Genetic Algorithm

from: Deleuze and the Use of the Genetic Algorithm in Architecture, Manuel de Landa

In this short reading Delanda supports fundamental changes in architectural design. He gives credit to Deleuze`s philosophical work and expands on the subject of “genesis of form”. An example of drawing a round column, which he gives as a technique of 3 step procedure (kind of mixture between Euclidian geometry and Aristotle’s categories ), seems to be the beginning of relevance of recursion and aggregation of such form or rather that specific technique to effectively create an evolution of “larger reproductive community” – a population with variable genetic code. The reading appears very relevant and contemporary; while reading, I did seem to think of software like Grasshopper or Houdini for instance, and attach the meaning of genetic mutation to simple step procedures that can be deployed in a computer environment using chunks of information embedded into an element. The notion of “body plan” and the idea of hacking into non-architecture based resources / fields are interesting and necessary to consider avoiding the traditional decayed trends of preference for aesthetics geometry selection. In the end we are seeing the final product through so many different lenses and scales of criticism that I think the grounds for seeing digitally mutated forms can be diminutive in itself, so I don’t think we came close to nearly digital reproduction or similarities; in themselves they hold small bits of the building blocks and techniques to unravel new foundations. Personal style and selection do not run parallel with generating a process through defined sequence of code, that is true but still under question. Subsequently we also begin to see overlapping with earlier reading of Wolfram and Rocker`s research. These are more or less my general comments to this reading, “The Case of Modeling Software” reintroduces some of the same concepts as I am browsing through it; comments on a follow up blog.