Parametricism: Serendipity in Architecture

Abstract

“Everything we design is designing us back...” Architect’s design buildings. Planning and implementing change in the world around us is what we do. The archetypal design medium is pencil, eraser and paper. The pencil adds, and eraser subtracts. However, with the advent of modern technology and advances in digital lengths in the architecture industry, new dimensions of architecture are being explored by the contemporary designers. Parametricism as an epochal phenomenon in the history of architecture has defined many rules for the current designers and for the future practitioners to follow (as said by Sushant Verma, rat [LAB], India). In parametricism or parametric architecture the concept of design evolves serendipitously. It lies in the space of juxtaposition of distinct parameters which creates moments of unexpected relevance that is more conducive for the ultimate design. In this research, the serendipitous process of Parametricism in Architecture and how it affected the geometry and aesthetics of modern architectural buildings will be discussed in brief. “Although aesthetic appearance matters enormously in architecture and design, neither architecture as a whole nor its styles can be reduced to mere matters of appearance…”- Patrik Schumacher