Livable Cities - London AMPS | City, University of London Page 220 Architecture In architecture, evolution can thus mean keeping a primitive architectural concept and developing the features of the design measured against defined criteria. For example, Christopher Alexander’s book A Pattern Language introduced this type of a methodology that uses a set of design patterns or rules that can be refined over time to create buildings or spaces that are well-suited to the needs and preferences defined by Alexander. Evolutionary design methods have this far been used mostly in quantitative projects, for example in software development and computational architecture. Software and applications can start their life in a simple form and later became more sophisticated through an evolutionary process. In quantitative evolutionary design, a parameter can be anything numerically calculable from designing a building that maximises natural light2 to creating a CO2 neutral urban block. A quantitative approach is fitting to technical characteristics, engineering, or such design theory, where the design process is mechanical problem-solving activity, and the goal is to create a solution that meets specific numerical criteria or objectives. However, goals and parameters also in computational evolutionary design or in user-based design theory require better and more varied definition than technical performance and efficiency. Evolutionary design has also been used to produce design alternatives that are optimised for multiple criteria. This is a very common situation in architecture and multi-objective optimisation can be difficult when applying traditional design methods. Applying evolutionary methods to architecture is challenging because of the qualitative nature of the field of architecture. There are limitations in explaining architecture properly in terms of quantitative goal setting, constraints and rules. In the case of architecture that surpasses technique, a goal setting should be something else than quantities or purely technical problem solving. A design process in architecture is only very partially and poorly explained in terms of quantitative motivation, control and rules. The skill of a professional in architecture is rather expressed in the actual framing of the problem to be addressed.3 Ideally, evolutionary design in architecture could thus help to generate also qualitatively optimised and creative design solutions. Examples for such areas of qualitative design parameters in architecture could include qualities related to such vague entities as place, time, movement, change, type, and value. Because architecture is always situated in an open social environment with contrasting interests, it spreads a plurality of cultural effects, depending on relationally defined, varying definitions of value. Its evaluation is based on social standards on what is acceptable and what not; as well as on what produces social prestige in its context. The designer needs to answer, whose values and whose benefits to support. Is there short-term or long-term value created? From a value-related and experiential viewpoint, such qualitative topics define architecture as the programming of use, mixing of user groups, types of urbanism, rarity, feeling, behaviour, attitude, expression, meaning, attraction, image, identity and priorities. These sociologically inclined attributes become materialised in architectural imagination through e.g., 1) the selection of locations and the utilisation of existing spaces, 2) deciding on how natural seasons become taken into account, 3) the quality of spatial succession, 4) the creativity of spatial and event programming, 5) the development of building and block typologies, 6) the creation of intentional feelings such as the dramaturgy of excitement and relaxation, atmospheres, multi-sensory experiences, 7) interconnectedness and interactions, 8) uniqueness, 9) the interplay of diverse value systems and 10) the critical capacity of design. The development of architectural components, and experiences created by architecture, relate to many qualitative parameters like these. The focus in the scrutiny at hand lies especially on the possibility to pursue social innovation through architectural creativity.
