Accidental Vagrant

It is with great sadness that I note the passing of one of the greatest designers to have lived and worked in recent memory. He changed our material world for the better and set standards for quality and innovation that will not soon be matched if ever. He is greatly missed. My condolences to his family and friends. RIP Steve.

In the natural world, there are two ways to become an accidental vagrant. The first is to break from a normal migration route and strike off in an entirely new direction. The second is to be blown off course by a storm into strange new territory. In the world of human affairs the same is true. I found myself to be an accidental vagrant after deciding to head in the direction of graduate school—Berkeley in my case—rather than continue on my track as a practicing architect. While at Berkeley I was blown of the course I had set for myself, which was to study with the architect Christopher Alexander, by a squall I encountered in the form of a seminar held every Tuesday on campus and hosted by C. West Churchman, the Director of the Center for Research in Management Science in the Hass School of Business. At this seminar I experienced the academic version of a perfect storm. It was a combination of great ideas and great thinkers coming together because of their common interest in systems an...

(April 16, 2010) Harold G. Nelson, Professor of Design at Carnegie Mellon University, discusses the importance of understanding the nature of designing (agency), designers (lame gods), and designs (prosthetic gods). Stanford University: www.stanford.edu Stanford School of Engineering: soe.stanford.edu Stanford Engineering Everywhere: see.stanford.edu Stanford University Channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com http://www.videosurf.com/video/designing-stuff-lame-gods-in-the-service-of-prosthetic-gods-1215192352