ARCH-i-PART (to be the first - minute building block) Between Creativity + Discovery

ARCH-i-PART (To be the first) - (minute building block)

BETWEEN CREATIVITY + DISCOVERY

By Azrien Isaac The School of Architecture / Arcosanti Arc 731 + 732 Thesis Fall 2020 – Spring 2021

PREFACE I have over the past year been drawn to the ability to generate organic complexity based on elementary conditions and elements, and seeing what can evolve when combined with simple sets of rules. I grew up making countless things out of Legos, and I see now that this childhood preoccupation continues to inspire the way that I think about creating architecture, that and an interest in the digital and automation. The idea of a discrete architecture spearheaded by Gilles Retsin gives a good understanding and starting place for what can be achieved spatially and shows how form and function can be expressive and meaningful at every level of scale or detail.

There are various scales at which to engage in this, but simplifying forces down to its elementary or digital elements can bring clarity and explorative creativity in something that can be so abstract that it isn’t useful. Zooming into architecture at the level of digital connection and seeing what can be birthed out of that can speak to both form and function simultaneously, organic beauty and construction, too, they become one and the same. This is what I have been endeavoring to explore as widely as I can. From looking into sacred geometry and the patterns of nature to full fledged system built examples of kit of parts architecture, I also found all to be relevantly interconnected as I think Wright himself believed.

THESIS STATEMENT Toward a digitally native approach to system-built architecture

Recent approaches to housing innovation have focused on prefabrication (Prefab), where the construction process is moved off-site into a controlled environment and a prefabricated home is constructed, often through a proprietary process, and then shipped to the home site as a nearly finished product. Numerous prefab projects have emerged over the past hundred years along with a relatively recent intensification of interest in a prefabricated, product-oriented 1

approach, yet Prefab solutions have failed to create real change in either housing attainability or the construction process as a whole. Meanwhile, system-built housing, an approach with similar deep roots, but which focuses not on the product but on the rationalization of the process of construction remains underexplored in a contemporary context. System-built approaches, through their engagement with conventional construction processes that are already in widespread use, have a greater potential to enact systemic change than a Prefab approach that relies on largely inaccessible proprietary processes.

This thesis will explore the formal and functional efficiency of digital materials (Digital materials refer to architectural parts that carry information on how it is to be assembled together within themselves) and principles of Part to Whole Relationships along with their Readings, Connections and Multi-scalar Aggregation, all as an evolution of conventional construction processes toward the development of a prototypical building system design. This experimentation will explore architecture as a kit of discrete and unique parts constructible in improvisational and function agnostic ways that would allow for a variety of customization and a level of accessibility to the common user.

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CONTENTS

RESEARCH Precedents __________________________________ 4 Theory + Methodology _______________________ 6 DESIGN A-i-P Theory + Process _______________________ 19 Prototype Theory + Process __________________ 22 BUILT REFLECTIONS _______________________________ 25

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RESEARCH Precedents DISCRETE -Gilles Retsin

Gilles is the London architect most known for what he coined the Discrete in architecture as well as the concept of “Digital Materials.” He believes this achieves a harmony between Computer and Builder through Automation, simultaneously creating political possibility for 4

unskilled engagement with production and automation. The images shown above are of his works ranging from rendering to simulatory interactive kinetic structure to built installations.

KIT OF PARTS - Wikihouse

The wikihouse is in the family of what would be considered buildable by digital materials. Most models are made completely of wood without traditional mechanical fastening and all of the cnc designs are open-source, making it simple for anyone to build their own custom project themselves. It’s entire ethos is to put that power into the common user's hand.

SYSTEM-BUILT - Proto Homes

Protohomes is a custom home manufacturer in LA that also sees their prototypes as kits of parts to be assembled on site completed with its own discretized core for centralized utility control and maintenance called the Protocore. There are also ways for owners to customize and replace exterior panels. They also have an entire app experience that guides you through the 5

entire process and can manage and identify smart components when they arrive to help builders construct every part onsite radically reducing assembly time.

Theory+Methodology The theory that asserted relevance to these studies culminated as a formulation of wide ranging research from the categories of Architectural, Prototypical, Geometrical + Mathematical Metaphysical, Social, etc. Discovery and Creativity are the two fundamental initial principles that guided this perpetuated research and defined the methodologies that were developed. These principles in tandem and in essence act as “driving elements” that describe Process. The Results are thus both Emergent while simultaneously driven by Intention. Inherently embedded in this spirit is a kind of dance, a push and pull between Structure and Intuition. This is the same spirit present in one who plays and creates with Legos. There is a Freedom that is informed and given feedback by an inherent system of a natural order, striking some sort of balance between a Science and an Art.

One of the formermost intuitons to hone in on this thesis topic is the idea of Fundamentals as this is my approach with virtually everything I deeply think about. The broad net that was cast while simultaneously being enamored by various specificities, consisted of the questions - (Both Functionally and Formally) What are the Fundamentals of___?:

Livable Place and Livable Space?

Space and Form/Geometry (and the structural principles found therein) themselves?

Nature itself?

Structure itself?

Parts? Wholes? Their Relationship?

Joinery? Assembly?

Aggregation, Reconfigurability, and Personalizability?

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How are they all interlinked, interrelated and interdependent?

Pulling on architectural precedent which had caught my interest over the past 3 years since undergrad, including the discrete, I initially also ventured into the history and methodologies of Lego along with the thinking of Frank Lloyd Wright in his Usonia and Usonia Automatic concept. As I began to put paint to canvas so to speak in Rhino, I began to venture into Nature Patterns, Geometry, Sacred Geometry, Geometry in regards to Quantum Physics, as well as the work of Gregg Fleishman.

What then is the Arch-i-Part / Arch-i-Particle?

My hope is that it is at least the Beginning to a solid answer to this universe of things and as Chris Lasch likes to say. “The information is supposed to be embedded in the part.” (I would add, “and a part of the essence of the part”) Perhaps one of the derivative meanings is that, It can begin to answer itself, and to answer itself for every and any conscious perceiver and user.

How far can we take that thought? This logical succession of thinking?

What even backs this thought?

The reality that every fundamental thing carries both a Function aspect and a Form aspect. At bottom this interrelationship that is sought is ultimately defined by a duality - A Dao. Which one and I believe many might argue is the most fundamental property, Qualitatively and Quantitatively, about Reality in every categorical facet.

Here is where I have sought and perpetually continue to seek connection and union, especially in the topics of this thesis.

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Livable Place and Livable Space

The first of these is at the big picture scope. A question about the ends and purposes of the built environment in respect to the evolving well-being of humankind which is the ultimate cause and concern of the human experience. The question is like a deconstruction or a reverse engineering. We understand in many ways what qualities work well in precedent even if they failed in the end, but of course design history and ancestral evolutionary history should also be an argument for the principles of Place and Space that maximally serve us in respect to Architecture.

To first define these terms Place and Space:

Livable Place is the qualitative sentimental character of a person’s relationship to and with a space Livable Space is more the quantitative qualifications of a usable space although these can intersect with an understanding and sense of place.

Also, technically all Livable Spaces could have a Sense of Livable Place

Here is where I think Wright had some of the most relevant insights succinctly speaking.

Usonia was an attempt at low cost community owned customizable housing connected to nature. The fundamentals specifically were:

-Natural Materials and a Natural Expression of those Materials (Place = Space?)

-Radiant Heating, Natural and indirect lighting, and Air Quality (Place < or = Space?)

-Open floor plan with minimal permanent walls separating spaces

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(Place < or = Space?)

-Interior and exterior walls acting as one dissolving the barrier between built threshold and natural environment.

(Place = Space?)

-Natural or Organic ornamentation (Place > or = Space?)

-Customizability and a reduction of skilled labor in construction through community and inhabitant involvement (Place > Space?)

-Personal Ownerships over Community Projects and Development (Place > Space?)

My built manifestation of course only speaks to some of these many topics, and to be honest, it was largely driven by a purely nature- shaped curiosity of what function could form itself be of as though they were one? And again seeing how far one could go with the “‘information’ being in the ‘part’ ” How integrated and essentially connected could the two be?

In terms of Architecture one of the first of the Functions Form must speak to is Structure which is succeeded by Protection, then Privacy, Community, Comfort and Holistic Health, Interior and Exterior long term Usages for Work-Life-Experience, an Appropriate Environmentally Sustainable Connection to broader surrounding Natural Contexts, etc.

In terms of its Function aspect,

Form speaks to Structure in terms of Does it stand and hold stable against Dead/static spatio-temporal forces?

Form speaks to Protection in terms of How well does it enclose against Live/active environmental forces?

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Form speaks to Privacy, Community, Comfort + Health in terms of How does it regulate Heat, Light, Air, Water and Sanitation, as well as meet long term Physiological, Psychology Belonging and Love needs?

Form speaks to Interior and Exterior Usages for Work-Life-Experience in terms of How well does the layout of spaces and programs serve its intended purposes?

Form speaks to an Environmentally Sustainable Connection to Natural Context in terms of How little of a negative impact does a building have on its surrounding environment ecology, economic cultural social political etc. spheres?

How well can its embodied energies be recycled?

Despite the limited answering of many of these questions, I believe that setting up this big picture framework will allow me to further refine and tighten the relationship between these top down concerns and the quality of the resultant Designs and their bottom up feedback in future endeavors and practice opportunities beyond this one. With this broad picture established, I then zoomed into the scope of the Micro and Macro of Nature at Large as it ultimately relates to Geometry and its Purposes.

Space and Form/Geometry Nature In the beginning of these studies I was led more by my intuition, but as I go back and make sense of this path, I came naturally in subsequence to this question and its most relevant depths such a pondering dragged me into. This included the current research on Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Gravity, which has recently taken Geometric approaches in creating a model which puts Space-time and General Relativity theory into context with the challenges of the new scientific models. What fell into my radar were discussions on the Amplituhedron, Quasicrystals and the E8 lattice. What was radically interesting about this connection was that Geometry has been and is being deeply considered and used as a way to mathematically discover

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new models of fundamental particle physics that harmonizes the remaining challenges preventing a unified theory.

Amplituhedron “The new geometric version of quantum field theory could also facilitate the search for a theory of quantum gravity that would seamlessly connect the large- and small-scale pictures of the universe. Attempts thus far to incorporate gravity into the laws of physics at the quantum scale have run up against nonsensical infinities and deep paradoxes. The amplituhedron, or a similar geometric object, could help by removing two deeply rooted principles of physics: locality and unitarity.”1 Quasicrystals Simply put, Quasicrystals are projections from a higher dimension into a lower dimension. Imagine flattening my 3-dimensional shelter construction into an isometric 2-dimensional image-the result would be quasicrystalline in nature. It would no longer be periodic or crystalline.

E8 Lattice This is the jewel of the whole emergence theory proposed, that is master matrix of an 8 dimensional crystal projected down into 4d and then 3d - the result of which is a construction of 600 3-dimensional tetrahedra rotated from one another by a golden ratio based angle that interrelate in in such a way to form a 4D quasicrystal. This is then projected into 3D forming a 3d quasicrystal made up of a single type of proto-tile which is the 3d tetrahedron, and what makes the tetrahedron special is that it is the smallest, indivisible unit of our 3d quasicrystalline world, akin to a 2d pixel on a television or computer monitor.

“Emergence theory‘s framework envisions a 3-dimensional, quasicrystalline geometric language at the pixelated, Planck scale of space–time that is projected from the 1

Natalie Wolchover and Substantive Quanta Magazine Moderates Comments To facilitate an Informed, "A Jewel at the Heart of Quantum Physics," Quanta Magazine, par. 5.

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8-dimensional, E8 crystal. The theory aims to provide explanations to why various fundamental constants, such as the speed of light, have the values they do. And through rigorous scientific research we explore an ontology in which consciousness plays a fundamental role.”2 In Principles of Efficient Language QGR provides an analogy that is cornerstone to this thesis’s methodologies,3 “Fundamental physics is a language – a code made of geometric symbol types (fundamental particles) and organizational/syntactical rules (force interactions allowing certain relationships between particles). And, as with all codes, there is freedom (particle degrees of freedom) within the syntax. This language expresses the geometric meaning of physical systems.”

This description is made in parallel to the nature of Form/Geometry and the structure of Space/Spacetime. Here is how its remix might read “Fundamental forms/geometrics is a language – a code made of spatio-mathematical symbol types (fundamental arch-i-particles) and organizational/syntactical rules (mathematical patterns allowing certain spatio-mathematical relationships between arch-i-particles). And, as with all CODES, there is FREEDOM (arch-i-particle degrees of freedom) within the syntax.

This language expresses the Quantitative Meaning of Formal/Geometrical Qualitative and even perhaps ‘Metaphysical’ systems.”

QGR expands on this analogy with an example,4 “If the universe operated according to a code, there are hinge variables in the code. A code is any algorithm with hinge variable degrees of freedom, such as English. For example, rules force you to use an adjective at the blank in the following sentence but give you hinge variable freedom of which adjective you can choose: “The dog ran

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"Emergence Theory Overview." Quantum Gravity Research. May 15, 2018. Accessed July 01, 2021. par. 8.

"Principle of Efficient Language." Quantum Gravity Research. June 20, 2017. Accessed July 01, 2021. par. 2.

4 "Principle of Efficient Language." Quantum Gravity Research. June 20, 2017. Accessed July 01, 2021. par. 9.

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_____”. The objective with codes is to use them efficiently in order to express maximal meaning with minimal symbolism or choices. A code of physical reality expresses geometric meaning. According to emergence theory, the base symbols at the pixilated substructure of space are geometric – regular tetrahedra. And they are organized according to a code. The actions of change in the code need to be conserved efficiently, according to the principle of efficient language, so that maximal physical meaning is achieved with minimal code actions. This idea mirrors the fundamental principle of least action in physics.”

Taking a brief pivot to the topic of Sacred Geometry which was the far end of the research interests, I came to see that Fundamental geometries don’t just become overlays on, or embedded derivatives of these maps constructed from field theories, but they express a deeper symbolic structure and narrative to be told about primordial origins extending out into the underlying poetics of the nature we see and are inseparable from today. Polyhedra and Isometric Dimension Projection are inherent to this world and it is inherently visual in its education.

There are about 13 patterns related to the concept, and they are progressive and operation-driven beginning with the single point of 0 dimensions. Both Masculine (linear) and Feminine (curvilinear) aspects coexist simultaneously in every progressive pattern entailing that the same underlying structure undergirds both, and suggesting that they are two distinct energetic expressions of the same “dao” A particular architect and furniture designer who's also a part of this particular theory space is Gregg Flieshman who has designed several Structures for Burning Man and has his own mathematical expertise and discoveries centered around the fundamental geometries. In particular he shares a well illustrated spectrum of polyhedral transformation which includes all the forms which arise through through Truncation - one of the 3 types of transformations done on the Platonic solids to create the Archimedian solids: Truncation, Explosion, and Twisting understood and demonstrated by architects like Buckminster Fuller showing vector equilibrium collapsing the cuboctahedron down to a tetrahedron and back.

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Structure Form cannot be divorced from structure, but Structure describes the nature of Form in respect to forces. The Dao of structure is Tension and Compression. These two forces define Structure in all Materiality and Form under all force conditions. Ultimately the goal is for an equilibrium to be reached with the load of the structure itself must be evenly distributed into the ground.

Parts,Wholes, and Their Relationship.

The talk surrounding these three boils down to concepts related to Gilles Retsin’s theory such as the Digital vs the Analog including the philosophical theory known as Mereology. Parts are inherent results in a world where there are a multitude of unique and distinct things, relating to one another in ways that exhibit functions at all different scales and levels.The law of identity tells us A equals A and A does not = not A. Once the concept of Identity is posited, this entails that there is something that is not that identity. Whether it is “not A” or “B” or “Z”, a boundary is entailed, and with boundaries you have physics and physicality. This is Form. Where two distinct things kiss at a line of demarcation. The union of their identities is in the fact that they are letters/symbols expressing a thing to be understood, a Function to be achieved, whether through language or through reality. Form cannot escape Function and Function cannot escape Form.

This is their unity and this unity creates a kind of harmony. This is their relationship. This is also a Whole.

Wholes however as you might now recognize are tricky, in that you can argue that they do not truly exist. For the sake of this thesis and I believe with the best philosophical judgement, that there are such things as Parts and such things as emergent Wholes which are really clustered organizations of parts unto themselves containing their own unique formal and functional continuities and recognizable identities that are beyond the identities of the constituent parts. In 14

other word Wholes are really just “part groupings” in this reality. These distinctions are real due to the fact these groupings imply fundamental identity changes. If A plus A equals “AA” then A does not equal AA, and neither does the other.

Nothing However is truly a closed system except perhaps the universe or a God, if these truths were to ever be discovered. Completion then seems to be something inherently to be chased by everything in existence except for existence itself.

In Architecture this implies an organization of parts coming together to service novel formal and functional continuities, and if Architecture is to be of any relevance, then of course, in some sense Architecture as a part grouping assuming a novel identity, must be much greater than the sum of its constituent parts and part groupings in respect to the value system of humans.

What then defines the part grouping “Architecture” towards this elusive closed system of existence/reality as it involves human well being? If no thing within existence can be a Completion on its own, then what is the success purpose and meaning of any part grouping, specifically Architecture?

What this simply means is that Architecture cannot answer everything which the common egoic architect might have hoped for, but the question still remains, what precisely does it “settle for?”

This thesis instead of constraining it from the outside in, at heart, seeks to discover what it’s capabilities and possibilities are from the inside out. Just as the ever expanding cosmos with its innumerable mysteries of other planetary/stellar systems, What is the Arch-i-Part and what does it become?

Moshe Safdie in his article Going Forward writes this about constraints,5 “What then is the nature of constraints in the design process? Are constraints a compromising force or can they be potentially enriching? In the design evolution of living organisms, constraints become formative forces, the outcome of natural selection, and the 5

Safdie, Moshe. "Going Forward." Safdie Architects. 2014. Accessed July 01, 2021. par. 6, par. 26.

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evolution of the most efficient life-sustaining features. The quest for light in photosynthesis, for example, generates the glory of a leaf’s shape and geometry, and the array of plant forms that adapt to particular climates each take on their own unique forms. The quest for continuity and reproduction sets up the intricate interdependency of animal and plant life, the deployment of all the colors of the spectrum, and patterns of great beauty. Growth and change depend on complex geometries, an additive cellular arrangement, as so beautifully described in D’Arcy Thompson’s On Growth and Form (1917). Beauty as we conceive it in observing nature is an outcome, not a quality that is consciously sought out; our own consciousness recognizes its presence. This applies equally to human-made design. Constraints, limits, indeed deprivations, must inform the design process so as to optimize the particular aspect of the relevant performance; each constraint introduces a level of complexity within the overall order. In time, our consciousness will recognize that fitness as beauty; it will yield all the pleasures and fulfillment that nature’s order gives us.

“In architecture, conventions remained most stable where the architectural syntax evolved over time, responding to a limited technology of building. Consider Georgian London, characterized by brick and stone as dominant materials, load-bearing construction, classical details, porticoes and pediments arranged along streets, squares and crescents. One could argue that these conventions, having evolved over time, present a reasonable fit to the overall environmental imperatives. Where daylight was scarce, large windows evolved, and in hot desert-like climates, cross-ventilation and smaller openings and porches for shading structures prevailed. What was assured in these cities and towns was the continuity and cohesiveness of the urban whole; the sum total was greater than the parts.

Joinery and Assembly.

This is the space where I began to make the connection with Legoes. Which also spilled over into one of its close competitors, K’Nex. Joinery is interestingly associated in the fabrication world often with wood, but here I reflected on the concept in abstract terms. Joinery can be said to happen under three conditions: a frictional medium and a correspondence unifying under that friction embedded within the two things being joined. Assembly then is the adjoining of parts coming together towards a common Purpose.

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In other words, Joinery is how Assembly happens.

The story of Lego is unique in respect to this understanding in that it expresses an organic evolution of a simple concept for toys into a rigorous system of assembly. This is the nature of this thesis through both the design and build process. Some of the takeaways I took from these two very different approaches to assembly

LEGO ● ^Largely Androgynous/Hermaphrodite pieces + Singlesex pieces ● (Compression oriented) (More Formal or Display Oriented) ● (Androgynous pieces with the Male Function side tend to be less decorative as a collective and more structural for pretty pieces which tend to be Female Form which are piece that are purely receptive on one side and display/aesthetic oriented on the other)

KNEX ● ^Largely Multi-phallic + Multi-yonic pieces ● (Tension oriented) (More Functional or Engineering Oriented) ● (Constructions lend themselves to being larger, lighter and more porous in scope with longer spans and coaster type creations. This would entail that a different system is needed for enclosure and would be less homogenous as it would pertain to architecture) Form in these two assembly systems play essential roles in the two distinct structural systems that are used. Parts in the K’Nex system are radically formally different from one another where you have rods and socket-type joint pieces, whereas in Legoes, most Parts are similar.

The plastic materiality in K’NEX aren’t quite as rigid as in Legos due to the fact that they required more flexibility to snap pieces together. I remember this did unfortunately lead to a quicker breakdown of K’Nex pieces vs Legoes. In the long run I found myself using K’Nex less than Legoes, due to the increased versatility and vastly increased array of unique parts.

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“We all experienced playing with building blocks, the traditional wood blocks and the contemporary Legos; for some, the game never ends. The notion of prefabrication led me to consider the three-dimensional block, the box with its many variations, as a repetitive, assemble-able building unit. In this conception, a building becomes a system, a composition, rather than a finite building with a beginning and an end.

The building block obsession seems natural to pre-fabricated housing, but in my 199case it was extended to such projects such as Yeshiva Porat Yosef, The San Francisco State College, and even the crystalline additive geometry of the National Gallery of Canada.

The standard repeated module of housing gave way to elements that could be combined into many permutations to result in smaller and larger spaces, moving beyond the repetitive cells of domestic living units.”6 Through the marriage of Joinery and Assembly from a basic building unit and a system, comes an expansion of imagination, a conscious and subconscious understanding of geometrical quantities and mathematical harmonies, and an endless possibility of Assemblies. The Joinery system is the Constraint. The Assembly is the Freedom.

Aggregation, Reconfigurability, and Personalizability?

At the core of Aggregation is the ability for parts to interface and cluster, nest or pack with on another. Reconfigurability is the ability for parts to change orientation and its interfacing relationship with other parts. Personalizability then are the degrees of freedom available to any individual within the given system.

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Safdie, Moshe. “Going Forward.” Safdie Architects, July 25, 2015. par. 48.

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DESIGN A-i-P Theory + Process Amongst the approaches I began to take was to experiment with patterns in 2d and try developing them in 3d dimensions and to conceive an array of starting units with an idea of how they can aggregate. One of the catalysts for expansively entering into this experimentation and exploration was the discovery of a robust grasshopper plugin called WASP which allows one to generate aggregations of created parts without overlap and would allow endless possibilities in connection and part to part relation. This proved to be a great tool to create complexity easily while offering means of control. The success of these tests from the beginning became dependent upon Constraints.

This quickly led to a need to begin exploration in 3 dimensions. This is where Chris’s work and expertise came into play as he suggested a method that ended up making reference to his Tooling concepts of Packing and Tiling. Here we looked to fundamental forms like Platonic solids and Archimedean solids and sought to experiment with how they might pack with themselves. I tried many different types of solids and zoomed in on the Archimedean solids in particular due to their variety of face profiles. After one evening of digestion and reflection, taking a step back from the investigation, I discovered as I conversed to myself out loud about where one could take these forms next. I came upon the idea of Deconstruction.

This was the birth of the concept of the Arch-i-Particle.

What I discovered was that you could derive a number of varying geometries from the interior space, the negative/dual exterior space, and the spaces that crossed through multiple polyhedra in a regular packing grid.

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Here I had generated embedded language of unique and distinct forms that related under a single implicit structure and could be constrained by it. This meant the aggregated results could take on very different aesthetic forms that ultimately still conformed to the implicit matrix. This to me was a significant departure from the work of Gilles where most of his discrete parts in a single structural proposal would be largely homogenous. I had aimed to create a family of unique parts that could still possibly harmonize in many unpredictable ways, and I had achieved that to my surprise - the most interesting results particularly from the cuboctahedron. This concept is not much different actually from the two dimensional nature studies of Wright. Beyond the idea that he derived pattern based on an underlying gridded motif he initially established, came the ability to make permutations and unique iterations of matrically defined gestures. One could break up within the grid in a fractal manner, and one could break out from the main grid suggesting a different grid overlaid into the matrix of the other.

This was what began to be discovered, beginning to play with each unique part trying to find all the possible relationships that could exist between them all. This particularly was the ongoing process of fiddling with pieces and discovering what could work according to the organizational/syntactical matrix that was already established for me.

Through the various iterations I started to generate, I codified a graph of parts which became a way to imagine the possible or suggested Functions of the derivative Forms. Here through simplistic elements/parts and a handful or distinct angles in at all possible orientations one could begin to posit a ground plan and identify natural forces which could then inform the structural identities of the elements/parts. The goal was to sustain geometrical purity, by determining possible material properties based off of the implicit structure.

The next step was to list all the types of Structures and envision them through my shelter iterations. Agregrations that had more of a tight and Compressive function I termed Packs and those that might have more of a loose Tensile function, Spanning the Form generating the inhabitable space while Packing is the solid compacted mass of the Form.

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By this point these concepts naturally distilled into some Terminology to illustrate the theory of this methodology. Adhering to the principles of sacred geometry I write,

In the Beginning… we have an infinite 3 dimensional matrix of Packing and Spanning Potential also known as the Infinite Packing/Spanning Matrix or IPM/ISM.

This is an unorthodox perspective in much of the architecture world. Mainly an architect sees open space or matrical void and then pursues to create a positive novel matrix independent of any existing structure out into that void. Instead this methodology sees the architectural/spatial potential expanded over, through, and as the site as the Infinite Packing/Spanning Matrix and the deconstructed degrees of freedom in that matrix establishes an architecture that is derived and emergent. The Envelope of end to the structure/architecture is where the IPM/ISM expression is Truncated.

A good natural expression of the concept of Packing is the density of Rock/Sediment etc, and the more organic and lively the more deconstructed the Packing and geometrically free the forms become. Plants/Animals/Organisms etc more closely express a Spanning Matrix. The IPM/ISM in nature is both Implicit (abstract structure of spatial potential within the void) and Explicit (Concrete/solid Structure of compacted aggregate matter)

Nature Spans through either Growth or Erosion. Growth is Explicit Spanning within an Implicit Packing Matrix and Erosion is Implicit Spanning within an Explicit Packing Matrix.

For example trees are the most ambitious in terms of Span. They root in the Explicit IPM and they Grow out into the Implicit IPM. From here the identity of what the Arch-i-Part was and it’s functional becoming could continue to grow.

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Prototype Theory + Process As I moved in the phase of Prototyping, I needed to begin understanding the resultant Assembly of parts in terms of material and Joinery. The relationship between the parts were largely facial and so there needed to be a concept of attachment through all the corresponding faces. This led to some research on what materials might best and most easily and economically achieve these forms. The thesis as a proof of concept for it’s built portion took a more lightweight and imperfect solution ultimately utilizing expanded polystyrene as the mass of the parts and bedliner (LINE-X) as a protective and frictional coating for pvc connectors piping.

The theory however is that through both solid parts and hollow parts, structure along with other purposes could be fulfilled. This led to a brief foray into fabricating plywood pieces of the same size. It was exceedingly more challenging given the lack of technology possessed, but did crop up distinctions. The Form of the part was nearly the same, but it’s differences lead to its own problems and solutions, and if used in tandem with the foam incarnation begged to be brought into harmony. Ultimately the built structure ended up being the homogeneous material for efficiency, but this lead to some theoretical concepts on the prototypical becomings of the Arch-i-Part, that are relevant for future manifestations:

Arch-i-Part TYPES ● Maintenance/Active+Passive Systems/Concealer/Houser (hollow parts that can house/ active and passive systems) ● Structural (geometrical purity is recommended) ● Maintenance Access Structural (A/PS Maintenance Concealer/Houser embedded within Structurals)

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Ultimately you are only removing non structural concealer/houser APs from a structure already made up of parts. This would theoretically allow for efficient easy non-destructive maintenance to other active systems of the architecture.

The point is that you never really “destroy” or “renovate” the Design. You simply “Construct,” “Deconstruct” and “Reconstruct.” The nature of how you maintain the structure is identical to or in the similar vein of the nature of how you built it and how you might later deconstruct it. You never compromise, you only reconfigure and repurpose.

The Part is rendered just as Beautiful and Elegant (in Form and Function) as The Whole/ Part Grouping

The Line or Stroke, just as Beautiful and Elegant as The Dwg or Painting. They are little to nothing without one another per the human value system.

Architecture will always need to "Hide" or “House” Active Systems but if the information is in the Part, than Hiding and Housing can be made more Meaningful and Efficient if Parts are designated as Concealer/Houser which is their “Telos,” all the while maintaining Formal Continuity, and arguably Functional Continuity.

Perhaps symbols could be employed to call out the “teli” on Concealer/Houser APs to the service of humans. Ultimately the point is that there is inherent potential for all systems to be rendered in some Formal and Functional sense, Architectural with the rest of the architecture, such that nothing can be said to be truly detached or disharmonious.

This Architecture could potentially be made more Maintainable when Discretized.

Which would also be the argument for the Protocore, and some sort of system alike.

Continuities of Meaning Structure and Telos in respect to Form and Function (Passive+Active Arch) could in this way of thinking be achieved.

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ACTIVE SYSTEM POSSIBILITIES

SAFETY

FIRE > ● (Use possibly steel parts with internal and external non combustible insulated coating or material) ● (Place alarms inside of parts so that as soon as a fire starts you can identify the location of the source by part) ● (Concealer/Houser AP Teli > Lack of Oxygen and Com-Part-mentalization is the enemy to Fire so imagine Concealer/Houser Parts Acting Architecturally (both formally and functionally) as Concealers/Housers to fire from oxygen and “spread”, by the nature of the Part, due to the entire Design being compartmentalized by Nature.)

WATER/MOISTURE AIR + THERMAL ● Interlocking barrier technology like some sort of silicon embedded within Structural AP ridges/slots between the inside faces of parts could be designed. Parts could be made precise through digital fabrication and lend themselves to air tightness. If made of light gauge steel, or any other metal, temperature transfer could be minimized through insulator materials being exposed to the outside of parts.

ALTERNATE MATERIALITIES + JOINERIES

One of the interesting concepts that could be tested in a second iteration is a material like Air-crete and building in mechanical connection pieces that lock pieces together and/or could be locked into place by magnetic attraction and switched on or off something like a Magswitch.

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Perhaps this could be an alternative to traditional mechanical fastening and would allow easy disassembly and reassembly.

BUILT REFLECTIONS One of the main questions that the built manifestation answered is the one about Formal continuities being harmonious with Functional continuities - largely Structure, Livable Place and Livable Space and at least the aesthetic context of the natural surroundings. These are the most powerful felt by the completed standing result.

Funny enough, this shelter concept was not actually “ fully complete” as designed, and it was not truly meant to be even if it was as designed. This became an interesting conundrum on when to actually stop constructing which Chris brought to light. Most of the “final” touches centered around Aesthetics/Form and not Structure. And yet this became it’s most relevant and important functions due to the rigid forces that shaped it which included the concerns of the Arcosanti community and along with unrelenting word of the school at the particular time under the particular conditions. The temporary nature of the structure that was allowed to assume it’s identity expressed the truly natural reality that nothing is actually permanent - for everything is only continuously reaching completion and that Parts can be rearranged or recycled to satisfy new Part groupings that may or may not be upwards in the human value system.

This Part grouping was successful in that it brought delight to those who could experience it and experience it within the same landscape that inspired its intentional composition, and Architecture is ultimately always symbolic at some level - an intentional alignment of natural principles in terms of Formal and Functional principles whether all of those principles are truly attached to one another or not. One could seek to produce meanings for everything that was done, but such a design could never be truly meaningfully one with nature in all categorical facets.

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Perhaps though it actually is one in the sense that the creative intention of humans attempts to find as much harmony on as many categorical levels as possible, just as the universe might exist formally and functionally.

QGR explains the value of human agency into this seemingly cold equation of reality, by comparing it to the quantum physics concept of gauge symmetry breaking,7

“There are many abstract meanings we ascribe to things that go beyond brute-simple physical meaning – that is, the pure geometric information or meaning of the code. When this extra meaning is “pumped” into the system of reality by an animal such as a human, the purely physical “symmetry” of the system is broken in some sense. An asymmetry of meaning occurs with respect to the hinge variable choices in the geometric quantum gravity code occurring around the two slits. The human is able to add additional meaning to reality itself about a particle going through one slit if he/she can devise an experiment that provides the meaning about the path of that particle through one of the slits. The hinge variable aspects of the code are then steered or directed in some sense by the human adding this new meaning into the system. But, mathematically, the collective consciousness based substrate of the code operates the actual hinge variable choices in the code. The purpose of any code/language is to convey meaning. And any good code user, whether nature, via the principle of least action, or a human code user, seeks to generate maximal meaning from minimal instances of symbol choices. A spoken language analogy of a system with an efficient ratio of symbols to meaning is a play on words, such as a double entendre or poem, where a small number of words can have multiple meanings. A physical example of a single symbol playing a rule in multiple instances of meaning is a quasicrystal. A change of an atomic position at one coordinate encodes information in multiple 1D Fibonacci chain strings of binary code.”

Perhaps all part grouping results from all human intention, and thus all architecture is a great echoing of a perceived whole, carrying outwards towards the perimeters of a sought closed system. The inexplicable facets of human design mirror those of existence itself. The best we can 7

"Principle of Efficient Language." Quantum Gravity Research. June 20, 2017. Accessed July 01, 2021.par. 10.

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do is echo, and echo, and echo, with the outside of these universal walls unreachable to us, and perhaps this is where the rightful limit should be for architecture, for now at least. Architecture only need echo as clearly and as accurately, as extensively, and as intentionally as it can towards the ultimate well being of humanity in harmony with its origins, continuously seeking the kisses at the lines of demarcation.

For me at least this was achieved in moments of experience as well as camera shots and drone footage. For me this was achieved in the process of on site assembly when the components of the structure reached a point of aggregate equilibrium and the entirety of the part grouping achieved its Structural function with a relative purity of its universal assembly system.

Areas where parts could take a slightly unique function or even form was where certain orientations of the parts dealt with gravity in different ways than the others. A lot of this would depend on the material and Joinery solutions, but with the less than ideal material - foam and PVC - the roof ultimately needed to be glued in many places so that the gravity wouldn’t pull everything downwards and pvc directly out of the foam, since such pieces spanned the greatest inhabitable area. This, as one thesis reviewer commented, might suggest a necessary physics manifesto for the Arch-i-Part suggesting slight but sufficient adaptations relative to specific natural conditions which avoid a uniformity of forces on the design but in predictable ways.

In general a more refined way to communicate the creation of components and assembly of structure on site proved to be another thesis in and of itself. Graphic communication of the architecture in many ways is just as mysterious as the full existential purpose of the built structure. Intuitively I was drawn to isometric views (also a sacred geometric principle) to try to represent 2 dimensionally all the dimensions in a readable way. Interestingly enough, when it came to actually understanding each component at the time of fabrication, simple perspective views from different angles were more effective even than an exploded axon at helping the mind understand building. The isometric view became much more centered around a purely 2-dimensional aesthetic purpose.

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However the rendering in particular which brought the greatest excitement, was the fact that the pieces were meant to be not just colored, but color coded. The uncanny connection between color coding the Parts by their specific identities and formal/functional distinction and the organic hues of the natural landscape was intended but at the same time not expected. In nature the colors really do designate differences in materiality, functionality, and form. It’s just abstract enough to achieve the two aspects and yet meaningful enough to inspire imagination.

I’ve always believed that the color spectrum in some way coincides with our psychological-emotional and symbolic spectrums, and these are features of the thesis I want to continue throughout my practice.

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WORKS CITED

"Principle of Efficient Language." Quantum Gravity Research. June 20, 2017. Accessed July 01, 2021.

"Quasicrystals." Quantum Gravity Research. March 03, 2021. Accessed July 01, 2021.

Safdie, Moshe. "Going Forward." Safdie Architects. 2014. Accessed July 01, 2021.

Wolchover, Natalie, and Substantive Quanta Magazine Moderates Comments To facilitate an Informed. "A Jewel at the Heart of Quantum Physics." Quanta Magazine. May 06, 2019.

Accessed July 01, 2021.

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