Form Finding, Form Shaping, Designing Architecture. Experimental, aesthetic and ethical approaches to form in recent and postwar architecture

In the early 1950s the German architect FREI OTTO (born 1925) developed the concept of «FORM FINDING». He defined this concept in opposition to the shaping of forms, which in his eyes could only result in a deformation. Otto wanted to find, to explore and to optimize form instead. In the meantime, contemporary architecture has seen an emergence and increasing prevalence of seemingly or factually arbitrary forms.The two-day workshop takes Frei Otto’s comprehensive and influential concept as the starting point for a critical assessment and investigation into POSTWAR AND RECENT CONCEPTIONS of the GENESIS OF ARCHITECTURAL FORM. Researchers and practitioners from different fields will discuss the following questions: How unrestricted, how random should or can architectural form be? Which processes lead to form? Which considerations influence the process of design? Which part does the «design tool» play? Are there aesthetic and ethical criteria which can be influential to form? The workshop will provide an international forum for discussion with subjects ranging from engineering practice and its theorization to theoretical reflection covering historical, art historical, architectural, natural scientific and philosophical approaches. In order to enhance the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and methods the workshop is set up in collaboration with the chair of structural design of the ETH Zurich (Prof. Dr. Joseph Schwartz, Dr. Toni Kotnik). Participants will include young researchers as well as more experienced colleagues. Its general objective is to obtain a more precise comprehension of form generating processes with particular regard to the interrelation of structural, technological, architectural, ethical, aesthetic and semantic factors.The topics of the four sections reflect the multiple perspectives the workshop aims at. The first section will center upon CULTURAL PARAMETERS OF FORM and thereby discuss the most comprehensive dimension of form. The second section will focus on PROCESS-RELATED ASPECTS OF FORM FINDING and will draw on the expertise of both architectural historians and researchers working in the field of structural engineering. Whereas the two sections of the first day will favor history-based theoretical approaches, the papers of the third section will comprise contemporary engineering practice and its theorization (CONSTRUCTION OF FORM TODAY). The last section again inverts the perspective and explores form-generating processes with respect to ARCHITECTURAL PARAMETERS OF FORM.