Simulation and the Future of Design Tools for Ecological Research

(2011)

Abstract

As buildings mediate between a complex external system (weather) and a complex internal system (occupants), they are, themselves, bound to be complex systems with their own emergent behaviours. In his book How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built,1 Stewart Brand discusses buildings as responsive systems that acquire new ‘knowledge’ over time. This fits well with the human penchant for anthropomorphism, where we often see unpredictable response as ‘character’. Also, just as with a biological organism, we see gradual degradation in use, usefulness, durability, performance and maintenance as ‘aging’.