CASE STUDY

Simply complex, toward a new kind of building

  • Kas Oosterhuis
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  • TU Delft, Hyperbody, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, Z-H, Netherlands

Received date: 15 Apr 2012

Accepted date: 15 Aug 2012

Published date: 05 Dec 2012

Copyright

2014 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The world around us is evolving. We are living inside evolution. As a practicing architect I find nothing more natural than to look around me and implement relevant changes into my own profession. Taking this seriously means implementing new digital technologies in the very fabric of design methods, from the first conceptual thought and from the first accurately described design proposal. Mass production is soon to be overhauled by the principles of customization, in the form of both industrial mass customization and in the form of distributed small scale household fabrication. Customization, which is the modern made to measure, will change architecture from its very foundations. A completely new esthetic will be the natural outcome of the digital parametric design process that connects the file to factory CNC production methods—a new kind of beauty for a new kind of building. Complexity based on simple rules characterizes the dramatic paradigm shift from mass production to customization. The new kind of building is complex yet systemic in its design method. The new kind of building dramatically enhances the potential of today’s architectural expression while keeping strict control on its data, including costs. Truly nonstandard architecture is cost-effective and simply complex.

Cite this article

Kas Oosterhuis . Simply complex, toward a new kind of building[J]. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2012 , 1(4) : 411 -420 . DOI: 10.1016/j.foar.2012.08.003

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