We have no better example in mind to explain consistency than the process of Evolution. Natural selection as Darwin defined it is the preservation of variations in any organic being that deem useful to its struggle for life. Small but useful variations emerge, they accumulate and make the organism distinct enough to be classified as a species from just a variety.

But why does variation emerge? Because the conditions on Earth keep changing. From the changing of seasons annually to the beginning of eras millions of years in span such as the Carboniferous period (which led to an increase in the oxygen content from 21% today to 35% about 350 million years ago) determine what characteristics if inherited will improve the rate of survival. As the environment changes, a different set of characteristics is awarded and hence, variation becomes vital.

Even if we see a myriad of organisms around us, from colour changing octopi to extremely intelligent human beings, we can acknowledge that distinct forms of life are so different from each other that for millennia we believed variation amongst living beings to be an act of creation. The same rules applied to a single cell organism a billion years ago that applied to us a million years ago when we finally evolved into Homo Sapiens. Our purpose to highlight this is to bring attention to the fact that a single set of rules (or beliefs) does not mean there will not be variety. It is just its consistency as the environment (or conditions such as the unique requirements of a client) changes that catalyzes variation!

Behind each Style of Design is what we like to call a Design Philosophy. For any philosophy to exist, there must be principles. But why we are talking about Evolutionary Biology is because we can draw parallels in Architecture as well.

“A great Architect is only as good as he is Consistent with his Philosophy”

So, when choosing the right architect, is it important to know their belief system and how they maintain its consistency. Again, there is a third concept called Resonance that rationally puts together having a belief system and its consistency in practice. We will discuss Resonance in the next post.