Textile Tectonics

According to Gottfried Semper, architecture is based on four constitutive elements: earth mound, wooden poles, textile enclosures and fire as in the earliest forms of building. There is a clear evidence of Semper’s preference for textiles, perceived as “the main agent of architectural form”, the original technique for creating architecture.

Generally structure is associated with simplicity and strength, while today digital tools allow us to understand structure as being integral to material complexity and aesthetic delicacy.

Based on Gottfried Semper’s understanding of textile as the key component of architecture a symposium was organized by the Georgia Tech University.

At the Symposium several speakers discussed tectonics as the expressivity of matter itself, arriving at a point where the classic opposition of structure and ornament, or abstraction and empathy, begins to dissolve.

Speakers were :
Lars Spuybroek;  Textile as the key component of architecture
Mark Burry;   The Sagrada Familia, a model for fluid architecture
Evan Douglis;  Reconciliating ornament and structure
Michael Hensel;  Living materials for responsive architecture
Cecil Balmond;   Patterns for structural engineering

The orginal TextileFutures posting: >> click here

The Textile Techonics Symposium of Georgia Tech: >> click here