Simulated Morphogenesis: Procedural Modelling of Gothic Microarchitecture and Architecture Using Recursive Algorithms

Abstract This article investigates the procedural nature of late Gothic architecture through a novel methodology termed Simulated Morphogenesis. By combining 3D scanning with interpretive algorithmic modelling, the study analyzes a corpus of sacrament houses and altar crowns from Eastern Slovakia alongside the Basler Goldschmiederisse. The research demonstrates that Gothic design exhibited an algorithmic nature, relying on recursive logic and geometric determinacy rather than static plans. Through the reverse engineering of these structures into generative algorithms, the study reveals the deep configurational logic connecting disparate examples. A key finding identifies the sacrament house in Rožňava not as a provincial work, but as a complex, optimized synthesis of the monumental St Elizabeth sacrament house in Košice and smaller regional structures. The developed parametric models demonstrate that Gothic geometry can be interpreted as an open-ended system capable of generating non-standard series from a single algorithmic genotype.