Lexicon

Abject
Accretion
Actant
Aeration
Aerobic
Algae-boosted
Animal
Anthropomorphism
Anti-Continuous Construction
Apocalypse
Aquaculture
Aquanaut
Ark
Artificial Intelligence
Autopoiesis
Assemblages
Asymmetry
Atrophy
Attraction
Autarchy
Automata
Automation
Autosymbiosis
Bambassador
Bathyscaphe
Bioconurbation
Biomedia
Bionics
Biosphere
Biotechnique
By-product
Capacity
Actant
Coisolation
Composting
Conservative Surgery
Consumer Envelope
Consumption
Continuous Construction
Conurbation
Correalism
Cultural_Memory
Cybernetics
Cybertecture
Cyborg
Dispositif
Diving Saucer
Dross
Earthship
Ecocatastrophe
Effluvium
Egosphere
End-use
Entanglement
Eutopia
Feedback
Foam
Folk
Gadget
Garbage House
Green Cyborg
Heuristic
Hoard
Holism
Homogenization of Desire
Hostile
Human Affect
Hybridized Folk
Hydroponic
Hyper-Materialism
Information Economy
Inner Space
Interama
Intra-Uterine
Maque
Megalopolis
Min-use
Mobility
Monorail
Multi-Hinge
Non-Design
Oceanaut
Oppositional Consciousness
Organic
Ouroboros
Panarchy
Parasite
Perceived Continuation
Permanence
Place
Prototype
Post-Animal
Reclamation
RI: Data Farms
RI: Garbage and Animals
RI:Shipbreaking
RI: Toxic Sublime
Sampling
Scale
Sensing Structure
Simulacrum
Simulation
Soft Energy
Spaceship Earth
Submersible
Superwindow
Symbiosis
Synthetic Environment
Technocratic
Technological Heredity
Technological Sublime
Telechirics
The Sublime
Thermal Panel
Actant
Thing-Power
Thinking Machines
Tool
Toxic Withdrawal
Turbulence
UV-Transparent Film
Vibrant Matter
Waste
Work

CORREAL ENVIRONMENT

Frederick J. Kiesler believed life was composed of interacting forces and developed the concept of "correalism," which "expresses the dynamics of continual interaction between man and his natural and technological environments."1 These three environments (human, natural, technological) were constantly in flux and co-reality was the manifestation their relationships. Kiesler believed that the technological environments consisted of a system of tools that responded to human needs, which in turn were in response to the natural environment. However, as the natural environment constantly changed, so too did these needs of the human environment, which affected the output of tools of the technological environment. To correspond with these changes, Kiesler proposed that the objects that composed the environments experienced "heredity," that biological, social, and technological traits were passed down to future generations and constantly evolving.

In order to translate his views of correalism to architecture, Kiesler theorized the design potential through the lens of correality with "biotechnique" and "continuous construction," a design and construction method that derives "from the evolutionary potentialities of man" and attempted to imitate the continuous properties of nature by "[aiming] at the reduction of joints, making for higher resistance, higher rigidity, easier maintenance, and lower costs." Throughout his career, Kiesler turned to biotechnique and continuous construction as his "repeated answer to the architectural crisis of authenticity."2 Projects such as his Space House, Endless House, and Mobile-Home-Library hint at an attempt at translating his theory to practice; however, the extent of which he was able to do so has been questionable. For instance, the reasoning for displaying mostly textures and ornamental aspects of his Space House when publishing it in Architectural Record has been called into question if his agency was to promote a "a continuous unit overcoming the four-fold division of column, roof, floor, wall," which he believed was "a conversion of compression into continuous tension."3 Still, Kiesler's correal environment provides a productive model where one is able to derive an actual theory for a design and construction technique based on a worldview that was not necessary trending at the time.

Citations
Kielser,Frederick. "On Correalism and Biotechnique: A Definition and Test of a New Approach to Building Design." 1939, Architectural Record 86, pp.60-75
Braham, William. "What’s Hecuba To Him? On Kiesler and the Knot". 1998, Assemblage 36, pp.7-23.
Kielser,Frederick. "Notes on Architecture." 1934, Hound and Horn