Contingent Patterns looks to challenge the classical assumptions of variation and contingency in todays urban model. Starting with a lineage of conceptual planning and occupation strategies---the highway is antagonized as a new point of departure as an occupiable domain. Environmental, Economic, and Social constraints are reconsidered through the use of complex material systems. Traditionally change and variation is confined to the realm within the envelope; and where there is variability outside of the envelope it is confined, typically, within the footprint of the surrounding street grid. Environmental edges are typically framed by grid periphery and separated from pieces of the larger ecosystem. The use of complex material systems creates the foundation for a continuity of biological and environmental conditions. The use of water and phase change as a vessel to create a frozen surface in winter to an floral scaffolding. Contingency and variation are the tools to develop a new occupational space in the horizontal sphere, as well as, a continuity of systems between interior and exterior domains.