Given that several scientific researches have verified the intelligence of physarum polucephalum, this uni-cellular organism and its biological phenomena reveals possibilities for computation. This project focuses on collective intelligence based on the growth of physarum polycephalum and at the way that it can become a design tool. Harvesting its distributed memory of unicellular without brain but with memory organism we hypothesising alternative ways of spatial reasoning that can redefine urbanity. In order to do this, we conduct observational experiments in two different scales of the organism and we test the resulted patterns by refracting through them the urban and the architectural scale.
A number of observational experiments with different environmental conditions were set up to explore the formation mechanism of physarum polycephalum. From the observational experiments, two levels of the physical formation were adopted to constitute the design simulation, the macro level which represents the network foraging, and the micro level which represents the internal mechanism of cytoplasm movement. Based on these two aspects, this work develops digital simulation using algorithmic stigmergy and agent-based models to lead the digital design. The definition code and 3D print technique were employed in the design process. The digital design generated the behavioral model for physarum and the substratum in urban scale, using physarum growing output as the medium to correlate the design and theoretical research of urban system.
A number of observational experiments with different environmental conditions were set up to explore the formation mechanism of physarum polycephalum. From the observational experiments, two levels of the physical formation were adopted to constitute the design simulation, the macro level which represents the network foraging, and the micro level which represents the internal mechanism of cytoplasm movement. Based on these two aspects, this work develops digital simulation using algorithmic stigmergy and agent-based models to lead the digital design. The definition code and 3D print technique were employed in the design process. The digital design generated the behavioral model for physarum and the substratum in urban scale, using physarum growing output as the medium to correlate the design and theoretical research of urban system.
