointeract and serve the purposes of the system, to maintain the organism aslong as possible and provide for reproduction (Maccoby 58-6 ). They sought to transformthe drab post-war British landscape into interesting blobs and alien forms. He wasenthusiastic about Archigram's Plug-in City, because, as he wrote, "most ofus want [a computerized city] to look like something, we don't want form tofollow function into oblivion" (Banham 535). So how to design buildings?- to be open andintroduce openness into a crowded urban environment, or to shut out thecity and create an internal oasis from the frantic city? The 196 s architectural collective called the Archigram had a visionof transforming Britain's drab urban areas into a technological wonderland,but never actually built anything. "Interview with Kisho Kurokawa." Chicago Architects OralHistory Project, Chicago, Illinois: Art Institute of Chicago, 2 2.Bohm, D. Effective and significant architectural theory is developed byindividuals and groups that can use foresight, vision and systems thinkingtoward designing an interdisciplinary ideal - aesthetically pleasing,functional and using dynamic capabilities to stay current and relevant tothe urban and residential environments in which they are sited. The meaning and explanation of the nature of functionalism hasdiffered from historian to historian, but its rule over modern architectureseems pervasive. "Archigram can't tell you for certain whether Plug-inCity can be made to work, but it can tell you what it might look like"(Banham 535). Why issystems thinking important for design in general and architecture inparticular? In 1961, the collective launched a magazine, "The Archigram" (from"architecture" and "telegram"), to publish its 'manifesto of dynamic ideasfor new architecture'. The problem is that architects tend to be predisposed in theirthinking and their way of expressing themselves by their personalbackground, focus, infrastructure, concepts and knowledge. Archigram and Metabolist: "Systems Thinking in Architecture" The objective of systems thinking is a methodology to solve problems. "A Clip-On Architecture." Architectural Design 35(November 1965): 534-535; first published in Design Quarterly 63 (1965).Blum, Betty J. Many of these ideas came from agroup working in the early 196 s who came to be known as "Metabolists": theessence of metabolism was similar to that of the Archigram - architectureshould not be static, but should be informed by the dynamics and the needsof societies as they evolved. In contemporary Japanese architecture, three issues areparamount; the first is the relationship of the individual building to itsneighborhood, its context. For Banham, Archigram'sprojects were as important for the technology they championed as for theiraesthetic qualities. Cybernetics takes its title from kybernetes, the Greekterm for "steersman," which is also the root for "governor," a term used todescribe devices that regulate the performance of machines, like thegovernor of a steam engine. Whilethere is no historical precedent or accepted aesthetic that typifies thearea, there is also no clear character for the architect to either want torespond to, or to stand out from. The story of Japanesearchitecture is that of adoption and adaptation of outside ideas; followingthe Meiji Restoration of 1868, the government encouraged rapidmodernization, involving the importation of foreign experts who set up awestern-style tradition in Japanese architectural design. Banham has traced a movement from propositions about the contributionof technology to aesthetics in the 195 s, to, with Archigram, "aestheticsoffering to give technology its marching orders" (Banham, 534). Their designs show a successful "cross-pollination" of popculture, post-modernism and the incorporation of concepts from otherdisciplines. when insightoccurs, it emerges out of this overall structure of communication so thatit obtains the full meaning within it...in this way criticisms are met andnew suggestions exchanged within the community. Wiener proposed that, like energy, the amount ofinformation, or "negentropy," within a system is subject to a similarprocess of breaking down and leveling off, also measurable as entropy. He was one of the founders of the Metabolism movement, stating theneed to merge and recycle architecture styles around Asian philosophy.Kurokawa plans for the growth or change of his buildings by addition orsubtraction of modular units. They seemed to predict the currentdynamic environment in which tastes, technology and even architecture ideashave a very short half-life. It was atthe heart of the pop art movement of the 6 s before fizzling out in the 7 s- and it was quickly forgotten or, worse, mocked ("Design Museum Show" 12). The Takara Beautilion (197 ,Osaka), theToshiba IHI Pavilion, Hawaiian Dreamland (1966-67), and the Nitto Foods Co.plant in Sagae, Japan, are among his best-known designs. The economicgrowth and urban expansion of the 196 s created pressure on the cities andcaused Japanese architects to focus on systematic design and constructiontechnology. & Peat, D.P. When a systemis taken apart in the process of analysis, the system loses the essentialproperties deriving from the interaction and effect of the component parts. Architecture is, ultimately, a public and social activity - theory,design and outcomes are communicated with, and impact, the entirecommunity. As opposed to specialists, synthesizers are able to understandhow elements interact, how they fit together to make a whole or a system.A system is a whole whose properties and behavior derive from the way theparts interact with each other in the context of their environment andother input factors, not how they act when taken separately. They felt that thecities' problems could best be addressed by completely replacing theexisting hodge-podge of less serviceable buildings with their adjustablemegasructures ("The Shock of the New" NP). There is little homogeneity in building styles, materials orconcepts. The purpose of thispaper is to discuss systems theory as understood and expressed incomparative architectural design history and theories of the Archigram inthe West and the Metabolism Movement in Japan.Background of Systems Theory: Over the ages, observations, perception and data collection hasresulted in the formulation of theories. Maccoby (2 1) defines visioning as the use of systems thinking andforesight to design an ideal. Further, "all conceptsare founded within a background of ideas that extends across the scienceswithout limit" (71). 2 .Gibson, Grant. This still does not answer "why now?" Gibson offers the followingtheory: "...our current fascination with Archigram says as much about us asit does about the group's work and ideas. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

Many of our Papers can be Downloaded From This Site!

PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT!

Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). You may place orders for custom research over the phone during office hours. E-mail requests can be made to our graduate and undergraduate department any time, and will be reviewed during office hours. You may also contact customer service any time through e-mail, and we will review your message during business hours. A great many papers can be downloaded right from this site, but not all of them. If you would like to know if a particular paper is downloadable, just look in the description for: "Available for Internet Download: Y" or "Available for Internet Download: N" If you wish to purchase a paper which is NOT available for immediate download, you will need to make other shipping arrangements. Also, please be aware that these orders are processed Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). If you place your order after 4:45pm on Friday, it will not be processed until the following Monday morning. We charge $8 per page for all of our pre-written reports, plus shipping (and tax for California residents). However, the highest cost of any ONE report is $136, or 17 pages. Please, take a moment. Make sure you have chosen the report you want or need BEFORE you complete your order. If you are not sure, allow us to help you. We do not offer refunds or exchanges, so it is important for you to let us answer your questions during office hours. Reports which are e-mailed or downloaded are in Microsoft Word format. We are making more reports available for e-mail delivery faster than we can update our listings. Please call to check on the status of particular reports. There are many other shipping options which are listed on the Checkout page.