you'd best learn to live while you're alive

Reading 19---
"Technopoly" by Neil Postman

Key Words:
1. Change-

I thought it was really interesting when Postman talked about how deeply technological advances affect everything around us. He says, "New things require new words. But new things also modify old words, words that have deep-rooted meanings" (8). It is interesting to think how different our vocabulary is even from ten years ago. Technology drives such changes.

2. Technophiles-

Postman describes technophiles as people who "gaze on technology as a lover does on his beloved, seeing it as without blemish and entertaining no apprehension for the future" (5). He really feels like we must be skeptical of technology, as there are negative effects on our society and lives. For each invention, there must be the good and the bad and we must be aware of both.

Discussion Questions:
1. Are you skeptic of technology? Are the gains worth the negative consequences?
2. How can technology help us in architecture and design? How have you used technology already and what would you have done without it?

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15--- Search for Form by Eliel Saarinen

Key Words:
1. Form- How do we find form? What makes good form? Saarinen states that "the fundamentals of form are just the same, all the time, unchangeable and firm" (3). However, form fluctuates because of man as it is part of man.

2. Art- Saarinen explains in the preamble that art is a language that is "the greatest treasure of human culture" (1). Art is honest and sincere. Since man is part of nature, art must be connected to nature- there must be a spiritual connection to nature. Art can be developed through form in three stages- the subconscious stage, the conscious stage, and the self-conscious stage.

Discussion Questions:

1. Saarinen argues that form is not mute for "form conveys its inner meaning with finer vibration and deeper expressiveness than can the spoken tongue" (17). How do we see form speak in architecture? How do we feel/ create meaning in architecture?

2. "Art is synonymous with health and lack of art is synonymous with unhealth" (27). How could this relate to our term project? How is the UN aiming to achieve their goals of creating a healthier world environment through art?

Posted by berry191 at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

---9 The Image
by Kenneth E. Boulding

Key Words:
1. Message
2. Knowledge

Messages are constantly being sent to us. They are everything that we can sense and perceive. They are what changes our image. Some may be nominal and not make a dent in our image of the world, some may have small effects, and some completely change the image we see. Messages can clarify an image or make it more unclear. The image that results can help our knowledge grow.

Discussion Questions:
1. Boulding says, "We do not perceive our sense data raw; they are mediated through a highly learned process of interpretation and acceptance" (14). What influences our senses? How does this differ from person to person? How does it effect our messages and therefore image of the world?

2. I was really interested in her point about everyone assuming that the world they are in is the same others assume they are in. I think we get that everyone has a different view of life and see things in different ways, but it is crazy to think that the room I walk into could look completely different to someone else and we have no way of knowing exactly how other people perceive things. How can we, as designers, use this as a tool?

---10 Mr. Palomar
by Italo Calvino

Key Words:
1. Awareness
2. Perception

Calvino discussed through Mr. Palomar the perception and awareness that becomes complicated as we try to look at it. Mr. Palomar tried to look at a single wave, but could not do it as the one wave was connected to so many other things.

Discussion Questions:
1. I think we've all had our moments where we just stare at something- we isolate one object from the rest of the world. Sometimes this is in examination and contemplation of the object and other times it is just to stare. What is the difference? Where does meaningfully isolating something get you? What is the point of reflection?

2. Calvino says, "the sword exists only because he is there." What does it mean for something to exist?

Posted by berry191 at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

---Reading 7
The Profession and Discipline of Architecture: Practice and Education
by Stanford Anderson

Key words:
1. Profession
2. Discipline

Anderson discusses the difference between the profession and the discipline of architecture. The difference is that the profession “brings something into being” whereas the discipline is “a collective body of knowledge that is unique to architecture.”

He explains that the two intersect and are partially coincident.

Discussion Questions:
1. Anderson says, “schools of architecture have a responsibility to sustain and advance this distinction” that the field of architecture is distinct from other activities, meaning that architects must know a broad range of knowledge. How do you feel we as students can obtain that overall body of knowledge? How is the U of M helping us in that way?
2. How have you seen profession and discipline intersect, both in architecture and in other professions?

---Reading 8
All You Ever Needed to Know You Learned in…
1000 words for design students
by Allan Chochinov

Key words:
1. Work
2. Opportunities

Chochinov’s point is really that you have to work extremely hard to make it in the field of design. You pay dearly to go to school, so make the most out of it. I really when he talked about how professors are working for us, so we should take advantage of getting to know them and getting the best education possible out of them. Outside of the classroom, you also have to work really hard at expanding your mind, taking advantage of your surroundings and peers. Make connections and take any job possible. He does not specifically say anything about opportunities, but overall this is his advice- to take all possible opportunities (getting off campus, auditing classes, taking jobs, etc.) and running with them.

Discussion Questions:
1. How much of this do we actually do? Think of a few ways to follow Chochinov’s advice more effectively.
2. Would you really take any job?

Posted by berry191 at 09:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

---->4 Is design political? by Jennie Winhall
Key words
1. User- According to Winhall, design is becoming something that is done
not only for the user, but also by the user. They are such a large part of
the design process that the designer is no longer the dictator.
2. Consequence- design is a political body as it results in a consequence.
Because design is a personal, social process, it effects people and
thereforehas consequence.

Discussion Questions
1. What consequences have we seen in our own designs? Should we take
responsibility for this consequence?
2. Can design ever be neutral? Are things always designed with an agenda or
program?

---->5 Design in a World of Flows by Thomas R. Fisher
Key words
1. Flow- All aspects of life must be joined and thought of holistically.
2. Responsibility- Architects must take responsibility for all aspects of
design to reconnect the flow.

Discussion Questions
1. Where do we see overlap/ flow in our education?
2. In what ways would we redesign the field of architecture to make it more
holistic?

---->6 The Redesign of Practice by Thomas R. Fisher
Key words
1. Apprenticeship- this seems like a good way for a student of architecture
to learn how to invent and create. However, I think theoretical schooling
is also necessary.
2. Redesign- Fisher feels like the system of both learning and practising
architecture must be reconstructed.

Discussion Questions
1. What would we be doing right now in a reconstructed architecture
education? What/ how would you ideally be learning?
2. What are the advantages/ disadvantages to different types of firms?

Posted by berry191 at 05:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)