The Nonlinear Systems Organization is a research organization at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. Its mission is to explore ways in which architecture can demonstrate, test, and apply insights and theories from mathematics and the sciences - nonlinear, algorithmic, and complex - in the design material structures across an open-ended range of scales, materials, and design disciplines.

The work of the NSO is experimental and treats the activity of design itself as a form of research. The NSO seeks to produce new organizations of matter and life that possess extraordinary beauty, diversity and versatility. By exposing scientists and theorists to the opportunities of applied design, the NSO also seeks to stimulate the further development of science.