Cybernetic Methodologies for Flexible and Generative Architectural Systems the case of Fun Palace and Pattern Language

Abstract

The study focuses on early attempts to deal with complex physical environments through a comparative analysis of two canonic projects that combine architectural design with cybernetic theories: (1) “The Fun Palace”, by British architect Cedric Price, 1962; and (2) “A Pattern Language”, by architectural theorist Christopher Alexander, 1979. This study suggests that both projects dared to advance the relationship between architecture and cybernetics in order to create active reciprocity between architectural design and cybernetic system theories. Drawing on ideas and terms from systems theory, we suggest using a cybernetic system diagram to compare the two projects. We compare the work of Alexander and Price through the terminology of current technologies in order to better understand the reciprocity between the two fields. Such terms include feedback loop, optimization and translation processes, input and output, influence on the environment, automation and user interaction.