Abstract

Greg Lynn has recently been producing buildings by [mis]using animation software for their “automatic” design, rather than the more traditional architectural approach of VR simulations and CAD renderings. The cinematic special effects and animation industry has developed useful tools for investigating deformable surfaces and physical forces. In animation, a form is not just modeled using its internal parameters, but also by a mosaic of other fluctuating forces, including gravity, wind, turbulence, magnetism, and swarms of moving particles. Lyn pioneered the use of these gradient fields as architectural analogies for pedestrian and automotive movement, environmental forces such as wind and sun, urban views and alignments, and intensities of use and occupation in time.

• Greg Lynn, USA, is the principal of Greg Lynn FORM, in Hoboken, NJ, USA. He has taught throughout the United States and Europe, and presently teaches at Columbia University. His writings and projects have been published internationally, and his work has been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Kyoto, and Oslo. Over the last three years his office has pro­duced a series of influential, unbuilt projects, many of which included the participation of Michael Mclnturf, including Cardiff Bay Opera House,Yokohama International Passenger Shiop Terminal, the Citron House, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. After the Korean Presbyterian Church of New York project, he and Michael Mclnturf will continue their partnership. The office is currently working on the Hydrogen House, a low energy, hydrogen powered prototype house and visitors’ center for a large oil refinery on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria, scheduled for comple­tion in November 1998. Lynn graduated cum laude from Miami University in Ohio in 1986 with two degrees, one in Philosophy (B.Phil), the other in Environmental Design (B.E.D.). He graduated from Princeton University with a Master’s of Architecture (M.Arch.) degree in 1988, where­upon he worked as a principle designer in the architectural office of Peter Eisenman Architects.   glform.com