Logical Accidents and the Problem of the Inside Corner

Abstract

With the emergence of computational design, the production of architecture has come to be dominated by the algorithm, yet the presence of algorithmic methods can be traced back to Vitruvius. As with the computational algorithm, his rules led to conditions that appeared unresolved, but unlike computational design, they allowed for resolution through the intervention of the architect. Through a close analysis of the condition of the inside corner, this paper investigates how the formulaic system of linear or gridded repetitions that underlie the rules of architectural geometry prior to the digital turn—a type of analog algorithm—lead to complex and seemingly inconsistent conditions when the system meets at the corner. Such consequences are manifested as accidents, visually unresolved conditions that are nevertheless consistent and conform to the logic of the system. However, in the pursuit of perfection, the architect intervenes with an aesthetic judgment from outside the system to resolve the condition. Accidents are considered manifestations of the consistency or “truth” of the system, while interventions are seen as inconsistencies enforced from outside the system as judgments of beauty.