Greg Lynn

Greg Lynn is an architect known for his experimental use of computational design and generative models. His Embryological House project from 1992 used parametric modeling software to generate organic, fluid house forms by applying vector forces and allowing surfaces to interact dynamically over time. Different sites and environmental factors could also influence the final forms. Though never built, the project demonstrated Lynn's goal of using emerging technologies to design and fabricate non-standard architectural shapes in an efficient, mass-customizable way.

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Greg Lynn

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Sajju Arunachalam

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GREG LYNN

Generative models in architecture

Presented by
G. Aiswarya. P
Saroja. A

ABOU
T
Born: Ohio 1964
Undergraduate (Design): Miami
University
Graduate (Architecture): Princeton
University
Employed: Antoine Predock Architects
Eisenman Architects

In 1992
Lynn
founded
GregLynnF
ORM and
currently has an
office in Venice,
CA
and Hoboken, NJ

Time is a factor allowed by animation software which permits the possibility

of key-framing and it allows 'objects to interact dynamically with one another'.

Topology is the area that allows surfaces to be formed

using splines instead of points and lines. Splines are formed by the continuous
sequence of vectors that define their shape, exhibiting.

Parameters provide the rules under which the subject will deal with the
passing of time and its changing topology. Parameters can be used to introduce a
field with certain qualities to influence the form and generate an emergent new
result.

As the study of motion, Lynn sees no other way forward than

through the use of computer technology, it's environment
providing 'a new medium for design'. His work also investigates
the use of computers to manufacture the complex results of his
process, such as his utilization ofcomputer numerically
controlled millingtechniques to produce the work.

Goals
to rethink the idea of house typology beyond the modernist "kit of
parts" model to an organic, flexible, genetic/generic prototype from which an
infinite number of iterations can be generated.
to extend the interplay of "generic" and "variation" implied in this rethinking to
notions of product "branding" and the satisfaction of individual desire
through consumer-specific, unique versions of the product.

to push the capabilities of existing automated manufacturing

technologies for the production of non-standard architectural forms.

Body
Greg Lynns work the The Embryological House is a postmodern,
organicist style inspired by evolutionary biology and the science of turbulence
and made possible by the computer's ability to generate warped or fluid forms.
The relationship between architecture and the body is apparent at many levels
in this example of his work. The Embryological House is suppose to trace the
evolution pattern of the human embryo.

At the prototyping stage Lynn defined this project in stages and each mutation was
considered a stage in evaluation, none of the mutations were considered perfect.
The Embryological House was an attempt to participate in that economic reality,
but with a completely different implicit lifestyle and relationship to the environment.
Lynn wanted to take a more biological approach, where there would be no

discreet components.
The concept was that system had the same morphospacethe same form-space
so that a change in any component would inflect every other component within the
system.

Design Development
First, a set of vectoral forces is
applied to a primitive shape and
permitted to generate a group of
what Lynn calls "gastrulated
rooms" (an analogy with the
biomorphogenctic process by
which an embryo folds on to itself
to form a gaster, or "stomach").

Microstation and Maya

Design Development
From these Lynn chooses the six
showing the widest variation and
invents a structural system that
can accommodate them all. The
six volumes are then developed
through interaction with

forces applied to an
arbitrary ground plane: while
deforming the volume, the ground
also deforms, nesting the volume
in a folded plinth.

Design Development
The house volumes can now be
brought under the influence of
a particular site. To provide
local conditions for the houses,
Lynn chose the sites of 12
Palladian villas in the Veneto and
translated the particularities of
each-topology, orientation,
barrier, and access-all into
vectoral information.

Design Development
When one of these sites interacts
with one of the nested house
volumes, mutual deformation
results in the creation of an
interstitial zone for transitional
amenities such as grotto, garden,
or patio, which can be rendered
in glass so the ground turns
transparent and the house
appears floating above it.

Design Development
At any stage of the process, other
kinds of information can be permitted
to influence the form. In one house,
for example, the path of the sun

on a given is translated into

forces that subtly deform the
surface. As the sun passes around
the solar vault, it registers the areas
of light and shade along the buildings
irregular dents, leaving patterns like
moss on rocks. They are turned
paradoxically into shade panels of
three-dimensional light, or so it
seems, made from golden ribbons of
photovoltaics bonded between
urethane and flexible stainless-steel
sheets.

Fabrication
At the end of this embryology appears
a series of unique houses of a
generic proportion, 30 feet high (2
stories), 30 feet wide, 50 feet long, that
can swell or shrink, depending upon
the site. Computer-aided manufacture
makes the houses an aesthetic bargain
by producing within its parameters the
series' multiple, singular units without
specialized machining and in relatively
little time.
At the Venice Biennale, Lvnn illustrated
this means of production through a 30
percent scale model made with 5-axis
(three orthogonal plus clockwise and
counterclockwise) CNC (computer
numerically controlled) milling machine.

Production
From a gantry arm moving back a forth
within a 30-by-20-by 6-foot range, first
thicker, then thinner drill bits milled the
form from 3.2-foot-thick slices in less
than a week. As a mode of distribution,
Lynn envisions a kind of "mail-order"
business that could deliver these houseparts to any site on the globe.

What does this project mean to us?

Though several of the iterations were developed far enough that their
potential for manufacturing could be tested, no built version of the House
was ever realized. Instead the House remained a conceptual project, as
intended from the beginning. It was realized most completely in digital
form. It is its conceptualization as a purely digital project

which makes the Embryological House such a compelling

case study.

Our Views
Small firm principal practices and teaches.
Cyberspace practice - computer is inherent in all phases of practice and forms
the designers pedagogy and practice methodology.
The computer is utilized as both form generator of the idea and facilitator for
manufacturing of the physical artifact at the micro and macro scale.
Experimental use of technology and software.
Designs in digital environment high tech media presentations.
Successful use of technology to meet tight budget and time.
Direct link of creative genesis of idea to digital environment - manufacturing and
construction.
Computing is inherent in the rationalization of project design forces.
Computing is an inherent component of the interplay of geometric form and
spatial discovery in the design process.