In this segment we're looking at something called blob architecture and computer collaborative design. Now blob architecture really comes out of this idea of computer collaborative design and when we say computer collaborative, we're not talking about just a designer using a computer to, to explore their designs but actually where the computer is taking part in the design process itself. In some cases like, for instance, in the case of Karim Rashid we see the aesthetic of computer generated design being used in the real world. So in other words what you can create with virtual reality actually having an impact on the design that Karim Rashid does. And so there's this kind of give-and-take, this playfulness of some of what is possible with a computer, digitally, now becoming part of the real built environment. And certainly for this display that he does for the Toronto interior design show, what we're looking at is something where on first glance we wouldn't really be able to tell if this was a virtual space or a built space. This is sort of what Rashid is trying to bring home; is kind of blurring of the line between what we experience in that virtual world, what we're able to create in the computer, and what we're able to build. When we enter the space what we find is that he's created an environment with brilliant saturated colors, he's used designs, for instance, you can see it on the ceiling and on the carpeting that are very much about computer, computer graphics, and then the furniture itself has this very kind of smooth quality to it, kind of flowing quality that both reminds us of virtual spaces, and also of designs that we've already encountered in mid-century design. And you can certainly see that in the black sofa in this image that looks so much like the marshmallow sofa, sofa by George Nelson. It, it's playing with those ideas and certainly the chairs in the foreground are playing with Frank Gehry's cardboard chairs, again, using very similar kinds of shapes but bringing them into a whole new vocabulary. So we can see in Rashid's work, this interest in using the aesthetic of the virtual reality and combining that with designs from the past that inspire him, but always bringing them into this contemporary vocabulary. So, for instance, with the folding table we can see a close relationship with a design that Ferrieri does for a folding table, also in plastic. And instead of having the quarters of the table of a circular table fold down now he's got this kind of flower image where the petals fold down. And as well, for instance, in this Omni sofa, the Omni sofa looks a lot like the kind of conversation pits that are designed in the late '70s and early '80's and here what we see is a much more kind of asymmetrical design, but we could certainly relate this back to, for instance, the work of Verner Panton. So he's drawing from these things, but he's updating them and he's also combining this with an aesthetic that he learns through his work with a computer. Now Asymptote, which is an architectural firm, uses the computer in an even more collaborative way. And this is the Alessi flagship store in New York City. From the exterior this is a 19th century cast-iron factory building, but as you enter the store you enter a reality that has been both created by the architects at Asymptote and their collaboration with computer, with a computer program. What they do is they give the computer program some coordinates and some sort of limitations and then they allow the computer to generate forms that that play within that, within those parameters. What they had to work with was a rather long narrow space and what they actually carve out it is a kind of almost cave-like interior. And you can see in the axonometric, how it has this kind of craggy quality to it. Well, in reality, when you walk into the space it doesn't feel quite as frightening as a cave, it actually has a very cheerful kind of light quality to it and part of that is because these ridges that are developed by the computer are then used as light sources within the space and you can see them, they're almost like fins that, that give the sense of changing of the interior space, but through, in fact, the use of very little material; because you can see that it's not completely built out, it's only built out in the fins. Now all these shapes are faceted and those facets would be very difficult to define if one were doing this all in paper and pencil, but because this is being generated by the computer, each one of those shapes is very easily defined and then sent off to be produced, and fit together like a puzzle quite neatly. They take advantage of this fin form by also using it for a display; so each one of them not only contains a light source, but also display for all of the small kind of tabletop items that Alessi is well known for producing. Another architect that uses this collaborative process for their design is Greg Lynn. Now Greg Lynn actually claims to have a completely paperless office, in other words everything is done on the computer, all of the plans are generated on the computer, and then sent off to the builders and to the companies that provide all of the materials for building. What he says happens in his office is that the computer, in fact, is generating the majority of the design that he puts in the parameters for, for the space, the, the needs and then he allows the computer to actually have the aesthetic guide; this then is a space that Greg Lynn says he does not handle aesthetically, it's actually the computer that's doing that. And what it creates is then, again, this kind of series of fins. This is a Presbyterian Church so this hall, which is very large, needs to have very good acoustics and what the computer has done is generated a space that's not only got the services necessary; the lighting, and the air circulation, but also the acoustical qualities that Greg, Greg Lynn asked for. And we can see on the exterior of the building again this kind of fin-like quality to the way that the computer has generated the design. This was a kind of rectilinear building, a very kind of commercial looking building, that was then reused for the Presbyterian Church and it needed to have additional spaces, adjacent to the large hall, and these fins helped to provide for some of those, those additional spaces. One of the experiments that Greg Lynn has done with the computer is to put in sort of requests for building components and then seen what the computer would come up with; and the Blob Wall, which is part of the reason that this type of architecture is called Blob architecture, is one of the results of this. Now in asking for a form that would be firm and stable and easy to build with, what the computer comes up with is a blob. It does not come up with a rectangular brick, the one, that component that we've always used, it comes up with this very kind of rounded form. And when he asked the computer to build the most stable wall, instead of coming up with the flat surface that we come up with, it comes up with this kind of undulating surface and it turns out that this is the most stable form. And in this case what we see is a virtually generated image and the, the, plan and then he actually went ahead and built one of these walls for an installation. And you can see it has this very kind of blobby quality to it and thus the name.