The fundamental task of a designer is to design a form. Before any problem is solved there must be a form. Yet, designers are seen as problem solvers. A client may say, I want to add bedrooms, or increase the size of the living room, to my house. Or a client may say, I […]
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21Sep
2023
AUTHENTIC ANONYMITY
2023
Rowe makes the point that Mies was concerned with anonymity. In Mies’ view, the idea was superordinant. The fact and the form were secondary. And this anonymity was deeply rooted in classicism. Beaux Arts architects were anonymous. That is, with the adherence to the rules of the culture, the product was one of strict conformity, […]
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11Jul
2023
SCORES AND SKETCHES
2023
Architecture is what happens between your ears. The act of form generation has the greatest purity in your mind. Purity is reduced the more that the process moves toward a form that exists. Architects use plans, elevations and sections to communicate the pure form in their minds. These documents are comprised of arrangements of […]
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28Apr
2023
EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS
2023
“Design is everybody’s business because we live in it, we eat in it, we pray and play in it. And still the appreciation of design, good or bad, is considered as the privilege of the few.” Grillo. This is the statement which Grillo starts their book, Form, Function and Design. When Grillo uses the term […]
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8Apr
2023
THE CULTURAL DIALOGUE OF FORMS
2023
The forms that you design becomes markers of social order. Our forms, our stuff, our crap, becomes talismans of cultural value. Forms are a cultural road map: they are in direct conversation with the social order. The forms that you design will enter into this economic dialogue. Much our our evaluation of our fellow human […]
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19Nov
2022
GUEST CORRESPONDENT: MICHAEL BERRY
2022
Hi Kurt, In the last few days I have revisited your “entanglement” post and read and researched scientific papers published on the ‘entanglement’ theory… a load of assumptions are revealed, built upon former assumptions, both physically and psychologically – a perfect example of the ‘observer is the observed’ psychologically. The ground truth which humans seem […]
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4Nov
2022
ENTANGLEMENT
2022
There is a new concept in science, and it is called entanglement. Objects, or forms, can only exist within a continuum of other forms. This means that there cannot exist simply one form, such as a pencil. Instead, your pencil is part of a universal visual and geometric biology. Knowledge of one form is […]
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27Sep
2022
OSKAR SCHLEMMER
2022
Oskar Schlemmer was a German artist and choreographer, working right before WW II. He taught at the Bauhaus, and is known for his acclaimed work, The Triadic Ballet. (The music was by Hindemith!). I believe that Oskar Schlemmer was a transparent thinker and drawer. A central focus of his work was the relationship between a […]
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16Jun
2022
LE MODULOR POSSIBILITIES
2022
Le Corbusier’s Le Modulor, is iconic. It is referenced in the history books as a milestone. We toss off references to it as if everyone knows how it works. But do you really know what it is? At the foundation, Le Modulor is a system of possibilites. It is a method, an invention, to use […]
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29Mar
2022
WRONG UNITY
2022
Unification of the painting has been an important goal for great talents in the West. We laude paintings that seek spatial unification, unification of paint with subject, unification of paint with paint, a oneness of paint and canvas, etc. According to Wölfflin, there was a revolutionary perceptual shift towards unity when the Baroque started. And […]
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