Forms of Expression: The Proto-Functional Potential of Diagrams in Arctitectural Design _Greg Lynn

Most important points and reflections…

Diagrams as not just a drawing or vision of an initial idea or driving concept, but as a conceptual technique that should come before any particular technology.

Digital potential of virtual diagrams has brought to life new methods for getting ideas across in a potentially more powerful and complete fashion.

Newly emerging design process that is a more open correspondence between concepts and form.

Fact that sometimes this dimensionless environment is hard to understand from many viewers. The ‘vague essences’ created by work of this type will fall into the category of the anexact and for most architects and designers, hard to interpret from a lack of Cartesian orthogonality, however this process can still maintain the rigor used in the stereotypical design process.

However, this guy Van Berkel uses diagrams and systematic constraints to derive his forms and designs, and can therefore be unlinked with a simple sense of expressionism. His work involving the systematization of abstraction is very intriguing. This philosophy gives a means to his work which is many times lacking form less educated designers trying to embody these principles.

Systematic diagramming helps Van Berkel’s work incorporate urban influences from a surrounding context in his designs. The way he diagrams can take cues from outside forces (much like a meta-ball) and influence his designs. However, this method is highly regularized, yet unique. He finds urban infrastructure and incorporates these through various levels of information to develop conceptual diagramming for his designs. This is an interesting approach and I feel gives his ideas an atypical foundation for beginning. This approach will assuredly lead to interesting designs.

Diagram as an ‘abstract machine’ is a very fitting term for this process of design.

His method of bringing life into functionalism and formalism by using abstraction in a generative rather than reductive manner, as Lynn states, is truly remarkable. If we all could diagram with this much intensity and rigor, who knows what exciting architecture we might create. Although this is still only one way to approach a process, it is a new enlightening method which could be further enhanced by the plethora of digital media and simply the amount of information that is available.

Who knew that a seemingly simple process of diagramming could be held in a new light and expounded upon to such great detail as one such as Van Berkel has demonstrated?