Autopoeisis and Apoptosis: Growth and transformation of the complex

An autopoietic system is organized (defined as a unity) as a network of processes of production (synthesis and destruction) of components such that these components (i) continuously regenerate and realize the network that produces them and (ii) constitute the system as a distinguishable unity in the domain in which they exist…. H. R. Maturana and F. J. Varela, Autopoiesis and Cognition. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel, 1980.

ap·o·pto·sis (New Latin, from Greek apoptosis a falling off, from apopiptein to fall off, from apo- + piptein to fall) : a genetically determined destruction of cells from within due to activation of a stimulus or removal of a suppressing agent or stimulus that is postulated to exist to explain the orderly elimination of superfluous cells-called also programmed cell death. Apoptosis occurs normally in development, during aging and in various pathologic conditions. Merriam-Webster.

The facility must have the flexibility to undertake new initiatives as the direction of biology inevitably shifts in response to new technologies and new discoveries in the future. The Master Plan must anticipate the potential for growth and transformation of the facility, allowing expansion into new areas of investigation. Conversely, the Master Plan must also consider the potential obsolescence of various areas of investigation and production. SUPERNATURAL® is a machine and an organism, a living machine that maintains its own organization.

The research park will be designed to allow facile and rapid conversion of the constructed environment in response to changing needs and focus. This potential for mutability should be present at a macro and micro-scale. In order to develop a model which intelligently facilitates growth and transformation, it will be necessary to devise a system of organization for the primary building components and their predicted development over time. The Master Plan should clarify the elemental organizational system as well as illustrate the build-out of a 20 year scenario.