Parametricism by Patrik Schumacher and Rosey Chan

last updated 31 August 2022

'Music is liquid architecture; architecture is frozen music,' reads Goethe's famous quote, and the recent collaboration between Patrik Schumacher and Rosey Chan (he the architect, author and director of Zaha Hadid Architects; she the pianist, composer and curator) provides some fascinating proof. Their film offers a spectacular audio-visual presentation of Schumacher's study into parametricism - the avant-garde architectural style that he has identified, which is rooted in highly advanced parametric design systems. Originally produced for the Elvis Zapp Urban Film Festival at the Maysles Institute in Harlem, New York, the abstract animation is perfectly matched by Chan's music, especially composed for the project.

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).