When examining the internal force flow, the analytical observation in many cases does not lead to an all too decisive complexity in terms of mathematical description. Engineers such as Heinz Isler or architects such as Frei Otto have therefore brought the physical experiment to the forefront of the investigation and at the same time have replaced the analytical methodology with a morphological point of view. The existence of experimentally induced shapes is here often viewed as an opportunity of verifying the validity of static conformity, meaning a method for implicitly inscribing the internal force flow into the architectural form. The role of the physical experiment in the design process can in these cases be understood as an architectural adaptation of écriture automatique.

These initial approaches to an investigation on the role of the physical experiment in the design process as a link between architectural approach and that of engineering are to be systematized in the present research project. The focus is on architectural-theoretical questions, such as specifying the concept of the experiment as a creative process, as opposed to experiments in the field of science on one hand and model construction, respectively the development of prototypes in architecture on the other, as well as the question of freedom of design in the spectrum between individual authorship and universality of natural laws. Moreover, the historical reprocessing and theoretical reflection aims at providing a critical history to the role of the physical experiment in 20th century architecture.