Evolutionary Architecture: Nature as a Basis for Design

by Eugene Tsui

About Eugene Tsui and evolutionary architecture . "Eugene Tsui is a polymath, a kind of genius.. His evolutionary ideas fit my image of a desirable, feasible future. The 21st century needs ideas like his that conserve space, energy, and materials without offending aesthetics." -Dr. Richard MeierProfessor of Architecture, Planning, and Environmental Design University of California, Berkeley "[Tsui's] drawings, models, and buildings look like buildings from a Spielberg film, circa 3000.. Eugene Tsui's designs defy the imagination. He is bringing a different view to architecture." -Rocky Leplin The Associated Press "Welcome to the evolutionary architecture of Eugene Tsui.a place where everything is possible, and the mind is constantly being tested and stimulated to open and explore yet another new opportunity.. Tsui's philosophy of architectural design goes against practically everything people have come to know about architecture." -Beverly R. Picache Asian Week Newspaper

Genres: Nature

360 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[nicole van winkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is arguably more potently a work of existentialist philosophy than it is of architectural discourse, although its status is upheld, of course, as a spectacular display of ingenuity in its target field. this [the philosophy thing] should be mostly unsurprising to anybody familiar with author Eugene Tssui,¹ who's known (among the few of you who are familiar) to attract no scarcity of public comparisons to religious sermonizers—or, perhaps, a cult leader—owing to his spiritually driven persona and highly impassioned public lectures. the man is—at the risk of articulating the nature of such a richly multifaceted individual in a manner so reductive—a completely enigmatic pillar of intrigue; an honest-to-goodness polymath who is—in addition to being a practiced architect²—qualified to appoint himself to the roles of multi-time heavyweight boxing champion, classical composer, and fashion designer, to name a select few undertakings.³ i would highly recommend watching his To Live Without Excuses interview if you're interested in him, but for now i'm going to address his book:

it's good. very good. there are a handful of unfounded claims sprinkled throughout ("studies have [shown] that..." etc.) which fortunately don't at all detract from the message(s) he's trying to convey; a couple of his designs (i have my own reservations regarding whether or not his 1,200-foot-tall Eye in the Sky would remain standing after, like, 5 days of being erected) raise some questions with due concern paid to the attribute of structural integrity (some, however, are so pleasing to just imbibe the superficialities of that you don't really end up caring regardless), but, overall, he communicates ideas eloquently and his persistent emphasis on the importance of remedying the very real threat posed by any of a various order of contemporary socioecological crises is noble and much-warranted; there's actually a lot of anger here—primarily directed at those schools of thought which have tended towards proliferating and reinforcing widespread conformity in pursuit of the humanities—whose fervent expression across the text is electrifying to read. also, yes: now that i've pointed to examples, i should no longer have to communicate via the written word that the guy is a highly accomplished visual artist, and there're exhibits of his work (in the context of showcasing his many building projects, of course) in spades here. comparisons to Roger Dean and/or perhaps Michael Whelan are justified, and the influence the former seemed to have had on him is palpable in the work ( Solarius ), a fact which certainly isn't helping him on the path to splitting loose from his being categorized as some sort of dilettantish "eccentric" and actually becoming a widely known and respected figure in the Western architectural world/elsewhere.⁴ i don't know if people are willing to abandon the perceived comfort of the city-block just yet, but i—for one—will continue to wait, eagerly anticipating the day they are.

Most of us feel a kind of invisible pressure weighing upon us, debilitating and neutralizing much of our joy and clarity. Our decisions are diaphanous and compromised; our reasoning heavily influenced by inconsequential fears and worries. Compared with the full force of our abilities, we are merely half alive, living a kind of somnambulistic existence through habitual routine. Our passion for life is checked. We exist but are not fully alive. We call upon only a small portion of our mental, physical and spiritual resources. In some individuals, this sense of being severed from our inborn abilities is overwhelming, and we then come upon the person whose life is a demeaning series of impossibilities, spawning an inner maelstrom of desperation, anger and fear. We are, at varying moments, aware of this turmoil within ourselves and much energy is expended to escape these feelings. [...] [Your life] is the chance—the opportunity to change the world. [...] Be more than you think you are. There is no greater waste of humanity than to live a safe life. Bring the light of sanity and beauty into the open for all the world to see. (pp.312–313)

____________

1. vide inf. note 3.

2. notably apprenticed under, no less, Bruce Goff, who himself was a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright of Fallingwater fame (i.e., Tssui is not a nobody).

3. as well as, one would be remiss to neglect: a staunch believer in the health benefits of fasting every other day because he appraises the modern human hyper-preoccupation with food to be a waste of time and that—paraphrasing—energy comes instead "from [one's] determination;" exclusively reads (and writes) boustrophedonically; and legally doubled his surname's s—hence the atypical Tssui—because that's something that, supposedly, the spirit of Genghis Khan appeared to him in order to suggest he do.

4. citing frequent dismissals of his proposals as being too 'futuristic'; 'fantastical'; et cetera. could also be hindered by the fact that a good handful of them would theoretically cost upwards of $100 million USD to realize, of which the two-mile-high, six-hundred-billion-dollar Ultima Tower—the thing on the cover—may be the most notorious. not that i'd have it any other way.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author is the futuristic Gaudi of the Bay Area. He designs a lot of anthropomorphic work that is environmentally sustainable and he utilizes unconventional materials. I bought his book because I think he is an interesting character and quite accomplished. The text explains his thoughts and methodology for deriving nature inspired design. There are plenty of photos and diagrams (albeit at low resolution.) However, his aesthetics are really over the top, for me, and to be admired from afar... The publication's aesthetics left a lot to be desired and it read like an elementary school textbook. I really couldn't get into his thoughts on nature inspired design because the page layout was so clunky and distracting. That said, for an Olympian, utopian, musician, artist, industrial designer, clothing designer, architect, father, husband, writer, environmentalist, educator, ah... he is an inspiring individual.