Philosophy
TENSEGRITY Inc is a practice that combines the disciplines of Architecture, Landscape and Interior design to ensure that a project is a unified and holistic built form. We see the process of designing the building as important as the built form itself. Currently developing ‘Syn-Biofusion’ as an architectural approach, which seeks an Architecture that contain in its very essence , the Spirit of Nature.
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"SYN–BIOFUSION" – the Synergistic Symbiosis of Nature & Built-Form. The architectural dimension of TENSEGRITY Inc-TSG
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IIA-Innovative International Architecture, Seoul 2004
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Philosophy
Arata Isozaki
Mamoru Kawaguchi
Joseph Khoo
Philip Christou
Florian Beigel
Excerpts from the presentation by Joseph Khoo
What is Architecture? What is our Architecture?
Just as DNA is the blueprint of life, Symphony being the edifice of sound, Nature is the frame of our Architecture. I believe it was Frank Lloyd Wright who said that Nature is the closest that we will experience of the face and hand of God, on Earth. Le Corbusier often quoted his teacher, L’Eplattenier :
“Only NATURE is inspiring and true and should be the support of human endeavour, But do not make Nature in the manner of landscape painters, who show nothing but its exterior. Scrutinize in IT… the cause… the form… the vital development… and make the synthesis of it…in creating ornaments.”
We should acknowledge Nature as our true “teacher” and we should constantly remind ourselves never to “copy” but to emulate Nature. In emulating, we learn its Spirit. In copying, we become its slave…
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…When we seek mindfully to work with Nature, the process can be a liberating experience with new insights and discoveries, Leonardo da Vinci had a word for it – “CURIOSITA” – curiously observing Nature with the openness and mind of a child. For example, observing the movements of water in a river… or how light plays with shadows on the wall.
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"Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe"
"Alice Smith International School"
This is very similar to what Buckminster Fuller, “grandfather of the Future” has often reminded us: to paraphrase – “There is NO concept more prominently conducive to effective thinking… about the lesson-learning significance of human experience… than when working in SYNERGY.”…
…At TENSEGRITY Inc, TSG we try to observe such a process in relation to our “thinking and crafting” of buildings. I used the word “crafting” because of our empathy towards “the Craft of Construction” in a contemporary sense. We often forget that Architecture is CONSTRUCTION.
"Shimmering Oaks" - Geneva, Switzerland
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...However, we should note that the ancient cultures, especially the Tibetans, had a good appreciation and understanding of “multiplicity” – albeit at a multi-dimensional level, more on a spiritual realm. One should refer to the Dalai Lama’s Palace in Potala.
The Tibetans had such knowledge without ever needing to resort to what our modern Cartesian minds require in the form of proof – as in scientific studies and research. This knowledge is a form of Self-consciousness without being self-conscious
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...In Nature, “Multiplicity” had always existed – Constant, Consistent and Multiplicative… “both at a Micro and Macro level, as in our Universe.”
...Arthur Dow, an American painter at the turn of the 20th Century, had an insight into this reality, and he revealed it to us in his book “Composition”. The Japanese through Hokusai and Hiroshige understood this culturally. Mies and Wright translated this into Architecture. Buckminster Fuller saw it for the Future. The ancient sage Lao Tze (who lived some 2,500 years ago) had known it all along!...
TSG started off as a CONCEPT which became an ATTITUDE towards work; it is now a PROCESS and a PHILOSOPHY. This is our goal & vision. We constantly remind ourselves that in today’s world, the rate of change is itself growing exponentially. Therefore we have to DO more… by using LESS.
It is through this that we have evolved into a need to synthesise Architecture, Landscape and Interiorscape into a holistic built-entity, one which responds to a particular situation and moment in Time. We have come to realise that “the process of crafting” the building should be as important as the built-form itself. It should be a synergistic system at every level, “continuously inter-tensioned… discontinuously compressioned”…always growing… never stagnating…
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…It is often said that Architecture is about SPACE, Form and Function. But the ancient sage Lao Tze taught us that “the reality of a room is to be found in the space enclosed by the roof and walls, not in the roof and walls themselves.” It is our PRIME consideration in Design – SPACE…
…As we are well aware, the thinking trend behind Architecture in the beginning of the 1900s was developed concurrently with the then prevailing Space-Time Continuum theory ie : Einstein’s concept of Space-Time and Black Holes.
In Europe these concepts were translated into Architecture and Painting by the De Stijl and the International Style architects. Mies van der Rohe called this “Plastic Space” – it was the “breaking of the traditional classical Box”… the dissolution of the corners”. Mies’ Barcelona Pavilion is a good example of the later period of “Plastic Space” building. Yet there was a constant reference by these Architects to the “Spirit of Nature” being the creative force of the age – “Der Zeitgeist”...
...Today, we are in the Age of Space as defined by Stephen Hawking… of layered Dimensions, worm holes, String Theory Universe...and Multiplicity, in simple terms all very much like the Russian doll when viewed in totality.
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"Shimmering Oaks" - Geneva, Switzerland
"Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe"
At TSG, we have also been exploring this Nature of Multiplicity in Our Architecture and Built-Form as an on-going process. We see our work as an on-going quest for a “NATURAL” Architecture. In this, we hope to discover a realm of Architecture which is beyond our present, which emulates the Forms and Efficiencies of Nature.
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...The Architecture we are seeking should contain in its very Essence what Nature is about and in it the Spirit of Nature… a wholistic Architecture that feels Natural in its place, and is yet Timeless in creation.
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Then, we would arrive at an Architecture which is SYNERGISTICALLY & SYMBIOTICALLY fused with Nature. At TSG, we call this “SYN-BIOFUSION”…
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...the pursuit of Architecturescape, Landscape & Interiorscape in Synergy
"The Alice Smith International School"
FOOTNOTE
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The Meanings of:
MULTIPLICITY - a system in which a great variety is profusely present, usually of common origin or denominator - Rich & Abundant.
SYMBIOSIS - n (pl. -oses) relationship of different species or elements living in close association and mutually supporting the needs of each member for a common benefit.
SYNERGY - (Gk Synergos) working together for the combined effect which is greater than the sum of the individual
SYN-BIOFUSION - Acronym of SYNergy, SymBIOsis, and FUSION by Joseph Khoo. An architectural approach under investigation by TENSEGRITY relating to concept of Nature as a starting point in built forms.
TENSEGRITY - Acronym of TENsional and InteGRITY. A structural concept invented by Buckminster Fuller. In this system, the STRUTS and TIES are so assembled that there is a continuous path for the TRANSMISSION of TENSION but there is no such continuous path for the transmission of COMPRESSION. The Geodesic dome at EPCOT Centre is a fine example.
"Windtop"