Pulsation in Architecture - Tapa blanda

Pulsation in Architecture makes a very strong case, as the title suggests, for not only movement in architecture-whirling, swirling, curling and more-but for a movement in architecture as well. Eric Goldemberg's selection of architects and their works captures a constellation of architectural ideas hurtling along the vector of digital innovation like proton beams in the Large Hadron Collider. While many of these designers are quite well known in their own right, Goldemberg's compilation suggests greater global affinities than might otherwise be supposed. In addition to a shared devotion to the opportunities created by the digital revolution, certain common formal characteristics abound, raising the chicken-and-the-egg question of which is driving which. Jeffrey Kipnis plays the role of wise man in this regard, articulating and synthesizing the myriad ideas put forth at the 2008 Digital Pulse Conference that served as a catalyst for this book. Goldemberg displays an equally thorough overview of the world of pulsing architecture. He is generous enough intellectually to also see the work from the respective designers' points of view, which include those of Peter Eisenman, Preston Scott Cohen, Greg Lynn, RUR (Reiser + Umemoto), UNStudio, Asymptote, EMBT/Miralles-Tagliabue, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Ali Rahim, Karim Rashid and others. In doing so, Goldemberg tells us not only what he thinks, but in many ways helps clarify the thinking of a generation of designers as well as our own. -Terence Riley, Architect

Pulsation in Architecture highlights the role of digital design as the catalyst for a new spatial sensibility related to rhythmic perception. It proposes a novel critical reception of computational architecture based on the ability of digital design to move beyond mere instrumentality, and to engage with core aspects of the discipline: the generative engine of digital architecture reinvigorates a discourse of part-to-whole relationships through the lens of rhythmic affect. There is a paradigm shift in spatial perception due to the intense use of computational techniques and the capacity to morph massive amounts of data in spatial patterns; rhythm plays a pivotal role in the articulation of the topology of buildings, generating the atmospheric character that induces moods and throbbing sensations in space. Pulsation introduces the fundamental animate capacity of living form and reshapes our perception of architectural space across the multiple scales of a project, from digital inception to fabrication. An emerging thread of rhythmic sensibility loosely binds a survey of contemporary design practices, including contributions by Peter Eisenman, Jeff Kipnis, Greg Lynn, UNStudio, Preston Scott Cohen, Reiser + Umemoto, Asymptote, Ali Rahim, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Ruy Klein, Gage / Clemenceau, NOX, Evan Douglis Studio, kokkugia, and MONAD Studio.