Fall 2011 GSAPP Visual Study: Encoded Matter

Encoded matter with Ezio Blasetti who runs Algorithmic Design was a python driven course aimed at creating space using generative algorithms. Our project (with my partner Reza Zia) took a look at the architectural applications of cellular automaton. Below is a more technical excerpt from our boards:

“our project established a goal of arriving at three dimensional volume through the stacking and manipulating of a simple game of life or cellular automatan voxilization. Each cell in the system tends either towards an infected or neutral state, and triggers within the system create emergent patterns and trends that ripple through the array until the system tends towards stabillity. The degree to which how rapidly these values infect each other and result in pattern generation is primarily influenced by a determined k value that ranges between 1-8. This derives from each pixel within the array hosting 8 neighbors around it. In each generation of the stacking the tendency of the pixel to become active or not is determined by this k-value. A k value of 6, for example, means that the said pixel is surrounded by 6 infected pixels and 2 unaffected and as a result in the next generation it will also become infected. These localized negotiations result in self-organized patterns across the entire array.  Our manipulations introduced curve forces intersecting this volume of the stack voxelation that changed the k value of the array at that particular point resulting in a different reading of the array based on proximity to the point of infection. ”

Special thanks to Ezio and also my great partner Reza.