Abstract

In this text I hope to present a preliminary inquiry into the idea of chance in architecture and to begin a discussion on the theorisation of chance in the process of design. To a certain extent the institution of architecture is interested in making predictions — this is how chance enters in the process of design, as a creative play of probabilities. This play can be impulsive, systematic, active, or a combination of these — a number of examples from the arts give us critical ground to explore preferred ways of ‘using’ chance in design. But when designs are realised as built environments chance takes a forceful and unpredictable role: it becomes a synthesising function of space, time, and the on-lookers, constantly influencing the equilibrium of forces that constitutes experience. Buildings attempt to frame but sustain this equilibrium and within it negotiate architecture’s defence against the real. This architecture, call it architecture of chance, is all architecture: it is the architecture of the moment, indeterminate, vulnerable to accidents, but constructively so; it gains from failures and imperfections, and accepts chance as an essential element of existence.

How to Cite:

Manolopoulou, Y., (2007) “The Active Voice of Architecture: An Introduction to the Idea of Chance”, field: 1(1), 62–72.