The Agency of Process – Discourse Series 2015

The Agency of PROCESS will consider the role of process, process-based design approaches (procedural, generative, rule-based) and technique – based explorations in contemporary architectural production.

Experimentation with process and new techniques in architecture are loaded and do not ‘merely’ contribute to the production of form or novel effects, but can be ways to ‘think through’ new ideas and possibilities for architecture. These explorations usually strive to generate arrangements, effects or organizational and compositional strategies that might not have been arrived at through other means and to challenge the default conventions of the discipline.

The most interesting explorations with process-based experiments and new techniques are original and loaded – seeking to find something other than what is already known and to challenge our underlying assumptions about what architecture is and what an appropriate response might be in a given situation. Yet, these explorations can sometimes be narrow and constrained by ingrained and inherited assumptions which limit their scope and potential.

This session will speculate on the expanded scope and possibilities of experimentation with process and new techniques at this moment in time, through focused discussion on the existing, diverse as well as new or nascent approaches evident in this architecture school. We will seek to address questions such as; can we overcome the history of process-based design and shape new paths and possibilities – or are we trapped forever by its tropes? What is the point? and Why should we bother?

Convenors: Vivian Mitsogianni & Roland Snooks
Moderator: Vivian Mitsogianni
Panel: Emma Jackson, Roland Snooks, John Doyle, Mark Raggatt