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The idea of focusing not on an object, but on a collective field that cannot be broken down, such as Ianis Xenakis’ “statistical” music, allows one to recognize the separate parts but also see them as a whole, despite their differences. Internal relationships of parts have a heavy importance with this concept, as they create the spaces between forms, which, in themselves, are also forms. When translated into architectural context, this explains how the rooms of a building, for example, are often as important, if not more, than the overall form of the building itself. When combined carefully, these parts interact to make a unified whole, with a coexisting recognition of the distinct rooms themselves.
When combining parts–or such as in the case of The Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, adding parts–to a previously completed project, it’s important to consider the effect of this on the whole. An incredibly successful structure in this sense, the mosque counters Alberti’s statement of beauty, that “nothing can be added or taken away,” because even with the ever-changing needs and trends of today, the beauty of it is still clear, with additions.
Minimalism allows someone to see something in a simplified state, focusing mainly on its “foreground architectural condition.” With post minimalism working as the informal version of this, ideas can be represented as more of a sequence of events, displaying more data or telling a story within a project. This concept also enables a person to have a less controlling and more influencing role in the creation process, such as an artist, choosing materials and directing their flows, but ultimately the specific details don’t have to be predetermined.
If a figure is to be thought of as an effect emerging from a field, or a moment of high intensity, and a moire is the coexistence of a regular field and an emergent figure, then there are several real life examples of this. For the field, an example would be a city grid, and the figure would be a skyscraper. The moire would be when both of these exist together. This is a different take on the figure/ground idea, in which there exists a figure, and a void–the negative space–which is often too simple to compare to real life instances without leaving out essential parts.
A study on bird-like agents by Craig Reynolds showed that even with only three rules of behavior, flocks are bound to happen–which would be the fields in this case. Crowds have less predictable patterns, but they are the sort of human equivalent of flocks, as humans have a tendency to gather and form crowds. For architecture, considering the dynamics of use, behavior of crowds, and the geometries of masses in motion would give more insight into circulation and proximity within a space or spaces, and lead to a more fluid form.
