Frei Otto regarded form-finding as a method of research and design of the emergent properties of natural systems,
through which buildings will become less unnatural than in the past. This is a large step in lessening the impact
mankind has on the planet.
The work of Otto;s practice, The Institute for Lightweight Structures, is based around process of seeking form
for large engineering constructions through careful constrcution and documentation of experimental phyiscal
models. Every experiment conducted by the group serves as a model for the future explanation of forces and
force transpositions of the particular form in question. They are the first stage in the explanation of the origin of
form. Otto deems it absolutely necessary that Form-finding Architecture be an interdisciplinary pursuit, made up
of architects, engineers, biologists, philosophers, physicists, and synergists. It is the ethical task of the group to
fit every unavoidable new structure into its environment with a minimum of materials and energy consumption,
eventually in such a way that it becomes part of an ecological system.
The scope of his investigation includes soap-film experiments for producing minimal surfaces, pressure-loaded
vault forms by reversing tension-loaded suspended forms, optimized path systems, pneumatic structures, and
branched constructions (Figure 2.5). The range of possible forms is determined by the choice and definition of
the conditions under which the form-finding process takes place. Uniting the logic of material and of structure
makes it possible to form-find certain kinds of structures at all stages, from the beginning of the design processes
to full-scale construction