Algorithmic Sustainable Design, by Nikos A. Salingaros.
Students can follow these innovative 12 one-hour lectures covering architecture and urbanism for free. These lectures accompany the book available in the USA HERE and in Europe HERE.
In the Spring semester of 2008, a course on Algorithmic Sustainable Design was broadcast live to participating institutions in different countries. Most of the course material is original, and includes topics introduced into architecture for the first time. This innovative theory includes fractals, cellular automata, emergent phenomena, symmetries, scaling, codes, and networks. The organized complexity found in the greatest creations of humanity -- buildings, cities, artworks, and artifacts -- depends on both content (information) and relationships (organization). Biological algorithms responsible for human evolutionary development link us to vernacular and traditional architectural and urban forms. Students from around the world can now learn the intelligent basis for architecture, and re-establish adaptability and genuine sustainability.
ARCHIVED VIDEOS AND SLIDES OF ALL THE LECTURES
There are four options for following the video lectures -- the best is probably on VIMEO. Click below to access the streaming video and the web slide presentation. The SLIDES were revised and amplified for the book.
Lecture 1: Recursion and the Fibonacci sequence. Universal scaling. Biophilia -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 1 SLIDES: Recursion and the Fibonacci sequence. Universal scaling. Biophilia
After this course was presented and the book published, I wrote two papers that delve deeper into the material of Chapter 1.
Applications of the Golden Mean to Architecture, February 2012.
Why monotonous repetition is unsatisfying, September 2011.
Lecture 2: Geometric Recursion and Fractals. The Sierpinski gasket. Perforation, bending, and folding. Anti-gravity anxiety. Architecture of the horizontal -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 2 SLIDES: Geometric Recursion and Fractals. The Sierpinski gasket. Perforation, bending, and folding. Anti-gravity anxiety. Architecture of the horizontal
Lecture 3: Universal distribution of sizes. Fractal design, ornament, and biophilia. Sustainable systems -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 3 SLIDES: Universal distribution of sizes. Fractal design, ornament, and biophilia. Sustainable systems
Lecture 4: Cellular automata. Sierpinski carpets and sea-shells. Design in hyperspace and connection to the sacred -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 4 SLIDES: Cellular automata. Sierpinski carpets and sea-shells. Design in hyperspace and connection to the sacred
Lecture 5: Harmony-seeking computations. Architectural harmony. Alexander's theory of centers. Design as computation. Computational reducibility -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 5 SLIDES: Harmony-seeking computations. Architectural harmony. Alexander's theory of centers. Design as computation. Computational reducibility
Lecture 6: Alexander's 15 Fundamental Properties. Three laws of architecture -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 6 SLIDES: Alexander's 15 Fundamental Properties. Three laws of architecture
Lecture 7: Biologically-inspired computation. Genetic algorithms. Computation versus memory retrieval. Evolutionary regression -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 7 SLIDES: Biologically-inspired computation. Genetic algorithms. Computation versus memory retrieval. Evolutionary regression
Lecture 8: Emergent systems. Examples from Artificial Life. Inhuman experiments. Architectural education -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 8 SLIDES: Emergent systems. Examples from Artificial Life. Inhuman experiments. Architectural education
Lecture 9: Symmetry production. Symmetry breaking. Classical moldings. Elementary particle symmetries. Binding energy -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 9 SLIDES: Symmetry production. Symmetry breaking. Classical moldings. Elementary particle symmetries. Binding energy
Lecture 10: Generative codes and their application to building and urban morphology. Secularization destroys public space. Spiritual architects. Legalizing codes -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 10 SLIDES: Generative codes and their application to building and urban morphology. Secularization destroys public space. Spiritual architects. Legalizing codes
Lecture 11: Duany-Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) codes. The New Urbanism. Stephen Mouzon's project. Tall buildings -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
*Tall Buildings -- Video of part D of lecture 11, which pertains to Expo 2015 in Milan.
Lecture 11 SLIDES: Duany-Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) codes. The New Urbanism. Stephen Mouzon's project. Tall buildings
Lecture 12: Implementation of generative codes in design. Urban plazas. Designing for children. Favelas and social housing -- VIMEO -- RealPlayer -- YouTube -- WindowsMedia -- Textpotential
Lecture 12 SLIDES: Implementation of generative codes in design. Urban plazas. Designing for children. Favelas and social housing
In the lectures, reference is made to the monograph "Harmony-seeking computations" by Christopher Alexander, to be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Unconventional Computing, Volume 4, 2008 (available online).
Dr. Nikos A. Salingaros (HOME PAGE) is a professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and is a world-famous Urbanist and Architectural Theorist. He is affiliated with the architecture faculties of the Universities of Delft, Holland, Rome III, Italy, and Querétaro, Mexico, and supervises thesis students from all around the world on architectural and urban topics. Dr. Salingaros is one of the founders of the new discipline of “Biophilic Design”, which investigates how the design of buildings creates more healing environments. He is a member of the International Network for Building, Architecture & Urbanism (INTBAU) College of Traditional Practitioners, the Institute for Classical Architecture, and is on the INTBAU Committee of Honor. He was selected as one of UTNE's "50 Visionaries who are changing your world" in November 2008, and was ranked 11th among the "Top 100 Urban Thinkers" in a 2009 Planetizen poll.