Open SourceArchitecture (OSArc)An op-ed

A proposition for a different approach to designingspace to succeed the single-author model includestools from disparate sources to create new paradigmsfor thinking and building

As part of the special report on open-source design published in issue 948,Domus approached Carlo Ratti to write an op-ed on the theme of open-source architecture. He responded with an unusual suggestion: why notwrite it collaboratively, as an open-source document? Within a few hours apage was started on Wikipedia, and an invitation sent to an initial networkof contributors. The outcome of this collaborative effort is presented below.The article is a capture of the text as of 11 May 2011, but the Wikipediapage remains online as an open canvas—a 21st-century manifesto of sorts,which by definition is in permanent evolution.The contributors to this article included Paola Antonelli, Adam Bly, LucasDietrich, Joseph Grima, Dan Hill, John Habraken, Alex Haw, John Maeda,Nicholas Negroponte, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Carlo Ratti, Casey Reas, MarcoSantambrogio, Mark Shepard, Chiara Somajni, Bruce Sterling

Open Source Architecture (OSArc) is an emerging paradigm describingnew procedures for the design, construction and operation of buildings,infrastructure and spaces. Drawing from references as diverse as open-source culture, avant-garde architectural theory, science fiction, languagetheory, and others, it describes an inclusive approach to spatial design, acollaborative use of design software and the transparent operationthroughout the course of a building and city's life cycle.

Cooking is often hailed as an early form of open source; vernaculararchitecture—producing recipes for everyday buildings—is another formof early lo-fi open-source culture, openly sharing and optimisingtechnologies for building. A contemporary form of open-sourcevernacular is the Open Architecture Network launched by Architecture forHumanity, which replaces traditional copyright restrictions with CreativeCommons licensing and allows open access to blueprints. Wider OSArcrelies on a digital commons and the shared spaces of the World Wide Webto enable instantaneous collaboration beyond more established models ofcompetition and profit. Traditional architectural tools like drawings andplans are supplemented and increasingly replaced by interactive softwareapplications using relational data and parametric connectivity.

OSArc is not only involved with production; reception to a given project—critical, public, client, peer-related—can often form part of the projectitself, creating a feedback loop that can ground—or unmoor—a project'sintention and ultimately becomes part of it, with both positive andnegative consequences. OSArc supersedes architectures of staticgeometrical form with the introduction of dynamic and participatoryprocesses, networks, and systems. Its proponents see it as distinguished

SectionOp-Ed

Published15 Jun 2011

KeywordsAdam Bly, Alex Haw, Bruce Sterling, Carlo Ratti,Casey Reas, Chiara Somajni, Dan Hill, DOMUS948, Hans Ulrich Obrist, John Habraken, JohnMaeda, Joseph Grima, Lucas Dietrich, MarcoSantambrogio, Mark Shepard, NicholasNegroponte, Open source architecture

Domus Network

Add comment 4

88Like

131

""Linux, Facebook oriTunes". ??! Only one ofthos...."

by Iain Sproat

1 annotation here

June 16, 2011 - 11:18

by

"hopefully the emailing orftp of CAD (dwg) files willbecome as obsolete andrare as drawing boards inpractice offices"

Iain Sproat

Addannotation

ITA

Add your annotation here

Write a comment...

Search Domus...Sections Magazine Network Store Events

Sign up Login

by code over mass, relationships over compositions, networks overstructures, adaptation over stasis. Its purpose is to transform architecturefrom a top-down immutable delivery mechanism into a transparent,inclusive and bottom-up ecological system— even if it still includes top-down mechanisms.

OSArc relies upon amateurs as much as experienced professionals—thegenius of the mass as much as that of the individual—eroding the binarydistinction between author and audience. Like social software, itrecognises the core role of multiple users at every stage of the process—whether as clients or communities, designers or occupants; at its best, itharnesses powerful network effects to scale systems effectively. It istypically democratic, enshrining principles of open access andparticipation, though political variations may range from stealthauthoritarianism to communitarian consensualism.

Open Source Architecture revolutionises every step of the traditionalbuilding process, from brief-building to demolition, programming toadaptive reuse, including the following:

FundingNew economic models, exemplified by incremental microdonations andcrowd-funding strategies like Sponsume and Kickstarter, offer new modesof project initiation and development, destabilising the traditionallyfeudal hierarchy of client/architect/occupant. Financing of privateprojects increasingly moves to the public domain, offering mass ratherthan singular ownership, whereas funding of public projects can bederived from more flexible, responsive frameworks than simple levies ortaxation. OSArc has particular appeal for builders outside the mainstreameconomy, such as squatters, refugees and the military.

EngagementTraditional developments deploy engagement programmes in which thecommunity is consulted on incoming developments, with blunt tools suchas focus groups, which often result in lack of representation and input, orat worst can result in NIMBYism. With crowd-funded models, forms ofengagement are built into the process, enabling a kind of emergenturbanism in which use of space is optimised on terms set by its users. Thisreclamation of people's power can be seen as a soft, spatial version ofHacktivism. OSArc can suffer some of the organisational drawbacks ofopen-source software, such as project bifurcation or abandonment, cliquebehaviour and incompatibility with existing buildings.

StandardsStandards of collaboration are vital to OSArc's smooth operation and thefacilitation of collaboration. The establishment of common, open,modular standards (such as the grid proposed by the OpenStructuresproject) addresses the problem of hardware compatibility and theinterface between components, allowing collaborative efforts acrossnetworks in which everyone designs for everyone. Universal standardsalso encourage the growth of networks of non-monetary exchange(knowledge, parts, components, ideas) and remote collaboration.

DesignMass customisation replaces standardisation as algorithms enable thegeneration of related but differentiated species of design objects.Parametric design tools like Grasshopper, Generative Components, Revitand Digital Project enable new user groups to interact with, navigate andmodify the virtual designs, and to test and experience arrays of options atunprecedented low cost—recognising laypeople as design decision-making agents rather than just consumers. Opensource codes and scriptsenable design communities to share and compare information andcollectively optimise production through modular components,accelerating the historical accumulation of shared knowledge. BIM(Building Information Modelling) and related collaboration tools and

1 annotation here

June 22, 2011 - 17:50"Check out the swimmingpool being crowd-fundedon Kickstarter at themoment:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/694835844/pool-a-floating-pool-in-the-river-for-everyone"Addannotation

practices enable cross-disciplinary co-location of design information andintegration of a range of platforms and timescales. Rapid prototyping andother 3D printing technologies enable instant production of physicalartefacts, both representational and functional, even on an architecturalscale, to an ever-wider audience.

ConstructionThe burgeoning Open Source Hardware movement enables sharing of andcollaboration on the hardware involved in designing kinetic or smartenvironments that tightly integrate software, hardware and mechanisms.Sensor data brings live inputs to inert material and enables spaces tobecome protoorganic in operation; design becomes an ongoing,evolutionary process, as opposed to the one-off, disjointed fire-and-forgetmethodology of traditional architecture. Operating systems emerge tomanage the design, construction and occupancy phases, created as openplatforms that foster and nourish a rich ecosystem of "apps". Variouspractices jostle to become the Linux, Facebook or iTunes of architecturalsoftware, engaging in "platform plays" on different scales rather thandelivery of plans and sections. Embedded sensing and computingincreasingly mesh all materials within the larger "Internet of things",evolving ever closer towards Bruce Sterling's vision of a world of spimes.Materials communicate their position and state during fabrication andconstruction, aiding positioning, fixing and verification, and continue tocommunicate with distributed databases for the extent of their lifetime.

OccupancyOSArc enables inhabitants to control and shape their personalenvironment—"to Inhabit is to Design", as John Habraken put it. Fullysentient networked spaces constantly communicate their variousproperties, states and attributes—often through decentralised anddevolved systems. System feedback is supplied by a wide range of usersand occupants, often either by miniature electronic devices or mobilephones— crowd-sourcing (like crowd-funding) large volumes of smalldata feeds to provide accurate and expansive real-time information.Personalisation replaces standardisation as spaces "intelligently"recognise and respond to individual occupants. Representations of spacesbecome as vital after construction as they were before; real-timemonitoring, feedback and ambient display become integral elements tothe ongoing life of spaces and objects. Maintenance and operationsbecome extended inseparable phases of the construction process; abuilding is never "complete" in OSArc's world of growth and change. Iftomorrow's buildings and cities will now be more like computers—thanmachines—to live in, OSArc provides an open, collaborative frameworkfor writing their operating software.

References— R. Botson, R. Rogers, What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of CollaborativeConsumption, HarperCollins, New York City 2010— M. Fuller, U. Haque, "Urban Versioning System 1.0", in SituatedTechnologies Pamphlet Series, Architectural League of New York, NewYork City 2008— J. Habraken, Supports—An Alternative to Mass Housing, TheArchitectural Press, London 1972— U. Haque, Open Source Architecture Experiment, 2003-05— D. Kaspori, "A Communism of Ideas: towards an architectural opensource practice", in Archis, 2003— K. Kelly, Out of Control: the rise of neo-biological civilization, PerseusBooks, New York City 1994—C. Leadbeater, We-think: The Power of Mass Creativity, Profile Books,London 2008—Nettime mailing lists: mailing lists for networked cultures, politics, andtactics—Open Building Network / Working Commission W104, "Open BuildingImplementation" of the CIB, The International Council for Research andInnovation in Building and Construction (meets in a different country

2 annotations here

June 16, 2011 - 01:46""Linux, Facebook oriTunes". ??! Only one ofthose is Open Source. others are closedplatforms, the very anti-thesis of Open Source. Apps are increasinglyJune 18, 2011 - 22:15

by Dan Hill

"Good point Ian, though Isuppose the wider point isthat the idea of theplatform is interesting,whether open source ornot."

Addannotation

every year since its first meeting in Tokyo in 1994)—C. Price, R. Banham, P. Barker, P. Hall, "Non Plan: an experiment infreedom", in New Society, no. 338, 1969—M. Shepard (editor), Sentient City: Ubiquitous Computing, Architecture,and the Future of Urban Space, MIT Press, Boston 2011—B. Sterling, "Beyond the Beyond", blog on Wired Magazine

Open Source Architecture (OSArc)An op-ed

More 23 Jun 2011, Adam Bly, Alex Haw, Bruce Sterling, Carlo Ratti, Casey Reas, Chiara Somajni,

Dan Hill, DOMUS 948, Hans Ulrich Obrist, John Habraken, John Maeda, Joseph Grima, Lucas

Dietrich, Marco Santambrogio, Mark Shepard, Nicholas Negroponte, Open source architecture

Domus Network

Add comment 4

88Like

131

Show all network activity

Open Source Design04: The architecture ofFacebook An architecture report from Palo Alto by Alexis Madrigal

The arbiter of social sharing hasdecided to release its owndesigns for Web servers—and thebuildings that house them.Detailed instructions anddrawings now online

Architecture needs tointeract An op-ed from Princeton by Molly Wright Steenson

Fred Scharmen,

If architectural practice kept pacewith interaction design, whatnew visions of the world mightappear?

Attention

61 Likes

on this article

Search

SectionsArchitectureDesignArt Products

Op-EdVideoMixtapesMapsDomus Apps

NewsInterviewsPhoto-essaysReading RoomFrom the ArchivePost-occupancy

Horoscopes

MagazineCurrent issueBack issues Local Editions

NetworkYour profileDomus on FacebookDomus on TwitterRSS Feed

StoreSubscribeBack issuesBooks

Domus AppsDomus Archive

EventsUpcomingPast

Editoriale Domus SpA Via G.Mazzocchi, 1/3 20089Rozzano (Mi)Codice fiscale, partita IVA e iscrizioneal Registro delle Imprese di Milano n. 07835550158R.E.A. di Milano n. 1186124 - Capitalesociale versato! 8.000.000,00All rights reserved

DomusContacts

Open Source Design03: RoboCop: TheMonument An architecture report from Detroit by Nate Berg

Can open source play arole in urban planning?Launched onKickstarter, the proposalto erect a monument toRoboCop has receivedsupport from thousandsof people worldwide

Load more editorial

Attention

172 Likes

on this article