December 2005
The Value of Timelessness in Design
Originally published at The Creative Forum. While you're there, my latest article is up today.
Frank Gehry's Stata Center at MIT is a riotous jumble of cones, curves, bricks, metal panels, and glass. It's a building that could only have come to life in today's world of modern materials and computer-aided design. The afterword of the official MIT book about the building says that it:
"[...] does not aspire to the classical virtues of unity and timelessness. [...] it works, instead, like a giant transponder. You can ping your preoccupations, thoughts, and desires at it on different cultural wavelengths and get surprising and challenging messages back."
I see this as an analogy for the precarious, ungrounded state of the entire design profession at the start of the century. Ephemeral design, which marked the changing decades and seasons, was secondary to a solid core of more timeless design and a craft tradition. Now, it has upended the entire continuum; it has subsumed it completely. Who cares if a design, a product, or a building lasts longer than a couple of decades -- we're in the business of surprising and challenging, not just "making good things," now. And that's potentially a big problem.
Continue reading “The Value of Timelessness in Design”
Best of the West
A selection of the best posts from my old blog, West of the Expressway, have now been imported here. This represents two hosting moves in about three years of posting, from Blogger to TypePad to Movable Type. I've kept some posts where we had some lively debate going, for posterity, and got rid of a lot of pointless, dated drivel, shrill screeds, and otherwise lame filler. I'm a ruthless editor these days. And I like it.
As usual, image links may be broken and formatting may be weird - if you encounter that, drop me a line with the URL and I'll attend to it.
December 1, 2005 in Blogging | ✍ 1
