Organic buildings are charachterized by wavy lines, and curved shapes that suggest natural forms, instead of being linear or rigidly geometric. Frank Lloyd Wright said that all architecture is organic, and the Art Nouveau architects of the early twentieth century incorporated curving, plant-like shapes into their designs. But in the later half of the twentieth century, Modernist architects took the concept of organic architecture to new heights. By using new forms of concrete and cantilever trusses, architects could create swooping arches without visible beams or pillars.

Inspired by the non-linearity and creative forces of nature and biological organisms, organic architecture is visually poetic, radical, idiosyncratic and environmentally aware; it embodies harmony of place, person and materials. Organic architecture is multi-faceted, free and surprising. The inspiration of organic architecture comes from nature and can be seen in the shapes and designs that minic natural images.

Organic architecture also reflects the femine way of thinking prevalent in very old tranditions stretching back to Earth Mother goddess cults and can be seen in the beautiful and flowing art and artefacts of the Anatolian, Minoan, Etruscan, and Ancient Greek cultures. There is a correlation too between straight line and rectangle, and angular, masculine design and mechanistic politics.

Organic architecture is a living tradition that is taking on new and exciting directions. It is not a unified movement but is diverse, perverse, contradictory, and mercurial. Always controversial and difficult to pin down, it is best experienced "in the round" with all one¹s senses by visiting real buildings. Sometimes called "the other tradition", it has a long and celebrated history, from Ancient Greece to Art Nouveau. Organic architecture is rooted in a passion for life, nature, and natural forms, and is full of the vitality of the natural world with its biological forms and processes. Emphasizing beauty and harmony, its free-flowing curves and expressive forms are sympathetic to the human body, mind, and spirit. In a well-designed "organic" building, we feel better and freer.

Examples of Organic Modernism Architecture:
Architect Eero Saarinen is known for designing grand bird-like buildings such as the TWA terminal at New York's Kennedy Airport and Dulles Airport near Washington D.C.

The Sydney Opera House designed by Jorn Utzon is one of the most recognisable images of the modern world - up there with the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building. Jorn Utzon borrowed shell-like forms for the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Although the Sydney Opera House has only been open since 1973, it represents Australia just as the pyramids represent Egypt and the Colosseum represents Rome.

The Opera House is situated on Bennelong Point, which reaches out into the harbour. The skyline of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the blue water of the harbour and the Sydney Opera House, viewed from a ferry or from the air, is dramatic and unforgettable.

Utzon's design was, arguably, beyond the capabilities of engineering of the time. Utzon spent a couple of years reworking the design and it was 1961 before he had solved the problem of how to build the distinguishing feature - the 'sails' of the roof.

How Organic Architecture is changed by technology:
Modern information technology and the rapid spread of computer-aided design (CAD) to all fields of architecture and design, has helped to free up design and designers' creative processes. With the latest three-dimensional design software it is much easier to design and model sophisticated and complex shapes and forms. The straight line, right angle, and cube are no longer earier and more efficient forms of design and the dominant features of architecture. Using the "strength through shape principle", curved forms such as arches, vaults, domes, and spheres are stronger, more efficient, and more economical than the equivalent rectilinear structures. Both modern and traditional materials can be used organically: new lightweight, tensile tent structures emulate the idea of the Native American Indian tepee, while modern curving earth or strawbale-built walls and vaults rediscover an ancient vernacular.