Parametric Modeling

Andrew Kudless, of Matsys Design in Oakland, CA, was a key partner in the overall conception of the park’s architecture. Andrew is a polymath —part architect, part sculptor, part technologist— who brought the art and science of parametric design to the heart of the project’s aesthetic. Parametric modeling is a process in which computers become responsive tools which make design recommendations based on a series of “parameters” being loaded in individually, or in sets of commands. As the commands accrue, the design’s geometry and spatiality tends to become a more complex. Parametric design was applied to the development of the pavilion petals and the paving materials found throughout the footpaths of the park. We like to think of this effort as a cognitive bridge beating within the heart of the park: if the Romans invented concrete and leading edge computation generated the form, we have produced and aspirational architecture which mediates between the bronze age and the space age.