Dispositional Intelligence in Architecture

Unveiling Architectural Innovation
José Aragüez

Dispositional Intelligence proposes a contemporary theory of spatial organization in architecture through original research into a particular kind of hybrid design production—inherently architectural yet strongly driven by modes of intellection traditionally associated with engineering—which surfaced between the mid-1950s and the mid-2000s. Three highly important yet radically overlooked bodies of work are examined here: those of the Italian architect and artist Vittorio Giorgini (1926–2010), the Israeli architect, engineer, and geometer Michaël Burt (b. 1937), and Sri-Lankan-born, London-based engineer and theorist Cecil Balmond (b. 1943). Giorgini was a trailblazer in incorporating surface topology into architectural thinking with a considerable level of scientific self-awareness. Burt’s body of work proves to be one of the earliest, most thoroughgoing investigations into the discovery and visualization of three-dimensional models for the subdivision of space based on patterns of configurational continuity. Balmond pioneered the translation of aspects of nonlinearity into design moves of significant architectural consequence as well as the application of design frameworks thus initiated to the conception of entire buildings.

By combining granular historical analysis of these bodies of work with advanced theoretical investigation, this volume substantially expands the distinct dispositional possibilities for architecture enabled by the deep scientization of design that unfolded across the West over the course of the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. In so doing, it addresses the urgent need to extend the boundaries of architectural thinking in a fundamental fashion—beyond conventional models of three-dimensional articulation—and it contributes not only a new mode of thought to the history of architecture, but also novel critical and design frameworks to today’s discourse and practice culture.