This document summarizes the impact of interactive animation software in the 1990s and the work of architect Greg Lynn. It discusses how animation software like Alias and Softimage enabled more organic and curved architectural forms. Greg Lynn was an early advocate of this shift away from rectilinear shapes. His work focused on how calculus-based software and computer modeling influenced architectural form. Projects like his New York Presbyterian Church used animation software in the design process. The document discusses Lynn's perspective on "animate form" and comparisons between his work and Peter Eisenman. It provides examples of Lynn's use of topological surfaces, splines, and abstract machines in his designs.

2. Presented by:
Adeela Mushtaq
Seung Mhi Lee
Michele Zaneua
Charles Shen

3. Digital Revolution in 1990s:
The arrival of interactive animation software – previously only used in
Hollywood’s movie industry or by car manufacturers – caused a dramatic
change in the design and discourse of architecture.
Animation software – Alias and Softimage
Alias was founded in 1983, and created an easy-to-use software package to
produce realistic 3-D video animation for the advertising industry and
postproduction houses. It used NURBS (non-uniform rational basis spline)
technology producing uniquely smooth lines or surfaces. By 1989, many cars,
like those of BMW, Honda and Volvo, were being designed by Alias.
Softimage was founded in 1986 by the film-maker Daniel Langlois, who wanted Radial array of GenerativeComponents
to create animated movies. This 3-D animation software was used to create
animation for feature films such as Jurassic Park, Titanic, The Matrix and Star
Wars, or for games like Super Mario 64, Tekken, Virtual Fighter, Wave Race
and NBA Live.
MicroStation Generative Components
MicroStation was originally developed by Bentley Systems in the 1980s for the
engineering and architecture fields: it was first used primarily for creating
construction drawings, but developed quickly adding advanced modelling and
rendering features. GenerativeComponents is the parametric plug-in used by
architects and engineers to automate design processes and accelerate
design iterations.
Source:
Information from Wikipedia
http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/MicroStation
Assembly detail

4. Greg Lynn: Calculus-Based Form
During the early 1990s most of the architectural forms moved
away from the fragmented, polygonal and rectilinear towards
the smooth, continuous and curvilinear. It was the time when
Greg Lynn, had just established his architectural firm FORM
(1992) and became one of the advocates of this dramatic
change.
Lynn has written extensively on his design philosophies, first
publishing the book "Animate Form" in 1999, funded in part by
the Graham Foundation. Lynn's New York Presbyterian Church
in Queens, New York (1999) is an early project which used
vector-based animation software in its design conception.
He has focused on the impact of calculus-based software and
computer supported modes of production on architectural form.
Model of Presbyterian Church, 1999
Source:
Calculus-Based Form: An Interview with Greg Lynn, Architectural Design.
Richard Lacayo, You Could Call Him Mr. Softee. Innovators, Time 100: The
Next Wave. July 17, 2000.

5. ‘I have always tried to get out of the process-driven bubble within
which I found myself. I regret to say it hasn’t really worked, as I still
struggle to situate my work outside of the 1980s theoretical model of
justifying shapes by processes of analytic transformation.’
‘It is always more interesting to begin with an inventory of what
machines want to do to us before we start asking what we desire
from the machines.’
Greg Lynn, Calculus-Based Form: An Interview with Greg Lynn, Architectural Design.

6. Greg Lynn: Similarities with Peter Eisenman
Gregg Lynn inherited the obsession with form from his teacher
and mentor Peter Eisenman, who since the early 1970s had
worked mostly on process-driven explorations of form.
Despite many similarities, Lynn’s FORM tried to depart from
Eisenman’s modes of enquiry. Eisenman believes in the power
of architecture's autonomous ideology or 'interiority', Lynn
explores form as a result of external forces. Forces that were
impossible to calculate or represent before the use of
computers.
Second important difference between Eisenman and Lynn's
usage of computers is the way that Lynn continues to use the
machine until the final form is complete, instead of just the
initial abstracted diagram. However, they share interest in the
vector and the philosopjies of Deleuze and Foucault.
Eisenman Process: Competition IIT Campus
Source:
Calculus-Based Form: An Interview with Greg Lynn, Architectural Design.
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1450681 10/8/2007

7. Greg Lynn’s Perspective
ANIMATE FORM:
Animation - the evolution of a form and its shaping forces.
Virtuality - to abstract scheme that has the possibility of becoming actualized, often in a variety of possible configurations.
Animate design is defined by the co-presence of Motion and Force at the moment of formal conception.
Cartesian fixed point coordinates vs. Vector based interactions
Terminologies:
Virtual Force
Differential variations
Active Abstract Space
Dynamical Flows

8. Design Space: Static vs. Dynamic
Vector Forces in Design of Sailboat Hull

9. Previous Architectural Experiments:
Siegfried Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (1948), Space, Tiem and Architecture (1941)
- Superposition of a sequence of frames produces memory in the form of spatio-temporal simultaneity.
Colin Rowe, Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal (1963) - phenomenal transparency is the tracing or
imprinting of a deeper formal space on a surface.
Kenneth Frampton’s description of Charles Gwathmey’s early work as “rotational” - used to describe the
movement between superimposed, formal moments.
The term, “trace” in the last twenty years - as a graphical notation of time and motion in architecture
Boccioni, Umberto
Dynamism of a Soccer Player - 1913
Fig 3, p.12 Animate Form

10. Superimposed snap-shots of motion imply time as a phenomenal movement between frames or moments

11. Modeling of Architecture in a conceptual field:
Stasis is a concept which has been intimately linked with architecture in 5 important ways;
1)permanence , 2) usefulness, 3) typology, 4) procession, 5) verticality
However, each of these assumptions can be transformed once the virtual space in which
architecture is conceptualized is mobilized with both time and force.
Orientation vs. Vertical:
Multiple interacting structural pressures from many directions (wind, uplifts, earthquakes,
other non-vertical conditions)
A reconceptualization of ground and verticality in light of complex of vectors and movements
would open up possibilities for structure and support that take into account orientations other
than the simple vertical.
Theories of gravity:
Stasis - the ordering system through the unchanging constant force of a ground point,
discreteness, timelessness, fixity.
Stability - the ordering of motion into rhythmic phases, multiplicity, change, development.
Descartes: create a steady-state equation where he eliminated time and force to calculate
precise position.
Leibniz: determined that a position is space can only be calculated as a vectoral flow.
If architecture is to approach this more complex concept of gravity, its
design technologies should also incorporate factors of time and motion.

13. N-body Problem and the Invention of Differential Calculus:
The n-body problem is the problem of finding, given the initial positions, masses,
and velocities of n bodies, their subsequent motions. (Wikipedia)
It was proved that no discrete solution for such a problem could exist.
Duration and sequence are integral to the spatial relationships being calculated.
The method by which these problems can be calculated is through a mathematics
that is sequential and continuous: thus the invention by both Newton and Leibniz
of differential Calculus.

14. N-body problem integration: one star, one heavy planet, one light planet with a satellite by Jean-Francois Colonna.

15. Computer as a conceptual and organizational tool:
Creative capacity of computers to facilitate genetic design – Karl Chu
Genetic Space – Karl Chu
Computer as a pet
Genetic processes should not be equated with either intelligence or nature.
Computer is not nature. It makes shapes that are open to deformation and inflection, those
shapes are not organic.
Like a pet, computer does not behave with human intelligence.

16. Use of Computers in Design Process:
Major Consequences
- A shift from Cartesian coordinates to Topological surfaces defined by U and V vector coordinates
-The predominance of deformation and transformation techniques available in a time- based system of flexible
surfaces
3 fundamental properties of organization in a computer :
Topology_Time_Parameters
Topology is characterized by flexible surfaces composed of splines.
Splines are vectors defined with direction.
A similar curve described using spline geometry, in which
Each section of the composite curve is defined by a fixed radius.
the radii are replaced by control vertices with weights and
The connection between radial curve segments occurs at points
handles through which the curved spline flows.
of tangency that are defined by a line connecting the radii.

17. 1. A three-degree spline, where the curvature and inflection is determined by a sequence of positions of three points along the
motion of flow of the spline. 2. A seven-degree spline, smoother than the three degree spline 3. A two-degree spline,
determined by a sequence of positions between only two points. Appears to be a poly-line.
1. A superimposed series of splines sharing the same control vertices with different degrees of influences; a two-, three-, four-,
five-, six-, and seven-degree spline curves. 2. The splines showing the distributed effect of a change in one control vertex across
the length of the spline. 3. A spline surface, or mesh, constructed out of groups of splines whose control vertices are connected
across one another. The splines are grouped into U and V directions, where the control vertices of the U direction splines pass
through the control vertices of the V direction splines.

18. 1. A spline surface that begins as a twisted mobius band and is stretched and joined aloing its
edges to form a self intersecting surface. Enclosed volumes are trapped within the surface by
both the joining and intersecting operations.
From Stephen Barr, Experiments in Topology (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1964)
2. A transformation of a ring into a cup through the flexibility of a single surface.
From Stephen Barr. Experiments in Topology (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1964)

19. Topology: Two Linked Principles
1. the immanent curvatures that result from the combinatorial logic of differential equtaions
2. the mathmatical cause of that curvature
Because topological entities are based on vectors, they are capable of systematically
incorporating time and motion into their shape as inflection.
Curvilinearity (contrast to Linearity)
Curvilinearity is a more sophisticated and complex form of organization than linearity in two regards;
1. it integrates multiple rather than single entities
2. It is capable of expressing vectorial attributes, and therefore time and motion.
These transformations can be linearly morphed or they can involve nonlinear interactions through dynamics.
Example of curvature by the situation
of a Frisbee chased by a running dog.

20. Analyzing time, movement and transformation:
D’Arcy Tompson’s analysis
Scottish zoolologist Sir D’Arcy Tompson analyzed variations in the morphology of animals using deformable
grids, which yielded curvilinear lines due to changes in form.
Thompson was one of the first scientists to notate gradient forces (such as temperature) through deformation,
inflections, and curvature.
Study of the transformation of
crustacean carapaces through the
deformation of a flexible grid or
‘rubber mat’ by D’Arcy Thompson.

21. Thompson's illustration of the transformation of Argyropelecus olfersi into Sternoptyx
diaphana by applying a 70° shear mapping

22. Analyzing time, movement and transformation:
Etienne-Jules Marey ‘s Study
Marey pioneered the study of curvature as the notation of both force and time.
Marey was one of the first morphologists to move from the study of form in inert Cartesian space, devoid of force
and motion, to the study of rhythms, movements, pulses, and flows and their effects on form.
Marey produced “phase portraits” by describing time as a continuous curvilinear flow.
Marey used pneumatic triggers to the joints of animals to Marey would connect curved lines through these points to
trigger camera exposures in rhythmic sequence. In this describe a curvilinear continuity across the snapshots.
way, the rhythm of photographic instances were
sequenced to the movement of the animal.

23. Flying pelican captured by Marey around 1882. He found a way to record several phases
of movements in one photo

24. Evolutionary Theories
The idea of Fitness Landscape:
Francis Galton described evolution in terms of fitness landscape; whereby a surface represents an external
environment across which a faceted sphere rolled. The faceted sphere represents an organism with its own
internal constraints, and the landscape represents its potential pathways of development.
Sketch of a fitness landscape by C.O. Wilke, 2001
In this schema, the object has actual force and motion, where the landscape has
virtual force and motion stored in its slopes.

25. Other topological landscape
Isomorphic polysurfaces (blobs) skeletons (inverse kinematics networks)_warps_forces_ particles.
Spline entities are intensively influenced by their context due to the fact that they are defined by hanging
weights, gravity and force. The weights of one spline surface can effect those of another spline surface.
These resulting structures are called blobs.
Blob ( = Isomorphic polysurface, meta-clay, metal ball)
an alternative example of a topological surface exhibiting landscape characteristics.
Blob’s fusion
When two or more blob objects are proximate, they will Mutually redefine their respective surfaces based
on their particular gravitational properties or Actually fuse into one contiguous surface.
Disconnected primitives used to compose an Isomorphic polysurface with primitives
isomorphic polysurface. fused into a single surface.

26. Design Application:
Rather than an entity being shaped only by its own internal definition, these topological surfaces are inflected by the
field in which they are modeled.
If an entity is moved in space, its shape might change based on the position within gradient
space even though the definition of the entity remains constant.
Greg Lynn, Embryological House, 1999
The Embryological House is a series of one-of-a-kind houses that are customised by Greg Lynn FORM for individual
clients. The houses are adaptable to a full range of sites and climates.

27. Perhaps the best precedent for the unfolding of curved space is evident in the concept of
Frederick Keisler’s "endlessness" along with Adolf Loos’s concept of the "raumplan"
The Endless House is called the ‘endless’ because all ends
meet, and meet continuously... It is endless like human body..
Theory of Raumplan – Continuous flow
of spaces and spatial structure of plan

28. Reference from philosophy and Biology:
Henry Bergson:
This relationship between a force and the object which stores that force in its
form is reminiscent of the insight made by Henri Bergson in his book, Matter and Memory,
in which he argues for a nondialectical understanding of the relationship between
substance and energy.
Bergson argued that;
Matter could not be separated from the historical process of its
becoming
Lynne Margulis:
Margulis formulated the evolutionary hypothesis that micro-organisms evolve their
complexity by incorporating simpler organisms into larger multiplicities that
become capable of reproduction as a singularity.

29. Work of Hans jenny: in the 1950s and 1960s is undoubtably the best example of the study of how
oscillating, fluctuating, gradient fields of forces can produce not only patterns but forms.
Jenny argues that in the case of
"the vibrational field it can be shown that every part is, in the true sense, implicated in
the whole.“
He gave these structures the name "cymatics" meaning the "characteristic phenomenology of vibrational
effects and wave phenomenon with typical structural patterns and dynamics."
Sand Patterns (left) Sound Frequencies (right) after Hans Jenny

30. Video – Hans Jenny
‘The creative manipulation of a flow of parameters in time’- Lynn

31. Concept of ‘abstract machine’ and ‘concrete assemblages’
"A diagram is a map, or rather several superimposed maps."
(Gilles Deleuze, Foucault, p.44)
‘The abstract machine is like the cause of the concrete assemblages that
execute its relations; and these relations take place 'not above' but within the
very tissue of the assemblages they produce.’
(Gilles Deleuze, Foucault, p. 37)

32. Etienne-Louis Boullee’s Cenotaph to Newton, is both an abstract model and a sign.
it represents the movements and organization of a centered and harmonically regulated
universe, is a concrete assemblage.
it is a diagram for centralized harmonic regulation, like a compass, it is an abstract
machine.

33. The effects of abstract machines trigger the formation of
concrete assemblages when their virtual diagrammatic
relationships are actualized as a technical possibility…
In order to bring these technologies into a discipline that is
defined as the site of translation from the virtual into the
concrete, it is necessary that we first interrogate their abstract
structure. Without a detailed understanding of their performance
as diagrams and organizational techniques it is impossible to
begin a discussion of their translation into architectural form.
Lynn, Greg. “Animate form”. Animate form. New York: Princeton
Architectural Press: 1999. 40-41

34. Greg Lynn Projects

35. Greg Lynn, Kleiburg housing project, Bijlmermeer, the
Netherlands, 2006
For the existing 500-unit social housing block, built in the
early 1970s on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Lynn’s design
proposes a diversity in both social and architectural
arrangement through the reduction of public space, the
division of the block into manageable neighbourhoods of
10 units, and the design of unit neighbourhoods with
distinct identities. A series of more than 150 parametrically
designed, uniquely shaped vertical steel trusses organises
the building through a semitransparent stainless-steel
fabric cladding.

37. Greg Lynn, Slavin House, Venice, California, due for completion 2007
The Slavin House has been developed using MicroStation software. The house folds inside and outside rooms into a
singular porous environment that occupies the entire triangular site. A single-storey occupiable structural truss defines the
mass of the house, composed of only two continuous extruded and radially bent steel tubes, braided and looped through
one another, which function simultaneously as horizontal and vertical members: beams and piloti. Each element of the
house does more than one thing at a time: material and surface continuities make volumes both voids and solids, inside
and outside, continuous fillets and radial tangents enable the curvilinear basket structure to both support and create hollow
courts. This flowing continuity of upper and lower levels, of roof and ground, and of voided hollow structural baskets and
mass, engenders a new kind of porous domestic space that folds together indoor and outdoor spaces, structural frame,
void lightwells, solid figures, a translucent bounding envelope and an undulating ground plane into a suspended mixture.