FORM

Greg Lynn has recently been producing buildings by [mis]using animation software for their “automatic” design, rather than the more traditional architectural approach of VR simulations and CAD renderings. The cinematic special effects and animation industry has developed useful tools for investigating deformable surfaces and physical forces. In animation, a form is not just modeled using its internal parameters, but also by a mosaic of other fluctuating forces, including gravity, wind, turbulence, magnetism, and swarms of moving particles. Lyn pioneered the use of these gradient fields as architectural analogies for pedestrian and automotive movement, environmental forces such as wind and sun, urban views and alignments, and intensities of use and occupation in time.