Week 1 Readings

After the first weeks readings, a few segments stood out to me and brought to light some of the issues and concerns that must be addressed by designers.

One excerpt I found particularly profound was:

'At the moment one made a commitment to an architectural program, everything was frozen - the architectural solution (the building) and the social desire that had brought it into being, which might be nothing more than a passing fad'

~ Archigram

This highlights Archigram's idea of the need for open ends. Designs some how have to fluidly respond to needs as 'life is negotiated not pre-programmed'.

So how do we over come this? Archigram suggests we consider how communities might function, rather than how they should function. This requires a deeper level of thought and an ability to take standard contextual information and some how predict the future with it.

More to ponder on it seems...

In the Beginning...

This post marks the first of many and the start of DAB810 for Semester 2, 2012. Architectural fiction is the proposition we have been presented with to mark the journey we are to embark on this semester. 

The first lecture left my mind buzzing with ideas, introducing the concept of designing for the future and not for now. Although the prospect is seemingly quite obvious I had never considered approaching design in this way. It was implied, I mean obviously we are designing for the needs of tomorrow but up until now the 'input' feed of information has been from the here and now as well as even further back in contextual relevance. 

Considering this where do we go from here? How is it that we conceive what hasn't come into fruition as of yet? And better yet how do we incorporate this into a successful architectural proposition?

Hopefully all these questions and more will be clarified by the coming readings, lectures and tutorials.