“Informing Form: Morphogenetic Practices in Performative Design”

This book chapter presents work by Alvin Huang and appears in Routledge Companion to Paradigms of Performativity in Design and Architecture.

Author: Alvin Huang
Publication: Routledge Companion to Paradigms of Performativity in Design and Architecture
Editor: Mitra Kanaani
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2019
Type: Book chapter

Abstract

This chapter traces the intellectual lineage and practical influence of morphogenesis and performativity in computational architecture. Beginning with biological models of local interaction, material agency, and emergent form, Alvin Huang examines how research once concentrated in the academy migrated into specialized professional practice. Through influential precedents and contemporary projects, the essay shows how computation can integrate geometry, material properties, fabrication, structure, and environmental performance—bringing experimental design methods into consequential architectural work.

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