But the insights of the maturing sciences of nature and human nature—of evolution and ecology and how human biology interacts with an environment—are only beginning to be applied systematically in design education and day-to-day practice...In the design professions we are, in a sense, like doctors trained more deeply in anatomy than in a patient’s total experience — Metropolis Magazine
Over the last (approx) 6 weeks Robert Lamb Hart (a practicing architect and planner and founder and a principal in Hart Howerton) has been blogging/developing an idea he labels "A New Humanism" and laying out it's implications in relation to architecture and our built environment. Specifically, he believes that the design professions have been falling behind in their understanding of one of the defining enterprises of the Modern revolution, the application of the maturing, fast-moving sciences of ecology and human behavior — and the compromised results are showing.
7 Comments
Not sure what utopias have to do with it, but for anyone who's been following this excellent exploration, most starchitects haven't been "falling behind in their understanding" of human nature, they've long ago abandonned it. The only aspect they seem to engage with is our fascination with anything shinny and new.
"Indicating his ambitions for the next showcase in 2014, Koolhaas said he planned to ‘give a new look’ to architecture’s basic elements ‘to see if we can discover something new about architecture.’'
The title of the post came from a quote from Mr Hart's second post "We talk about utopias that we don’t deliver and then settle for the least objectionable"...
I think to understand where architecture one must him or herself where Am I going. To really understand where architecture is heading, we have to look at our environment. I think architecture is becoming more concious about the human interaction instead of being about a box with philosiphical meaning. Its about you and I experience a space throught our own perceptions. I think today architecture should contextulize through our today's social problem and technological advancements. Sometime too much freedom in architecture is the worst thing that can happen. With restrictions and discipline architecture will move forward.
UTOPIA?
Glen Small, co-founder of SCI-Arc and arguably the father of green architecture has a discussion on his utopian Biomorphic Biosphere megastructure from the 70s
www.smallatlarge.com/
Nam, I see what you where referencing, thanks. It's a bit misleading taken out of context, becasue Mr. Hart's blogs have nothing to do with utopias rather he is criticizing the utopian "marketing" of ideas and their subsequent disparity to the finished product.
"Over-and-over again the results on the ground, the places that are actually built and lived in – the clear, tangible expression of our society – after a first flash of marketing and excitement, prove disappointing."
It's refreshing to hear someone talking about the day-to-day users of buildings and the importance of thier interactoins to how we should design, expecially on this site which I'm afraid to say seems a little too enamored with the next shinny new object being sold.
Thayer-D agreed but i think if you look at the title of the post and then the quote i used it flows quite nicely and gets to his larger point.
I do think personally, that the new wave of science re: experience and relations between mind and body will be big a la the The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture for instance could open up a new era of architecture in terms of post-occupancy studies, efficacy modeling etc..
Nam, I see your point. As your editor, I night have made closed the gap between the title of your post and the quote to indicate they where intended to flow together, but thank you for sheding light on these ideas. I agree that these findings on the science of human perception will be important in the future. I can only hope that they remain politically agnostic as long as possible, but undoubtedly a partisan of one strip or another will use them in defense of thier ideology. For what it's worth, I've copied the quote in full below...
"We talk about utopias that we don’t deliver and then settle for the least objectionable."
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