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A Computable Vitality: Tange’s Architectural System For Skopje

2020; Middle East Technical University; Linguagem: Inglês

10.4305/metu.jfa.2020.2.4

0258-5316

Cansu Tolunay Berber, Mine Özkâr,

Architecture and Art History Studies

Architects have looked at nature throughout time.Using models of biological systems as direct reference in designs is particularly common.Models are adapted to design mainly by either reproducing the existing forms or imitating the life processes of organisms.While the first is mimicry of form and its function, the latter constitutes a basis for systems of architecture.In 1960s, the Metabolist movement in architecture took interest in the organism as a life process and hypothesized an analogy between natural systems and architectural systems.Beyond a reference to form, Metabolist works declared a socio-political concern (Schalk, 2014).The architects of the movement imagined the formation and life of architectural systems to be similar to those of living organisms: architectural systems are supposed to be adaptable, changeable, growing and open-ended entities in continuous evolution where the final product is not complete.The Metabolist group, to which Lin (2010) offers a recent comprehensive history, emerged with influences of Kenzo Tange and Takashi Asada, and grew to include names such as Noboru Kawazoe, Kisho Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki, Masata Otaka and Kiyonori Kikutake.The movement took its name from the biological term metabolism with which the group symbolized the life force inherent in living organisms (Kawazoe, 1960).In biology, metabolism connotes the chemical changes in living cells by which energy is provided for vital processes and activities.To the Metabolist group, it implied the dynamic environment that lives, grows and changes.The Metabolists sought renewable and adaptable urban structures in order to counter the risks of extinction such as those faced in the aftermath of World War II, in Europe and in Japan.To this end, they aspired to adapt systems to architectural and urban design, as a means of controlling the developments in technology (Lin, 2010, 173).