Ideas being explored as ‘the new science of networks’ apply to the process of building as much as anything else. Design and construction have benefited through the specialisation of research, training and the responsibilities of those involved. However, a building project is a complex system, enmeshed with other complex systems. The outcome of a project depends on the macro as well as the micro. From consideration of global resources to alignment of screws, we believe that designing and constructing buildings is about integrating the knowledge, experience, imagination and activity of many players to get the most out of what each can offer.
"We've made tremendous progress in science for 300 years, since the days of Isaac Newton and the scientific revolution by chopping problems up into smaller and smaller bits and analysing the tiniest parts. From whole organisms we look at cells, and then from cells we look at genes. And by studying genes and then down to DNA we've made wonderful progress but the time has come to move back up. I mean how do we understand the behaviour of a whole economy? How do we understand the resilience and stability of ecosystems? Or global warming? These are problems with a similar character, in that you can't understand them by looking at the little bits. And this is a daunting challenge – going up turns out to be much harder that going down. Synthesis and holism is much more scientifically subtle than analysis and reductionism."
Steve Strogatz Professor of Applied Mathematics, Cornell University
