Prototypical applications of cybernetic systems in architectural contexts: A tribute to Gordon Pask

The architectural implications and applications of the work and teachings of Gordon Pask have been explored through a number of avenues, and in particular through his long‐term affiliation with the Architectural Association and more recently as a result of his close ties with John Frazer’s Diploma Unit. Studio Unit 14 at UCL The Bartlett has adopted a programme that continues this investigation into the use of machine logic and machine intelligence to explore cybernetic models of the built environment. As architects, there is an essential spatial/tactile/visual quality to the explorations, so that much of the work is concerned with the relationship between information and form, and in particular, dynamic form. While many fields of research have come to rely more and more on computer generated graphical models, this remains an issue with which architecture is aptly placed to engage – the cybernetic model could well be that of the architect’s traditional role in society. Gordon Pask, of course, knew this, and was always able to arbitrate between an object and a model of information.