Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Next generation beach wear: a 3D printed bikini designed by Jenna Fizel and Mary
Huang of Continuum Fashion
Hacking biological data
For most of the recorded history of design in the Western world, people have
viewed nature and technology as polar forces. Nature was viewed as random
and unpredictable, a force to be tamed. Design was a process of making order
from nature's chaos, placing the imprint of human rationality onto raw materi-
als. Think of ornate Baroque furniture styles or the stunning and painstakingly
detailed gilded icons found in Russian Orthodox churches.
True, modern architecture embraced organic, nature-inspired shapes
decades ago. However, not everyone would agree that an architect's creative
role as a designer should be to guide and orchestrate the application of bio-
logically based algorithms to a design problem. That's what makes generative
design controversial and disruptive.
If “generative design” is the process of forming 3D shapes and patterns using
iterations of mathematical rules and constraints, then is the computer or the
