Author(s)

S. Hatzellis

Abstract

This paper discusses Geo_Soft’s relationship to issues of aesthetics, complexity theory and technology. Complexity theory will be discussed insofar as its relationship to architecture is concerned, which will then lead into a review of the difference between Representation and Performativity. The recent semiotic tradition associated with post modern architectural writers of the 1960–1980s declared that the meaning of architecture was lost during the modernist period and that architecture should not break with its history. Performativity has been extended beyond the meaning given to it by Judith Butler. More specifically, the issue of complexity aesthetics will be analysed historically and critiqued by unveiling the differences between Venturi‘s ‘Complexity and Contraction’ and Le Corbusier’s ‘Towards a New Architecture’, concurrently with the recent discourse regarding Performativity. A grading system for defining complexity will be explored by reference to the theory of the Edge of Chaos and finally, complexity will be explained through the pragmatic issues that emerged during the making of Geo_Soft, a rapid prototype sculpture. Keywords: Complexity Theory, Performativity, Digital Architecture, Representation, Rapid Prototyping, Animation Software, Edge of Chaos. 1 Complexity Digital Architecture has emerged from technological appropriation and as such has only recently started to develop a plausible theoretical discourse. Unlike most architectural styles at the end of the 20th century that emerged from a theoretical agenda, Digital Architecture has post-rationalised its position in architectural discourse and has attempted to emancipate the discipline of architectural design from a linguistic and representational critique. Complexity Theory is more then just the opposite of simplicity, it actively seeks to oppose it. Recent architectural design projects generated by exploration

Keywords

Complexity Theory, Performativity, Digital Architecture, Representation, Rapid Prototyping, Animation Software, Edge of Chaos.