mechanised reasoning, Peter Eisenman manipulates an idea, submitting it to a sort of propositional calculation. Through probings and attempts which follow each other in a sequence of approximations made possible by a new conception of notation and representation, and beginning with elementary solids or simple internal relations, architectural space takes shape. Every element is charged with "active" meaning since it doesn't have any reference or architectural content, but lives only in relation to intrinsic order which impress energy on the formative process; this justifies the relation of one part to the other in an organic whole. The process that sustains the final construction is similar to that which regulates the axial growth of crystals. The form of the crystal, like the architectural one, is the fulfilment of an organic movement which configures the form as much in the visible structure as in the substantial structure [Zodiac, 1969]. Answering the question What would happen if?, the fluid laws that lie at the base of the planning process inflect solutions that, if "isomorphic" to spatial necessities, can reveal themselves as architectural hypotheses, calculated but extremely free. Thus, if the first projects of Eisenman illustrate the internal virtualities of a rigorously closed, rigid cube, the following plans show the virtualities of the same shape subjected to the internal laws of deformation.THE CARNEGIE MELLON RESEARCH INSTITUTE (CMRI)The plan for the CMRI (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1987-88) is an emblematic example of a process of deformation (Figure 1). "The fundamental element of this architectonic elaboration is the Boolian cube, a geometric model relative to the function of computers" [Oechlin, 1991]. The vertexes of the tridimensional cube, considered as solid shapes or transparent frames, represent all the possible terns of 0,1 by which to organise orderly strings. The organisation of the place takes shape in the math...
