Generative
Indexical 
Floor Plan
Lazarus Store
Megan Casey. Senior Thesis. Department of Design. The Ohio State University.
Critic: Gabriel Esquivel
DNAX Studio.
The course was a specific study on the behavior of the DNA virus to generate a design process to convey the importance of this cellular element and reflect it on the design product. The project is to design a research lab, with a product development area and retail-marketing-education area to sell and promote the importance of this research. The proposal was to insert this genetic code to an existing building, in this particular case the old Lazarus Department Store was selected.
Architecture is traditionally classified in terms of building typology derived from the conjugation of program and form where the notion of form is drawn from the history of the languages of architecture. The morphogenetic approach that is proposed here would require a novel theory of species for architecture that may be related to the notion of genus and species within biological evolution. It is an experiment in morphogenesis based on an abstract formal system that is autonomous and deterministic once the rules are set and defined. The project reflects an emphasis which searches for morphological complexity whereby the construction and selection of rules that produce specific morphological effects is partially motivated by aesthetic and plastic sensibilities of the architect. The project therefore calls into question traditional methods of architectural design and proposes a design process in which the architect becomes an inventor or constructor of formal systems as well as takes on the role of a navigator of the system's behavior over time.
The project is to design a research lab, with a product development area and retail-marketing-education area to sell and promote the importance of this research. This class was a research and design workshop. The first part focuses on the research of DNA virus in different situations followed by generation diagrams. And the second part focuses on the design of the labs and the products for this specific client. This studio is an attempt at developing an alternative approach to architectural design capable of engendering a new type of biomorphology. Architecture is traditionally classified in terms of building typology derived from the conjugation of program and form where the notion of form is drawn from the history of the languages of architecture. The morphogenetic approach that is proposed here would require a novel theory of species for architecture that may be related to the notion of genus and species within biological evolution. It is an experiment in morphogenesis based on an abstract formal system that is autonomous and deterministic once the rules are set and defined.
