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why we design?

MADianito

as simple as this: WHY WE DESIGN? i would love to hear ur answers to this question... bests

 
Nov 24, 05 6:19 am
reverseplan
the cellardoor whore

so, u did postgraduate school in one of the best continental european schools...and u're off to mit for your planning degree but u're asking 'why we design' like somene who cared?

but then again, ur eyes always sparkled childish nothingness

Nov 24, 05 2:05 pm  · 
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reverseplan

DUDE!!LEBBEUS WOODS!!...I AM IMPRESSED!!

Nov 24, 05 2:44 pm  · 
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reverseplan

YOU ARE A DUDE...RIGHT??

Nov 24, 05 2:45 pm  · 
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stone
i design therefore i am

.... rené design

Nov 24, 05 3:50 pm  · 
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liberty bell

newstreamlinedmodel posted this in the old thread "why did you become an architect?":

Didn't like world. Figured I'd try to rig up a new one out of some of this stuff we've got laying around.

Can't sleep anyway.


newstreamlined, I thought this was an absolutely brilliant answer and it fits here - we figure we can improve on what we already see around us.

Nov 24, 05 8:13 pm  · 
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mauOne™

why not

Nov 24, 05 8:24 pm  · 
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MADianito

hey cellardoor whore, i think i know why i design, is just i wanted to pop the question out, i think there's lot of ppl out there who call themselves "designers" (in any branch of design from audio to architecture) and they had never thought why they actually "design" what's their fuel to do so....

and besides this was just a question that kept in my mind (to define my position) after a lecture by Horoshi Ishii of the MIT media lab (tangible media lab), u know one of those simple questions that are actually very simpl but makes a huge diference for our own nature as designers (i think it can help to define each other goals)....

anyways i think i never liked the world too (as quoted from newstreamlined before) i guess thats why i had always being against too many things of this world.....

mmhhh (sorry im thinking out loud here) its like also this question once i read (i think it was in I.D. magazine editorial years ago) why the umbrella is one of the oldest articles designed that doesnt work, and still so popular to use even when u get all wet anyways, and why haven't anyone had came up with a better design to fullfill the goals of the original umbrella..... anyways...

and im thinking about this looking at the sea horizon of Barcelona with my eyes that always sparkled childish nothingness

Nov 25, 05 3:33 am  · 
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MADianito

some guys here are so bloody poetic...i guess thats why they design

Nov 25, 05 3:34 am  · 
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MADianito

Reverseplan check this one out for more info about my days under Lebbeus guidance (even thought the publishers thought Arias was my second name and not my last name already, so instead of Mariano Arias-Diez, im Mariano Diez in that book), and i think Lebbeus (regarding other discussion here at archinect) is one of the coolest (theoretical)STARchitects out there... im out to work now, keep posting dudes im still interested in the original question...

Nov 25, 05 3:39 am  · 
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"Design" has been co-opted by capitalism so that people will spend their money buying the same things many times over, or, even better, spend lots of their money on an otherwise inexpensive thing because it's designed.

Umbrellas offer more that one type of use, "and that's a good thing."





Nov 25, 05 9:58 am  · 
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Queen of England

Was I not born in this realm? Were my parents born in any foreign country? Is there any cause I should alienate myself from being careful over this country? Is not my kingdom here? I design because I am Queen!

Nov 25, 05 6:43 pm  · 
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vado retro

time for the queen to go on holiday

Nov 25, 05 7:01 pm  · 
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Queen of England

Vado, I will make you shorter by the head.

Nov 25, 05 7:05 pm  · 
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vado retro

"balls" said the queen. "if i had them i'd be king"

Nov 25, 05 7:13 pm  · 
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Queen of England

I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.

Nov 25, 05 7:17 pm  · 
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vado retro

I think you've been watchin too much pbs. you maybe ought to try the oxygen network.

Nov 25, 05 7:35 pm  · 
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driftwood

Is "For the chicks," an answer?

Nov 25, 05 9:42 pm  · 
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libyan architect

I'm cryin evry night and askin myself the same question

Nov 26, 05 6:46 am  · 
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mgns

i think "for the chicks" is the only answer, seriously. man went to the moon for chicks. its why we do anything.

Nov 26, 05 9:01 am  · 
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AP

man didn't go to the moon, at least not the first time "the man" told us we did...


we design for the kids. ____ love the kids.

Nov 26, 05 10:44 am  · 
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bothands

BECAUSE WE CAN (hopefully)

Nov 26, 05 1:03 pm  · 
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mostly cuz problem solving is fun. lucklily design doesn't stop with the designing and we get to figger out how to make the things real. and the problems that come from that decision are a real hoot.

but if i were to be a bit philosophical about it i guess cuz in the end architecture (and design in general) is one of those professions that is inseparably connected to life; to daily life, high life, and all the mundane things people cars plants and animals do. we can touch all that, add to it, be ignored by it, fuck it up, whatever but what we do is always part of the deal. it can't be separated. how much cooler could a job be?

Nov 26, 05 1:15 pm  · 
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StudioGhost

$$$

Nov 26, 05 9:55 pm  · 
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StudioGhost

oh and because it's our passion! yeah.........

Nov 26, 05 10:04 pm  · 
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inkwray

show me the money.

Nov 27, 05 7:31 am  · 
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mgns

if money is what youre after, i dont think architecture is the right profession

Nov 27, 05 1:47 pm  · 
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digger

mgns ... some architects make very, VERY good livings because they price their services appropriately and won't accept a job unless the fee is commensurate with the work required and the risk ...

i don't think doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. are paid well because the economics of their professions are necessarily better at a fundmental level ... i think it's because they expect to be paid well and don't do the work without the proper economic arrangements ...

but, of course, they also don't spend 30% of their fee exploring every possible solution to their client's problem as a matter of personal expression ... they get it right the first time, more or less ...

nor do they spend another 30% of their fee refining the preferred (maybe !) solution to the nth degree so their collegeagues in their profession will put them up on a pedestal ... they provide a high quality solution, commensurate with the client's expectations and fee ... then stop

ok ... let the 'piling on' begin ...

Nov 27, 05 3:49 pm  · 
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mgns

yeah i see your point, and i agree, some architects do make good money.

i think it would be interesting to see some statistics on the average income of architects vs the average doctor, for example, also taking into consideration the amount of working hours put down.

i do think architects make less money than most professions. i mean, did anyone really chose this to make money? if so, i think they're a minority. there must be a lot easier ways of making good money if thats all youre after.

Nov 27, 05 6:10 pm  · 
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Hasselhoff

Marduk cares not for the barren wasteland of your desiccated viscera.

Nov 27, 05 6:36 pm  · 
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bigness

because i'm woth it

Nov 27, 05 6:50 pm  · 
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digger

mgsm: i suppose you are right that not a lot of us enter this professional because we hope to become rich ... but, a) there still is a lot of grumbling about wages nevertheless, and, b) i do believe that a lot of people have entered (and passed through) architecture school in the last 10-15 years with misperceptions about actual earning levels that the majority achieve ... i see too many recent graduates SHOCKED by pay levels once they actually enter the profession ... that does not look to me like too many are making well informed decisions

if you're willing to work a little (and don't mind a little depression) you can find some decent wage comparisons among the professions here at the DOL website:

Accountants
Architects
Civil Engineers
Mechanical Engineers
Management Analysts (consultants)
Electrical Engineers
Chemical Engineers
Lawyers
Dentists
Family Physicians
Psychiatrists
Surgeons

but, of course, these are just averages ... i know some architects who do very well indeed.

Nov 27, 05 8:27 pm  · 
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mgns

yeah, but an average is what's fair isn't it? in some respects at least. and yeah, i can imagine architects are usually what would be labeled as "well off" like many other professions. but its not the profession with most millionaires is it? that would be shipping or something like that, or construction investors. our clients are the ones who make the money.

cool of you to dig up the stats.

Nov 28, 05 9:24 am  · 
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newstreamlinedmodel

thanks liberty bell. I'm flattered

Nov 28, 05 11:25 pm  · 
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