John Frazer

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John Frazer is an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture and intelligent CAD systems.

Motto I see computer not as an army of tedious clerks who will thwart all creativity with their demands for precise information, but as slaves of infinite power and patience.
Homepage http://www.autotectonica.org
Download http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/publications/ea/intro.html

Pioneering computer technologies in architecture, urbanism and design, his researches have been developed at the Architectural Association in London, Cambridge University, the University of Ulster, and at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he was Swire Chair Professor, Head of the School of Design and Director of the Design Technology Research Centre.

Professor John Hamilton Frazer is currently the international research co-coordinator for the Gehry Technologies Digital Practice Ecosystem. Since 2006 Professor Frazer has also been the head of the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia.

As a consultant in partnership with Julia Frazer, he worked with Cedric Price for the Generator Project USA 19761980 which real breakthrough was to give the Generator a concept of boredom.

Married to architect Julia Frazer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Theory

[edit] Former Students

  • Manit Rastogi
  • Patrick Janssen
  • Gianni Botsford
  • Cristiano Ceccato

[edit] Selected publications

[edit] Forthcoming

Currently writing commissioned essays on Archigram, Cedric Price and Ken Yeang; for Makers of Modern Culture (publication pending, Routledge) and a book chapter on Interactive environments to be published in White Heat and Cold Logic - a book on computer art from 1960 – 1980 (publication pending, MIT Press).


[edit] Books

Frazer J.H., An Evolutionary Architecture, Architectural Association, London, 1995 ( out of print ) http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/publications/ea/intro.html ( free download )

Frazer J.H. and Hardingham S, Accelerating Architecture (publication pending)

[edit] Chapters, Papers, Articles (selected from over 200 publications):

Frazer J.H., 'Richard Buckminster Fuller' (ed. J. Wintle), Makers of Modern Culture, Routledge 1981, p 183.

Frazer J.H., 'Can computers be just a tool?', Systemica: Mutual Uses of Cybernetics and Science, Vol 8, Amsterdam 1991, pp 27-36.

Frazer J.H., 'Computer - Muse or Amanuensis?' (ed. Wim van der Plas), SISEA, Proceedings. Second International Symposium on Electronic Art: Groningen 1990, SISEA 1991, pp 176-83.

Hatton, B., interview for Lotus 79 Magazine, 'Dopo L'High-Tech: Intervista con John Frazer', Electra, Rome, 1993 , pp.15-25.

Frazer J.H., 'The Architectural Relevance of Cybernetics', Systems Research, Vol 10, No. 3, 1993, pp. 43-47.

Frazer J.H., Bioclimatic Skyscrapers - Ken Yeang, AA Files 28 Autumn 1994 pp 109-101

Frazer J.H., 'The Genetic language of Design' (eds. S. Braddock and M. O'Mahoney), in Textiles and New Technology: 2010, Artemis 1994, pp 77-9.

Frazer J.H., 'Computing without Computers' (ed. C.Moller), Opening the Envelope - Intelligent Urban Tools, Exploring Urban Strategies for the 21st Century, Groningen Workshop event, May 1995, pp 14-17 & 27.

Frazer J.H., 'The Dynamic Evolution of Designs' (ed. A.Robertson), Proceedings of 4D Dynamics Conference, Leicester, UK, September 1995, pp 49-53.

Kunzru, H. and Search, J., interview for Wired Magazine, 'Architects of Change', July/Aug 1995, pp 66-71 & 111.

Frazer J.H., 'The Architectural Relevance of Cyberspace', in Architectural Design - Architects in Cyberspace, November 1995, pp 76-77.

Frazer J.H., 'Architectural Experiments in Cyberspace', in Architectural Design - Architects in Cyberspace, November 1995, pp 78-79.

Frazer J.H., Rastogi M, Graham P, 'The Interactivator', in Architectural Design - Architects in Cyberspace, November 1995, pp 80-81.

Frazer J.H., Frazer J.M., ‘The Evolutionary Model of Design’(eds. A. Asanowicz and A. Jakimowicz), Approaches to Computer Aided Architectural Composition, Poland, Technical University of Bialystok, August 1996, pp 101-117.

Frazer J.H., Frazer J.M., ‘The Interactivator: An Experiment in Evolutionary Design’ (in Japanese), Ten Plus One (10+1) - Cyberarchitecture, No 6 Summer 1996, pp 090-099.

Frazer J.H., ‘The Paradoxical Image of the Virtual World: Towards a New Theory of Spaces and Places’ (in Japanese), Ten Plus One (10+1) - Cyberarchitecture, No 6, Summer 1996, pp 100-103.

Frazer J.H., ‘Action and Observation: The Groningen Experiment’, Problems of Action and Observation Conference, Amsterdam, Systemica, Vol 12, 1997, pp135-142.

Frazer J.H., ‘The Groningen Experiment: Global Co-Operation in the Electronic Evolution of Cities', CAADRIA ’97: Proceedings of the Second Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, 1997, pp 345-353.

Frazer J.H., ‘Le Experimento Groningen (The Groningen Experiment)’ (Trans. Spanish and English) in Las Ciudas Inasibles, Fissuras 5, Madrid, December 1997, pp 88-106.

Frazer J.H., ‘The Global City Project - TALKING CITIES - The Interconnection of Virtual Space and the Actual World’ (In Japanese) in Trans-Architecture of Cyberspace - Ten Architects Who Stimulate the World (ed. Naomi Matsunaga), Digital Architecture Press Series, Nikkei Business Publications Inc., 1998, pp133-140.

Frazer J.H., ‘Dem Nichts ein Konzept Entreiben' (ed. T. M. Bardman), (in German) in Zirkulare Positionen 2, Westdeutscher Verlag, 1998 pp 245-274.

Frazer J.H. & Rastogi M., ‘The New Canvas', Architects in Cyberspace II, Architectural Design, Vol 68, No 11/12 Nov-Dec 1998, pp 8-11.

Frazer J.H. & Frazer J.M., ‘The Groningen Experiment: Architecture as an Artificial life form - Materialisation Phase II', Architects in Cyberspace II, Architectural Design, Vol 68, No 11/12 Nov-Dec 1998, pp12-15.

Frazer J.H., ‘The Co-operative Evolution of Buildings and Cities, Co-operative Buildings', Integrating Information, Organization, and Architecture. First International Workshop, CoBuild’98, Darmstadt, Germany, February 1998, Springer - Verlag, Berlin 1998, pp 130-141.

Frazer J.H., ‘Macrogenesis : Generative Design at the Urban Scale’, Generative Art 1998 International Conference, Milan, Italy, December 1998.

Frazer J.H., ‘Towards the Post Digital Era’, AVOCAAD Second International Conference (eds. T. Provoost, J. Verbeme and J. Verleye), 1999, conference proceeding, Brussels, Belgium.

Frazer J.H., Simondetti A., Ceccato C., Westbrook G., ‘The Use of Genetic Algorithms to Explore Alternative Building Design Processes', International Conference on Construction Information Technology 2000 (INCITE), Hong Kong 17-18 January 2000.

Frazer J.H., ‘Creative Design and the Generative Evolutionary Paradigm’ (eds. P.J. Bentley and D.W Corne), Creative Evolutionary Systems, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, UK, pp 253-274.

Frazer J.H., ‘The Cybernetics of Architecture : A Tribute to the Contribution of Gordon Pask’, Kybernetes, Vol. 20, No. 5/6 2001, pp 641-651.

Frazer J.H., ‘A Natural Model for Architecture/The Nature of the Evolutionary Model’, chapter in Cyber Reader (ed. Neil Spiller), Phaidon 2002, pp. 246-255.

Frazer J.H., ‘Enjoying Uncertainty’ in Navigating Design (ed. A.Lo), Hong Kong Polytechnic University with Hong Kong Arts Development Council, April 2003, pp 118-123.

Frazer J.H., ‘The continuing relevance of the Generator’, in Cedric Price Opera (ed. S. Hardingham), Wiley-Academy, June 2003, pp 046-048.

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