Here at Archinect, we receive countless submissions of people's work, hoping to be published. Within recent memory (exactly when it began is uncertain), a particular type of work started popping up frequently.
"Saltworks" from Washington University in St. Louis.
The pieces were recognizable as parametrically-designed pavilions, and often (but not exclusively) were student-built, part of a studio program. Photos show these pieces installed on campus quads, somewhere in a public park, or elsewhere with a open, semi-public function – a structure that gives people an opportunity to gather and linger, but often without any more specific programming. More often than not, these projects look like giant armored slugs.
Singapore University of Technology and Design Library Pavilion
So it is respectfully and in the tradition of Venturi and Scott Brown's "duck vs. shed", that Archinect submits the "parametric slug" to Archinect's Lexicon. A "slug" is a typology defined by a simple tubular form, stretching over the site like, well, a slug.
The sub-genre of "parametric slug" simply means the slug is clearly parametrically designed, perhaps with interlocking geometric surface patterns or Greg Lynn-like globules. The "slug" typology often also gives off a listless and indifferent attitude.
"Parametric slug" (n.) was coined at a team meeting of Archinect staff members on the afternoon of December 1, 2014.
Genetic Design's "Fabhouse" (Denmark).
Welcome to Archinect's Lexicon. Architecture notoriously appropriates and invents new language – sometimes to make appeals, sometimes to fill conceptual gaps, sometimes nonsensically. But once a word is used, it's alive, and part of the conversation. We're here to take notes.
5 Comments
i would like to see some examples?
Nam - we just updated the post with some examples... and welcome everyone to share more examples in the comments...
Trifolium by AR-MA (Architectural Research – Material Applications)
Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor
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