Patrik Schumacher

Patrik Schumacher is the director of Zaha Hadid Architects, a British international architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid, with its main office situated in Clerkenwell, London. Born in Bonn in 1961, Schumacher has worked at Zaha Hadid Architects since 1988. In relation to London's housing crisis Schumacher has advocated getting rid of regulations, privatising all public space and scrapping social housing. He is seen as the founder of parametricism, having publishing a parametricism manifesto in 2008. Parametricism relies on programs, algorithms, and computers to manipulate equations for design purposes.

From Marxism to Neoliberalism

In an article for The Guardian Oliver Wainwright describes Schumacher's transition from Marxism to Neoliberalism:

Like a number of fellow rightwing libertarians, he was a former Marxist who had become disillusioned. He was finally jolted out of his “mainstream political slumber” by the 2008 financial crisis, when he discovered the writings of Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, the godfathers of neoliberalism, along with Murray Rothbard’s ideas of anarcho-capitalism.

“It’s about loosening the reins and rolling back the nanny state,” he says. “We must unleash entrepreneurial creativity and individual empowerment for greater prosperity and freedom for all.” Since his recent awakening, he has devoured a heady cocktail of writers from the Austrian school of economic thought (based on individualism and limiting state interference in the market), including Meltdown author Thomas Woods, Republican stockbroker Peter Schiff and ex-Reagan budget director David Stockman.

Wainwright also discusses Schumacher's links to the Institute of Ideas:

Schumacher’s stance might be anathema to the generally centre-left-leaning architecture world, but he is not a lone voice. He has found plenty of allies in the Institute of Ideas, a thinktank run by Claire Fox, former publisher of Living Marxism, which spawned a network of agitators who, as Guardian columnist George Monbiot puts it, have drifted from “the most distant fringes of the left to the extremities of the pro-corporate, libertarian right”.

Patrik Schumacher spoke at the Battle of Ideas in 2015 and 2016.

Publications

Books

• The Autopoiesis of Architecture, Vol.1 A New Framework for Architecture, Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., London 2010
• The Autopoiesis of Architecture, Vol.2 A New Agenda for Architecture, Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., London 2012
• Zaha Hadid Complete Works, editor, Thames and Hudson, London 2004
• Digital Hadid - Landscapes in Motion, author, Publisher: Birkhaeuser, 2003
• Latent Utopias - Experiments within Contemporary Architecture, co-editor, author, Springer Verlag, Wien, New York 2002

Articles

• Introduction to Parametricism 2.0 – Gearing Up to Impact The Global Built Environment. Published in: AD Parametricism 2.0 – Rethinking Architecture's Agenda for the 21st Century, Editor: H. Castle, Guest-edited by Patrik Schumacher, AD Profile #240, March/April 2016
• Advancing Social Functionality via Agent-Based Parametric Semiology. Published in: AD Parametricism 2.0 – Rethinking Architecture's Agenda for the 21st Century, Editor: H. Castle, Guest-edited by Patrik Schumacher, AD Profile #240, March/April 2016
• Hegemonic Parametricism Delivers a Market-Based Urban Order. Published in: AD Parametricism 2.0 – Rethinking Architecture's Agenda for the 21st Century, Editor: H. Castle, Guest-edited by Patrik Schumacher, AD Profile #240, March/April 2016
• Coup De Grâce. Published in: Volume #47, ‘The System’, quarterly magazine, Archis Foundation
• Design Parameters to Parametric Design. Published in: The Routledge Companion for Architecture Design and Practice: Established and Emerging Trends, Edited by Mitra Kanaani and Dak Kopec, Routledge,Taylor and Francis, New York 2016
• The Historical Pertinence of Parametricism and the Prospect of a Free Market Urban Order. Published in: The Politics of Parametricism – Digital Technologies in Architecture, edited by Matthew Poole & Manuel Shvartzberg, Bloomsbury Publishing, New York
• Parametricism with Social Parameters. Published in: exhibition book ‘The Human (Parameter) - Parametric Approach in Israeli Architecture’, Curated/edited by Ionathan Lazovski & Yuval Kahlon for ZEZEZE Architecture Gallery, Tel-Aviv
• The Societal Function of Architecture. Published in: Wolf D. Prix & Kristy Balliet (Editors), Massive Attack – IOA Sliver Lecture Series: Selected Friends and Enemies, Edition Angewandte, Birkhaeuser Verlag, Basel 2015
• The Power of Beauty, the Promise of Parametricism and China's Architectural Ascendance. 美的力量，参数化的未来与中国建筑崛起. Published in: Urban Environment Design 087 2014/11 – HHDFUN 2008-2014
• In Which Style Should We Build? Published in: exhibition catalogue Zaha Hadid at the Hermitage, State Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg
• Fluid Totality – The dream of inhabiting a nature-like built environment. Published in: Fluid Totality – Studio Zaha Hadid 2000-2015, Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Birkhaeuser Verlag, Basel 2015
• The Congeniality of Architecture and Engineering - The future potential and relevance of shell structures in architecture. Published in: Shell Structures for Architecture - Form Finding and Optimization, Edited by Sigrid Adriaenssens, Philippe Block, Diederik Veenendaal, Chris Williams, Routledge, New York 2014
• The Instrumentality of Appearances in the Pursuit of a Legible Urban Order. Published in: Yoshio Futugawa (Editor), Zaha Hadid, Exhibition Catalog for the exhibition ‘Zaha Hadid’, at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, published by GA (Global Architecture), Tokyo, Japan
• Tectonic Articulation – Making Engineering Logics Speak. Published in: AD 04/2014, Future Details of Architecture, Guest-edited by Mark Garcia, July/August 2014
• Parametric Semiology – The Design of Information Rich Environments. Published in: Architecture In Formation – On the Nature of Information in Digital Architecture, edited by Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa and Aaron Sprecher, Routledge, Taylor and Francis, New York, 2013 (Chinese Translation published in: Digital 2.0 – Urbanism & Architecture #189–10.2015)
• Counterpoint: Transgression, Innovation, Politics. Published in: AD # 226 The Architecture of Transgression, Editor: H. Castle, Guest-edited by J. Mosley & R. Sara, Nov/Dec 2013
• Free Market Urbanism – Urbanism Beyond Planning. Published in: Masterplanning the Adaptive City – Computational Urbanism in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Tom Verebes, Routledge, New York 2013
• I am trying to imagine a radical free market urbanism. Interview published in: Log 28, Summer 2013, Anyone Corporation, New York 2013
• Contribution to Writing Cities Symposium ‘Distance and Cities’. Published in: Writing Cities Working Papers Volume 2, Cities Programme, London School of Economics and Political Science, London 2012
• Parametric Order – Architectural Order via an Agent Based Parametric Semiology. Published in: Adaptive Ecologies – Correlated Systems of Living by Theodore Spyropoulos, AA Publications, London 2013
• In-Between Theory and Practice. Alexandros Kallegias interviews Patrik Schumacher, English/Greek. Published in: Villas – Views + Ideas, Redefining Contemporary Design, Athens, Greece 2013
• On Dogmas, Styles, Progress, History and Ecology. Patrik Schumacher interviewed by Mario Coppola, London 2012 (Italian translation published in: BLOOM 15, theoretical organ of the Architecture Faculty of the University of Naples)
• Oekologischer Parametrismus. Published in: Out of AZ4 reloaded, Springer Verlag, Wien – New York, 2012
• Architecture's Next Ontological Innovation. Published in: Not Nature, tarp – Architectural Manual, Pratt Institute, New York, spring 2012
• Tectonics - The Differentiation and Collaboration of Architecture and Engineering. Contribution to the catalogue/book ‘Stefan Polonyi – Bearing Lines – Bearing Surfaces’, published by MAI - Museum für Architektur und Ingenieurkunst NRW e.V., Ed. Ursula Kleefisch-Jobst et al., Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart/London 2012
• My Kind of Town: The Parametric Jungle. Published in: Architecture Today, AT227, April 2012
• Komplexitaet und Dynamik. Patrik Schumacher im Gespräch mit Ralf Ferdinand Broekman und Olaf Winkler. Published in: build Das Architekten-Magazin, 2/2012, Herausgeber/Chefredakteur: Ralf Ferdinand Broekman
• Irony, Allegory & Dystopia – Architectural Education as Parallel Universe. Published in: AR Architectural Review, Issue 1380, February 2012
• Die Zeit is reif – Parametrismus als Antwort. Published in: AIT Thesen, Medium der AIT-Architktur Salons, Supplement von AIT – Architektur Innenarchitektur Technischer Ausbau, Stuttgart, Dezember 2011
• Design is Communication. Published in: Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger, Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion, Philadelphia Museum of Art in association with Yale University Press, New Haven 2011
• Arbeiten im Kunstsystem. Published in: Virgil Widrich, Stefan Reiter, Stefan Unger (Eds.), Presentation and New Media - 10 Years checkpointmedia: Concepts, Paths, Visions, Springer Verlag Wien/New York 2011
• Parametricism and the Autopoiesis of Architecture. Published in: Log 21, winter 2011, Anyone Corporation, New York 2011
• Convergence vs Fragmentation as Condition for Architecture's Societal Impact. Published in: Fulcrum (the AA's weekly free sheet), Issue #19
• Architecture Schools as Design Research Laboratories. Published in: Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher (Editors), Total Fluidity, Studio Zaha Hadid 2000-2010 (University of Applied Arts, Vienna), Springer Wien/New York 2011
• Projet de recherché: la proto-tour paramétrique. Published in: Zaha Hadid – Une Architecture, Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris
• La città parametrica. Published in: ‘Being Zaha Hadid’, Abitare, monthly magazine, 511, April 2011, Milano
• Is Architectural Quality Mysteriously Ineffable? Patrik Schumacher, London 2011, contribution to the RIBA Building Futures Debate, Business Design Centre, London
• The Parametric City. Published in: Zaha Hadid – Recent Projects, A.D.A. Edita, Tokyo 2010
• The Meaning of MAXXI – Concepts, Ambitions, Achievements. Published in: Zaha Hadid Architects, MAXXI: Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rizzoli International Publications, New York 2010
• The Parametricist Epoch: Let the Style Wars Begin. Published in: AJ - The Architects’ Journal, Number 16, Volume 231, 06. May 2010
• Parametric Diagrammes. Published in: Mark Garcia (editor), The Diagrams of Architecture, AD Reader, John Wiley&Sons, London 2010
• Parametric Patterns. Published in: Mark Garcia (ed), AD Patterns of Architecture, Architectural Design Vol.79, No 6, November/December 2009
• Parametricism: A new global style for architecture and urban design. Published in: Neil Leach (ed), AD Digital Cities, Architectural Design Vol 79, No 4, July/August 2009. Reprinted in: Carpo, Mario, The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012 (AD Reader)
• Parametricist Manifesto. Published in exhibition catalog: Total Fluidity - Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher, Exhibition and catalog produced by NY Projects for Seoul Design Olympiad, Seoul, Korea, October 2008
• Design Research within the Parametric Paradigm. Published as “Smart Work – Patrik Schumacher on the growing importance of parametrics” In: RIBA Journal, September 2008
• Parametricist Manifesto (with Zaha Hadid). Published in: Out There – Architecture Beyond Building, Volume 5: Experimental Architecture, Catalogue of the 11th Architecture Biennale, Venice 2008
• Experimentation within a Long Wave of Innovation. Published in: Out There – Architecture Beyond Building, Volume 3: Experimental Architecture, Catalogue of the 11th Architecture Biennale, Venice 2008
• Style as Research Programme. Published in: DRL TEN – A Design Research Compendium, AA Publications, London 2008
• Autopoeitic Elegance. Preface to Morphe – MRGD, RIEA Research Institute for Experimental Architecture, Springer Wien/NewYork 2008
• Arguing for Elegance. Published in: Castle, H., Rahim, A. & Jamelle, H., (eds), Elegance, Architectural Design, January/February 2007, Vol.77, No.1, Wiley – Academy, London
• What’s next? From Destructive Impact to Creative Impulse. Published in: New Architecture – Essays on Architecture, Editor: Sheila de Vallee, Papadakis Publisher, New Architecture Group Ltd., London 2007
• Aspects of the work of Zaha Hadid. Published in: New Architecture – Essays on Architecture, Editor: Sheila de Vallee, Papadakis Publisher, New Architecture
• The Sky-scraper revitalized: Differentiation, Interface, Navigation. Essay in: ZAHA HADID, Catalog, Guggenheim Museum, New York 2006
• Research Agenda: Corporate Fields – Objectives, Methods, Limitations. Essay in: Steele, B. (Ed), Corporate Fields. New Office Environments by the AA DRL, Architectural association Publishers, London
• Towards a Digitally Based Architectural Language. Published in: dA – Documents on Architecture, issue 05, Spring 2005, Taipei
• Responsive Environments – From Drawing to Scripting. Published in: 01 AKAD – Experimental research in Architecture and Design – Beginnings, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2005
• Divergence or Confluence, Afterword Reviewing the symposium Sign as Surface: Meaning beyond the New Digital Aesthetic. Published in: Peter Zellner (Ed), Sign as Surface, Architecture & Design Projects Series, Catalog, Artists Space, Sept. 2003, New York
• Digital Hadid - Landscapes in Motion. Publisher: Birkhaeuser
• Ten Questions for Thinkers About the Present and Future of Design. Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, in: Harvard Design Magazine, No.20, Massachusetts, Spring/Summer 2004
• Verraeumlichung von Wissen. Published in: Herbert Lachmayer et al, Editors, Salieri Sulle Tracce Di Mozart, Baerenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2004
• Progress beyond the state of art. Published in: Architettura Magazine, 10 Feb. 2004
• Mechanisms of Radical Innovation. Published in: Zaha Hadid - Architektur//Architecture, Hrsg. Peter Noever, Museum fuer Angewandte Kunst (MAK), Wien, Hatje Cantz Verlag
• AADRL - Lehre und Forschung. Patrik Schumacher & Brett Steele, in: ARCH+, Januar 2003
• The Autopoeisis of Architecture. Published in: Latent Utopias - Experiments within Contemporary Architecture. Editors: Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher, Steirischer Herbst, Springer Verlag, Wien, New York 2002
• Graphic Spaces. Published in: IDEA - International Graphic Art, No.293, Tokyo 2002
• Autopoeisis of a Residential Community. Published in: Negotiate my Boundary - Mass-customisation and Responsive Environments, edited by Brett Steele and RAMTV, London 2002
• What is an architect in society today? Survey appearing in: Hunch Magazine, No.5, The Netherlands, July 2002
• Robotic Fields. Published in: Designing for a Digital World, Editor: Neil Leach. Wiley-Academy, London 2002
• After Ford. Written with Christian Rogner, in: Stalking Detroit, editors: G.Daskalakis, Ch.Waldheim, J.Young. Actar, Barcelona 2001
• The Work of Beauty & the Beauty of Work. Published in: 3D to 2D - The Designer's Republic adventures in and out of architecture, with Sadar Vuga Arhitekti and Spela Mlakar. Laurance King Publishing, London 2001
• Medium – Form – Funktion. Published in: Zaha Hadid – Urban Architecture, Aedes Ausstellungskatalog, Berlin
• Staging the Field of Possibilities (with Zaha Hadid) Urban Strategy and Architectural Concept for the
• Centre of Contemporary Art, Rome. Published in: MARS – Magazine of the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana
• In Defence of Radicalism - On the Work of Zaha Hadid. Published in: City Visionaries, Venice Biennale of Architecture 2000, Catalog for the British Pavilion, Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester
• Business – Research – Architecture. Published in: Daidalos 69/70, December 1998/January 1999 (Deutsche Ausgabe: Wirtschaft – Forschung – Architektur)
• Rational in Retrospect – Reflections on the Logic of Rationality in Recent Design. Published in: AA files 38, Annals of the Architectural Association School of Architecture, Spring 1999
• Arbeit, Spiel und Anarchie. Published in: Work & Culture - Büro.Inszenierung von Arbeit, Herausgeber: Herbert Lachmayer und Eleonora Luis, 1998 Ritterverlag, Klagenfurt
• Productive Patterns - Restructuring Architecture. Part 1. Published in: architect's bulletin, Operativity, Volume 135 - 136, June 1997, Slovenia
• Productive Patterns - Restructuring Architecture. Part 2. Published in: architect's bulletin, Volume 137 - 138, November 1997, Slovenia
• Produktive Ordnungen. Published in: ARCH+ 136, Your Office Is Where You Are, April 1997, Berlin
• Architektur der Bewegung. Published in: ARCH+ 134/135, Wohnen zur Disposition, Dezember 1996
• Ubiquitous Urbanism. In co-authorship with Zaha Hadid, Columbia Books of architecture, Studio Works 2, Columbia University, New York 1994