Community Green (project)

The Community Green project began as an ideas competition to explore notions of what a 21st century village green could be, using the inner-city suburb of Pollokshields, Glasgow, as an inspiration and test bed. Interdisciplinary teams of artists, architects, designers, and technologists were invited to submit proposals for public art projects that considered the role that technologies, especially those that have a low environmental impact, can play in the fostering of greater communication and participation within a community. Four teams were selected to develop their proposals into prototypes. The prototypes form the basis of an ideas resource to inform the regeneration of Pollokshields and include experimental street furniture, 3D electronic information-sharing points, modular greenspaces, and mobile platforms for public interaction.

The teams taking part in Community Green are:

be+ (Jude Barber and Uli Einslein)

Cameron Webster Architects + Ettie Spencer

Jaxi (Simon Chadwick, Tilo Einert, Adrian Lear, Neil McGuire)

Kevin Campbell, Douglas Fraser, Robert Sharp, Leo Warner.

Design After Modernism (book)

After reading a couple of references to John Thakara's 'Design After Modernism' I ordered a used copy which arrived yesterday. I'm really glad I did because it looks like it covers a lot of the precedents for the work I am doing in my research. I really found a lot of value in Thackara's latest 'In the Bubble'. I think 'Design After Modernism' might be out of print because I could only find used copies online. I also could not find a table of contents for it. So in the interests of public service:

CONTENTS
Preface.
INTRODUCTION
1 . Beyond the object in design.
JOHN THACKARA
2 . The experience of modernity.
MARSHALL BERMAN
CITY - BUILDING - STREET
3 . Place-form and cultural identity.
KENNETH FRAMPTON
4 . A city is not a tree.
CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER
5 . Architecture and cognac.
RICHARD BOLTON
6 . Street signs.
NIGEL COATES
PRODUCT - ORNAMENT - CRAFT
7 . The search for a postmodern aesthetic.
PETER FULLER
8 . The ideal world of Vermeer's little lace maker .
PETER DORMER
9 . Design and 'avantpostmodernism'.
FRANCOIS BURKHARDT
10 . Invisible design .
CLAUDIA DONA
11 . Culture as commodity: style wars, punk and pageant.
PETER YORK
TECHNOLOGY - SOFTWARE - PROCESS
12 . The system of objects.
JEAN BAUDRILLARD
13 . From Socrates to Intel: the chaos of microaesthetics.
THIERRY CHAPUT
14 . The demise of classical rationality.
PHILIPPE LEMOINE
15 . From Brunelleschi to CAD-CAM.
MIKE COOLEY
16 . The product as illusion.
TOM MITCHELL
17 . Softecnica.
JOHN CHRIS JONES

THACKARA, J., 1988. Design after Modernism. London: Thames & Hudson.

Critical Technical Practice (article)

People derive and create meaning, identity and value through things. Most of these are designed by professional designers and manufactured within a commercial framework. However, some are made by individuals for personal use, and some are made in order to exploit the capacity of objects to provoke reflexivity and convey meaning through their physical attributes as a means of communicating ideas.

Critical technical practice (CTP) is a method for developing value-sensitive design and an approach to identifying and altering philosophical assumptions underlying technical practice. Phil Agre originally proposed CTP as a means of converging technology development (in computer science) with critical reflection (in critical studies and design research) in order to expose and deconstruct hidden values and assumptions in the design of technology.

Link: Critical Technical Practice as a Methodology for Values in Design by Kirsten Boehner, Shay David, Joseph Kaye and Phoebe Sengers.

Also worth a look: Reflective Design by Phoebe Sengers, Kirsten Boehner, Shay David and Joseph Kaye.

Design ≠ Craft

Some interesting points from Robert Aish:

“We can characterize design as being different to craft (because the designer does not directly act on the material, but has an indirect, and arguably more powerful, way of controlling materialization). Similarly, we might characterize computational design as being different to conventional design (because the designer is not directly drawing the geometry, but has an indirect, and arguably more powerful, way of controlling that geometry using computational design tools).

In this way we should view computational design as part of a normal progression in which the designer and the artifact are separated by an increasing number of levels of indirection, that in turn introduce higher levels of expression and control. Opponents of this may question whether introducing these levels of indirection is in fact progress, arguing that intuition and spontaneity will be inhibited with the increased remoteness between the designer and artifact, Happily these layers of indirection are not arranged linearly, but can be configured to form a closed loop. The advent of digitally controlled fabrication means that the ‘geometrically aware’ and ‘computationally enabled’ designer is as close to the materialization as in the original craft process, but with precision and control and the ability to explore variation which was previously unimaginable.

The question now is: what are the characteristics of computational design tools that facilitate this approach to design and what are the corresponding abstractions which need to be internalized and operationalised by designers?”

AISH, R., 2006. Exploring the analogy that parametric design is a game in OOSTERHUIS, K., and FEIREISS, L., (eds.) The architecture co-laboratory: game set and match II. On computer games, advanced geometries and digital technologies. Rotterdam: Episode Publishers. pp 203.

Metadisciplinarity? (article)

I found an interesting point in Intelligent Agent vol. 6 no. 1 "Doing Interface Ecology: The Practice of Metadisciplinarity" by Andruid Kerne:

The value that transdisciplinarity places on the practice of disciplinary assemblage is a good start. The problem is that trans- means, "across, to or on the farther side of, beyond, over." [31] Novak's transvergence moves this prescription forward by including an emphasis on connecting, but without theorizing the embodied practice of interface development. [32] While going across, beyond, and over disciplinary boundaries, the denotation of trans- is still lacking not only the structural imperative for assembling disciplines, but also a sense of how processes of disciplinary recombination are a formula for creating new knowledge. Nowotny observes that "Transdisciplinarity... is more than juxtaposition. ... If joint problem solving is the aim, then the means must provide for an integration of perspectives in the identification, formulation and resolution of what has to become a shared problem." [33] But, what are the structures and processes that catalyze this type of integration?

Kerne concludes:

The structure of metadisciplinarity connects theory and practice. ...These modes of practice are inseparable. Metadisciplinarity develops an awareness of the structures of situated disciplines that form relationships in interfaces. Through its practice, and intentional cultivation of these relationships, we can create hybrid forms of representation.

By viewing design as an integrative discipline and the generator of hybrid cultural forms it presents diverse design practitioners with opportunities to rethink design as a cultural driver of enormous magnitude in the conjunction of these other domains. Design, architecture and art may be discrete disciplines, but they have common characteristics that bring them into relation with one another. Practitioners are exploiting this relationship to bring together cultural commentary with aesthetics. In these instances the object isn't what changes – rather it is the audience’s perception of the object and its cultural context that is transformed.

In the anti-authorial literary theory of Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault the relationship between discourse and object is separated and articulated as a rupture within Modernism's attempt to produce a thing that would speak for itself. Barthes states that each text comprises multiple layers and plural meanings. Therefore readers of texts must divorce a literary work from its creator in order to liberate it from ‘interpretive tyranny’. In this sense the essential meaning of a work depends not on the impressions of the reader but rather on its audience. For Foucault, a ‘discourse’ is a body of thought and writing that is united by having a common object of study, a common methodology, and/or a set of common terms and ideas. Foucault discusses the idea of a transdiscursive position - those who are initiators of discursive practices, not just of individual texts.

Obviously within academia the boundaries of a discipline are important. However, in practice it seems that the ongoing discourse is more significant. Perhaps instead of speculating about new hybrid domains we should be placing emphasis on what it means to take transdiscursive positions?

Transdisciplinary Studies

Transdisciplinary Studies

Edited by: Jeremy Hunsinger and Jason Nolan

Aims and Scope:

Transdisciplinary Studies is an internationally oriented book series created to generate new theories and practices to extricate transdisciplinary research from the confining discourses of traditional disciplinarities. Within transdisciplinary domains, this series will publish empirically grounded, theoretically sound work seeking to identify and solve global problems that conventional disciplinary perspectives cannot capture. Transdisciplinary Studies seeks to accentuate those aspects of scholarly research which cut across todays learned disciplines in an effort to define new axiologies and forms of praxis. This series intends to promote a new appreciation for transdisciplinary research to audiences that are seeking ways of understanding complex, global problems that many now realize disciplinary perspectives cannot fully address. Scholars, policy makers, educators and researchers working to address issues in technology studies, public finance, discourse studies, professional ethics, political analysis, learning, ecological systems, modern medicine, and other fields clearly are ready to begin investing in transdisciplinary models of research. It is for those many different audiences in these diverse fields that we hope to reach, not merely with topical research, but also through considering new epistemic and ontological foundations for of transdisciplinary research.

Books in the Series:
Towards Humane Technologies: Biotechnology, new media, and ethics (Forthcoming) Edited by: Naomi Sunderland, Peter Isaacs, Phil Graham, and Bernard McKenna

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Wiki Maintenance

I have tidied up and added some more information to the designedobjects wiki.

There is amongst other things another (groan) bibliography and a resource page. It also looks prettier, too.

Remember to check out the designedobjects reblog to see the projects that have caught my attention from the blogosphere.

Links are always over there >>> in the sidebar.

ArchiSculpture (exhibition)

We've had Anthony Caro's Sculpitecture...

ArchiSculpture: Dialogues between Architecture and Sculpture between the 18th Century to the Present Day

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
Hollerplatz 1
38440 Wolfsburg, Germany
phone: +49-5361-2669-0
fax: +49-5361-2669-66
e-mail: info@kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de
http://www.kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de

The reciprocal relationship between sculpture and architecture is one of the most exciting artistic phenomena of the 20th century. From its inception in the 19th century, modern sculpture has continually absorbed important new influences from architectural history, such as Aristide Maillol from Classicism or, later, the Constructivists from Gothic. Installation art in the 1970s even transformed sculpture into walk-in architecture, giving the viewer an entirely new perception of their own body. Conversely, in the 1920s architects began to base their building designs on sculptural forms. Current architecture has developed such markedly sculptural qualities that it sometimes appears to continue the history of sculpture.

ArchiSculpture, curated by Markus Brüderlin, the new director of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, explores this process of mutual inspiration in striking spatial displays. Original pieces of art by outstanding sculptors are juxtaposed with models of world architecture. The exhibition includes examples of both disciplines from the past 200 years and brings together the work of around 120 artists. The exhibition has been generously supported by Volkswagen Bank.

On the occasion of the exhibition ArchiSculpture: Dialogues between Architecture and Sculpture from the 18th Century to the Present Day the sculpture Jinhua Structure II - Vertical by the famous Suisse architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron was erected near the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg on 23 May 2006. The sculpture with a height of nine meters and a weight of 12 tons is an example of a work crossing the border between architecture and sculpture. It embodies the change of an architectural design process by digital tools and was especially designed for this exhibition project.

From Arthur Lubow in The New York Times Magazine May 21, 2006:

The one Herzog & de Meuron project that has been completed in China is the small concrete pavilion in Jinhua's architecture park. It was designed with the aid of a computer, which generated a gnarled solid out of patterns similar to the openings in brick walls that had been created for Jinhua's new district. The architects liked the pavilion so much that they developed a vertical wooden version for a museum exhibition in Basel: manufactured with a robot saw under the control of a computer program, "Jinhua Structure II — Vertical" was the first Herzog & de Meuron project to be digitally made from conception to execution. For the park in Jinhua, the building technique was worlds apart. To permit the local workers to fabricate the forms for casting the concrete, the Basel office prepared section drawings, sliced every 10 centimeters on the vertical and horizontal axes, and faxed them to Jinhua. The dusky rose concrete of the finished structure has rough edges, and some of the openings are not where the drawings specified. It doesn't matter. The pavilion has a powerful and original presence. And, unlike its Basel cousin, which is sternly marked "Keep Off!" in two languages, "Jinhua Structure I" can be clambered over freely.

Coded Ornament

Coded Ornament is an exploration of contemporary and traditional plasterwork. It is the result of a collaboration between Hayles and Howe, a long established ornamental plasterwork company, and artist and researcher Justin Marshall. Justin Marshall’s research combines digital technologies with craft techniques in the creation of contemporary coded plaster ornament. Through an exploration of the potential role of digital technologies in developing new ornamental plaster designs their collaboration is concerned with the future of architectural plaster ornament and craft based skills in 21st century culture.

‘Coded Ornament’ is much more than a static exhibition, and each day of Architecture Week there will be opportunities to take part in practical workshops, see demonstrations by skilled modelers and plasterers and computer controlled equipment, and attend talks around the process, procedures and inspirations which underly the design and production of ornamental plasterwork.

‘One of the key aims of my research is to work in real world situations, integrating traditional skills with digital technologies in order to extend the practical and creative possibilities for making new products. 'Coded Ornament' has been a great opportunity for me to achieve these aims and work alongside a highly skilled workforce.' Justin Marshall, artist and researcher

‘At Hayles & Howe we like to push the boundaries of traditional craft skills and bring in modern techniques and improvements. We aim to further this crossover with this interesting project. The company is delighted to be working in conjunction with Justin and University College Falmouth and hope it is the start of a long association with educational R&D projects.’ David Harrison, Director of Hayles & Howe

For further details of the event and the participants visit:
www.haylesandhowe.com
www.autonomatic.org.uk
www.justinmarshall.co.uk