EMERGENT COMPLEXES
Agent-Based Form-Finding: When buildings negotiate their own positions.
Traditional master planning takes a top-down approach: the urban planner draws the site plan, buildings conform to it. But no natural system works this way. Bird flocks, fish schools, ant colonies—all create their own order through bottom-up logic.
Emergent Complexes brings this biological principle to architectural scale. Buildings become "agents" that negotiate their own positions. German architect Frei Otto's soap bubble experiments, computer scientist Craig Reynolds' boids algorithm, and philosopher Manuel DeLanda's assemblage theory form the conceptual framework for this research.
The result: urban textures that emerge spontaneously rather than being imposed from above. Pedestrian networks form through the logic of Physarum, a single-celled organism that finds the most efficient paths between food sources.
Conceptual Anchors
Frei Otto
"Form is shaped by forces, not by arbitrary decisions."
Otto's minimal surface experiments—soap bubbles, tensile structures, wool thread models—demonstrated that optimal forms emerge from physical forces, not designer intent.
Craig Reynolds
"Flocking behavior emerges from three simple rules: separation, alignment, and cohesion."
Reynolds' boids algorithm created lifelike flocking from minimal rules. Each 'boid' follows: Avoid crowding neighbors (separation), Steer toward average heading (alignment), Steer toward average position (cohesion).
Manuel DeLanda
"A whole emerges from interactions between its parts, not from a pre-existing plan."
DeLanda's assemblage theory (2006) argues that systems—including cities—are emergent phenomena. Components interact locally; patterns emerge globally. There is no 'master planner' in a city's evolution.
Physarum Polycephalum
"The slime mold finds the shortest path without a brain."
Research by Tero et al. (2010) showed that Physarum—a brainless organism—can recreate the Tokyo rail network when food sources are placed at station locations. It optimizes for efficiency without central control.
Research Phases
Site Field Generation
Every site has invisible forces: solar vectors, wind patterns, view corridors, noise sources. We convert these into vector fields that will push/pull building agents.
Building Agent Deployment
Each building program (housing, office, retail) becomes an agent with properties: mass (GFA), attraction (to similar programs), repulsion (from incompatible uses), solar appetite (facade preferences).
Swarm Simulation
Agents negotiate positions over 10,000 iterations. They avoid collisions, seek solar access, cluster by program affinity, and respect setback regulations. The final state = emergent masterplan.
Physarum Path Network
Once buildings settle, Physarum logic generates pedestrian networks. 'Nutrients' placed at building entries; paths emerge where flow is most efficient.
What We Discovered
Agent-based layouts achieve 18% higher average daylight autonomy than grid-based layouts on the same site (tested on 5 complex projects).
+18% daylightPhysarum-derived pedestrian networks are 23% shorter (total path length) than orthogonal grid systems while connecting the same nodes.
-23% path lengthSwarm-generated building clusters show 12-15% higher retail footfall (agent-based pedestrian simulation) due to organic 'desire line' integration.
+15% footfallComplex emergence is faster: converged solutions in 10,000 iterations (~4 hours compute) vs. weeks of manual iteration.
4h vs weeksCurrent Limitations
Aesthetic control: Emergent layouts lack the 'signature' of authored design. Some clients prefer intentional composition.
Regulatory friction: Zoning codes assume orthogonal grids. Emergent geometries require variance applications.
Computation-heavy: 10,000 iteration simulations require GPU clusters. Not viable for small-budget projects.
Unpredictability: Same inputs don't always yield same outputs (stochastic). Difficult for approval processes requiring deterministic plans.
Interested in Emergent Design?
We apply swarm intelligence to complex-scale projects. Reach out to discuss your site.