Deep Simplicity of Zero
Research Seminar, 20th February 2019
Deep Simplicity is complexity of system behaviour arising from simple rules deep inside the system.
Zero is a ‘dangerous’ idea of a singularity and exception from the norm, and also of a state of balance
between inputs and outputs or gains and losses. The talk investigates whether a combination of deep
simplicity and zero balances could be used to spontaneously mimic nature. It explores buildings as they were,
as they are, and as they could be. Starting from vernacular architecture from pre-industrial age when buildings worked
with nature, in the industrial age buildings became machines that disregarded climate. Deep simplicity inspired thinking
can create opportunities for exploring designs of buildings that work with nature.
Solving Hard Problems with Interdisciplinary Ideas
Professorial Inaugural Lecture, 25th June 2014
In this lecture Professor Jankovic talks about a journey through different disciplines and explains
how taking inspiration and ideas from seemingly unrelated disciplines helped him to solve hard problems in other disciplines.
In this journey he connects the dots between emergence in nature, complexity science, computer science, engineering,
building science and architecture and explains how this informed his research into designing zero carbon buildings.
He challenges the traditional top-down approach in science and explains how a bottom-up approach to problem solving
blurs boundaries between disciplines and takes us further in our journey of discovery
