Article

Inclusive Performance: Efficiency Versus Effectiveness Towards a Morpho-Ecological Approach for Design

  1. Michael Hensel,
  2. Achim Menges

Article first published online: 6 MAR 2008

DOI: 10.1002/ad.642

Issue

Architectural Design

Architectural Design

Special Issue: Versatility and Vicissitude

Volume 78, Issue 2, pages 54–63, March/April 2008

Additional Information

How to Cite

Hensel, M. and Menges, A. (2008), Inclusive Performance: Efficiency Versus Effectiveness Towards a Morpho-Ecological Approach for Design. Archit Design, 78: 54–63. doi: 10.1002/ad.642

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 6 MAR 2008
  2. Article first published online: 6 MAR 2008

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Keywords:

  • context-sensitivity;
  • freeform architecture;
  • form-generation;
  • Dae Song Lee, Differentiated Space Frames, Diploma Unit 4, Architectural Association;
  • vector-active space-frame structure;
  • surface-active structural folded system;
  • macro-and microclimatic conditions;
  • system-intrinsic characteristics;
  • Continuous Laminae;
  • Aleksandra Jaeschke, Diploma Unit 4 (Michael Hensel and Achim Menges), Architectural Association, London 2004-05;
  • continuous multiple load-path system;
  • anisotropic characteristics of timber;
  • selective laser-sintering;
  • Porous Cast;
  • Gabriel Sanchiz Garin, Diploma Unit 4 (Michael Hensel and Achim Menges), Architectural Association, 2005-06;
  • formation process of diatoms and radiolaria;
  • unicellular or colonial algae;
  • marine planktonic protozoa;
  • differentiated cast walls;
  • pneus;
  • 5-axis CNC machine;
  • high-density polystyrene blocks;
  • Air-pressured cushions;
  • Differentiated Space Frames;
  • Dae Song Lee, Diploma Unit 4 (Michael Hensel and Achim Menges), Architectural Association, 2005-06;
  • vector-active;
  • surface-active structural system;
  • tetrahedrons;
  • tetrahedral elements that vary in size;
  • hexagonal elements;
  • multiplication of element layers;
  • space-frame;
  • geometric-topological articulation;
  • performative capacity;
  • Styrofoam;
  • MDF

Abstract

At a time of accelerated global urbanisation and climate change, performance-oriented design has an increasingly important role to play. Here, Michael Hensel and Achim Menges describe their own ‘Morpho-Ecological’ approach to design, which challenges some of the most deeply entrenched dogmas of architecture as a material practice, such as the notion of ‘efficiency’ in design and construction. It focuses specifically on the integral relationship between form-generation, material behaviour and capacity, manufacturing and assembly, environmental modulation and a type of spatial conditioning that is set to deliver a richly heterogeneous space. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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