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08 · Postmodern & Contemporary

Parametricism

c. 2000–present

Computer-generated fluidity: continuous curved surfaces and patterns that no hand would draw.

Look for

Streamlined curves Curtain wall Modular repetition
Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan: an example of Parametricism architecture
Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan. Photo: Original architectural work: Zaha Hadid Depiction: Interfase, PD
Galaxy SOHO, Beijing, China
Galaxy SOHO Beijing, China · Rob Deutscher, CC BY 2.0
London Aquatics Centre, London, England
London Aquatics Centre London, England · Rick Ligthelm from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0
Harbin Opera House, Harbin, China
Harbin Opera House Harbin, China · EditQ, CC BY-SA 4.0
Metropol Parasol, Seville, Spain
Metropol Parasol Seville, Spain · Anual, CC BY-SA 3.0

what it is

Parametricism uses computer scripts to generate building form. The designer sets variables, or parameters, such as structural loads, sun angles or the movement of people through a space, and the software adjusts the geometry when a value changes. The results are continuous curved surfaces in which walls, floors and roofs run into one another, with few right angles, and facades made of hundreds or thousands of panels that each differ slightly in shape.

Zaha Hadid Architects' Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (2007-2012), wraps a museum, an auditorium and exhibition halls in one folded white surface with no sharp corners. Galaxy SOHO in Beijing (2012) is four domed office and retail buildings linked by curving bridges. The firm's London Aquatics Centre (2011) has a wave-shaped steel roof. Deconstructivist buildings of the 1980s and 1990s break into separate angular pieces; parametric buildings join their parts into one smooth form.

how to spot one

Streamlined curves Rounded building corners, smooth wall surfaces and horizontal bands or grooves running along the walls. They are the main features of Streamline Moderne buildings of the 1930s and 1940s. Curtain wall An outer wall of glass and metal panels hung on a building's steel or concrete frame, carrying only its own weight. It keeps out weather on most office towers built since the 1950s. Modular repetition A facade built from one identical unit, such as a window and its frame, repeated in a regular grid. It is common on postwar buildings made of precast (factory-made) concrete panels.

Also look for

CantileverExposed structureFlat roof

history

The approach grew out of digital design experiments in the 1990s, when architects such as Greg Lynn began using animation software to generate curved forms. Earlier, the German engineer Frei Otto (1925-2015) had used physical models, including soap films, to find the shapes of lightweight tensile roofs. Foreign Office Architects' Yokohama International Passenger Terminal (1995-2002) and Zaha Hadid's Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany (2000-2005), applied computer-generated geometry at full building scale.

Patrik Schumacher, a partner at Zaha Hadid Architects, named the style Parametricism at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale and published "Parametricism: A New Global Style for Architecture and Urban Design" in 2009. He presented it as the successor to Modernism and Postmodernism. The firm's large commissions of the 2010s, including the Heydar Aliyev Center and the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul (2014), became the style's best-known buildings. Galaxy SOHO drew objections from the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, which said it damaged the old hutong streetscape around it. Schumacher has led the firm since Hadid's death in 2016.

where to find it

The Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Galaxy SOHO in Beijing, and the flowing rooflines around King's Cross in London.

architects

Zaha Hadid

easy to confuse with

Kunsthaus Graz, an example of Blob Architecture Blob Architecture Bulbous, amoeba-like buildings wrapped in one continuous skin of curved panels. TWA Flight Center, an example of Neo-Futurism Neo-Futurism Sculptural techno-optimism: sweeping white shells, skeletal ribs, and winglike canopies. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, an example of Deconstructivism Deconstructivism Fragmented, colliding volumes and tilted planes: controlled architectural chaos.