Play as an experimentation design methodology in architecture. Playing architects

2.2 ARCHITECTURE IS VIDEO GAME

Play as an experimentation design methodology in architecture. Playing architects.

Architecture has a long history intertwined with play. The notion of play in architectural design is related

to the possibilities of the geometrical combination while considering specific spatial, functional, and

aesthetic qualities but also to playing theories. Architecture as a design practice plays with forms and

volumes and attempt to create order and harmony. The procedural nature of the play activity gives

architects the tools they need to organize the rules of their "game" arriving, through task simulation at

the eventual outcome of their creative process. The connection of architecture with playing activities and games goes back to the late 19th century.

The first didactic game based on a modular system with distinctly architectural aims was created in 1870

by Gustave and Otto Lilienthal. The construction set is made up of various shaped and colored stone

pieces. The instruction manual depicts perspectival views and floor plans of the architectural models to

be built. It constitutes the rules of the game. Building blocks can be set on top of each other reproducing

the architecture tectonics.

Figure 34 The first didactic architecture game with building blocks. Anker Steibaukasten, 1880

Similarly, Friedrich Froebel, a German educator who is credited with inventing the Lego game,

emphasized the importance of educational mechanics for the generation of creative bi or three-

dimensional objects and the exploration of the relationship between whole and part through his play

gifts (wooden toys made of various prismatic volumes), which allow children to reproduce existing

images and to experiment with the composition of new elements of geometric form and structures.

These simple toys, offering a large variety of assemblymen, enable children to experiment with shapes,

which also constitutes a crucial aspect of architecture. In his biography, Frank Lloyd Wright stated that

the Froebel play gifts had an indelible imprint on his perception of the world and on the

understanding of architecture form.

Other construction toys that require intellectual and manual skills were Meccano (1901),Alfred Gilbert’s (1911) Erector Set, and Lego construction sets. Compared to Froebel gifts, with were mainly based on

the reproduction of proposed images, these games are more creative and offer the opportunity to create

a variety of new combinations. However, in some cases, the combinations are still limited, whereas in

other cases assemblage is open also to unconventional forms.

Figure 35 Franc Hornby’s Meccano (1901) construction set and Alfred Gilbert’s (1911) Erector Set

Meccano, invented by Franc Hornby was a wooden toy setfor building miniature constructions which

allow users to build variousshapes, styles, or dimensions, using modern architecture principles. The first

set contained 16 pieces for construction, which due to the success of the game, rapidly grow in number,

complexity, and type of components used. This toy has a significant impact onarchitectural design. The

high-tech design of the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1977) and the Lloyd's Bank Building in London were

both influenced by Meccano games, according to Richard Rogers and Norman Foster (1986).

Figure 36 Image of Pompidou Centre by Richard Rogers, Renzo piano, and Particular form Lloyd’s Bank by Norman Foster inspired by Meccano construction toys.

Some years later, Alfred Gilbert invented the Erector Set, made of metal construction pieces such as

beams, nuts, screws, bolts, etc. to build metal bridges and skyscrapers. In addition to previous toys, this

set was made of movable parts and was more flexible and realistic.

The later Lego construction set, firstly developed in 1935 by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen,

offered absolute freedom for fantasy creations and allow children to create almost everything. Hence, it

become the most popular toy that inspired architects. The renowned Danish architectural firm BIG

directed by architect Bjarke Ingels was inspired by Lego for the design of the Visitor Center in Billund

Denmark. The building is made up of 21 blocks interlocked similarly to the blocks of the famous Lego

game.

Figure 37 Visitor centre in Billund, Denmark, by GIB architects and its Lego model

The concept of play in architecture refers to the creative process of the project and is considered as a

device that facilitates education and the design process. Le Corbusier in his new manifesto of

architecture defined architecture as:

“The masterly, correct, and magnificent play of forms brought together in light“ (Le Corbusier,

1931)

The nature of the design process emphasizes the necessity to skillfully combine shapes based on an

artful arrangement of rules that are not completely arbitrary.

Design architecture through a guided play is common practice in contemporary works of architects. The

Chilean-based studio of Pezo von Ellrichshausen uses the richness of play and assembly in the design

process. Combinations are considered part of objects identity and a way to find the right design solution.

His methodology of designed in mostly focused on manual combination and generation.

Figure 38 Playful architecture experimentation of Chilean studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen

The procedural aspect of the playactivity provides architects with instrumentations to structure the rules

of 'own game' and to reach the outcome of their creative process.

The previously mentioned famous games allow players to not only duplicate real items within the

constraints of the pieces but also to expand their creativity and create numerous combinations, resulting

in the creation of new models and imaginary worlds. This type of flexibility is made possible by the

lightness of the material and the adaptability of the parts. With the advancement of information

technology and the creation of digital construction video games such as SimCity (1989), The Sims (2000),

Minecraft (2011), Townscaper (2020), the construction process is highly facilitated. In addition, digital

construction games are programmed computer applications with defined rules and interactions and

provide different options of design carried out in real-time, contributing not much to the construction of

a predefined object but in the process of creation and generation of architecture.

Media critic Maaike Lauwaert in his book “The Place of Play” discusses the potential of digital games compared to classical construction toys:

“a set of building blocks can be actualized through building and constructing various objects with

the individual blocks or bricks. Digital, coded objects take this actualization further because they

provide the interactor with a string of options to actualize the design, thereby making this

actualization into a procedural activity.” (Lauwaert, 2009)

In Wright's games, such as SimCity (1989), The Sims (2000), which are open-ended rule-based systems,

and in games as Minecraft (2011), and Townscaper (2020), which are essential without rules, the user

has an unlimited string of actualizations of design potentials.

The ability to experiment with architecture through guided play is a core idea in the context of video

games. Videogames offer a greater potential for experimentation. They invite players to experiment with

architecture without physical or economic constraints. Because the computational processing power of

many computer systems allows operators to quickly iterateand encourages design through

experimentation.Computer games allow players access to new forms of architecture representation

which are almost impossible to experiment on paper. In addition, video games give player a virtual

agency to act and visualize effect of its actions in real time, visualizing quickly multiple versions.

Figure 39Screenshot from Townscaper and Sim City video games

Complex architecture forms can be organized as Puzzle, Tetris, Lego games. Habitat ’67 by Moshe Saftie

made of three-dimensional prefabricated units was inspired by Lego, and architecture was the result of

experimentation with 2:1 Lego bricks.

"We bought out all the Legos in Montreal at the time, because we built many, many alternatives," Moshe Saftie4

Video games, offer the possibility to experiment with “voxels” following the rules of Tetris, Lego or similar video games easily and quickly or inventing new rules.

4From an interview of Moshe Saftie for Dezeen site ( Source: Available online on : https://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/19/moshe-safdie-movie-interview-habitat-67/ , accessed on 12.06.2020)

Figure 40 Habitat ’67 by Moshe Saftie and computer-based Lego design experimentation

Voxelsare movable, and transformable in size and orientation to allow multiple configuration and

creative combinations. Biarke Ingels, inspired by Habitat 67, proposed for King Street in Toronto an

architecture made of voxels and designed to suit the plot, fulfil planning restrictions, and provide the

best light exposition. As a result, BIG architects' research is centered on "hedonistic sustainability," which

they achieve by combining playful design (open to alterations and the creation of various versions) with

sustainable design practices.

Figure 41 Model of Mountain on King West, Toronto by Biarke Ingles, inspired by Habitat 69 and based on voxel aggregation.

Playful design for the generation of the amount of sunlight received, in the upper terraces, (source: Allied and Westbank)

BIG architecture in this case is based on a playing with models in which they have posed specific rules. In

this sense, they create constrains, but also playing offers them various possibility to model architecture

in respect of the predefined rules. In his Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, the model was defined by simple

geometric rules: they took a simple brick, replicate it to create a wall and unzipped the wall following a

certain curve. This allow them to generate infinite variations by changing parameter of the components.