View
218
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
1/59
5o5
Posthumanism,
Cyborgsand
interConneCted bodies
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
2/59
Jon Bailey
Skeleton of Redempon : Chi Song :
An arcial injecon programmacally penetrates the remain-
ing farmland (of Detroit), gaining energy while providing
the basic nutrients for the growth of new infrastructure and
revitalized accommodaons.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
3/59
5o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
4/59
Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
5/59
5o5
PosthumanismCyborgs, andInterconnected
Bodies
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
6/59
Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
7/59
5o5
Table ofContents
12
14
22
3238
4050
52
54
28
46
Post + Trans:Humanism Theory
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
TranshumanistTheory
ArchitecturalConnection
Self-ConstructingArchitecture
ResponsiveLandscapes
AugmentedAtmospheres
Psychological Con-nections
PhysiologicalConnections
EcophysiologicalLandscapes
Precedents:VisionaryArchitecture
InterconnectedBodies:
EcophysiologicalLandscapes
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
8/59
Jon Bailey
Stelarcs Arm. Prosthec third arm aached to sensors on the muscles of the thigh and stomach for locomoon.
The human skin is an articial boundary: the world wanders into it, and the self
wanders out of it, trafc is two-way and constant. - Donna Haraway
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
9/59
5o5
Post + Trans:Humanism
Theory
1
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
10/59
013 Jon Bailey
Stelarc (Stelios Arkadiou) is a perform-
ance arst whose works focus heavily
on extending the capabilies of the hu-
man body. His concepts center around
the idea that the human body is obso-
lete, where idiosyncrac performances
oen involve robocs or other modern
control the muscles in these areas, he
was able to control the locomoon of the
arcial arm. His other performances in-
volve an ear implanted into the skin of
his arm as well as a pneumac spider-like
six-legged walking machine that allowed
control through arm gestures.
technologies integrated with his
body. His most notable performance
is one in which he constructed a third
arm, aached physically to one of his
arms, but electronically hooked up
to sensors on his stomach and thigh
muscles. As he gained the ability to
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
11/59
0145o5
THE POSTHUMAN by denition is a speculative being that
represents or seeks to enact a re-writing of what is generally
conceived of as human, where human nature becomes a univer-
sal state from which the human being emerges; human nature is
autonomous, rational, capable of free will, and unied in itself
as the apex of existence. The post-human, for critical theorists
of the subject, has an emergent ontology rather than a stable
one; in other words, the post-human is not a singular, dened
individual, but rather who can become or embody different
identities and understand the world from multiple, heterogene-
ous perspectives. (Nichols)
Transhumanism looks at Posthumanism through a slightly more
technological discourse, where technologies are seen to evolve
along with the human and cannot be separated from our evolu-
tion as they have become a part of dening being human; often
associated with cyborgs, a hybrid of machine and organism, a
creature of social reality as well as creature of ction. (Hara-
way) According to transhumanist theologians, a Posthuman is
a hypothetical future being whose basic capacities so radically
exceed those of present humans as to be no longer unambigu-
ously human by our current standards. (Dougal) This deni-
tion, however, becomes less clear as the bar for what is consid-
ered human is constantly shifting and we may never therefore
feel other than ourselves being human, but this does fulll the
claim to some posthumanist theorists that we are in fact already
in a state of posthumanity where our current state is different
from previous generations of human ancestors.
In describing the Posthuman habitat we must rst look at what
it means to be Posthuman and the coevolution of humans with
technology. Im sure that most people when I say Posthuman,
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
12/59
015 Jon Bailey
or cyborg, thinks of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Terminatoror
perhaps Robin Williams as Bicentennial Man. But what about
someone using a cell phone? Or a person writing on paper with
a pencil? Or checking the time? Some psychologists, anthro-
pologists, and other Posthuman theorists would claim that by
these examples we are in fact already cyborgs and have been
since our biological neural processes began to be ofoaded onto
non-biological props and aids, what Andy Clark [a psycholo-
gist from Washington University] calls scaffolds (Andy Clark).
Scaffolding may include assistance with planning, organizing,
doing matched to the learning needs and interests of the learn-
er. (Clark)
As seen with these technologies, however, they need not be
skin-deep, for what is special about the human brain is its
ability to enter into deep and complex relationships with non-
biological constructs, props, and aids (Clark). This ability
does not depend on physical wire-and-implant-mergers; such
mergers may be consummated without the intrusion of silicon
and wire into esh and blood. What matters is not the physical
merger between esh and machine (our traditional image of the
cyborg), but the ubiquitous and invisible connection between
mental processes which are ofoaded onto non-biological scaf-
folds. Tools and technologies become extensions of our brains
through ubiquitous feedback between the two. For example,
the wristwatch; you may often be asked if you know the time, to
which the typical response is yes, however, you probably do
not actually know the time, but rather you look at a technologi-
cal gadget which tells you the timeyet you still claim that you
in fact know the time. Thus, the wristwatch becomes a scaf-
folding system where information is retained on a peripheral
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
13/59
0165o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
14/59
017 Jon Bailey
Emov is a headset that
uses specically placed
sensors around the
circumference of the head
to read neural acvity and
paerns within the brain.
Using an algorithm these
signals are then mapped
as a 2D paern, where
each paern is specic to
certain thought, move-
ment, or emoon. For
instance if you imaginea window opening or
closing, a certain neural
response is acvated
which is specic to that
thought. Therefore, if
electronics are placed
on the window that are
in conversaon with
the mapping algorithm,
whenever you imagine
the window opening or
closing, the paern will be
recognized, transmied
to the electronics of the
window, and the window
will open. This technol-
ogy allows spaces and
devices to be controlled
with thoughts, connecng
physical spaces with the
human physiological
processes of the nervous
system.
Brainbow (right) is a tech-
nique which uses brightly
colored dies to follow
neural acvity within thebrain and body. Currently
this technology has only
been applied to mice
and other small animals,
however, by the images
you can begin to see the
intricate and complex
paerns which arise as
neurons travel through
bodies. With this technol-
ogy allowing us to map
ows of neurons and elec-
tricity within the body, the
paerns and informaon
generated could be read
by such devices as the
Emov headset, where
neural paerns are sensed
whereby space and maer
responds to emoon and
brain acvity.
device accessible by ubiquitous mental awareness. Similar is the act of writing
using pen and paper which reveals another instance where our brain is ofoading
mental tasks through pen and paper which could not otherwise be solves without
assistance. For most of us, to solve complex mathematical equations, or even long
division, we write down the steps to store and formulate the answeran answer
which could probably not have been found otherwise without the use of the scaf-
folding systems to accompany the mental processes occurring. The brain is not
necessarily good at performing these sorts of tasks, but our computational tools are,
so it uses these non-biological scaffolds to break down and ofoad the tasks which
we are not so good at. It is expert at recognizing patterns, at perception, and at
controlling physical actions, but it is not so well designed for complex planning
and long, intricate, derivations of consequences (Clark) In other words we may
only be as capable at some activities as our ability to ofoad these mental tasks to
periphery devices, thus showing that we have a greater connection to our technolo-
gies than previously imagined. Tools which become ubiquitous, where processes
can uidly exchange from scaffold to neural processes are those which we see fully
taking over human culture; watches, cell phones, writing, etc.; where this intercon-
nectedness between technology and mental processes are spreading out into every
day objects and environments.
So with our understanding of the cyborg moving away from bodily appendages
of industrial technologies to a new perception of what a cyborg is, one that sees
technologies evolution with humanity, where the way we interact with technolo-
gies isnt only through their depth within the body, but rather the ubiquitous con-
nections between tools and neural functions, where ofoading processes onto these
non-biological props becomes essential to our being human. This concept of cy-
borg sees us not as separate entities, man or machine, but rather the interconnected-
ness between these entitiesthe relationship between systems becomes important.
Posthumanity becomes interconnected, as brain and body begin to be viewed as an
interconnected system (conversely to humanism which sees our body as a shell for
the mind; i.e. two separate systems, polarities of mind and body); an assemblage
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
15/59
0185o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
16/59
019 Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
17/59
0205o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
18/59
021 Jon Bailey
Our tradional noon of
the cyborg has already oc-
curred within our society,
and we are in fact beyond
this image currently. De-
picted in these images are
xrays taken of a hip and
knee joint, where metal
sockets and rods have
been implanted to replace
biological components. As
the metal alloy wears into
the socket, bone begins to
regenerate into the rod,
creang an interconnectedsystem of technological
and biological compo-
nents. This example
shows a physical and lit-
eral representaon of how
biology and technology
connue to merge into an
interconnected system.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
19/59
0225o5
Neoplasmac Architecture
Marcos Cruz
Neoplasmac Architecture
invesgates the impact of
innovave technology on
current design pracces, in
parcular what concerns
the advent of synthec life
in architecture. It looks
at advances in new digital
media and biotechnology
within a design context
that is increasingly more
interdisciplinary, while
simultaneously focusing
on a new spaal, program-
mac and linguisc dimen-
sion of architecture and
the city.
Ulmatley, Neoarch aims
to discuss a future vision
of the body in architecture
by exploring the esh as
a new concept that allows
rethinking our common
and more tradional un-
derstanding of architec-
ture. Central is the inves-
gaon about our HUman
Flesh (the body) and a new
emerging Architectural
Flesh; a broader discussionabout Aesthecs of Flesh;
along with a vision of a
new Urban, Digital and
Neo-Biological Flesh.
of multiple parts. The human is no longer a unique being (a totality), but rather
part of the interconnected network of living species and of the geological cycle of
matter (an assemblage theory).
So why is this important for architecture? Like our image of the body moving
away from the body as a shell for the mind and into an interconnected relationship,
our architecture is becoming less viewed as a shell which encapsulates a body
toward one that is part of a system interconnected with the body and ecology.
The topics which are currently being discussed within architecture today and in this
class on responsive systems, interactive technologies, smart materials, augmented
atmospheres, articial environments and embedded technologies become part of the
Posthuman contextwhere these environments become part of the interconnected
relationship created between the human, ecology and the habitat [architecture]the
architecture becomes a scaffolding system of organization, planning, and reecting
on specic tasks. In Posthuman context; biology, ecologies, and atmospheres come
into play as they become another interconnected system which can be connected
to the human body and subsequent habitat. Architecture becomes a translator of
information, a user interface, where mental and physiological processes become
interconnected with the environment.
Currently our architecture, like our vision of the cyborg, is seen as a separate entity
from our bodiesit is the machine, we are the separated body. Similar dualities
such as these separations and polarities lter through our culture toward our spa-
tial denitions and relationships within our habitat. Within a Posthuman context
dualities such are these are not seen, and architecture, technology and ecologies
become an extension of the mind and body. Responsive feedback systems, arti-
cial environments, and augmented atmospheres begins to represent the level of
interconnected systems surrounding Posthuman theory, and may prelude to a time
when architecture is seen as a scaffolding system, where like the MIT Media house
the architecture becomes the computer and is able to process and relay informa -
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
20/59
023 Jon Bailey
tion in multiple. These environments may interact with the human through neu-
ral physiological connections which mentally link humans to their habitat. New
waves of user-sensitive technologies will bring this age-old process of user-tools
to a climax when our mind and identities become ever more deeply enmeshed in a
non-biological matrix of machines, tools, props, codes, and semi-intelligent daily
objects.
Already we see technologies which are becoming more ubiquitously connected to
our mental processes where cell phones contain hundreds or thousands of scaffold-
ing systems for our brains to ofoad and perform complex tasks. Technologies
and relationships such as these will continue to evolve and exert inuence over
the future of our habitat. These technologies are becoming more biological as we
peer ever deeper at scales of matter, manipulating these systems at the nano and
atomic scales. This inuence of biology into technology further shows the human
evolving toward a more interconnected relationship with technology, where now
technology and biology are becoming interwoventhe beginnings to a time when
neither may be able to be separated. In a Posthuman existence this is not a mim-
icking of biological form or even systems, but rather a recreation of the biologi-
cal systemsan augmentation of the biological nature towards our own visions
and functions; a fourth nature. It is believed the Posthuman will seek continual
improvement, improving upon natures mindless design, where individuals seek
morphological freedom in shaping fundamentally better futures. This goes for the
body as well as the subsequent habitat.
Our relationship to technology becomes critical in understanding our future habitat
and our place within it. With architecture being clearly dened by our technology,
as it evolves and changes so too will its inuence over our ideologies and habitat.
As our technology advances it allows us to see biological systems which remained
unbeknownst to us, and as a consequence has began to seep into both our cultural
society and technologieswhich will further propel our discoveries in biological
systems. As our culture becomes more interconnected to both biological systems
In construcng our new
view of the posthuman
and of the cyborg, we
must rst pull away from
the noon of the cyborg
as a machinaon of indus-
trial technologies inltrat-
ing esh and blood - the
biological skin bag. As
our understanding of the
human brains relaon-
ship with technologies
advances along with our
technologies themselves,
the image of the cyborg
as we tradionally have
perceived it in science c-
on and lm connues to
move further away from
the image depicted on
the right. The posthumanwould also not make a
clear disncon between
these two systems, seeing
both as a natural system
as technology has evolved
alongside the human, and
perhaps predates human-
ity.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
21/59
0245o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
22/59
025 Jon Bailey
and non-biological tools, so too will the human habitat as well as the culture sur-
rounding it.
In the Posthuman era, the human habitat becomes both a physical and mental inte-
gration between that which is biological and that which is technological. Architec-
ture becomes not a creation of a utopia or dystopia, but of perpetual progress-an
extropia-a never ending movement toward the ever-distant goal of extropia. Ar-
chitecture becomes an extension of human cognition as our mental processes are
ofoaded onto semi-intelligent non-biological props toward the manipulation of
the environment around us-a physical interface through which we view and interact
with our ecology. These technological progressions carry signicant consequences
for the creation of space and matter, as objects become semi-intelligent and we
are able to interact with materials and objects through mental and physiological
feedback loops.
The image (above) depicts
a landscape that is both bi-
ological and technological.
The landscape is grown
but genecally altered
at the scale of the DNAsequence. A mesh of sen-
sors and projects allows
the landscape to light up in
response to emoons and
moods of the occupants as
they wander through the
eld. Bioluminescence and
augmented atmospheres
color the landscape as it
is altered and projected.
In a connuous feedback
loop, the emoons of the
occupants eect the status
of the eld, whereby theeld responds by aug-
mented the color within
the atmosphere and thus
aecng the emoonal
state of the occupant.
The result is a connuous
interconnected feedback
loop between occupant
and ecology.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
23/59
0265o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
24/59
Jon Bailey
Imminent Collapse : Michael Young :
The facility acts as an arcial reef for plants, containing a temporary laboratory for genec plant engineering;
invesgang architecture as a temporary structure as opposed to an eternal element within the world.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
25/59
5o5
Precedents:VisionaryArchitecture
2
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
26/59
029 Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
27/59
0305o5
TRACING the lineage of visionary architecture there has been
an increased movement toward the integration of biological ter-
minology and processes into the creation of space. In addition to
this biological inltration into architectural design is the move-
ment toward spaces which connect to human body through cy-
bernetic systems, adding the body into a feedback loop between
space and body. The use of biological terminology has been our
gateway into understand such feedback mechanisms and how
architecture might begin to respond to both environmental and
contextual stimuli. Architecture is not alone in this venture to
incorporate biology and in fact is among one of the last techni-
cal disciplines to integrate these terminologies as they have been
seeping into nearly every facet of human invention. Propelled
through the Industrial Revolution and exacerbated after World
War II the study of biological systems has escalated with the
research following the Atom bomb. During the Industrial Rev-
olution and following technological inventions scientists were
able to peer ever deeper at smaller scales of matter, opening up
the world of microbiology and nuclear physics. Architecture
entered into this conversation during the 1970s during trips to
the Delos, where leading scientists, psychologists, biologists,
and architects gathered to discuss cybernetics and networks as
they related to human settlement. Since this time visionary ar-
chitects have been transxed on an architecture which creates
a true second-order cybernetic system. Architectural drawings
from Konstantinos Dioxiadis Delos trips began to reect bio-
logical systems, as human settlements were mapped out in terms
of complex networks and series of relationships. Buckminster
Fuller, who attended every Delos meeting, emerged as the most
prominent gure from this arena, whose structural systems were
kin to biological microstructure and envisioned the world as a
closed-loop interconnected network of nodes and relationships.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
28/59
031 Jon Bailey
Since the time of the Delos meetings our society has become
increasingly dependent on technological systems and fascinated
by the world of microbiology and macro systems. This infatua-
tion and increased knowledge of biology is not only shaping our
technological advances but also our societies ideologies and how
we view our relationship with the rest of the world. As we have
began to see the interconnected relationships within networks
of species and the power of bottom-up molecular processes, as
opposed to top-down hierarchies and totalities, we have began
to view our own place in the world as part of a larger network,
an interconnected assemblage where causes always lead to ef-
fects. I would argue that this is the beginning of the post-human
culture, where we have begun to see our interconnected place
in relation to other living and non-living species. Technology is
increasingly becoming more potent as we begin to incorporate
these biological systems, manipulating matter at the atomic and
molecular scales, while creating technologies that operating at
the nanometer. These movements begin to speak to the tran-
shumanist vision of future humans, where technologies begin to
manipulate human biological systems as well as the biological
world in which we are a part of. This change in thinking has led
architects to look at constructs which not only mimic biological
systems but begin to create their our nature. Responsive en-
vironments, augmented atmospheres, embedded technologies,
smart materials, and articial environments have become our
nomenclature for describing systems which operate on levels
that do more than act as a shell for the body. As political and
economic values dominate the current landscape of human set-
tlement and subsequent architecture, visionary architectural
projects and art installations offers a look into a more intercon-
nected relationship between the human habitat (i.e. architecture)
and the human body (and mind).
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
29/59
0325o5
Epidermal Hyperplasia is a project en-
visioned in Marc Fornes and Francois
Roches 2010 Columbia Studio that
looks at architecture through a boom-
up approach, beginning with culture of
cells. In this case, a scaolding system
is created out of collagen bers, allow-
and medical processes inltrang into
architectural design. The epidermal
layer, like human skin, ages over me
and eventually withers and dies - further
looking at architecture through growth
and decay analagous to the human body
and biological systems.
ing injected skin cells to adhere and
culvate. Overme the cells aggre-
gate around the scaolding system
creang a new epidermal layer. The
project looks at architectural design
through a boom up approach, as
well as the integraon of biological
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
30/59
033 Jon Bailey
Looking at innovaons
in rapid prototyping and
stereolithographic prinng
, Francois Roche envisions
an architecture that is
autonomously printed
by robots, excreted the
material to construct a
sort of scaolding system
as is grows and decaysthroughout the city.
Contrary to tradional city
building, no one planner
or group of planners
controls the outcome of
the city, but rather the
inhabitants of the city
themselves eect the
growth of the structure.
The images shown
represent the growth as it
is printed and clumped to-
gether to form this spaal
scaolding system.
The movement away from architecture as a shell and toward one of an intercon -
nected system can be seen in multiple instances from varying degrees of visionary
architectural projects and interactive installations where feedback loops between
human physiology and their ecological environment become interconnected at
some level. In addition to the aspiration of a responsive architecture is the goal of
transience and growth, where architecture like its inhabitants is not a static entity,
but is seen as processes of morphological growth and adaptation over time. In
his project entitled Ive Heard About, Francois Roche of R&sie(n) represents
an architecture through a mutation of contextual parameters. Scenarios of hy-
bridization, grafting, cloning, morphing give rise to perpetual transformation of
architecture which strives to break down the antinomies of object/subject of ob-
ject/territory. The architectural construct is designed from the bottom-up through
molecular processes, looking at the design of the individual cell as the creation for
the materiality. Through a system of stereolithographic printing, robots secreting a
printable material creating the structure for the architecture:
Rumours
Ive heard about something that builds up only through multiple, heterogeneous
and contradictory scenarios, something that rejects even the idea of a possible pre-
diction about its form of growth or future typology.
Something shapeless grafted onto existing tissue, something that needs no vanish-
ing point to justify itself but instead welcomes a quivering existence immersed in a
real-time vibratory state, here and now.
Tangled, intertwined, it seems to be a city, or rather a fragment of a city.
Its inhabitants are immunized because they are both vectors and protectors of this
complexity.
The multiplicity of its interwoven experiences and forms is matched by the appar-
ent simplicity of its mechanisms.
The urban form no longer depends on the arbitrary decisions or control over its
emergence exercised by a few, but rather the ensemble of its individual contin-
gencies. It simultaneously subsumes premises, consequences and the ensemble of
induced perturbations, in a ceaseless interaction. Its laws are consubstantial with
the place itself, with no work of memory.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
31/59
0345o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
32/59
035 Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
33/59
0365o5
Many different stimuli have contributed to the emergence of Ive heard about,
and they are continually reloaded. Its existence is inextricably linked to the end of
the grand narratives, the objective recognition of climatic changes, a suspicion of
all morality (even ecological), to the vibration of social phenomena and the urgent
need to renew the democratic mechanisms. Fiction is its reality principle: What
you have before your eyes conforms to the truth of the urban condition of Ive
heard about.
What moral law or social contract could extract us from this reality, prevent us
from living there or protect us from it? No, the residence protocol of Ive heard
about cannot cancel the risk of being in this world. The inhabitants draw sus-
tenance from the present, with no time lag. The form of the territorial structure
draws its sustenance directly from the present time..
Ive heard about also arises from anguishes and anxieties. Its not a shelter against
threats or an insulated, isolated place, but remains open to all transactions. It is a
zone of emancipation, produced so that we can keep the origins of its founding act
eternally alive, so that we can always live with and re-experience that beginning.
Made of invaginations and knotted geometries, life forms are embedded within it.
Its growth is articial and synthetic, owing nothing to chaos and the formlessness
of nature. It is based on very real processes that generate the raw materials and
operating modes of its evolution.
The public sphere is everywhere, like a pulsating organism driven by postulates
that are mutually contradictory and nonetheless true. The rumours and scenarios
that carry the seeds of its future mutations negotiate with the vibratory time of new
territories.
It is impossible to name all the elements Ive heard about comprises or to per-
ceive it in its totality, because it belongs to the many, the multitude. Only fragments
can be extracted from it.
The world is terrifying when its intelligible, when it clings to some semblance of
predictability, when it seeks to preserve a false coherence. In Ive heard about,
it is what is not there that denes it, that guarantees its readability, its social and
territorial fragility and its indetermination.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
34/59
Jon Bailey
For the 12th Internaonal Archi-
tecture Exhibion Hylozoic Groundtransforms the Canada Pavilion with
an immersive, interacve environ-
ment made of tens of thousands
of lightweight digitally-fabricated
components ed with meshed
microprocessors and sensors. The
glass-like fragility of this arcial
forest is built of an intricate lace of
small transparent acrylic meshwork
links, covered with a network of
interacve mechanical fronds, ltersand whiskers. The environment is
similar to a coral reef, following cycles
of opening, clamping, ltering and
digesng. Arrays of touch sensors
create waves of diuse breathing
moon, luring visitors into the shim-
mering depths of a forest of light. The
project is designed by Philip Beesley,
Associate Professor of Architecture
at the University of Waterloo, with
engineering director Rob Gorbet, ex-
perimental chemist Rachel Armstrong,
and many collaborators.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
35/59
5o5
The projects tle refers to
hylozoism, the ancient belief thatall maer has life. Hylozoic Ground
oers a vision for a new generaon
of responsive architecture. The
Hylozoic Ground environment can be
described as a suspended geotexle
that gradually accumulates hybrid
soil from ingredients drawn from its
surroundings. Akin to the func-
ons of a living system, embedded
machine intelligence allows human
interacon to trigger breathing,caressing, and swallowing moons
and hybrid metabolic exchanges.
These empathic moons ripple out
from hives of kinec valves and pores
in peristalc waves, creang a diuse
pumping that pulls air, moisture and
stray organic maer through the
ltering Hylozoic membranes. Living
chemical exchanges are conceived
as the rst stages of self-renewing
funcons that might take root withinthis architecture.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
36/59
039 Jon Bailey
The work of Phillip Beesley begins to work at the smaller scale of a geotextile,
where responsive systems begin to interact to both environmental and physiologi-
cal stimuli. With the Hylozoic Ground project, Phillip Beesley is demonstrating
how buildings in the future might move, and even feel and think. This project
begins to speak to an Posthuman existence where the architecture becomes empa-
thetic, responding to not just physiology, but emotions, as it too begins to care and
respond toward inhabitants. For the construction of the project, tens of thousands
of lightweight digitally-fabricated components are tted with microprocessors and
proximity sensors that react to human presence. This responsive environment
functions like a giant lung that breathes in and out around its occupants. Arrays
of touch sensors and shape-memory alloy actuators create waves of empathetic
motion, luring visitors into the eerie shimmering depths of a mythical landscape, a
fragile forest of light. The terminology surrounding this project exudes biological
processes, where we are now discussing architecture not as an industrial machine,
but as a biological system as it becomes interconnected with the human biological
system and ecological context. Beesleys visionary architecture affects people
on an emotional and poetic level, linking the animate and the inanimate. The so-
phisticated technologies used in the work are also being directly translated into
architecture envelopes that include manufactured ltering and shading systems.
As architecture begins to integrate more biological terminologies we may begin to
see architecture more like Phillip Beesleys work where textiles and surfaces re-
spond to our presence and physiological vitals. And like Ive Heard About, archi-
tecture may begin to react to environmental stimuli and human aggregations across
the city, as opposed to top-down processes where a group of designers dictates
urban form. This becomes an architecture created from the bottom-up, but also
one that is interconnected with our individual physiology and also our assemblages
of human aggregations at the scale of a city. These precedents lay the groundwork
for what I refer to as an Ecophysiological Landscape, where ecology and physiol-
ogy become interconnected, interacting in a continuous cybernetic feedback loop,
where stimuli transmitted from one in turn signals responses in the other.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
37/59
0405o5
Meteorological
Architecture : Phillip Rahm
Architecture as gastrono-
my. We then propose to
add two culinary prepara-
ons to the two plates that
directly smulate the sen-
sory receptors of hot and
cold at the cerebral level
and that can be eaten or
applied to the body. The
rst preparaon, on the
upper cold plate, contains
mint, which has moleculesof crystalline origin known
as menthol that cause the
same sensaon in the
brain as the coolness per-
cepble at a temperature
of 15*C. The menthol ac-
vates the TRPM8 molecu-
lar sensory receptors on
the skin and in the mouth
that smulate the group
of peripheral sensorial
neurons known as cold-
sensive units. The sec-
ond composion, on thelower hot plate, contains
chilli, in which one of the
molecules, capsaicin, ac-
vates the neuro-receptor
TRPV1, which is sensive
to temperatures of 44*C.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
38/59
041 Jon Bailey
The work of Phillip Beesley and Francois Roche begin to imitate biological sys-
tems as they grow and breathe life into the construct at distinctly different scales.
The work of Phillip Rahm in his project, Digestible Gulf Stream, begins to discuss
how architecture works at two other scales, affecting two different systems; human
physiology and atmospheric conditions. The architecture of the Posthuman be-
comes integrated into both the human body and ecology, seeing all of these systems
as an interconnected relationship at some level. Rahm argues that architecture
should no longer build spaces, but rather create temperatures and atmospheres.
The Digestible Gulf Stream is the prototype for architecture that works between the
neurologic and the atmospheric, developing like a landscape that is simultaneously
gastronomic and thermal (Rahm, 2008). Two metal plates are constructed at dif-
ferent heights, the lower plate heated to 82.4* F and the upper at 52.6* F, where
their position creates a movement of air using natural phenomenon of convection
as rising hot air cools on contact with the upper cool sheet. The result creates a
constant thermal ow likened to an invisible landscape. Architecture in this
instance, becomes not a building, but the design of the atmospheric conditions,
the envelope between ecology and human skin. Plants and herbs, which can be
Vatnsmyri Urban PlanningSean Laller, Weathers
In much the same way that
the exisng thermal pools
on the site mix ocean wa-
ter with recycled heated
water from geo-thermal
resources to create a
unique condion for swim-
ming all year round, the
project looks to use these
same thermal resources
to aect the local climaccondions on land, in-
cluding air temperature
and soil temperature for
vegetave growth. Each
of the programmed land-
forms proposed around
the site is ed to the oth-
ers by a climac wash
that extends the seasonal
acvies, controls winds,
and permits an extended
period of usable me out-
doors during the course
of the year. The washpermeates the public
parks yet extends beyond
to surround and engage
the new building masses
so as to produce arcial
microclimates - extending
seasonal opportunies
and outdoor acvity.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
39/59
0425o5
e eaten or topically applied, are heated on the hot plate, activating the aroma of the
plants which interact with human gastric system. Architecture becomes a ther-
modynamic mediation between the body and space, between the visible and the
invisible, between meteorological and physical function (Rahm, 2008).
As architects and designers continue to envision an interconnected existence be-
tween body and ecology, atmospheres open up within the realm of possibility to
be design and augmented, what Sean Lally refers to as thick atmospheres. In
his project highlighted in Softspace, he envisions a Reykjavik Botanical Garden
taps into the citys geothermal energy to create a microclimate for varied plant
growth. Zones of heat radiate out from the pipes, creating a new climate layer
with variable conditions based on their number and proximity to each other. These
exterior plantings are mostly native to Iceland, but the amplied environment al-
lows a wider range of growth than would normally be possible, informng the role
and opportunity of this particular botanical garden. Visitors experience growth
never before possible in Iceland, and travel through new climates throughout the
site (AD, Energies).
Weathers is a design ocethat approaches design by
embacing the potenal
overlap between the dis-
ciplines of architecture,
landscape architecture
and urban design. Its
important that as we
pursue new opportunies
associated with materials
tradionally relegated to
either condioning our
interiors or believed to be
beyond our reach of con-trol on the exterior, that
we dont default to pre-
conceived noons of their
roles, responsibilies and
limitaons. Instead, this is
the me for extreme spec-
ulaon! Today begins an
opportunity to build new
environments, climates
and contexts peppered
with potenals for social
interacon, acvies, and
spaal organizaons. This
should be the creaon ofcontexts and sites previ-
ously unseen and tested.
The intenon is to fore-
shadow and draw out the
spaal and organizaonal
implicaons that stem
from these endeavors.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
40/59
043 Jon Bailey
Ecophysiology, or environmental physiology, by denition is the study of adap-
tation of an organisms physiology to environmental conditions, mainly in plant
physiology. Ecophysiologists address ecological questions about the controls over
the growth, reproduction, survival, abundance, and geographical distribution of
plants, as these processes are affected by interactions between plants with their
physical, chemical, and biotic environment. These changes in plants can occur
through environmental stimuli such as temperature, wind, water and carbon diox-
ide concentration. In addition to plant life, this eld of study may also be applied to
animals, as environmental conditions lead to conditions of animal life. Ted Ngai,
of atelier nGai, works to create architecture under the same principals of ecophysi-
ology, where architecture, often conceptualized as the third skin, can learn much
from such physiological approaches, particularly in the face of global climate
change and energy crisis. Unlike conventional architectural practice, organisms
do not deal with heliotropism separately from thermoregulation, nor would they
handle water economy separately from energy conservation and metabolism. To
maintain a stable internal environment, organisms must rely on everything at their
disposal as part of their survival strategy. Therefore, ecophysiological architecture
posits the same fundamental basis and asks a simple question: what if buildings
have to develop heating, cooling, lighting, daylight, and ventilation strategies as
part of its morphology (Ngai, 2010)?
Within these ve precedents in visionary architectural projects, the inuence of
biological systems into architecture is palpable. Architecture, the body, and bio-
logical ecology are beginning to become interwoven, both in their terminologies
and in their practice of design processes. As our technologies evolve to integrate
more biological systems so too is the human habitat and the culture which inhabits
it. I would argue that this is the forefront of the Posthuman architecture, where
mental and physical processes of human physiology are integrated into the archi-
tectural construct and where atmospheric and geological conditions are modied
and augmented to satisfy the human condition. The result becomes an intercon-
nected mesh of systems, where neither biological or technological nature may be
separated from other either, either physically or ideologically.
Photoperiodic Envelope
Lauren Thomsen
Plants are able to sustain
themselves using only
sunlight and water. Im-
agine if all buildings wereself sustaining as well. The
amount of energy a build-
ing consumes is largely
conngent on its envelope
condion. The building
facade provides an oppor-
tunity to migate the exte-
rior climate and reduce the
energy necessary to condi-
on the interior to a com-
fortable, habitable space.
The Alpine Buercup uses
phototropism to trace the
sun to create more en-
ergy and to moderate the
temperature within the
ower bowl. Similarly to
the alpine buercup, the
proposed building facade
converts, distributes and
employs the energy of the
sun. Rather than mimic
the mechanism to create
movement in a literal, me-
chanical way, this facade
uses modular variaons
to control levels of lightintercepons and to mod-
erate thermal variance.
Apertures not only provide
light, but control air tem-
perature and therefore air
movement to create pas-
sive venlaon through
modules in the facade.
Module density varies ac-
cording to solar aspect to
control interior heat gain
and loss, and vary in opac-
ity to control interior light
levels.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
41/59
0445o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
42/59
Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
43/59
5o5
InterconnectedBodies :
EcophysiologicalLandscapes
3
Inocculate Weep; Francois
Roche + Marc Fornes 2010
Columbia School of Architec-
ture Studio.
Why should our bodies end at the skin, or include at best other beings
incapsulated by skin? - Donna Haraway
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
44/59
047 Jon Bailey
Biological processes have increasingly inltrated architectural praxis, fueled by
modernitys interest in scientic research following World War II and exacerbated
through humans innate biophilia. The Industrial Revolution, in addition, fueled
our appetite for technological apparatuses, where a sort of technophilia has set into
our culture. As our technology evolves biological processes increasingly become
integrated, where biology is now manipulated at the molecular scale. This has led
to visionary architects to look at architecture through bottom-up processes, even
going so far as to look at architecture through the creation of actual biological
matter.
This thesis, Biophilia : Technophilia, refers to the deep connections humans share
with the rest of biology and our increasing infatuations with technology. As our
knowledge of the biological realm increases, the inherent properties become in-
terwoven into our technologies, eventually ltering into the human habitat. The
ecophysiological landscape implies a human habitat that is grown, designed and
manipulated at the level of the genomic sequence and molecular structure, infused
with a meshwork of technological apparatus, connecting human physiological sys-
tems to ecological environments the architecture becomes a palpable interface
through which human physiological processes are connected to the ecology. The
constructed landscape becomes the arena where mental and physical feedback
loops and responses are exchanged between humans and their ecology. Atmos-
pheres come into play as they are augmented, manipulated and controlled, where
visual projections are overlaid on top of reality and the spatial void is now de -
signed. A dense mesh of genetically engineered plant species and technological
mesh of sensors and projectors creates a diverse landscape which empathizes with
the inhabitants, responds to emotions, physiological changes, and presence.
Through the enthusiastic optimism of modernism in technology (the coevolution of
science and technology since the decline of the Industrial Revolution) has created
a technology more biological, where operations within the architecture are able to
sense and regulate themselves. The ability gained through the use of computational
processing power allows for complex relationships found within an ecosystem to
be algorithmically modeled whereby interconnected relationships are found link-
The me line depicts the
evoluon of biological
discoveries and techno-
logical innovaon as they
have occurred since the
1600s. Connecons are
drawn between biological
discoveries and techno-
logical innovaon as theya discovery in one led to
the advancement in the
other. Posioned within
this meline are notable
visionary projects as they
envisioned a machinaon
between biology and tech-
nology in architectural de-
sign. As me progress to
our current condion, the
interconnecons between
biology and technology
increase. Projecng be-
yond our present meusing the BT Technologies
Projecons, technolo-
gies are ancipated that
further blend the disnc-
on between biology and
technology, where biology
(including human biology)
is augmented and interwo-
ven with biology. In fact,
technology at this point
cannot be clearly disn-
guished from biological
nature, as biological aug-mentaon and materiality
becomes the technology.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
45/59
0485o5
laser surgery(1987)
050
dna model(1953)ecology(1953)
cloned frog(1967)human-mouse cell(1967)
gene synthesis(1971)rapid dna sequencing(1977)
gene cloning patent(1980)plant cell transform(1982)biotech plant(1983)
biodiversity(1986)
human genome draft(2001
stem cells(2005)
animal gene sequenced(1998)
cloned sheep(1996)
industrial robot(1956)solar cell(1953)
integrated circuit(1958)
mini-computer(1965)moores law(1965)interactive computing(1968)
microprocessor(1970)ethernet(1973)supercomputer(1976)
cellphone(1979)personal computer(1983)lithium ion battery(1983)
sterolithography(1986)
emotionally responsive
toys(2005)
allomorphic morphs, novak
smart skin(2007)holographic images(2007)
tv jewelry(2005)super-human computer(2005)totally automated factories(2006)
electronic prescription(2008)shape changing fabric(2008)
active skin(2008)
computer enhanced dreaming(2010)smart paint(2010)
responsive environments(2010)dual architecture(2010)
personal black boxes(2010)3d air display(2010)
medical nanobots(2011)
plastic bones(2011)augmented reality(2011)
industrial andoird robots(2012)synthetic viruses(2012)
continuous holographic display(2012)computer controlled suppresents(2012)robotic guidance(2012)
dual appearance(2012)
robotic insects(2013)3d tv(2013)nanotechnology toys(2013)
printable skin/organs(2013)chips:10bil transistors(2013)bacterial supercomputer(2013)emotion control devices(2014)self-aware machine intelligence(2015)self-repairing robots(2015)smart bacteria(2015)shape shifting materials(2015)
human muscle actuators(2016)nanotech organism colonies(2016)electronic life form given basic rights(2016)
computational thought input(2016)
smart skin(2020)
android gladiators(2025)
human-simulation(2030)
smart make-up(2016)1-petabyte chip(2018)chips:100bil transistors(2018)
dna listing(2018)computer organ link(2018)
molecular machines(2020)bionic olympics(2020)nanotech plants(2020)suspended human animation(2020)electronic memory enhancement(2020)
computer to human virus(2024)bacteria circuitry(2025)full direct brain link(2025)
brain add-ons(2030)
fully sensory internet(2040)
brain downloads(2048)nuclear fusion(2050)human embedded digital cash(2050)cosmetic brain surgery(2050)spray-on surgical gloves(2050)dna repair(2050)
space solar power(2050)
genetically enhaned pets(2035)
genetically engineered teddy bear(2038)
augmented reality contacts(2035)
video wallpaper(2020)
synthetic biology(2015)
home 3d printers(2020)
retina displays(2011)
tooth regeneration(2010)
video tattoos(2009)
wireless internet common(2010)pc-voice interaction(2010)
dna storage device(2009)
holographic television(2020)
medicine delivered via fruit(2008)
smelly television(2008)
genetic engineering(1985)
dna computing(1994)nanoimprint lithography(1995)
nanotech fabrics(2001)gps(1995)
smog eating cement(2010)
virtual reality(1968)
biofeedback(1961)
soft contact lens(1971)cochlear implant(1954)
full face transplant(2008)
bionioc lense(2010)
eye transplant(2008)
biotech pet(2003)
bionic arm(2006)robotic surgery(2006)
bionic hand on market(2007)
lung transplant(1963)heart transplant(1964)
information age
bionic age
postermodern style
blobitecture
sustainable architecture
bionic architecture
8.9bil
6bil
vietnamwar
gulfwarmiddle-eastinvasion
koreanwar
interactive architecture
biomimetic architecturedigital fabrication
scattered seeds, puttick
universal constructor, pask
stereoscopic, chard
plug-in city, cook
new babylon, constantfun palace, price
suitaloon, webb
continuous, superstudio
moving arrows, eisenman
peanut house, future systemssan fransisco bay, woods
vision machine, noxvirtual gallery, asymptote
des stools, spiller
nbots, yeadonmaterialecology, oxmon
implant matrix, beesleyhyposurface, aegis
ive heard about, roche
biophliia + technophilia, bailey
embyological house, lynnnew city, lynn
fullerene(1985)
mouse genome sequenced(200horse genome sequenced(2009)
nanotechnology(1959)
nanotube(2006)
nueral pattern recognition(2011)
prosthetic hand(1960)
smart pill(1992)
viagra(1998)
pacemaker(1959)
chips: 2.3bil transistors(2010)
network telepathy(2025)
ubiquitous intelligence(2020)
emotion control devices(2025)nanotech plants(2025)
autonomous military aircraft(2047)
biorector(1985)
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
46/59
049 Jon Bailey
invention discovery prediction major occurance
spectrum of innovation
interchangeable parts(1797)
microorganisms
discovered(1675)
plant physiology(1682)brain anatomy(1689)
inverted retinal image(160
plant oxygen release
observed(1772)
animal electricity(1786)
capillaries
overserved(1661)
sheep-to-man
blood transfusion(1661)
evolution(1809)
thermodynamics(1843)
atomic theory(1808)
antiseptic(1846)
molecular biology(1953)
darwin evolution(1858)
cellular fussion(1858)
cell theory(1858)
spontaneaous generation
(1864)
mitosis(1875)
meiosis(1885)
antibiotics(1887)antitoxin(1890)mitochondia(1897)electron(1897)
primitive cell theory(1805)
genetics(1905)atom(1911)
photosynthesis(1946)
four blood types(1902)
dialysis machine(1943)genetic recombination(1946)
electric motor(1821)
wet cell battery(1800)
electro magnet(1823)portland cement(1824)
reinforced concrete(1849)
wrench(1835)
automatic calculator(1623)steam turbine(1629)
spinning wheel(1600)
eyeglasses(1621)
adding machine(1643)
universal joint(1676)
electric capacitor(1745)
steam car(1672)
steam piston engine(1712)
watt steam engine(1776)
lightning rod(1752)electroconvulsive therapy(1755)
internal combustion engine(1850)steam turbine(1854)
industrial revolution
heat pump(1855)
petrol machine(1885)
television(1925)
electron microscope(1931)
photovoltaic cell(1883)
electrostatic memory(1946)transistor(1947)random access memory(1948) cybernetics(1948)
heart-lung machine(1953)
assembly line production(1901)
air conditioning(1902)
false teeth(1845)
respirator(1927)
bifocal lense(1780)
anaesthesia(1842)
hearing aid(1880)
iron lung(1928)
contact lens(1948)
penecillin(1928)
insulin(1922)
heart valve(1951)
early modern
international stylefutirist style
2
bil
wwii
k
american
revolution
warof
1812
civilwar
wwi
1bil
0.8bil
.0.6bil
population
technophilia biophiliayear
organic architecture
victorian architecture
architectural event evolution arch. project
deodesic dome, fuller
sagrada familia, gaudi
towers, santelia
psfs building, lescaze
nuclear energy(1945)
cast iron perfectedl(1500)
iron structure(1735)crucible steel(1740)
thermoplastic(1869)
thermoset polymers(1889)
vulcanization(1839)
aluminum(1855)steel structure(1860)
vacuum diode(1904)sonar device(1906)
stainless steel(1912)polethylene(1920)
ecstasy(1913)
lsd(1938)
gas mask(1912)
lie detector(1921)
oxygen furnace(1952)bar code(1953)
atomic bomb(1945)
portable timepeice (1504) prosthetic limb (1536)
prosthetic foot (1843)
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
47/59
0505o5
ing them to a particular context. This information can be utilized in dening the
relationship between the architectural construct and the site in which it is located
within the geosphere and biosphere (and possible the noosphere). Most recently
sensors, and not only thermostats (which are the quintessential negative feedback
mechanism), have been added to a multiplicity of advanced building components,
creating negative feedback loops where components within the building have the
ability to sense alterations in light, temperature, and occupancy which then inform
the building systems of their operability, and likewise the operability informs the
sensors in a continuous feedback loop. Thus, the system is self-optimizing. In the
context of this project, as the organism is able to sense acuities within the environ-
ment, it is able to respond by adaptation of morphological variation to the chang-
ing conditions as it interprets data being injected into the site. Adding to these
sensory mechanisms, what I shall call sensory organs, designers and architects now
have the capabilities of analyzing conceptual structures before their construction
and in addition the ability to optimize their internal and external conditions after
construction. In the time of Posthuman design, the process whereby an analysis
or optimization of anything will be a complete computation or mechanic process,
where the building itself is given the technology and ability to control, adapt, regu-
late, and respond to uctuating conditions within the environment. These sensorial
technologies, coupled with responsive building systems within the architectural
design allow for an organism (the building) to develop within its embryonic stages
(the virtual) whereby it is genetically manipulated through cues in the environ-
ment (the physical), and through the coarse of its life, continually seeking levels of
optimization through uctuating tness criteria within an ever-changing dynamic
environment, where the optimal goal is to reach a level of internal homeostasis for
its internal organs (the inhabitants) and the larger context of the world wide urban
hive. Environmental, political, and sociological trends may all be quantied and
therefore analyzed and responded to quantitatively through both virtual and real-
time environments. In an analogous relationship, our cities are like ecosystems,
and as no system or network within our ecosystem is static, no organism may be
fully developed within its embryonic stages and therefore must continuously search
for its homeostatic state outside of the womb by involuntarily sensing the environ-
ment and responding to its continuous changes through out the course of its life,
As the meline progresses
toward 2050, the stage be-
comes set for the Biophilia
: Technophilia thesis
project, where technologi-
cal and biological innova-
ons and discoveries are at
their most interconnected
- what I would refer to asthe point at which we are
considered posthuman.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
48/59
051 Jon Bailey
whether through formal or molecular morphological adaptations. Therefore, the
site, specic to its geodetic address and cultural signicance in society, becomes an
attractor for ows of human matter-energy, data, and information where the edge
condition within which this site exists, confronts its neighboring entity, becoming a
matrix in which more specialized structures are embedded and as it passes through
its bounds transferring external data into usable information directly inuencing
the organisms within. What historically was a mineralized exoskeletal system
bounding and controlling the eshy matter that resided within, now becomes a con-
nective gelatinous soft-body, as organism, site and context amalgamate, extending
outwards into the distributed network of disparate entities creating a heterogeneous
urban fabric as it responds to highly specic contextual information.
As physical labor is further traded off for mental capacities to perform tasks, au-
tonomous robots secreting a calcium-carbonate substrate print the scaffolding for
which genetically modied biological growth will adhere. Like biological cogni-
tive processes and engineered/synthetic organs, scaffolds are constructed allowing
the biological matter to adhere and cultivate. Site is perceived as a datascape as
ows of information, such as environmental and human stimuli are processed with-
in the existing context of proposed growth. Agent-based simulations, projected
and simulated in real-time into the atmosphere, react to these ows of information
as they determine spatial organization and structural trajectories. Following ows
of information the robots ock around these paths, pulling minerals from the water
to biomineralize the structure, encapsulating space for the programmatic organs
to ensue. Using synthetically designed cell cultures injected into the scaffolding,
a biological growth adheres to the scaffolding, as thick root-like networks begin
to grow out of the printed scaffolding as the organism searches for contact with
disparate scaffolding systems, creating a network of web-like-growth. Bacterial
computers become an integral part of the mature growth, processing data within
the context to both simulate the datascape and perform the necessary functions
allowing the scaffolding system to respond to environmental stimuli through elec-
trical impulses sent through the microstructure of the scaffolding. Together the
ber-optic-like rooting network, bacterial computers, and bionic mesh act as a lit-
eral network computing information. Just as in animal species, the skeletal system
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
49/59
0525o5
remains homogeneous through-out, while environmental stimuli and geographic
isolation lead to a diverse heterogeneous epidermis. As the biological growth
responds to environmental pressures a heterogeneous fabric is created exhibiting
geographic speciation, environmental variation, and morphological mutations.
The dense layers of roots and matured growth interwoven within the scaffolding
system yields a stable surface as it grows into the lake, creating a landscape suit-
able for programmatic functions.
The project unfolds within a Posthuman context, creating the epicenter for a
company that augments and breeds bodies, while simultaneously growing its own
epidermis as it stretches throughout the city. Through the combination of bacte-
rial computers and technological matrices the organism creates a literal network
for processing information as it augments atmospheres and responds to stimuli
within the context. Programmatically the architecture begins to grow vertically
as its interior columns ll with bacterial computers hovering above atrium-like
spaces where peoples receive mindware upgrades, prosthetic limbs and organs, and
genetic modications. The company both generates and augments bodies while
simultaneously creating the ecological infrastructure that responds and interacts
with the augmented body. Thus, the architecture/organism coalesces as a computer
processing network, urban infrastructure, post-human factory, and ecophysiologi-
cal interface.
Biophilia : Technophilia begins to challenge the ways in which we view our rela-
tionship to the body, growth of architecture, infrastructure within a city, and our re-
lationship to technology. Set within this posthuman context, building/body, body/
ecology, and city/building collapse as they become an interconnected cybernetic
network. Architecture becomes a scaffolding system both literally and metaphori-
cally as architecture becomes an interface through which we view the world; con-
necting human bodies through physical and mental processes to ecology as we
further create an increasingly interconnected existence.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
50/59
053 Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
51/59
0545o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
52/59
055 Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
53/59
0565o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
54/59
057 Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
55/59
0585o5
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
56/59
059 Jon Bailey
Neil Spiller
Francois Roche
Phillip Beesley
Phillip Rahm
Kevin Kelly
Ted Ngai
Sean Lally
David Gissen
Steve Nichols
Andy Clark
Neil Spiller
Dougal Dixon
Donna Haraway
Cary Wole
Stelarc
Marcos Cruz
Peoples Literature Film Projects
The Technium
Out of Control
Evolutaonary Arch
Cyborg Manifesto
Posthuman Manifesto
Natural Born Cyborgs
Theory of Architecture
Biophilia : Technophilia
Sospace
Subnatures
What Technology Wants
BLDG BLOG BOOK
AD: Energies
AD: Territories
AD: Neoplasmac
AD: 4d Space
iRobot
Terminator
A.I.
Bicentennial Man
Tron
Avatar
Gamer
Minority Report
Vanilla Sky
Digesble Gulf Stream
Ive Heard About
Hylozoic Soil
Weathers
Ecophysiological Arch
Epidermal Hyperplasia
Neoplasmac Arch
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
57/59
0605o5
References
1. Bailey, Jon. Biophilia + Technophilia: Project Manual. Digital Mania Thesis Seminar.
2010.
2. Clark, Andy. Natural-Born Cyborgs. 2001
3. Haraway, Donna. A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist-Feminism in
the Late Tweneth Century. 1976
4. Wolfe, Cary. What is Posthumanism? Lost The Building. 2010.
5. Kelly, Kevin. Out of Control.
6. Kelly, Kevin. What Technology Wants. 2010
7. Nichols, Steve. The Posthuman Manifesto. 1988.
8. Dixon, Dougal. Man Aer Man: An Anthropology of the Future. 1990.
9. AD, Neoplasmac. 2009
10. AD, Energies
11. Ted Ngai. Atelier nGai.
12. Lally, Sean. Sospace.
12. Gissen, David. Subnature: Architectures Other Environments.
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
58/59
061 Jon Bailey
7/29/2019 Posthumanism Cyborgs and Interconnected Bodies by Jon Bailey
59/59
0625o5
Recommended