Panta Rhei : Everything flows

“There is nothing permanent except change.” – Heraclitus of Ephesus

The city is an image, which transforms from the first instant and never materializes. It should be understood as a dynamic entity, where nothing remains the same over time, where everything is sequential. It flows governed by the laws of nature and human being. It is therefore impossible to concrete, as laws in constant transformation determine every city. Nevertheless, the architect, through study, is able to understand their development logics and act accordingly, allowing the future to flow in harmony.

We understand that aiming to predict a flowing logic of development, the architect should focus on the study of the speed of change. Thus identifying the components of the city and ordering them by dependency degree, where slower, static structures are those which determine or condition while faster, versatile ones, are those determined or conditioned.

We realize the city based on a dependency hierarchy, a network of dependency laws under a FRACTAL logic, in which static, structural elements, define the limits and possibilities of the versatile. A first structural order defines a second order and so on. Under this fractal logic, a room depends on the structure of the apartment, the apartment depends on the structure of the building, the building on the structure of the neighbourhood, the neighbourhood on the city structure, the city on the territory…

Analytical gaze

We propose a methodology of analysis, able to determine the change rate of the elements that make up a city, based on four study criteria: chronological development, connectivity, incompatibility of use and identity.

Darker structures represent static nature while lighter stands for the mutable. Territorial, Urban and Architectural scales are used following the idea of fractal logic, proving how the given value to elements varies according to the analysed scale.

General strategies

Identify versatile and static structures within each scale. Optimize the main static structures. Reinforce the main structures considering the natural development order

Testing typologies

Heading for a flexible organic development the system enables multiple typologies. By little alteration we demonstrate how some of the well known would fit.

Growth pattern defined by the development of urbanistic strategies, establishing the scale of the areas and scopes of a situation of static architectural static structures that will allow the development.