‘The objective of the SmartGeometry Group,’ says Lars
Hesselgren, ‘is to create the intellectual foundations for a
more profound way of designing. Change can only be additive,
not subtractive, so SmartGeometry does not reject or deny
existing, more informal or intuitive approaches to design.
What SmartGeometry initially set out to achieve was to add to
the established skills other complementary formal systems of
notation that would allow for the creation and control of
more complex geometry. We recognised that architecture, and
design in the broadest sense, was critically dependent on
geometry, but that a complete geometric tradition of the
understanding of descriptive and construct geometry was
being lost through lack of use in a bland planar and
orthogonal minimalism or, indeed, through misuse by being
excessively indulged at the “hyper” fringes of design. Against
this background, the objective of the SmartGeometry Group
was to reassert an understanding of geometry in design as
more than an “experiential commodity”. Rather than being
wilful and arbitrary, even the most complex geometry could
provide a formal resolution of competing forces and
requirements. It could suggest and resolve both structural
efficiency and environmental sensitivity.’