Aleatory Architecture...

Image Source: Technology Review

Topics: Architectural Engineering, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Condensed Matter Physics, Humor, Science Fiction

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Architecture is a conservative discipline, not least because of the exacting standards of stability and safety that all human-made structures must adhere to. The forces acting on and within any structure must be carefully calculated and the design modified accordingly. Little can be left to chance.

At least, that’s the traditional view. But some designers are toying with another idea—that there’s a different way to build that exploits randomness rather than avoids it. This kind of building will rely on new kinds of granular materials that when tipped into place, bind together in ways that provide structural stability. In this way, walls, columns and even domes could be poured into place, forming complex but stable structures.

That may sound like science fiction but today Sean Keller at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and Heinrich Jaeger at the University of Chicago explain how this kind of “aleatory architecture” is finally becoming possible. These guys say that the first aleatory structures are already being built and that the approach is introducing new ways to think about architecture and design in general.

Not quite here yet...

Physics arXiv: Aleatory Architectures - Sean Keller, Heinrich Jaeger