Uncovering Lynn’s Theory of Architecture: The Role of the Concept of Time for Dynamic Form Creation

ABSTRACT Greg Lynn is one of the pioneers of digital architecture. His usage of digital software is based on his effort to integrate the concept of time into architectural design processes. Lynn grounds his form based architectural production into a theoretical basis, which aims creating living, breathing and interacting organisms. Studies related to Lynn and his projects mostly refer to his form generation concerns employing digital software. However, Lynn’s approach is not merely a form-focused approach. While Lynn’s form creation studies could exist as a narrative independent from the concept of time, all the studies are actually products of an integrated architectural discourse. Different from the studies that focus on form generation, this study focuses on the formation of Lynn’s time-based architectural design approach, and analyses Lynn’s architectural theory. It expresses a different conceptual narrative and perspective. It clarifies and discusses the mechanisms that Lynn uses to express time in the digital environment. In this way, the instrumental relation between time and Lynn’s architectural design is addressed.