What is 'Space'? : Dialogue: Comtemporary Theory in Architecture

Parametricism and Virtuality

Parametricism is claimed by Patrik Schumacher, in "A New Global Style for Architecture and Urbanism" that "Parametricism is the great new style after modernism". In fact, when looking at some of the newest designs in the society, it's seemed to be that way. One of the reason that made parametricism the style of today is perhaps also due to the new technologies we've developed in the past decade which really enable the possibility of creating such complex and elaborate forms. The idea behind the concept of Parametricism is that on every site there's  a field, a field is equivalent to the forces existing in the space, such forces are such as the environmental forces, the social, the economics and more. These forces or this fields are then taken into a consideration when it comes to the designing phrase. Hence, there's this idea of creating an architecture which is specifically "tailored" to a specific site.

 This trend of subjectivity is also, a trend that our world is moving towards. The Fordism and the mass market  world is over. It is replaced by a world of subjectivity, where the consumers are supplied with products that are specifically "designed" for the individualistic need of each person, this proved to also be successful as subjectivity is related to our human nature, which is unique and specific to each of us. This can also be seen from the micro-specific advertisement that had been built into our devices such as during our google searches on our iphones  - where the results shown in each phones would be different according to what we've been searching on the phones previously, thus, in a way, even the search results had been tailored to be more specific to us as a user.

However, back to architecture, even though parametricism is all about the "maximal emphasis on conspicuous differntiation and the visual amplification of differentiating logics" as quoted by Patrik Schumacher, there's a truth that is in a way that's quite contrary, it's that in reality; parametricism itself is very controlled. In the order to construct buildings that possessed this "fluid" dynamic forces, that also "flow" together as supposed as a single form, "sharing a language with its neighbor" . There's the need for very precise calculation and precise pieces for the construction. since these fluid forms are actually very "articulated" in nature and thus to achieve such articulation and  complexity - the pieces o the building are also needed to be built very precisely, which, in many cases, there're often some errors when these elaborate forms are put into reality. Thus, the concept of "Virtuality" is also related to Parametricism in my view.

Since it's a matter of fact that many of Zaha's works are not built in real life despite the advanced technology that we've developed and some of her works that were built into real buildings, in many cases don't work just as well as planned, such as the Guangzhou Opera House which has a leakage problem.  This is due to the very complicated construction process and the need for a high level of preciseness. When looking at the actual parametric architecture in real life, many tend to does not live up to the models and the rendering pictures that the architect promised.  These renderings are a type of "virtual reality" in which it has the quality of being "real but not actual, ideal but not abstract" as quoted by Marcel Proust, Definition of The Virtual. Real but not actual refers to something "real" but doesn't have to be physical such as reflection and in this case the renderings.

Another example of Virtuality is the well known computer game, Sims; where the player is able to create and live in his / her virtual world, where there're costumes and even "music" that have references to our real world thus in a sense, the sims  is a "real" but not actual world, it possesses virtual reflection of ideal and values. In addition, even the idea of a utopia could also be linked to the theory of virtuality since it is also real in a way, but not actual. Hence, in some of the parametric architectures, there're still some essence of virtuality, where the models and renderings (which are the virtual reality) represent the architecture better  than the real buildings themselves. At the end, my understanding of Parametric forms is that it required "perfection" / "perfect order", which in a way, is very difficult to create in reality, since people are not perfect. This sense of "perfect order" is also presented in the ideology of the Utopia --- which links to the theory of Virtuality, where it's "real but not actual". Thus, the fact that Parametricism also represent the concept of controlled aesthetics in the order to create this "perfect order" in the real world, is link to the concept of Virtuality as in many cases, the models and renderings, which are a type of "virtual reality" ended up representing the architecture better than the actual buildings.