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

Cybertecture

In the article Toward Cybertecture, Wolf Hilbertz describes the term Cybertercture (CYBERnetics + archiTECTURE) as, "an attempt [...] to formulate a conceptual framework for an evolutionary environmental system."1 Taking influence from ideas relative to the ordering of the human nervous system, cybernetics is a value expressed by the structured manner in which a system, using control and communication, functions. According to Hilbertz, the physical components of Cybertecture consist of three subsystems:2

1: The computer which compares essentially to the brain - communicating with and controlling the sensing structure and the material distribution and reclamation subsystems. It serves as a pattern recognizing, analyzing, synthesizing, and decision making tool. It emits impulses that cause immediate or delayed physical or organizational change of the environment in accordance with criteria designed to provide optimal environmental solutions and to determine the frequency of change.

2: The material distribution and reclamation subsystem - related to the mechanisms that facilitate metabolism. It adjusts the physical environment to immediate, desired or projected needs of the user. It can transform the material into different states to make it suitable for any desired purpose.

3: The sensing structure subsystem - which compares to the body of a living organism. It provides a constant flow of information about changing internal and external conditions which is processed by the computer subsystems. Internal and external sensors are part of the structure, operating in analogy to nerve cell receptors. The sense modalities are: vision, hearing, taste, smell, sensibility for balance, warmth and cold, compression and tension, and kinesthesis, giving information of all parts of Cybertecture in space.

While Hilbertz's definition of Cybertecture was meant to be used to describe emergent, all-encompassing, evolutionary environmental systems, the majority of his applications of Cybertecture were directed toward the development of his Biorock Technology which dealt with mineral accretion processes in seawater.3

The idea of "open systems" is not new even to Hilbertz writing in 1960 (think back all the way to the Cyrstal Palace of 1851) but the idea of Cybertecture as being an architecture that is "structured and performs in a manner analogous to open living systems",4 through the three subsystems of physical components explained above, anticipates the future of architectural technology in environmental systems and building automation (also known as building management systems). Contemporary examples of this can be seen in the Centre Georges Pompidou, by Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers, where a specific interest of mechanical and structural distribution are displayed with the exoskeleton and brightly colored tubes where each color denotes a different mechanical aspect of the building. More recent examples can be seen in buildings that attempt to predict or accommodate environments and conditions specific to the preferences of the users. These systems are known to adapt and change over time to anticipate changes in such a user's preferences.

1 W. Hilbertz. "Toward Cybertecture", Progressive Architecture, May 1970.
2 Hilbertz, 98-99.
3 W.Hilbertz. "Accretion - Biorock Process." WolfHilbertz.com. Web. 29 April 2014
4 Hilbertz, 98-99.
CAPTION
Concept drawings of underwater cybertecture. W. Hilbertz. (1970) p.101



Aquatic Environment Atlas

Citations
Margaret Cohen, "Fluid States" in Cabinet, Issue No.16: The Sea (Winter: 2004/2005), pp.75-82.
Keller Easterling, "The Confetti of Empire," in Cabinet, Issue No.16: The Sea (Winter: 2004/2005).
Wolf Hilbertz, "Electrodeposition of Minerals in Sea Water: Experiments and Applications," IEEE Journal on Oceanic Engineering, Vol. OE-4, No.3 (1979), pp.94-113.
Wolf Hilbertz, "Toward CyberTecture," Progressive Architecture (May 1970), pp.98-103.
McHale, John. "The Future of the Future: Inner Space." Architectural Design 37 (February, 1967), pp. 64-95.
Katavolos, William. "Organics," in Ulrich Conrads (Ed.), Programs and Manifestoes on the 20th Century Architecture (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1970), pp.163-165.

Gordon Pask, "A Proposed Evolutionary Model," H.von Foerster and G.W. Zopf, Jr. (Eds.), Principles of Self Organization: Transactions of the Illinois Symposium, (New York: Harper, 1961), pp: 229-254.