Accidental Vagrant

Architecture can be practiced as a form of applied science or applied art without penalty in the real world. But architecture can be practiced as a form of design as well. In this talk design will be presented as the favored form of praxis. The question asked is: what does the practice of architecture—as design—look like and how does it differ from art and science? It is believed that we understand a great deal about what technology is and what art is and how it applies to architecture. However, we do not understand what design is to the same degree.

Design as a third culture—a tertium quid (a third way)—is the fundamental postulate for this talk. From this stance a number of axioms are drawn that define design in a broad and deep way. An example of how this approach plays out in describing and explaining what design does—in this instance making the invisible visible—is used to explore the nature of design from a systemic perspective—i.e. deep design. The question is asked: assuming architecture is design what is being made visible that is invisible?

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

healthcare design Australia

Healthcare is in crisis in many parts of the world. Design as a strategy for creative, innovative and intentional change is gaining attention from leadership in healthcare. An example is an event in Australia that approaches healthcare design as an opportunity for healthcare and related professionals to take on the role of designer in order to transform their organizations into design competent organizations able to design healthcare systems.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

systemic design call for abstracts

Relating Systems Thinking & Design 2013

Emerging Contexts for Systemic Design

AHO – Oslo School of Architecture & Design Oslo, Norway 9th-11th October 2013

Relating Systems Thinking and Design is a free and open symposium over two days with a preceeding full day with diverse workshops and a subsequent special issue in FORMakademisk. We encourage you to submit your abstracts and to concider joining the workshops. We are interrested in both work in progress and more developed contributions.

9th October: Workshops

1oth – 11th October: Symposium

Call for abstracts

The emerging renaissance of systems thinking in design responds to the increasing complexity in all challenges faced by designers and transdisciplinary innovators. Our worlds have become too complex for linear and goal-driven management, resulting in hopelessly complicated social, economic, and political systems. The global demand for sustainability, democratic economies, and the emerging social arrangements for better education, employment, and development have become too complex for conventional thinking.

The interrelationship between systems thinking and design action was the theme of last years RSD seminar at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. In re-examining the relationship of systems thinking to design we believe it possible for systems thinking and design praxis to develop the foundations for new, interrelated practices. This synergistic relationship will launch a new generation of systems-oriented thinkers empowered with the creativity and perspectives of design thinking. As educators and researchers, we also seek better theoretical foundations and rigor in design thinking.

We areare interested in proposals that draw from recent case studies from fieldwork, design inquiry and research, and mixed methods in systems-oriented design.

Sociotechnical, service, and activity systems are characterized by highly complex and emergent human-system relationships, and benefit from nonlinear and creative design practices and engaged research perspectives. Design practices found effective in fields such as healthcare, governance, environmental stewardship, organizational management and social change, are of particular interest for cases and discussion in the conference.

Systemic Design has been suggested as a term for this emerging movement in design with its multiple expressions including e.g. Systems Oriented Design, Whole Systems Design, and is closely related to Dialogic Design. What binds systems related theories and practices together with design approaches may be the desire to reintroduce systems approaches with design toward a more effective integrated praxis, becoming more useful to designers (and stakeholders and clients) than evidenced by past performance. This implies the reshaping and design of systems approaches and the related practices so that they are better integrated into design processes.

We invite you to submit an abstract of maximum 1000 words within the following themes:

¥ New systemic practices in design
¥ Rethinking systems approaches from a design perspective
¥ Relating Design Praxis and Systems Thinking
¥ The role of systemic design when developing design practices in new areas
¥ Teaching (systemic design or), systems thinking in design. (or design in systems approaches)
¥ Relating systems and design theories, conceptually and pragmatically

Deadline for abstracts is 1st May

Accepted abstracts will be asked to submit a presentation.

The best presentations will after the symposium be invited by the program committee to submit a full paper to be published in a planned special issue in the Norwegian bilingual scientific design research journal FORMakademisk. These papers will go through a blind peer review evaluation process as normal for this journal. See the journal website for details.

Email questions to:

birger.sevaldson@aho.no

Sunday, February 24, 2013

design and sustainability

Sustainability is an essential attribute of desirable change in people’s lives. Change and sustainability are intractably intertwined. People do not want to live ‘naturally’. The want to live healthier, safer and more full lives than would be given to them ‘naturally’. Humans inevitably bring change to the world but such change can be either sustainable or unsustainable depending on how it is designed. Stopping humans from being human and desiring a better life is not a sustainable strategy. Thoughtless or self-centered change is equally not sustainable. On the other hand, change brought about by careful and responsible designing is sustainable. Good design depends on the exercise of several necessary competencies—of which one is ‘sustainability’. Sustainability cannot be exercised without being systemically integrated with all of the other design competencies at the same time—which is the only way design can be sustainable and sustainability can be sustained.