The Epic of Parametricism

Parametric architecture begins when the computer enters the studio, first as a drawing tool and then as a partner in generating form. Its principles move from form to relationship, the algorithm as a pencil, variation instead of repetition, field instead of object and continuity instead of separation, until the environment itself becomes a parameter. Zaha Hadid's Phaeno Science Center, MAXXI in Rome, the Heydar Aliyev Center and the Guangzhou Opera House stand as stations, and Patrik Schumacher gives the movement its name. The book warns that a curve alone does not make a building parametric, then follows digital fabrication and artificial intelligence to a close where mathematics no longer stands opposite poetry.