Jennifer R. Lea Thesis Prep – Final Presentation December 2010
Change by Design Is Possible at Any Scale
Design today is characterized by a blurring of traditional design domains and design activities (Sanders 2006)
It is no longer about whether you are an Interior designer, a Graphic designer, or an Urban designer – elements of all disciplines can inform and support other disciplines
this is the way of the future
Emerging Theories
Contemporary Technological Issues & Events Advances
Historical Precedence Design Meaning
Lineage
Definition of Design Types of Design Disciplinary Approaches
WHAT IS DESIGN?
What is Design?
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” -Steve Jobs Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones…Design, so construed, is the core of all professional training, it is the principal mark that distinguishes the professions from the scientists.” ~Herbert Simon (computer scientist)
Meanings of Design
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” -Steve Jobs
Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones…Design, so construed, is the core of all professional training, it is the principal mark that distinguishes the professions from the scientists.” ~Herbert Simon (computer scientist)
There are many meanings of design- and everyone seems to have their own version
‘Spectrum’ of Design
Landscape
Communication
Urban
Transdisciplinary
Industrial/ Product
Architecture
Interiors
many of these fields overlap or provide context or support for one another
Transdisciplinary Design?
it “transgress(es) disciplinary boundaries, with new knowledge not contained within any one of those disciplines” ~ Joel Towers (Parson’s dean) Designers are increasingly designing businesses, services, experiences, policies, and even emergent social forms; and along the way they are inventing new methods, new tools, and new ways of conceiving design. ~ Scanning the Transdisciplinary
http://archrecord.construction.com/archrecord2/work/2010/November/Transdisciplinary_design.asp
Disciplinary Approaches
Interdisciplinary
Inter
Multi Trans Multidisciplinary
Transdisciplinary
‘Renaissance Man’ Modern Day Examples
PRECEDENCE
‘the Renaissance man’
a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas ~A similar term is ‘polymath’ (Greek)
Some examples from history:
Leon Battista Alberti Leonardo da Vinci Michelangelo
transdisciplinary firms
Bruce Mao Design (BMD)
is a diversely creative team of experts in graphic design, architecture, engineering, art, publishing, filmmaking, marketing and communications.
IDEO
is an award-winning global design firm that takes a human-centered approach to helping organizations in the public and private sectors innovate and grow. We identify new ways to serve and support people by uncovering latent needs, behaviors, and desires.
Swarm Intelligence Design Thinking Recent “Buzz”
EMERGING THEORIES
Collective Intelligence
Swarm intelligence (SI) is the collective behaviour of decentralized, self-organized systems, natural or artificial.
Where this intelligence comes from raises a fundamental question in nature: How do the simple actions of individuals add up to the complex behavior of a group?
*ways of triggering small-scale social change*
design thinking
“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO
‘Design Thinking’ http://designthinking.ideo.com/
recent ‘buzz’
“Only Metropolis looks at design from a broad based perspective bringing you the full breadth and scope of increasingly interrelated fields: architecture, interiors, sustainability, urban planning, new media, graphics, product design, industrial design, all design.”
11/1/2010
Glass House Conversations
“proliferation of visual productions and screen communication” is causing “borders to disappear between disciplines and even the professional world itself.”
Digital Technology Social Media Communication
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
digital technology
~ from “Computer technologies and transdisciplinary discourse: critical drivers for hybrid design practice?� CoDesign, Volume 2, Issue 2 June 2006 , pages 109 - 122
new media
complexity and interconnectedness of people, infrastructures, networks, and economies challenges traditional disciplinary responses ~intersections of design culture and social media~
Industrial
Informational
Changes in the “Ages of Society�
Social
communication
new forms of design communication and its implications
Economy Activism Complexity Education
CONTEMPORARY EVENTS & ISSUES
Economy
“Design Leverage”
“As the global marketplace grows, and as consumers become more product-savvy, corporations will rely on multidisciplinary designers to come up with creative ways for their brand to stand out and retain loyalty. And interior designers who remain single focused could be faced with a challenge.”
diversification of design expertise can provide a “database” of skills to pull from when needed – especially in tough economic times
Activism
“to make design more relevant is to reconsider what the design issues are� → Catastrophic events have contributed to more design activism work in recent times including Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti.
Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design. ~Charles Eames Architect, Graphic and Industrial Designer,
Complexity
There are increasing levels of complexity found within emerging technical, social, cultural, environmental and political design contexts
> Utilizing holistic ‘systems based’ thinking to manage complexity
Education
Program introduced in 2010
According to a press release, it will focus on “studio-based projects that bring together experts from a variety of backgrounds and points of view to tackle real-world challenges.” Students will enroll is one of four “flexible pathways that address social, sustainability, systems and urban issues.”
Design should do the same thing in everyday life that art does when encountered: amaze us, scare us or delight us, but certainly open us to new worlds within our daily existence. – Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum
Strategy & site
Switch:
dynamic design
Strategy
Database
Design
the components
Switch in thinking Switch of focus Switch of space
SWITCH symbolizes not only a ‘switch’ in thinking but a way to control the level and type of strategy utilized to design a space
Switch:
the potential
• Potential Types of Space or Places – Un-programmed – Transitional – Void/Vacant – Un-cultivated • No distinction between exterior and interior public and private • Time Based Intervention and/or Generative • Many Activity Options – Recreational, Artistic, Informative, Educational, Promotional
Switch:
the Checklist
provide open space/connection with nature (parks) invest in local economic growth (jobs) increase physical activity (combat obesity problem) increase community connectedness/social space provide event/activity space (festivals, concerts, markets) education/information sites (galleries, libraries, classrooms) to raise awareness (of an issue, etc) needs for housing (temporary) solve recognized problems (i.e. parking)
Switch:
The Database (for ongoing initiatives)
Location Spaces Public Input Designer Access Sponsors
Commercial Cultural Residential Infrastructure Landscape Plaza Industrial Waterways
find existing “lost spaces” to transform
utilize a “transdisciplinary” approach to design
Site Selection Strategy “lost” space seems to offer more possibilities for design and impact
What is “Lost Space”?
“
… undesirable urban areas that are in need of redesign – anti-spaces, making no positive contribution to the surroundings or users. They are ill-defined, without measureable boundaries, and fail to connect elements in a coherent way. …they (also) offer tremendous opportunities to the designer for urban redevelopment, creative infill, and for rediscovering the many hidden resources in our cities.” ~ from Finding Lost Space – Theories of Urban Design, 1986, Roger Trancik
Chicago, IL
N
Proposed Site
Proposed Site
Proposed Site
Transit Oriented Development
Sample Module Prototypes
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“It’s not about the world of design, it’s about design of the world...” ~Bruce Mau