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Morphology and typology are what architecture traditionally takes from biology, a sort of biomimicry. Big Data or Big Model has enabled us to approximate deeper structures of biology through algorithms. Yet, data-driven design and manufacturing map onto some aspects of biological life (the exceedingly large number of atoms and molecules, self-reproducibility) and not others (the second law of thermodynamics);  ironically, this digital mimicking of biological life threatens to accelerate the process of life systems on earth towards entropy. Should we reintroduce the “noise of life” into data-driven processes so as to think and  produce  architecture in tune with biological laws? This lecture will  examine some connections between  architecture  and  foundational biological concepts and introduce the results of a design studio at the University of Virginia.

Shiqiao Li,  he researches in the area of urban and architectural theory in writing and design. Published in Power and Virtue, Architecture and Modernization, Kowloon Cultural District (with Esther Lorenz), Understanding the Chinese City, journal articles, as well as delivered through keynote and guest lectures around the world, his contribution to urban and architectural theory makes evident the operations of culturally and intellectually constructed values instrumental to the production of cities and architecture. His research enlarges thinking spaces within which more sensible and effective actions in the constructed environment can be formulated. He seek pathways of intellectual understanding and response in architecture that aim to restore our pervasively technologized and ecologically strained world to its fertile functions.

The lecture series is organized by Architectural DigitalFUTURES and is also the second lecture of the global doctoral course Theory of Digital Design in Architecture. This doctoral course invites international leading scholars and architects in the field of digital architecture to deliver a six-day academic lecture. The lectures will be held from June 17th to June 22nd, with two sessions each day: 8:00-10:15 (UTC+8) and 19:00-21:15 (UTC+8). Everyone is welcome to join and attend the lectures!