1.0           Introduction : 

     

1.1       Parametricism in Urban Design :

Abstract: Though parametricism has its roots in the digital animation techniques of the mid-1990s, it has only fully emerged in recent years with the development of advanced parametric design systems. Parametricism has become the dominant, single style for avant-garde practice today. It is particularly suited to large-scale urbanism as exemplified by a series of competition-winning master-plans by Zaha Hadid Architects.

 1.2       Parametricism :  A New Global Style for Architecture and Urban Design :

There is a global convergence in recent avant-garde architecture that justifies the enunciation of a new style: Parametricism. The style is rooted in digital animation techniques. Its latest refinements are based on advanced parametric design systems and scripting techniques.

 This style has been developed over the last 15 years and is now claiming hegemony within avant-garde architecture. It succeeds modernism as a new long wave of systematic innovation

. The style finally closes the transitional period of uncertainty that was engendered by the crisis of modernism and that was marked by a series of short lived episodes including Postmodernism, Deconstructivism, and Minimalism.
Parametricism is the great new style after modernism.

 The new style claims relevance on all scales from architecture and interior design to large scale urban design. The larger the scale of the project the more pronounced is parametricism’s superior capacity to articulate programmatic complexity.

The urbanist potential of parametricism has been explored in a three year research agenda at the AADRL  - Parametric Urbanism – and demonstrated by a series of competition winning masterplans by Zaha Hadid Architects.

                 Figure1: Fabric studies 1 : For the block type.

          
                  Figure2: The morphological range of the perimeter block type.

1.3       Implementing Parametricist Urbanism:

The urban implementation of parametricism is still in its infancy. However, ZHA was able to win a series of international masterplanning competitions with schemes that embody the key features of parametricism.

 The projects include the 200 hectar One-North Masterplan for a mixed-use business park in Singapore, Soho City in Beijing comprising 2.5 million squaremeter of residential and retail programme, the mixed use masterplan for Bilbao including the river island and both opposing embankments, and the Kartal-Pendik masterplan, a mixed use urban field of 55 hectar with 6 million squaremeter of gross buildable area comprising all programmatic components of a city.

The project is to constitute a sub-center on Istanbul’s Asian side to release the pressure on the historic centre. The site is being reclaimed from industrial estates and is flanked with the small grain fabric of sub-urban towns.

 The parametricist taboo of unmediated juxtapositions implied that we took the adjacent context  - in particular the incoming lines of circulation - as an important input for the generation of the urban geometry.

 Maya’s hair dynamic tool achieved a parametrically tuned bundling of the incoming paths into larger roads enclosing larger sites. The resultant lateral path system that exhibits the basic properties of Frei Otto’s minimizing detour network.

The longitudinal direction was imposed via a primary artery with a series of subsidiary roads running in parallel. The result was is a hybrid between minimizing detour network and deformed grid. In parallel we worked with two primary fabric typologies, towers and perimeter blocks, each conceived as generative component or geno-type that allows for wide range of pheno-typical variation.

 The towers, conceived as cross towers, placed on the crossing points accentuating the path network. The perimeter block inversely correlates height with parcel area so that courtyards morph into internal atria as sites get smaller and blocks get taller. Blocks split along the lines of the secondary path-network.

This move, together with the accentuating height differentiation, allows the block type to be assimilated to the cross-tower type. “pseudo-towers” are formed at some crossing points by pulling up the four corners of the four blocks that meet at such a corner.

 Thus an overall sense of continuity is being achieved in spite of starting with two rather distinct urban typologies. In terms of the global height regulation – besides the local dependency of height upon parcel size – we are trying to correlate the conspicuous build up of height with the lateral width of the overall field. Thus the rhythm of urban peaks indexes the rhythm of widening and narrowing of the urban stretch.

1.4          Case study: Zaha Hadid Archiects, Kartal-Pendik Masterplan, Istanbul, Turkey, 2006
Maya hair-dynamic simulates minimised detour net. The path network was thus generated with a digital woolthread model. The set-up registers the multitude of incoming streets and bundles them into larger roads affording larger parcels. 

         Figure 3: Maya hair-dynamic simulates minimised detour net.

    

                       Figure 4: Kartal-Pendik Masterplan, Istanbul, Turkey, 2006.

2.0       Parametricist v.s Modernist Urbanism :

Le Corbusier’s first theoretical statement on Urbanism starts with a eulogy of the straight line and the right angle as means by which man conquers nature. The first two paragraphs of The City of Tomorrow contrast man’s way with the pack-donkey’s way:
“Man walks in a straight line because he has a goal and knows where he is going; he has made up his mind to reach some particular place and he goes straight to it. The pack-donkey meanders along, meditates a little in his scatter-brained and distracted fashion, he zig-zags in order to avoid larger stones, or to ease the climb, or to gain a little shade; he takes the line of least resistance.”

Le Corbusier admires the urban order of the Romans and rejects our sentimental attachment to the picturesque irregularity of the medieval cities: “The curve is ruinous, difficult and dangerous; it is a paralyzing thing.”

Le Corbusier insists that “the house, the street, the town … should be ordered; … if they are not ordered, they oppose themselves to us.” Le Corbusier’s limitation is not his insistence upon order but his limited concept of order in terms of classical geometry.

Complexity theory in general, and the research of Frei Otto in particular, have since taught us to recognize, measure and simulate the complex patterns that emerge from processes of self-organisation. Phenomena like the “donkey’s path” and the urban patterns resulting from unplanned settlement processes can now be analyzed and appreciated in terms of their underlying logic and rationality, i.e. in terms of their hidden regularity and related performative power.

 

 Le Corbusier realized that although “nature presents itself to us as a chaos … the spirit which animates Nature is a spirit of order ”. However, his understanding of nature’s order was limited by the science of his day. Today we can reveal the complex order of those apparently chaotic patterns by means of simulating their lawful “material computation”.

Our parametricist sensibility gives more credit to the “pack-donkey’s path” as a form of recursive material computation than to the simplicity of clear geometries that can be imposed in one sweeping move.

Frei Otto’s pioneering work on natural structures included work on settlement patterns. He starts with the distinction/relation of occupying and connecting as the two fundamental processes that are involved in all processes of urbanisation. His analysis of existing patterns was paralleled by analogue experiments modelling crucial features of the settlement process.

He distinguished distancing and attractive occupations. For distancing occupation he used magnets floating in water and for attractive occupation he used floating polystyrene chips. A more complex model integrates both distancing and attractive occupation whereby the polystyrene chips cluster around the floating magnetic needles that maintain distance among themselves. The result closely resembles the typical settlement patterns found in our real urban landscapes.

                                        Figure 4: Case study : Frei Otto

1.2          Case study: Frei Otto, Occupation with simultaneous distancing and attracting forces,
Institute for Lightweight Structures (ILEK), Stuttgart, Germany, 1992
Analogue models for the material computation of structural building forms (form-finding) are the hallmark of Frei Otto’s research institute. The same methodology has been applied to his urban simulation work. The model shown integrates both distancing and attractive occupations by using polystyrene chips that cluster around the floating magnetic needles that maintain distance among themselves.

                          Figure 5: Frei Otto, Apparatus for computing minimal path systems,
                          Institute for Lightweight Structures (ILEK), Stuttgart, 1988.

3.0   Project : Kartal-Pendik :



3.1      Kartal-Pendik Masterplan, Istanbul, Turkey.

Figure 6: Masterplan: Hybrid detour net

 & deformed grid, Final Urban lay-out of

 streets and urban  fabric .

Zaha Hadid Archiects 2006.
The Kartal – Pendik Masterplan is a winning competition proposal for a new city centre on the east bank of Istanbul. It is the redevelopment of an abandoned industrial site into a new sub-centre of Istanbul, complete with a central business district, high-end residential development, cultural facilities such as concert halls, museums, and theatres, and leisure programs including a marina and tourist hotels.
The site lies at the confluence of several important infrastructural links, including the major highway connecting Istanbul to Europe and Asia, the coastal highway, sea bus terminals, and heavy and light rail links to the greater metropolitan area. 

The project begins by tying together the basic infrastructural and urban context of the surrounding site. Lateral lines stitch together the major road connections emerging from Kartal in the west and Pendik in the east.

                            Figure 7: Areas of higher programmatic intensity

                            as well as a vertical build-up of the city fabric.

The integration of these lateral connections with the main longitudinal axis creates a soft grid that forms the underlying framework for the project. Locally, this net can be bundled to form areas of higher programmatic intensity as well as a vertical build-up of the city fabric. In certain areas the net rises up to form a network of towers in an open landscape, while in other areas it is inverted to become a denser fabric cut through by streets, and at other times may completely fade away to generate parks and open spaces. Some areas extend out into the water, creating a matrix of floating marinas, shops, and restaurants.

                           Figure 8: Fabric studies 2 : calligraphy block variation.

                                  

                                   Figure 9: Fabric studies 3: split block variations.

The fabric is further articulated by an urban script that generates different typologies of buildings that respond to the different demands of each district. This calligraphic script creates open conditions that can transform from detached buildings to perimeter blocks, and ultimately into hybrid systems that can create a porous, interconnected network of open spaces that meanders throughout the city. Through subtle transformations and gradations from one part of the site to the other, the scripted fabric can create a smooth transition from the surrounding context to the new, higher density development on the site

The soft grid also incorporates possibilities of growth, as in the case where a network of high-rise towers might emerge from an area that was previously allocated to low-rise fabric buildings or faded into open park space. The masterplan is thus a dynamic system that generates an adaptable framework for urban form, balancing the need for a recognizable image and a new environment with a sensitive integration of the new city with the existing surrounds.

Figure 10: Global Maya model.

Figure 11: Scripting calligraphy block patterns .

Scripting calligraphy block patterns. Various scripts were developed that configure the perimeter blocks depending on parcel size, proportion and orientation. The script also allowed for random variations regarding the introduction of openings within blocks.

Global Maya model. The model features the interarticulation between cross towers and perimeter blocks as well as the affiliation to the surrounding fabric. The correlation of global width to global height can also be observed.

 

      3.2 New cityscape.:

                 

                                                Figure 12: New cityscape.

The Kartal-Penkik plan incorporates a vast quarry that becomes the largest item in a system of parks that are spread throughout the urban field. The rhythmic flow of the urban fabric gives a sense of organic cohesion.The result is an elegant, coherently differentiated city-scape that facilitates navigation through its lawful constitution and through the architectural accentuation of both global and local field properties.

This much might be possible to institute with the imposition of strict planning guidelines using building lines and height regulation. Political and private buy-in is required.

All constituencies need to be convinced that the individual restrictions placed upon all sites really deliver a worth-while collective value: the unique character and coherent order of the urban field that all players benefit from if adherence can be enforced.

 Ordered complexity here replaces the monotony of older planned developments and the disorienting visual chaos that marks virtually all unregulated contemporary city expansions.

To go further yet, in terms of our concept of deep relationality, we have to extend our involvement from urbanism to architecture. Only then we can further intensify the accentuating correlations, involving the systematic modulation of tectonic features. For instance, in terms of the calligraphy blocks  - a third perimeter block variation that has been designed to both open up the interior of parcels and to cross parcels – we use a continuous facade differentiation that leads from the street-side to the courtyard on the basis of an initial distinction of external and internal facades.

Another moment of deep articulation is the coordination of landscape and public spaces, and the correlation of the secondary path-system with the disposition of internal navigation systems.

Figure 13: City Space . Kartal-Pendik Istanbul, Turkey.

3.3       Calligraphy blocks-tectonic detail :

The articulation of the facades is a function of the location within the urban field. The exterior of the blocks is given a heavier relief than the interior. Where a block opens up and the public space flows into the private courtyard, a semi-private zone is articulated via the gradient transformation between the outer and inner articulation.

Figure 14:  Calligraphy Blocks .

 Kartal-Pendik Istanbul, Turkey.

Figure 15 :Close-up of cross towers.

Close-up of cross towers.

The cross towers produce the urban peaks. Through their ground-level articulation these tower complexes participate in the creation of a continuous urban fabric that frames the streets and occasionally widens the street space into semi-public plazas. This is achieved while maintaining total continuity between the podium-like ground fabric and the shafts of the towers.

Doubts might be felt when confronted with the possibility of designing an urban field of up to 6 million squaremeter gross area with a single design team. Are we overstretching our capacity here? The more we are confronted with large scale development of this kind the more confident we grow that the tools and strategies we are deploying under the banner of parametricism can indeed deliver something that produces a decisive surplus value if compared with the usual alternative of uncoordinated, arbitrary juxtapositions.

The contemporary choice of typologies, construction options and styles is simply too large to expect the underlying pragmatic logics to become legible. The result is a cacophony of pure difference.

 Parametricism is able to further coordinate pragmatic concerns and articulate them with all their rich differentiations and relevant associations. The danger of overriding real-life richness is minimized because variety and adaptiveness are written into the very genetic make-up of parametricism.

Parametricism involves the conceptual shift from part-to-whole relationships to component-system relationships, system-to-system relationships, and system-subsystem relationships. Parametricism prefers open systems that always remain incomplete. As the density of associations increases components might be associated into multiple systems. The correlation of initially independent system implies the formation of a new encompassing system etc.

3.4       Project Specifications :

Figure 16 : Kartal Project - Latest Official Renders.

Total Project Area: 555 Hectares (6 million square meters construction area)

Client: Greater Istanbul Municipality
Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
Project Team:
Design: Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher.
Project Leaders: DaeWha Kang and Saffet Bekiroglu.

Project Team:
Sevil Yazici.
Daniel Widrig.
Melike Altinisik.
Elif Erdine.
Miya Ushida.
Fulvio Wirz.
Mairagrazia Lanza.
Gonzalo Carbajo.

 

4.0     Parametric Urbanism-Deep Relationty  :

The assumption is that the urban massing describes a swarm-formation of many buildings whereby lawful continuities cohere this manifold of buildings.

The systematic modulation of morphologies produces powerful urban effects and facilitates field orientation.

Our ambition is deep relationality,. to integrate the building morphology - all the way to the detailed tectonic articulation and the interior organisation.

 Parametric Urbanism might involve parametric accentuation, parametric figuration, and parametric responsiveness as registers to fulfill its ambition of deep relationality.

5.0      Conclusion:  Negative & Positive :

The defining heuristics of parametricism are fully reflected in the taboos and dogmas of contemporary avant-gared design culture:

Negative heuristics (taboos): avoid rigid geometric primitives like squares, triangles and circles, avoid simple repetition of elements, avoid juxtaposition of unrelated elements or systems.

Positive heuristics (dogmas): consider all forms to be parametrically malleable, differentiate gradually (at variant rates), inflect and correlate systematically.