The year 1971 – the inauguration of Kybernetes

Citation

(2012), "The year 1971 – the inauguration of Kybernetes", Kybernetes, Vol. 41 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2012.06741caa.003

The year 1971 – the inauguration of Kybernetes

Article Type: The year 1971 – the inauguration of Kybernetes From: Kybernetes, Volume 41, Issue 3/4

The year 1971 saw the inauguration of Kybernetes – The International Journal of Cybernetics & Systems – by John Jacob Rose, Founding Editor and Publisher (Thales) and under the successful guidance of his successor, Brian Rudall, enables the readership and publisher (Emerald) to celebrate the 40th volume.

The year 1971 also saw the inauguration of the largest International Architectural Design competition in history, namely, the Republic of France’s publication of the brief and request for design of a capital complex – embodying a Museum & Library – to be erected on the Place du Beaubourg (today known as Centre Pompidou) in Paris. Unaware of the appearance of Kybernetes and formation of WOCS, Wolf Pearlman and architect partner, Robert Stones (1917-1997) rose to the challenge and proceeded to promote, what was to become (for them), a seminal change in approach to architecture, which was ultimately recognized as an exemplary application of cybernetics and systems: Initiating in 1971 a paradigm for environmental design, which seeks convergence in (urban) planning, engineering and architectural design issues through divergence of Space Enclosure Systems Research (following Donald Wood’s, SESR program, pioneered at Ohio State University: Bulletin No. 203, 1968).

The duo’s prototypal project (No. 439 – 2nd prize winner) still contests the philosophy and theory underpinning the realized project (No. 493 – 1st prize winner, by Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers) served thereafter as model for polyhedric research projects, undertaken at the Manchester School of Architecture and Institute of Advanced Studies during subsequent academic years following the competition (which had yielded 681 accepted entries).

Forty years later the original exemplar is alive and kicking, having recently provoked the literary interest of a Parisian editor associated with a pre-eminent French publishing company.

In conclusion my long affiliation with Kybernetes has undoubtedly contributed towards developing one’s ability to steer through the information bog – for this alone I am profoundly grateful and wish the journal, editors and publisher bon chance in the decades to come.

Wolf PearlmanArchitectural Association Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 42-9, London, 1972Architectural Competitions 1792 – Today, Vol. 2, pp. 85-99, Taschen, 1994

About the author

Professor of Architecture, Wolf Pearlman, held tenured appointments at Technion Haifa & Manchester Polytechnic; as well as visiting positions at Harvard, Stanford, and UCLA. Professional experience includes appointments as principal project director at the UK’s multi-disciplinary Building Design Partnership, and City of Manchester Housing Research and Development Group, complemented by independent practice. Scientific affiliations include – the Architectural Association, Royal Institute of British Architects and Royal Society of Arts London; the International Association of Space Structures [IASS] Madrid; Israel Geographical Association and Editorial Advisory Board, Kybernetes: International Journal of Cybernetics, Systems and Management Sciences. Inventor ‘Pentad City’ – a quasi-crystal topology for high density/low cost new urban infrastructures. Honours include one international and three national awards for innovative planning and architectural design.