An Anthology of Essays

Foreword by

Dr. Sara L. Beckman

Haas School of Business,

University of California,

Berkeley

nd Edition

Published by Teknion Contents

Introductions Michael Vanderbyl iv David Feldberg viii Frank Delfino x

Foreword: The Knowledge of Design Sara L. Beckman xiv

Now That We Can Do Anything, Bruce Mau 1.01 What Will We Do?

Can Design Really Change the World? Helen Kerr 2.07

Design Perspectives Giorgetto Giugiaro 3.13

The Essence of Design Will Alsop 4.19

What is Green Design? Ken Yeang 5.23

Design Defined Balkrishna Doshi 6.35

Dazzled by Shadows Enrique Concha 7.39

Design for Diversity John Faulkner Grimshaw 8.43

Design Strategy for the Future Office Francis Duffy 9.47

Design as a Way to Stand Out Tom Peters 10.57

Design, Artistry and Economics Frank O. Gehry 11.61

The Case for Design Penny Benda 12.65

Design and the Bottom Line Peter Lawrence 13.73

Design and Its Impact on Perception Roger Whitehouse 14.79

Design as a Business Tool Alan Webber 15.85

Design for a Better World Kent C. Bloomer and 16.91 Charles W. Moore

The Subject of Design Karim Rashid 17.99

Prostalgia and Cyberspace Design Paul Saffo 18.105

Design and the Urban Environment Eberhard H. Zeidler 19.111

Design and Everyday Life John Dreyfuss 20.119

v

introduction Michael Vanderbyl global, fundamental cultural shifts are creating new connections among disciplines.

Recent political, intellectual and economic history makes it impossible to continue to think in the neat symmetries of the past. Maps have been redrawn and the oft-dis- puted boundary between commerce and design has become blurred. Design thinking has infiltrated business principles and processes and designers now grasp the impor- tance of close links with enterprising businessmen — and they’ve learned to read the balance sheet. Indeed, companies like Target, Apple and Teknion have made design a core strategy. There is evidence of a growing appreciation at the highest levels for what design has to teach about bold creative thinking, about how to reframe problems, how to visualize and use form and how to make products that are not only new, but also relevant to people’s lives. Twenty years ago, the proposal that “design matters” was likely to be met with skepticism by those engaged in more serious endeavors. Design had its uses, of course, but few out- Design isn’t just a visual tour de force, it’s also a tool for innovation — for breaking “the side the profession saw design as something other than an applied or decorative art — a rules that we will try and impose upon him in our capacity as an industrial partner” way to make things look good. Design can make a product more visible by virtue of its (to quote Alberto Alessi, one of Italy’s most successful businessmen). It is a conceptual style, polish the company image to a higher sheen or disguise technology in a friendlier instrument that allows a business to respond more precisely to circumstances, to create form before sending it to market. Projects could be as specific as formatting a brochure better systems and decision-making structures, to illuminate interactions and to understand or as broad as creating a brand identity; in both cases, designers were hired downstream the multi-dimensional context in which consumer choices are made. Ultimately, design to serve a purpose most often defined by managers trained in the MBA doctrine: gather aims to help people “lead better lives,” as Charles Eames said so simply and so well. quantifiable data, fit it into a spreadsheet and submit it to analysis. It is a method useful for validating one’s assumptions, but not a good way to spark new ideas, to innovate. As audacious as those assertions may sound, design is gaining traction as a renewed feeling of optimism accompanies the promise of economic renewal. This is only natural. As an advocate of design, I often propose that design offers a range of applications and Design is intimately tied to the human “project” of creating and making and consuming adds enormous value to business and society; it is not limited to “creative services” and also, inevitably, to the particular demands of the moment. This is in fact one of its brought in at the end of a project. Design is, in itself, a way of thinking, an approach to great strengths. Great design has often been a response to constraints — the Bauhaus solving problems. It is an instrument of innovation equal to technology with the same being just one example. In a new century, as we reshuffle the pieces of the last, we can power to effect economic and cultural change. Today, many people share this point never again be so innocent as to look for patterns and principles that appear always of view, owing in part to the unkept promises of “business as usual” thinking and the and everywhere, universal and eternal — nothing is timeless. Yet I don’t believe that success of seemingly unmarketable products. As once-discrete local markets become we require a master narrative in order to believe that it is good to try to find a better introduction vii

way to do things, to create more beauty, to make “more happiness.” Isn’t that what we’re really saying when we talk about products that people find satisfying to have and use? About buildings that create a sense of place? About work environments that are human-centered?

I am enough of an optimist to think that things are again changing, and for the better, and that design together with business is a potent partnership that can spark innova- tion, energize our economy and yes, enrich our lives. The nineteen essays that comprise Design Does Matter, drawn from the ever-widening avenues of design, support that assertion and offer much more wisdom about design and business than I can offer. I think you will find each of them enlightening, even inspiring.

Michael Vanderbyl, AGI, AIGA, IIDA, is president of Vanderbyl Design.

ix

introduction David Feldberg

Several years ago, Teknion posed the question, “What will the day after tomorrow look like?” We answered that the future is never completely knowable — what we do know is that things will change and that design can act as an agent for change. In that spirit, we have continued to embrace advanced design thinking and four years ago published a collection of essays that explored the power of design — Design Does Matter.

Design Does Matter offers thoughtful perspectives on design from a number of articulate writers — business leaders and designers — each of whom makes the case for good design. Response to the book was enthusiastic — so much so, that we are inspired to print an expanded version, including both new essays and those published in the earlier collection.

At Teknion, we have spent nearly three decades exploring the potential of design in the workplace and today, perhaps we might ask another, related question. “How do we design for the future no matter what that looks like? And, how do we design so that our world is not only one of ongoing change, but also one of renewal?” The essays here hold some potential answers.

David Feldberg is President and Chief Executive Officer of Teknion. xi

introduction Frank Delfino university level and post-graduate training to business and design professionals. Our research efforts focus on critical economic and social themes, including green design. In all of our activities, we emphasize a holistic, interdisciplinary and inclusive approach and encourage cross-collaboration among disciplines: architecture, landscape design, fashion design, urban design, graphic design, interior design, industrial design and inter- active media design.

Over the past decade, Teknion has been a major sponsor of programs at the Design Exchange and its most consistent source of financial support. At Teknion, our interest in design goes beyond office furniture products. Design has become an integral part of our organization. It influences our strategy, our facilities and manufacturing processes and corporate culture. We have learned that design is not about decoration. It is about Why do I think that design matters? In writing this preface, I draw from my experience innovation ­— not just breakthroughs in technology, but also breakthroughs in ideas. as President of Canadian and International Markets at Teknion and as Chairman of the Design Exchange, two distinct entities and two quite different roles, but linked by a Yet, many business leaders still fail to see the potential of design to be strategic and common concern — design. While I do not pretend to wholly understand the discipline, creative, to help them to connect with their customers and to interpret consumer I do have a great appreciation for the value of design and often find myself acting as its aspirations and needs in their brand, as well as specific products and services. Design champion. It is my conviction that design is an effective, even essential, tool for shap- offers an alternative paradigm to the traditional business approach ­­— one that has ing cultural identity, for driving economic growth and ensuring a sustainable future. immense commercial potential.

Much of our work at the Design Exchange has been about clarifying and strengthen- Design has a great deal to offer and, at the same time, designers have an enormous ing the position of design within the broader cultural, economic and political picture. responsibility as the creators of the environments that we inhabit. Design can give the The only center of its kind in North America, the Design Exchange was founded to built and made world beauty and meaning, a sense of order and functionality — as educate Canadians — business and government leaders in particular — about design. such, it has an important social role to fulfill. And that is another good reason why I In addition to raising awareness of its importance as a component of modern life, think design matters. our goal is to promote design innovation in Canada and the world and to increase the number of products and services that are well-designed and globally competitive. This new edition of Design Does Matter is enriched by bringing together essays with a broader scope — geographically, with contributors from around the world and inclu- The Design Exchange sponsors seminars and workshops; exhibits, competitions and sively, by including writers from disciplines as different as architecture and fashion. But outreach programs in the schools. We also deliver design management courses at the in spite of being sometimes worlds apart, these thinkers and practitioners share a belief introduction xiii

that design is an economic driver and a cultural force with the potential to shape a better life for us all. I also share in that belief — as an executive who has business goals, as an advocate of design who hopes to advance the mission of the Design Exchange across Canada and worldwide — and as an individual, who appreciates good design and all that it adds to my everyday life.

Frank Delfino is President of Teknion’s Canadian and International Markets and Chairman of the Design Exchange, Toronto, Canada. xv

foreword: the knowledge of design Sara L. Beckman designers generate a stream of new Starbucks products. There is no doubt — design is core to Starbucks’ expansion strategy and underlies its financial success.

Thorough understanding of the ergonomics of kitchen utensil use lies behind OXO’s takeover of the kitchen utensils market with their Good Grips designs. Born out of the founder’s personal frustration with existing kitchen products, OXO International (now a division of World Kitchen, Inc.) has grown at more than 45 percent a year since it was started in 1990. In a joint development effort with New York-based design firm SmartDesign, OXO closely examined the motions required to perform most tasks in the kitchen and then designed grips suitable to the most basic motions. These grips, applied across a range of kitchen utensils offered a far more pleasant “user interface” than did other competitive products at the time. A fully integrated product, packag- How do we know that design matters? Much of what we rely on to make the assertion ing and communications program allowed OXO products to gain mindshare quickly that design matters is a collection of stories about companies — across various different in a crowded market. Today, dozens of other kitchen product companies have imitated industries — for whom design has made a difference. In some cases, we have evidence the OXO design, although many have clearly done so without comparable background of performance improvements associated with design. In other cases, we can only assert research and understanding. (Just visit your local kitchen products store and feel the that good design underpins the company’s success. Let’s look at a few popular examples differences among the grips on various vegetable peelers!) OXO, meanwhile, has trans- of companies that have used design to their advantage. lated its successful strategy into other product lines, such as gardening and cleaning tools, where ergonomics matter. The now ubiquitous Starbucks grew from a $25 million to a $1.5 billion firm over the decade of the 1990s. It did so by turning the consumption of a rather mundane beverage Iomega’s share price rose 7,500 percent during 1995 after it invested in a major reinven- that has been around for centuries into a trendy and indispensable social ritual. Key to tion of its product line and a corporate repositioning strategy. Working together with this transition was the consistent application of design principles throughout the organi- Fitch, Inc., a U.S. design consultancy, Iomega management developed an entirely new zation. Everything associated with Starbucks — from napkins to coffee bags, store fronts corporate identity, communications strategy and product line — including the then to window seats, annual reports to mail order catalogs, table tops to thermal carafes — new 100MB Zip drive — that proved enormously appealing to consumers in the remov- reflect its “authentic and organic” roots. The consistency of design, which signals the con- able data-storage products market. The newly developed identity and “visual language,” sumer wherever he or she is that Starbucks is nearby, is tempered by the accommodation executed through corporate stationery, packaging and product labeling, moved Iomega of specific neighborhood conditions. Considerable corporate resources are dedicated to from an inwardly focused, technology-driven company to a more outwardly focused, design: in-house designers use a large loft space to experiment with new retail outlet customer-driven enterprise. The new product line saved the company from near-certain designs. Teams of graphic designers regularly refresh the Starbucks look while other extinction. Despite recent operations troubles, partly the result of unprecedented pro- foreword: the knowledge of design xvii

duction volumes, Iomega continues to leverage its strong product and communications 32 percent. Furthermore, companies with the best customer-perceived products were design to maintain its position in a highly dynamic market. able to charge a five percent price premium for their products on average.

Design matters in the workplace as well. The Haas School of Business at the University These studies sought to “prove” that design pays off by directly measuring the impact of California, Berkeley, took full advantage of its opportunity to build a new building. of investments in design on bottom line performance. More recently, design — in The classrooms were designed for interactive discussion among the students as well as particular, firms that offer design services — has been the target of academic research between students and teacher. There are many small meeting spaces for student groups seeking to understand the basic principles underlying creativity and innovation. One to work. Faculty offices are accessible, but slightly remote from the student facilities to such study documents the means by which designers develop deep understanding of create a quiet workspace for thought, reflection and writing. A spacious and inviting their customer’s needs. It specifically describes the five steps in the “empathic design” courtyard provides a natural meeting place for faculty, students and staff around a process: observation, capturing data (e.g. through videotaping customers using exist- shared cafe. The beauty and understated elegance of the new building had an imme- ing solutions), reflection and analysis, brainstorming for solutions and developing diate, positive effect on faculty and staff morale, and increased the sense among the prototypes of possible solutions. It differentiates observation from inquiry as a means students that they were indeed attending a top tier business school. of gathering customer and user needs, arguing that inquiry has limits in getting deep understanding of what customers do to solve a problem. It focuses on the very tangible, Stories are nice, but what do we know more broadly about the importance of design physical engagement of designers with both the customers and the product through in business? Two studies done in the mid-1990s provide direct, quantitative evidence rapid and frequent prototyping. In short, the research highlights the process designers of the value of design. The Design Innovation Group found that “design conscious” use — often in workplace design as well as in product and communications design — to firms in the plastics industry performed significantly better over a seven-year period come up with creative and innovative solutions to customer problems. than their “non-design conscious” counterparts. They had greater revenue growth (43 percent per year, compared to 15 percent per year), greater return on capital (11 per- Another in-depth study of design firms revealed other activities that designers undertake cent compared to eight percent) and higher profit margins (seven percent compared to to innovate. Specifically, it describes how designers capture good ideas by scavenging six percent). Similarly, the Design Innovation Group found that design leaders in the constantly, sometimes in unexpected places, and how they subsequently keep those ideas furniture, heating and electronics businesses had significantly higher return on capital alive by passing them around the organization and playing with them. It then describes (58 percent compared to 27 percent) and profit margins (14 percent relative to one how the ideas are used in the brainstorming sessions that identify new uses for them, per-cent) than did the less design conscious firms. and how potential new products are tested to determine their commercial potential. Although neither of these studies “proves” that design is valuable, by focusing attention An examination of the data in the Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) database on the processes employed by design firms, they suggest that such processes are ones also related design positively with business performance. For the companies repre- that could be profitably modeled in other organizations. A number of design firms are sented in this database, profitability nearly doubled for those companies with the best finding that academics are not the only ones interested in learning more about how such customer-perceived designs, and market share increased from an average 18 percent to firms consistently and predictably innovate: many product companies are interested as foreword: the knowledge of design xix

well. Design consultants are regularly called upon to teach large established companies design roles can be integrated to achieve a consistent, communicative corporate image. how to become more creative and innovative. It seems clear that those companies that excel today are those that explicitly recog- nize, manage and integrate the customer’s total experience — from the design of the So, in a wide range of industries — entertainment (the industry Starbucks designers core product or service itself through the broader communications associated with the tell you they are in), consumer products (like OXO’s), industrial products (plastics) brand. Whether consciously or subconsciously, customers take in all sensory images and knowledge work — there is evidence that investment in design pays off. And, there that are presented to them before, during and after the purchase process. The better is a growing body of evidence that design firms know something about creativity and the integration of these various images, the more harmonious the message received by innovation that other firms don’t. Why, then, don’t all organizations invest in design? the customer. To achieve integration, the various designers — some associated with the It could be that there is a lack of sufficient evidence of the value of design. There is no product, others with advertising and yet others with physical settings and surroundings doubt that additional, well-grounded academic research on the role of design in corpo- — must be brought together within the firm. There are textbooks that describe inte- rate success would be extremely useful. There are now many stories of the use of design grated product development models and integrated marketing plans. But there is a lack in business, but few include hard data on the financial performance improvements that of business-oriented books that describe an integrated design plan for an organization. are associated with design. Or, it could be that the stories that are told do not make clear enough what it means to execute a good design. Who’s involved? What do they Third, armed with the understanding and documentation of what design is and does, do? What does a company have to do to engage in “good” design? we must improve the curricula at business, engineering and design schools to make each more aware of the other. In the past ten years, there have been small improvements in There are a number of steps that must be taken, then, to improve the awareness of the business school curricular at leading business schools in the United States. Encouraged role of design in business. First, there has to be increased understanding of the various in part by the Corporate Design Foundation, many have launched classes on product types of design work that can be done, and of the skills designers bring to the execu- development that integrate both engineering and design students. Some of these courses tion of various activities in the firm. Industrial designers, for example, focus primarily allow students to participate on cross-disciplinary teams (containing business, engineer- on three-dimensional, physical products, particularly the aspects of the products most ing and design students) that take an idea through to first-pass prototype during the visible to the consumers. They design a product’s human interface as well as create the course of a 15-week semester. Students in these classes experience many of the same meaning of the product through its shape, materials and overall appearance. Graphic frustrations members of product development teams in the “real” world have around designers are more concerned with the two-dimensional expressions of a company, working with others from different functions. Business students express frustration with such as logos, stationery and other collateral. Digital media designers integrate various the detail-oriented engineers and amazement at the ability of the designers to draw and design talents to express a company or product brand in the virtual world. Architects produce physical models. Engineering students are irritated by the “bottom line” orien- and space designers focus their attention on the physical structures — sales offices, tation of the business students, and the “artistic capriciousness” of the design students. retail outlets, offices buildings — that house the company’s resources. Design students are overwhelmed by the many dimensions of the product — techni- cal, financial — they haven’t yet been asked to consider in their design classes. In the Second, there must be better understanding of the way in which all of these various end, most students express sincere appreciation for the skill sets offered by the other foreword: the knowledge of design xxi

students on their teams and seem willing to give up some of their pre-existing stereo- design issues do not. And, design schools must pay more attention to business issues in types. Hopefully, they carry this increased understanding with them to “real” world their curricula. Understanding the basic business planning that goes into new product product teams. development, how budgeting is done for a new advertising campaign, how marketing strat- egies are constructed and other basic business activities will allow designers to more readily Product development classes that integrate design have been most widely adopted, integrate themselves into the business environments in which most will work. but there are other efforts needed to better integrate design into the business school curriculum. At the Haas School of Business, there is a course on “design as a strategic There is significant confirmation that design investments pay off. There are scads of business issue” that addresses multiple aspects of design — product design, package success stories and some survey evidence of the value of design. So why doesn’t every- design, and corporate identity design. The objective of the course is to educate future body use it? There are many excuses — lack of understanding of the benefits, lack of business managers on the importance of design, its role in business, and how it can be knowledge about what design means and in some cases lack of awareness of the entire and has been utilized as an effective strategic tool. The course does not aim to develop design field. What do we do about it? technical design skills in MBA students, but rather to facilitate an understanding of the design process and to develop managers’ ability to communicate effectively with the • We need to engage design and business school faculty in doing research to designers and technicians who do the work of translating abstract design parameters document the role of design in business and to assess its contribution to into concrete realizations. The course is quite popular, and should be used as a model bottom line performance. Nascent interest by faculty at leading universities — for the development of similar classes at other business schools. Harvard Business School, Stanford University, University of California at Los Angeles — will foster additional interest on the part of other faculty Other design-related courses that focus more on the role of workplace design are also across the country. being developed. At Babson College a new course addresses questions such as: How does workplace design accommodate the new business realities of constant change, working • Inclusion of design as a topic of interest at academic conferences such as those in teams and new and evolving technologies? How does workplace design enable run by the Marketing Science Institute (MSI), the Academy of Management creativity and innovation? In what ways is workplace design critical to business success? and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences As companies change their organizational structure and work processes in order to (INFORMS) will increase visibility. Making grant money available from, respond to change and make the organization more effective, they must design the place for example, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will generate additional of work to assist the individual employee in working differently. Again, these successful interest and encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration. pilot courses must be replicated at other colleges and universities.

• We need to publish these findings not only in the academic literature, but in The need for education goes well beyond the business schools, however. Engineering the business press as well. Both the Corporate Design Foundation in @issue schools also need to do a better job of integrating design into their curricular. Ergonomics and the Design Management Institute with the Design Management Journal issues receive a fair amount of attention in the engineering curricular, but other “softer” have created outlets for information on design to reach the business world. foreword: the knowledge of design xxiii

Both have distribution agreements with the Harvard Business Review that Leonard, Dorothy and Jeffrey F. Rayport, “Spark Innovation through Empathic Design,” provide wide reach for their work. Design is regularly addressed in the Wall Harvard Business Review, November–December 1997. Street Journal, Business Week and other leading business publications. There

is no shortage of outlets for good, well-executed research. We need to get the Sara L. Beckman teaches courses on design, entrepreneurship in biotechnology, manufacturing research done, translate it into business terms and get it published. strategy and new product development at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. She holds a doctorate degree in industrial engineering and engineering management from Stanford University and a master of science degree in statistics from the same institution. • We need to get design — product design, graphic design, workplace design Dr. Beckman has been a visiting faculty member at MIT. Prior to joining the Haas School, she built into the curricula of business and engineering schools, and business was Director of the Product Generation Change Management Team at Hewlett-Packard. basics built into the curricula of design schools throughout the world. The Corporate Design Foundation has made significant inroads in getting design — particularly product design — built into the curricula of major business schools in the U.S. These schools, in turn, lead the way for others by pro- viding sample course outlines, case studies and other course materials. The model used by the Corporate Design Foundation to develop the new product design and development courses needs to be replicated for other types of courses — e.g. general design courses, workplace design courses — as well. Such an effort requires an organization like the Corporate Design Foundation to drive it and funding to support it.

We must expose today’s business leaders to the complicated world of design — which can be a phenomenal tool for their future success. This book is a comprehensive anthology of information that opens the door to a better understanding of what design is all about.

References: “A Visual Cup O’Joe,” @issue, the Journal of Business and Design, Vol. l, No l. Fall 1995. OXO International Case, Harvard Business School, #9-697-007. “Comfort Comes to Kitchen Tools,” @issue: The Journal of Business and Design, Vol. 2, No. l. Spring 1996. “The Right Stuff,” @issue: The Journal of Business and Design, Vol. 2, No. 2. “Can the Benefits of Good Design be Quantified?” Design Management Journal, Spring 1994. “Making Design a Strategic Weapon: The PIMS Contribution,” Design Management Journal, Spring 1994. “Building an Innovation Factory,” Andrew Hargadon and Robert I. Sutton, Harvard Business Review, May–June 2000. 1.01

B r u c e

M a u This text was originally published as the introduction to Massive Change, published by Phaidon Press in 2004. For more information, please visit www.massivechange.com

“The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of now that political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective.” — Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian (1889–1975)

In his Nobel-prize acceptance speech on December 11, 1957, former Prime Minister we can do of Canada Lester B. Pearson quoted historian Arnold Toynbee, well known for his monumental A Study of History. The main thesis of Toynbee’s work is that the well- being of a civilization depends on its ability to respond creatively to challenges, human and environmental. He was optimistic about the twentieth century. He believed that the cycle of rise and decline was not inevitable, that the future is not determined by anything, the past, and that a civilization could choose and act wisely in the face of recurring hardships. His prediction posed a challenge — and an opportunity — during the post-WWII era, and was significant enough for Pearson to reference it in the context of international peacekeeping during the Cold War era, and continues to challenge us what will today, into the twenty-first century. Our world now faces profound challenges, many brought on by innovation itself. Although optimism runs counter to the mood of the times, there are extraordinary new forces aligning around these great challenges, around the world. If you put together all that’s going on at the edges of culture and technology, you get a wildly unexpected view we do? of the future. Massive Change charts this terrain.

We will explore design economies. Not since the age of invention have so many new products, processes and services become available to the public. What we see over the last 150 years, and in a dramati- cally accelerated pace over the last 50, is that design is changing its place in the order now that we can do anything, what will we do? 1.03

of things. Design is evolving from its position of relative insignificance within business designer, one client, one solution, one place. Problems are taken up everywhere, solu- (and the larger envelope of nature), to become the biggest project of all. Even life itself tions are developed and tested and contributed to the global commons, and those ideas has fallen (or is falling) to the power and possibility of design. Empowered as such, we are tested against other solutions. The effect of this is to imagine a future for design that have a responsibility to address the new set of questions that go along with that power. is both more modest and more ambitious. More modest in the sense that we take our At the same time, we acknowledge the hubris and inherent paradox of the new position place in what our studio’s chief scientist Bill Buxton calls the renaissance team, a group we find ourselves in: we are designing nature and we are subject to her laws and powers. that collectively develops the capacity to deal with the demands of the given project. This new condition demands that design discourse not be limited to boardrooms or More ambitious in that we take our place in society, willing to implicate ourselves in kept inside tidy disciplines. As a first step to achieving this, we abandoned the classical the consequences of our imagination. design disciplines in our research and, instead, began to explore systems of exchange, or design “economies.” Instead of looking at product design, we looked at the economies We will distribute capacity. of movement. Instead of isolating graphic design, we considered the economies of infor- One thing is certain: we don’t need a thought police. We need discussion. We need mation, and so on. The patterns that emerged reveal complexity, integrated thinking thinking. We need critical faculties. We need to embrace the dilemmas and conflicts in across disciplines, and unprecedented interconnectivity. design, and take responsibility for the outcomes of our work. When we use the term “we,” we don’t mean designers as separate from clients, or as some extraordinary class We will tap into the global commons. of powerful overseers. We mean “we” as citizens collectively imagining our futures. It is Massive Change is about the power and promise of design. Design success equals global critical that the discussions go beyond the design fields themselves and reach out to the success. What makes this possible is the radical change in scale in the capacity of design to broadest audience, to the people directly affected by the work of designers. The effect of meet human needs the world over. Extraordinary projects are underway that are changing the new conditions is to distribute potential, or capacity, worldwide and allow contribu- our world for the greater good. Many of the people we include in Massive Change tion by anyone, anywhere. The future of global design is fundamentally collaborative. do not consider themselves designers. But, if you listen carefully, they (and others In this condition there is no room for censorship. like them) use the word design to describe their work; they speak about designing systems, designing organizations, designing organisms, designing programs. We must We will embrace paradox. applaud and participate in the efforts of these thought leaders (and doers) — or risk losing Massive Change calls for greater public discourse and personal responsibility for designers them. There is an incredible story to be told about human ingenuity! and their projects, while at the same time is thrilled by the open source effect of the cultural project of design. The moment we came upon Toynbee’s quote in Pearson’s lec- The first step to its unfolding is to reject the binary notion of client/designer. The ture, we knew we had our project because it included the phrase “practical objective”; next step is to look to what is going on, right now. The old-fashioned notion of an it shifted the objective of the welfare of the human race from a utopian ambition — individual with a dream of perfection is being replaced by distributed problem solving one that is by definition out of reach and will remain in the realm of art — to a design and team-based multi-disciplinary practice. The reality for advanced design today is project, a practical objective. There is a proposal integrated into Massive Change for dominated by three ideas: distributed, plural, collaborative. It is no longer about one a right angle shift in the axis of discourse defined by right and left, socialism and now that we can do anything, what will we do? 1.05

capitalism. The new axis is defined by advanced and retrograde, forward and reverse. Bruce Mau Design is part of the MDC Partners network, one of the world’s leading multi- Plainly, Massive Change is a project that embraces the potential of advanced capitalism, disciplinary communication firms. advanced socialism and advanced globalization. In that sense, Massive Change is obvi- ously ambitiously positive, and might be misunderstood as utopian at first glance. But it is not futuristic. It is about what is already happening.

We will reshape our future. Between 1965 and 1975, R. Buckminster Fuller conducted five two-year “advanced design science” intensives and pulled together the results of the participants’ research and analysis into several volumes of what he called the World Resources Inventory. In Phase I of the work, Inventory of World Resources Human Trends and Needs, he wrote, “There are very few men today who are disciplined to comprehend the totally inte- grating significance of the 99 percent invisible activity which is coalescing to reshape our future. There are approximately no warnings being given to society regarding the great changes ahead. There is only the ominous general apprehension that man may be about to annihilate himself. To the few who are disciplined to deal with the invisibly integrating trends it is increasingly readable in the trends that man is about to become almost 100 percent successful as an occupant of the universe.”

This book is dedicated to all those with the discipline to comprehend the total integrating significance of the 99 percent invisible activity, which is coalescing to reshape our future. This is the beginning.

Bruce Mau founded his studio in Toronto in 1985. Since then, the ever-expanding Bruce Mau Design, Inc. (BMD) has grown to a staff of 35, and has gained international recognition for its expertise and innovation across a wide range of projects, from book design to visual identity and branding, environmental graphics, programming and exhibitions, and product development.

BMD has collaborated with some of the world’s leading architects, artists, writers, curators, academics, entrepreneurs, businesses and institutions. BMD’s most radical undertaking, the Institute without Boundaries (IwB), was founded in January 2003, and Massive Change is its inaugural project. 2.07

H e l e n

K e r r Someone once asked me why designers feel it is their prerogative to save the world — from bad taste, from ill-functioning tools, from oppression, from itself. Are we uniquely poised to interpret human need, he queried, or is it a symptom of an overactive ego bent on recreation of the universe? I had to stop and think. Maybe he was right on both can points. We do seem to have a penchant for dreaming grandiose dreams. And while we may not have exclusive dibs on benevolent behavior, unlike many others, we have the wherewithal to effect change on a massive scale in such unconscious ways. For all the mountains of words devoted to competitive advantage, technological innovation and the sex appeal of design, it is the compelling concept of influence that simultaneously design excites and unnerves. Can design really change the world? Looking at design from a human-centered perspective can certainly change the ground rules.

Before exploring that possibility, it is important to understand the realm that designers feel they inhabit. From a business perspective it is conceivable to see a designer (black- really clad with weird glasses, pockets loaded with the latest miniature electronics) as an expen- sive and, often, testy service provider. The designers (actually wearing jeans, weird shoes and looking slightly rumpled from lack of sleep) see themselves as fundamental to the survival and growth of your business with the required obsessive vision to differentiate you from the crowd. In a marvelously productive co-dependency, they need you to carry change out their dreams of a better world. You need them to dominate the marketplace; well worth the price and attendant passionate debates about the merits of small details. To include design as a fundamental and decisive component of the strategic vision of your company is to tap into a potent source of ideas and power. But do so wisely. To embrace only the applied aesthetic rather than the axiomatic shift in problem solving is often a the world? waste both of time and money. Rather than fearing the loss of control that succumbing to a designer engenders, see it as a profoundly beneficial advantage and include them in your inner circle.

Designers don’t think like everyone else. What you may read as obsessive behavior may be creative absorption in a problem solving process that feels frustratingly obvious to the can design really change the world? 2.09

practitioner and absurd to the outsider. But it is a process that, when well-fueled, ulti- able to recognize which end goes to their ear and which to their mouth. Or in fact mately leads to electrifying outcomes. Good designers are preoccupied with the physi- whether to bring the piece to their head at all. Flying cross-country recently, I picked cal, cognitive, social and cultural dimensions of things and spaces and communications. up the in-flight phone to call my family. After swiping my credit card the wrong way How something fits to our body, how we interpret it for use, how it works within and through the designated slot several times, I finally managed to get connected. I settled impacts on a system, and what it means to us are critical questions. It requires asking in to chat only to find, many frustrating minutes later, that I was listening to the back more than whether we can make it, for how much and what will it look like if we do. of the phone. I have been equally baffled picking up someone else’s cellphone only to It means defining the issues that are relevant to human need and the human condition. be presented with an array of tightly rearranged buttons with indecipherable symbols You can begin to see how one might think that following such a process could indeed on them. Not knowing how to perform the simple task of dialing a number is belittling. influence on a grand scale. And you could equally see how self-aggrandizing and negli- All I want to do is talk! Literacy of symbols and colors, shapes and sizes is not universal. gent designers (there are some out there) might ignore the process to create abominable, A designer’s job is to decipher a product’s code of use and translate it for consumers so meaningless trash. It is critical to understand how attention to these four principles of that you understand what to do, intuitively if possible. The design details of a button physical, cognitive, social and cultural identification can mean the difference between can articulate as clearly as words to direct the sequence of use of controls. Safety can soaring relevance and numbing mediocrity. be heightened and play magnified when you understand the mute discourse of things. It requires a full understanding of how people learn and communicate and interpret, as The most direct impact of design regards the body and its physical abilities, constraints, well as knowledge of the idiosyncrasies that language imposes on our comprehension. measures and inclinations. It is a series of appropriate responses to the physical reality of human users. A phone is a ready example of an everyday product that depends on Phones don’t work without a system. They can only be used if a telephone network effective design. Until telepathic communication is widespread, a message that can be is in place, which requires adequate economic circumstances, a means of support to sent and audibly received is required. In order to use a telephone handset you need maintain and run the system, and an organizational structure to allow people to have to be able to connect it to your ear and to your mouth. What happens to that simple discrete phone numbers anywhere in the world. Society is our organizing structure; that object, though, when your eyesight begins to fail, your fingers begin to fumble, your which allows us to survive and accomplish what is impossible on our own. It allows memory begins to fade? What if you cannot hear? An object rendered useless by virtue for infrastructure, creates government, legislates and raises opportunities for design to of the fact that the user does not fit the average profile misses its great potential. People impact on a wide community. Understanding the nuances of societal systems increases come in different sizes, capabilities, genders and ages with their own habits and prefer- the possibility of using it to effect change. Efforts such as environmental sustainability ences. Designers observe and assess how best to meet those needs. Products can embrace require wider compliance than one person living at low impact can muster. Designers the largest possible number of users or may be exclusively customized for a particular can make products and spaces that are non-toxic, comply with codes and safety regula- requirement. Either option ensures the end-user is carefully considered. tions, reduce materials and utilize processes for cleaner production, thereby imbedding value and saving costs. Social justice may not seem at first glance to be a design issue Cognitive clarity is also critical. Not only do people have to be able to pick up the but the connection is undeniable. Who you choose to work with and the fate of the handset of a phone and hear a voice at the other end of the line, they also need to be people who produce and use those products need not be a fixed misery. If you don’t can design really change the world? 2.11

make a difference, who will? Improved labor practices and factory conditions are exten- tion, activity, shared history or circumstance is indicated with clothing and dialect sions of complete and ethical design process. First-hand observation of the noxious and choice of talismans; exclusion of others is as important as inclusion of those who environment and inhumane treatment of line workers in places where labor is cheap are like us (don’t think that’s you? Consider the differences between people who snow- and regulations are lax makes it difficult to justify the enormous profits attached to the board and ski, people who drive mini-vans or SUVs, suburban families compared to goods we buy and sell. It is indeed more difficult and costly to work towards better downtown singles). Too often, we do not see the differences and do not understand conditions. Change is a painfully slow step-by-step process, but when design is seen as a how others can feel different from us. And just as often, we see the differences highly holistic component of the business plan, when the system as a whole is seen as mutable, magnified to the point of absurdity. Lack of understanding and empathy engenders it is possible. Design becomes a political act within society. fear, suspicion and loathing. We make assumptions about cultures other than our own and may not understand the nuances of a life we have not lived in close proximity to. Finally, it used to be that anyone who had a phone had a black phone. Now, the metallic We are often unaware of our own cultural biases. Do we have the knowledge and under- Nokia a teenager in Tokyo is dying to customize with “Hello Kitty” baubles is com- standing required to infuse one product with idiosyncratic detail and strip another of pletely removed from the tiny worldwide cell the CEO next to you in business class is its cultural context? tucking into a breast pocket. Cultural continuity and a sense of belonging are perhaps the most emblematic issues that design impacts. It is a marketer’s dream to categorize When taken together, all these factors can add up to powerfully meaningful results. you because it makes it easier to sell to you particularly. When we notice such a ploy, Designers don’t sit in the studio philosophizing, deciding how to change the world we resist with fairly aggressive force. But when a product is really designed with your every day. Most clients are pretty keen to receive a tangible object in time for their particular needs and desires in mind, it doesn’t feel like a deceitful or manipulative next product launch, so meticulous steps need to be followed to ensure the things we maneuver. We are generally thankful to have a choice that truly reflects us. We use the design can be reproducible hundreds of thousands of times, at the right price. However, things around us as cultural shorthand to clarify just who we are. The designer helps embedding a human-centered approach into the development of such products can give meaning to the objects and spaces that fill up our homes and our lives. Form and ultimately change the lives of the people who use them and the people who make them, color and materials and processes become a language to connect user to object. In order hopefully for the better. Perhaps it is not our prerogative, but rather our obligation to to meet a user’s needs we have to look beyond the functional to include the intangible, use our influence to attend to those very needs. the meaning of objects and systems. How things fit into an environment, a process, a life is as important as how they look and feel and behave. Renowned as one of Canada’s most prolific industrial designers, Helen Kerr is also noted as a leader for women in this male-dominated profession. Her firm, Kerr and Company, has been The desire to create a vision of the world that acknowledges where you come from creating furniture and consumer products since 1988. Her studies in Environmental Science at the University of Waterloo were a prelude to Industrial Design at the Ontario College of Art and and how you belong is profound and urgent. We have an overwhelming impulse to Design, and contribute to her research-based design focus. Extensive material innovation and distinguish ourselves by adherence to small groups. When we cannot find our brethren strategic explorations are at the core of her work for Teknion, Keilhauer and Cuisipro. close at hand, we use technology to link ourselves to like-minded individuals without the restrictions of geography or physiology. Affiliation by language, religion, educa- 3.13

G i o r g e t t o

G i u g i a r o Design — A “Minor” Art I believe that creativity embraces all realms of art, poetry and philosophy, expressing the essence of interpretation; stretching it beyond narrow confines and advancing it design vertically into higher levels of human endeavor. Giving shape to the instincts and sentiment within us, this, and only this, spiritually challenging condition represents a complex way to move beyond accepted concepts and rules of what is beautiful; creating new levels of understanding. perspec- Industrial design, however, represents a compromise for those who refuse to reexamine the rules of art and the constraints imposed by industry and the marketplace. As such, this may narrow the creative process.

On the other hand, design may and should preserve its irreplaceable function as tives intermediary between man and his common desire for authenticity through everyday objects and things capable of gratifying him. For a designer, the fundamentals of life are all around us and are crying out to be shaped or created. “Application” creativity is a response to a designer’s inborn need to start from the fundamentals and to transform them — opening up a route to what is possible — through enlightenment, which, albeit focusing primarily on shapes and forms, awakens a kinetic realm where beauty is as available as anything else and where apathy is forbidden.

Sources of Inspiration For the carmaker, designing cars for mass and series production calls for an exceptionally large investment. For the designer, designing cars for mass and series production calls for new concepts, creative shapes, forms, and innovative solutions that need two years or more before being brought to the captive market. These rarely gain market acclaim for four to five years at least. In essence, this means bringing back the romance — or, shall we say, sublime desire — for the road; staying one step ahead of changing, and as yet intangible, customer expectations. deisgn perspectives 3.15

In my opinion, based on expertise gained over the years, logistics and strategic intent Maieutic Art declared by corporations drive innovation in the automotive sector — and in many other This ability to somehow give form to nostalgia for the unspoiled using materials or move- realms — rather than customer expectation. The corporation’s objective is to fuel produc- ment, this constant search for new forms cannot be just a reflection of the designer’s tion capacity and to revitalize and enhance the product range. It is, however, creative- own ego, or the culture and sentiment within him. Neither can it be the result of a thinking — and marketing — that sparks demand. This may sound cynical, but it cannot conceited demiurge, nor can it be a provocation for the customer to venture into be denied. We cannot but draw a lesson from the world of fashion and interior design. unexplored terrain just to astound or dare.

When entering into the unexplored, a creative-thinker turns to many sources of inspi- A designer should have the deference to forge a dialogue with the customer and with the ration and looks for metaphors. Stirring a new train of thought, changing the back- differing departmental officers in charge who work to develop the brief, thereby coming ground, a shade of color or the environment may result in a colorful novel, a theatrical to grips with their plane of logic and gaining insight into attendant expectations and, pièce, a music hall or a TV serial. A ballet choreographer or stage manager organizes a to the extent possible, recognizing qualities and defects. mega open-air concert, or an architect or interior designer creates museums, libraries, meeting centers, department stores, multi-media centers and thereby puts into motion Very often we designers are considered to be some sort of an “all-rounder”: we design a form of trending that exhibits itself in great masterpieces around the world. cameras and medical equipment, household appliances and outer-space station hubs. I spend most of the day, after dealing with some product design programs, passing from Without exception, this process launches signals that translate into fashion, cults, one atelier to another — or rather from one “strong-room” to another, surrounded by trends and new theories and mysticism about what is beautiful. And it does not just maximum security — in which a new Toyota model is being created, where a prototype translate into “ivory tower” concepts. It develops into lifestyles, approaches to life might be fitted out for Alfa Romeo or for a Chinese carmaker, where a high-speed train and forms of defense from the inertia of the everyday; it is a precursor, captured one mockup is being built full-scale. step ahead; sparked by a market researcher, creative-thinker or designer, who, in turn, might become trendy when backed by breakthrough inspiration and the capability to In essence, it may not be just our ability to invent “new” or “beautiful” fleeting illu- understand and anticipate. sions. Our approach to the customer must be underpinned by deference and by a will- ingness to understand the customer’s school of thought and, not least, to examine and Given the foregoing, I must admit that luck has always been on my side. When I first discuss together the brief assigned to us, applying Socratic “maieutic art” to it, to giving started my career, I had a dream. A dream to spend my life in the midst of painting and it shape and body, giving it humus and spirit. the arts. I now find myself pursuing an exciting profession, the benchmark of which is by its nature, the concept of what is useful and what is “beautiful” in Plato’s philosophy Although these may seem to be utopian concepts, in my experience they often work. of “ideas.” All of this is intrinsically driven by the important need to rise to the chal- Taking shape from in-depth interactive dialogue is some sort of a catalyst, which, when lenges posed by an incipient new wave represented by the profane world of the young. launched in the right direction, can be trimmed to perfection by logic and expertise. deisgn perspectives 3.17

Minimalism He has been awarded three honorary degrees, one Compasso d’ Oro to the career; the ADI, the Rather than leading to flashy or showy results, proper understanding of the objective Italian Association for Industrial Design, will award Giugiaro with four other Compasso d’ Oro. should translate into “factual” (realistic?) proposals, without extremes that provoke shockwaves that outrage and rapidly fade away.

My cars gaining major acclaim — the VW Golf/Rabbit, the Fiat Uno, the Fiat Punto, and the Maserati Coupé — do not flaunt a particularly defiant style: they are the result of a combination of fluid movement and ease of proportion, or as the world of fashion would say, they reflect the concept of “elegance.”

I am a man of details, an advocate of harmony as can be perceived in the façade of a Romanesque church, in a classic clock or in a period fountain pen. A lover of the beautiful armed with the passion of a collector, I am never in search of the garish. With inquisitiveness, I am steered towards looking beyond appearances to discover the content, the archetype, the idea.

Bombarded by images and epidemic sensations, we are nevertheless led astray by a tidal wave of perceived quality that is lavished on us, either regularly or for short- lived moments. Thus, just like a page in a novel, this is made real by the unexpected, and it is weighed and measured in the same way as a strange ingredient exalts in a high-cuisine delight.

Our intelligence is machine-gunned by exasperated efforts steered towards regaining the unspoiled.

Giorgetto Giugiaro was born in Garessio, a small town in the province of Cuneo in Northern Italy. In 1952 he moved to Turin where he enrolled in a Fine Arts program coupled with tech- nical planning courses. At the age of 17 he was admitted to the Style Center Fiat as a young designer and worked in the Ufficio Studi Stilistici Vetture Speciali (Special Vehicle Stylistic Study Department) under the guidance of Dante Giacosa. 4.19

W i l l

A l s o p The act of designing suggests that it is an act of intention. We talk of “Design by Intent,” which appears to suggest a rather distasteful behavior that is manipulative.

A simple wooden hut is designed, but the person who designed it was not aware of any- the thing concerned with the market, fashion or taste and yet the simplicity of the object is highly affordable, very tasteful and, on occasion, very fashionable. People have invested many daydreams into these studies, which gives them many meanings over and above their utilitarian use. essence I know of a beautiful hut at Wells, next to the sea, in North Norfolk, U.K. Here the hut is placed on top of a column because the ground is liable to flood. For this reason a depth gauge is attached to the column so the occupant knows how deep the water is and, more importantly, whether the depth is receding or not. There is a telecommuni- cations aerial on the roof to allow a connection to the rest of the world and a lengthy of ramp to facilitate the earliest evacuation as the flood waters recede.

The purpose of the edifice is of secondary importance to the casual viewer. To this person is an idea of a wonderful view mixed with cosiness (a very human, but unfash- ionable word), and a variety of images ranging from childhood play to the satisfaction design of being warm and safe when externally it is cold mixed with a raging storm.

I made a hut on legs as a yacht race start station in Cardiff on the Barrage. It is made of steel. Its pink color has resulted in the local people calling it the Barbie House — a term of endearment. Although it has a very practical function, the familiar shape, albeit in an unusual position, has managed to allow people to project their own imaginations onto it.

Although it is the smallest of interventions in a very large project, it is indispensable to the whole. More recently I placed a pink wooden hut into a children’s nursery in West London specifically to appeal to young children’s sense and ability to create new the essence of design 4.21

places in the mind. When I worked with Cedric Price, we used standard Scandinavian an event and a simple meal to satisfy mere hunger. It is the celebration of life that is log cabins as community facilities in the Interaction Centre in London. They proved important so no moment, as far as is possible, is wasted with the mundane. The quality to be highly popular. of experience is the essence of the designer’s activity — we design time spent, which occasionally involves objects. It is their lack of design aspiration that makes them successful. People do not feel forced into someone’s concept or designeresque justifications, which tend to take them away To design is not an act of inspiration. It comes as a result of practise, which requires from the enjoyment of their own interpretation. work every day. One can start wherever you like, but the important thing is to work fast. This reduces the process to one of the editing, a little like photographers. They The essence of design is involved with the participation of the public. Not in decisions fake many pictures — the art comes in ones they choose. One percent of what I do has about what something should look like, but in the joy of using it. This sense of joy can a value, the other 99 percent is useful redundancy, without it there would be nothing. often be mistaken for wonder. The large volume or sea of a single color, or a space with nothing in it, is a wonderment indeed, but wonder recedes into oblivion with familiarity. Will Alsop is one of the most prominent of U.K. architects. His practice is an international I tend to talk of architectural design but it is true of all design. The extraordinary operation, but one guided by the principle that architecture is both a vehicle and symbol of work produced for the catwalk celebration is a wonder but not a delight. Have you social change and renewal. The philosophy extends from the design of individual buildings to embrace broader principles of urbanism and city development. By abandoning the hegemony of ever tried to buy cutlery? an acceptable style, Alsop has rendered the whole process of architecture one of increasing fluidity and transparency; a new and refreshing position for architecture both in the U.K. and elsewhere. We all have an inherited image of what a knife, fork or spoon is. From childhood we recall that they were very large, but in adulthood they became a normal size that ceases to capture any imagination. It is true that we have a great number of choices and yet that specific one eludes us. That is because it does not exist. We want big ones. Heavy ones. Ones that confirm our mastery of the dinner table. All things that we use should be oversized and generally confirm what we already know. If it can improve the func- tionality of the object this must be regarded as a bonus.

The designer aids our enjoyment of the events in our lives. These can be occasional events, i.e., birthday dinners or more frequent and less grand as in a picnic. There was a time when cars had seats that could be removed, thus permitting a comfortable encampment. Picnics are a design opportunity. First the choice of location is vital, secondly the furniture and thirdly the food. Sandwiches give many opportunities to their creator. Everything must be considered because this makes the difference between 5.23

K e n

Y e a n g 1. Saving our environment is the most vital issue that humankind must address today, feeding into our fears that this millennium may be our last.

For the designer, the compelling question is how to design for a sustainable future? what is This question, similarly, concerns industry. Companies now anxiously seek to under- stand the environmental consequences of their business, to envision what their business might be if it were sustainable, and to seek ways to realize this vision with ecologically benign strategies, new business models, production systems, materials and processes. green If we have an ecologically responsive built environment, it will likely change the way we work and our current ecologically profligate way of life. Presented here are some propositions addressing these.

2. The ecological approach to our businesses and design is ultimately about environ- design? mental integration.

If we integrate our business processes and design and everything we do or make in our built environment (which by definition consists of our buildings, facilities, infrastruc- ture, products, refrigerators, toys, etc.) with the natural environment in a seamless and benign way, then there will be no environmental problems whatsoever.

Simply stated, ecodesign is designing for bio-integration, and this can be regarded at three aspects: physically, systemically and temporally. Successfully achieving these is, of course, easier said than done, but herein lies our challenge.

3. We start by looking at nature. Nature without humans exists in stasis. Can our busi- nesses and our built environment imitate nature, its processes, structure and functions, particularly of its ecosystems?

For instance, ecosystems have no waste. Everything is recycled within. Thus by imitating what is green design? 5.25

this, our built environment will produce no wastes. All emissions and products are Although these technological systems are relevant experiments, perhaps, towards an continuously reused, recycled within and eventually reintegrated with the natural envi- ecologically responsive built environment, their assembly into one single building does ronment, in tandem with efficient uses of energy and material resources. Designing to not make it automatically ecological. imitate ecosystems is ecomimesis. This is the fundamental premise for ecodesign. Our built environment must imitate ecosystems in all respects. 7. In a nutshell, ecodesign is designing the built environment as a system within the natural environment, whose existence has ecological consequences and its sets of interac- 4. Nature regards humans as one of its many species. What differentiates humans is tions, being its inputs and outputs as well as all its other aspects (such as transportation, their capability to wrought large-scale devastative changes to the environment. Such etc.) over its entire life cycle must be benignly integrated with the natural environment. changes are often the consequences of manufacturing, construction and other activities (e.g. recreational, transportation, etc.). 8. Ecosystems in the biosphere are definable units containing both biotic and abiotic constituents acting together as a whole. From this concept, our businesses and built 5. Our built forms are essentially enclosures erected to protect us from the inclement environment should be designed analogeous to the ecosystem’s physical content, external weather, enabling some activity (whether residential, office, manufacturing, composition and processes. For instance, besides regarding our architecture as just art warehousing, etc.) to take place. objects or as serviced enclosures, they are artifacts that need to be operationally and eventually integrated with nature (See (4) above). Ecologically, a building is just a high concentration of materials on a location (often using non-renewable energy resources) extracted and manufactured from some place 9. As is self-evident, the material composition of our built environment is almost distant in the biosphere, transported to that location and fabricated into a built form entirely inorganic, whereas ecosystems contain a complement of both biotic and abiotic or an infrastructure (e.g. roads and drains, etc.), whose subsequent operations bear fur- constituents, or of inorganic and organic components. ther environmental consequences and whose eventual after-life must be accommodated. Our myriad of construction, manufacturing and other activities are, in effect, making 6. There is also much misperception about what is ecological design today. We must the biosphere more and more inorganic, artificial and increasingly biologically sim- not be misled by the popular perception that if we assemble in one single building plified. To continue without balancing the biotic content means simply adding to enough eco-gadgetry such as solar collectors, photo-voltaics, biological recycling systems, the biosphere’s artificiality, thereby making it increasingly more and more inorganic. building automation systems, double-skin facades, etc., we will have instantaneously Acerbating this are other environmentally destructive acts such as deforestation and an ecological architecture. pollution. The summary is the biological simplification of the biosphere and reduction of its complexity and diversity. The other misperception is that if our building gets a high notch in a green-rating system, then all is well. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Worse, a self-compla- We must firstly reverse this and start by balancing our built environments with greater cency sets in whereupon nothing is further done to improve environmental degradation. levels of biomass, ameliorating biodiversity and ecological connectivity in the built what is green design? 5.27

forms and complementing their inorganic content with appropriate biomass. it which, if stressed beyond this capacity, becomes irrevocably damaged. Consequences can range from minimal localized impact (such as the clearing of a small land area for 10. We should improve the ecological linkages between our designs and our business access), to the total devastation of the entire land area (such as clearing of all trees and processes with the surrounding landscape, both horizontally and vertically. Achieving vegetation, leveling of the typography, diversion of exiting waterways, etc.). this ensures a wider level of species connectivity, interactions, mobility and sharing of resources across boundaries. Such real improvements in connectivity enhance biodiversity 13. To identify all aspects of this carrying capacity, we need to carry out an analysis of and further increase habitat resilience and species survival. the site’s ecology.

Providing ecological corridors and linkages in regional planning crucially make existent We must ascertain its ecosystem’s structure and energy flow, its species diversity and urban patterns more biologically viable. other ecological characteristics and properties. There we must identify which parts of the site (if any) we can locate different types of structures and activities, and which parts Besides improved horizontal connectivity, vertical connectivity within the built form is are particularly sensitive and the likely impacts of the intended construction and use. also necessary since most buildings are not single but are multi-storey, and design must extend ecological linkages upwards within the built form to its roofscapes. 14. This is, of course, a major undertaking. It needs to be done diurnally over the year and in some instances over years. To reduce this lengthy effort, landscape architects 11. More than enhancing ecological linkages, we must biologically integrate the ino- developed the “layer-cake” method or a sieve-mapping technique of landscape mapping. ganic aspects and processes of our built environment with the landscape such that This enables the designer to map the landscape as a series of layers in a simplified way they mutually become ecosystemic (See (4) above), or as a “human-made ecosystems” to study its ecology. compatible with the ecosystems in nature. As we map the layers, we overlay it, assign points, evaluate the interactions in relation to By doing so, we enhance human-made ecosystems’ abilities to sustain life in the our proposed land use and patterns of use, and produce the composite map to guide our biosphere. planning (e.g. the disposition of the access roads, water management, drainage patterns, the shaping of the built form(s), etc. 12. Ecodesign is also about discernment of the ecology of the site, upon which any activity from our design or our business takes place with the objective to physically We must beware that the sieve-mapping method generally regards the site’s ecosystem integrate benignly with the ecosystems (See (4) above). statically and may ignore the constant dynamic forces taking place between the layers and within an ecosystem. Between each of these layers are obviously complex interac- Particularly in site planning, we must first understand the properties of the locality’s tions. Thus analyzing an ecosystem requires more than mapping. We must examine ecosystem as the fundamental basis before imposing any intended human activity upon the inter-layer relationships. it. Every site has an ecology with a limiting capacity to withstand stresses imposed upon what is green design? 5.29

15. We must also look into ways to configure the built forms and operational systems Therefore, this must be the first level of design consideration in the process, following for our built environments and our businesses as low energy systems. which we can next adopt other modes to further enhance the energy efficiency.

In addressing this, we need to look into ways to improve internal comfort conditions. There Passive Mode requires an understanding of the climatic conditions of the locality, then are essentially five modes: Passive Mode (or bioclimatic design), Mixed Mode, Full Mode, designing not just to synchronize the built form’s design with the local meteorological Productive Mode and Composite Mode, the latter being a composite of all the preceding. conditions, but also to optimize the ambient energies of the locality into a building design with improved internal comfort conditions without the use of any electro- Designing means looking at Passive Mode strategies first, then Mixed Mode to Full Mode, mechanical systems. Otherwise, if we adopt a particular approach without previously Productive Mode and to Composite Mode, all the while adopting progressive strategies optimizing the Passive Mode options in the built form, we may well have made non- to improve comfort conditions over the external conditions. energy efficient design decisions that we have to correct with supplementary Full Mode systems, which makes nonsense of designing for low-energy. Meeting contemporary expectations for comfort conditions, especially in manufacturing, cannot be achieved by Passive Mode or by Mixed Mode alone. The internal environment Furthermore if the design optimizes its Passive Modes, it remains at an improved level often needs to be supplemented by using external sources of energy as in Full Mode. of comfort during any electrical power failure. If we have not optimized our Passive Modes in the built form, then once there is no electricity or external energy source, the Full Mode uses electro-mechanical systems or M&E (mechanical and electrical) systems building may be intolerable to occupy. to improve the internal conditions of comfort, often using external energy sources (whether from fossil-fuel derived sources or from local ambient sources). 17. Mixed Mode is where we use some electro-mechanical (M&E) systems. Examples include ceiling fans, double facades, flue atriums, evaporative cooling, etc. Ecodesign of our buildings and businesses must minimize the use of non-renewable sources of energy, and in this regard low energy design is an important objective. 18. Full Mode is the full use of electro-mechanical systems as in any conventional building. If our users insist on having consistent comfort conditions throughout the 16. Passive Mode is designing for improved comfort conditions over external conditions whole year, the designed system heads towards a Full Mode design. without the use of any electro-mechanical systems. Examples of Passive Mode strategies include adopting appropriate building configurations and orientation in relation to the It must be clear that low energy design is essentially a user-driven condition and a life- locality’s climate, appropriate facade design (e.g. solid to glazed area ratio and suitable style issue. We must appreciate that Passive Mode and Mixed Mode design can never thermal insulation levels, use of natural ventilation, use of vegetation, etc.). compete with the comfort levels of the high-energy Full Mode conditions.

The design strategy for the built form must first start with Passive Mode or biocli- 19. Productive Mode is where the built system generates its own energy (e.g. solar matic design. These can significantly configure the built form and its enclosural form. energy using photovoltaics, wind energy, etc.). what is green design? 5.31

Ecosystems use solar energy, which is transformed into chemical energy by the photo- where, and currently as landfill or as pollutants. synthesis of green plants and drives the ecological cycles. If ecodesign is to be ecomi- metic, we should seek to do the same. At the moment the use of solar energy is limited Ecomimetically, we need to think about how a building, its components and its outputs to various solar collector devices and photovoltaic systems. can be reused and recycled at the outset in design before production. This determines the processes, the materials selected and the way these are connected to each other and In the case of Productive Modes (e.g solar collectors, photo-voltaics, wind energy, etc.), used in the built form. these systems require sophisticated technological systems, that subsequently increase the inorganic content of the built form, its embodied energy content and its use of For instance, to facilitate reuse, the connection between components in the built form material resources with increased attendant impacts on the environment. and in manufactured products needs to be mechanically joined for ease of demount- ability, and be modular to facilitate reuse in an acceptable condition. 20. Composite Mode is a composite of all the above modes and is a system that varies over the seasons of the year. 22. Another major design issue is the systemic integration of our built forms and its operational systems and internal processes with the ecosystems in nature. 21. Ecodesign also requires the designer to use green materials and assembly of mate- rials, and components that facilitate reuse, recycling and reintegration for temporal This integration is crucial because if our built systems and processes do not integrate integration with the ecological systems (See (4) above). with the natural systems in nature, then they will remain disparate artificial items and potential pollutants. Their eventual integration after their manufacture and use We need to be ecomimetic in our use of materials in the built environment. In eco- is only through biodegradation, and in many instances in a long-term natural process systems, all living organisms feed on continual flows of matter and energy from their of decomposition. environment to stay alive, and all living organisms continually produce wastes. Here, an ecosystem generates no waste, one species’ waste being another species’ food. Thus While manufacturing and designing for recycling and reuse within the human-made matter cycles continually through the web of life. It is this closing of the loop in reuse environment relieves the problem of deposition of waste, we should integrate not just and recycling that our human-made environment must imitate (See (2) above). the inorganic waste (e.g. sewage, rainwater runoff, waste water, food wastes, etc.) but also the inorganic ones as well. We should regard everything produced by humans unceremoniously as eventual garbage or waste material. The question for design, businesses and manufacturing is what do we 23. We might draw an analogy between ecodesign and prosthetics in surgery. do with the waste material? Ecodesign is essentially designing to integrate our artificial systems both mechanically If these are readily biodegradable, they can return into the environment through and organically with its host system being the ecosystems. Similarly, a medical pros- decomposition, whereas the other generally inert wastes need to be deposited some- thetic device has to integrate with its organic host being — the human body. Failure to what is green design? 5.33

integrate well will result in dislocation in both.

By analogy, this is what ecodesign in our built environment and in our businesses should achieve, a total physical, systemic and temporal integration (See (4) above) of our human-made built environment with our organic host in a benign and positive way.

24. Discussion here on some of the key issues will help us approach the ecological design of artifacts and our businesses to be environmentally responsive.

There are of course other aspects. There are still a large number of theoretical and technical problems to be solved before we have a truly ecological built environment.

Internationally acclaimed architect and sustainable design guru Ken Yeang is especially renowned for his signature green and ecologically responsive large buildings and masterplans. His work pioneered a new genre of tall buildings, commonly referred as the bioclimatic skyscraper. The work of his firm, Hamzah & Yeang (® T. R. Hamzah & Yeang Sdn. Bhd.), has received numerous international awards including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (Geneva), the Prinz Claus Award (Netherlands) and the RAIA International Award (Australia). Yeang received an honorary D. Lit from Sheffield University (U.K.), where he had been the Graham Willis Professor. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur) and at several universities in Australia and U.S.. He has received an Honorary FAIA from the American Institute of Architects and has also served on the RIBA Council. 6.35

B a l k r i s h n a

D o s h i Design is like a breath. You cannot touch, smell, see it but do feel its presence. It is the “prana” — breath of life — without which nothing holds together for long. Body is nothing but a corpse without the breath. So are objects without the design input. To be, to grow, to nourish, to radiate and to expand, design is essential. It is all pervading. design It celebrates. It rejoices when you develop the intuitive bond with the object and evokes a sense of belonging. You revitalize and automatically celebrate this union as how and what relates to you. Like breath, design has its nuances in motion and in stillness, in daily life. Good design is like our body in Kumbhak posture — having breath. It is still and silent, yet, intensely alive. Dense and eternal it becomes a magnet that attracts every- defined thing around, like the queen bee. Design is the very essence, the life of any existence.

The term design refers to two fundamental premises. One being the sense of purpose and the other being its conception and consciousness of efforts. This implies holistic vision as well as responsibility — the qualities essential for a wholesome product. Holistic, as a balanced resolution of the socio-cultural, environmental and technological concerns.

The term for architect in Sanskrit as Sthapati ­— master of space and the Chinese as doctor of vital forces refer to competence of skills as well as responsible professionalism.

The designs produced by the master craftsman, therefore, have effectively fulfilled the dictums of Utilitas (function), Firmitas (strength) and Venustas (beauty). They have emerged timeless — transcending the time and space.

Communication is a two-way process of encoding and decoding messages. Design is the encoding/encrypting part in the realm of designer while its perception is the decod- ing that prompts the behavior in the perceiver. The success of this communication lies in the totality of vision founded on idealistic concerns on the part of encoder — the designer; while ease of its comprehension and accuracy of its conceived behavioral response on the part of the perceiver — the decoder. design defined 6.37

Designer — As professional, is a mediator between individual’s demands and collective Design does matter, as it is the alchemy, integrated vision of functional, constructional, good. Societal well-being is inherently implied in the professional obligation. environmental, economic as well as aesthetic values.

Samarangana Sutradhar, the ancient Indian treatise on traditional sciences, articulates Architect extraordinaire Balkrishna Doshi’s accolades and awards would require much more space well the role, responsibilities and knowledge base of the true architect. than the four walls of his office — his achievements speak volumes of a man whose spirit and soul are intertwined in his works and artistic “calling” in life. Awarded India’s highest accolade of “Padma Shree” — Mr. Doshi’s dedication to his profession as a practitioner; academician and “He, who, begins to work as an architect (sthapati) without knowing the science visionary has made him a global architecture and design icon recognized by many illustrious of architecture (vastusastra) and is proud with false knowledge, must be put to institutes of architects in the U.S., Europe and across Asia. A past winner of the prestigious Aga death by the king as one who ruins the kingdom (rajashimsaka); dead before Khan Award for Architecture, he is renowned for his incorporation of contemporary thought his time, his ghost will wander on this earth. to urban planning and design, for which he won the Prime Minister’s National Award for Excellence in Urban Planning Design. A much sought after international speaker and visiting professor at many eminent institutions both in India and abroad, he continues to set the pace He, who, though well-versed in the traditional science, is not skilled in the and is a much-respected “thought” catalyst whose works and teachings continue to inspire and work, will faint at the time of action like a timid man on the battlefield. motivate peers and students the world over. Like all artists, he sees his work as an extension of his soul and spirit.

He, who, expert only in his workmanship, but unable to understand the meaning of the traditional science, will like a blind man, be misled by anyone.

Even so, he who knows the traditional science and its meaning, and masters the craft, is not as yet the perfect architect. For immediate intuition, a readiness (pratyutpanna) of judgment (prajna) in contingencies, and the ability to fuse them into the requirements of the whole, are the distinctions of a true sthapati.

It is then, that the builder himself, once his work is completed, is struck with wonder and exclaims: “Oh, how was it that I built it!”

This echoes the need for holistic vision as an inherent attribute of any design. Design is not about finding an answer to a question. It is about asking many questions, finding many answers to each of these questions, and picking one answer that answers most to all questions. Design is about discretion. It is about values. About abilities to discern. It is about appropriateness. 7.39

E n r i q u e

C o n c h a Due to a professional order — the interior design for three hotels ­— I have been trav- eling to the end of world. Located some 2,000 kilometers south of Santiago, there is a land of dimension and beauty that moves your soul. It’s the land of light and shadows — the Patagonia region of Chile. It is a magical and moving landscape that God has dazzled blessed with an abundance of brightness, and anyone that has been there knows that these descriptions are not clichés made up for tourism brochures. These lands have been shaped by strong and constant Antarctic winds, which as a natural sculptor has slowly carved trees, bushes, rocks and mountains, chiseling them and giving the landscape a by unique and remarkable peculiarity. In Patagonia the sun’s shadows are absolute black. The silver and gold brightness and the textures of the land alternate from brown to gray colors, in a great variety as affected by different lights and by an ever-changing climate. shadows “The gift of sight” will allow you to capture all of the nuances of this varied brightness. At these flashes of light, your eyes become fascinated by the great spaces and dazzled by the beauty of the shadows.

In a Rembrandt painting, the viewer experiences bright faces, still life in half-light, and the unequalled superiority of alternating between one shadow and the other. The excessive brightness turns objects opaque and simply does not allow us to see them. On the other hand, a face becomes visible, with all of its perspective and relief. Like this painter, when lighting techniques are mastered, or more precisely, with technical expertise, one knows how to use shadows properly.

Today, there are current lighting techniques used in architecture, interior design and decoration. There is no point in thinking of a good interior design without an express and thorough study of lighting. Light allows things to not only look differently but to be different. A piece of furniture, an object, needs more than the horizontal context given by inserting it into a relational totality, emphasizing its nature and contributing dazzled by shadows 7.41

to the harmony of the collection. A large part of these objectives are obtained when and bright colors. But that attention will inevitably be ephemeral since they simply taking into account the vertical perspective given by the incidence of light and playing do not resist a serene look that is attentive and peaceful. I am referring to the detailed with an array of shadows. The light will be in charge of emphasizing and seducing with study of environment designs, of light and shadows, to be able to absorb delightfully what wants to be showed, and the shadow will correlatively be what wakes, stimulates and contemplate peacefully. And, why not mention, to aesthetically enjoy at the same and guides the ability to observe. time? This study cannot be overlooked, and maybe it should be used as a main reference to the light that lights all of the lights, which is natural light. A hidden blend of light and shadows allows your eyes to correct, calibrate and admire. A good painting, a good piece of furniture, an art piece, or a space, needs the efficient The technology of lighting continues to play a role that is more and more relevant and handling and power provided by shadows. decisive both in interior design and in architecture. An interior space that is properly decorated but does not master light and shadows properly will inevitably fail for this A beam of light allows us to focus on an object in a space, which brings it out and mistake, which we consider to be decisive. Light illuminates; shadows emphasize it and with that gives brightness and texture, enhancing its shape. Isolating and separating the make it appear. Excessive sunlight is blinding; on the other hand, the perfect dosage of object from its surrounding allows for analytical observation. The shadow will allow light and shadows allows us to enhance, add texture and epiphany to things. this enhancement and separation of the object, so that your eyes stop and focus on that specific object. The splendor of the object will be revealed because it is influenced by We need to further cultivate the maturity of “sight” in order to know how to evaluate projects in light. But what allows this enhancement and emphasis of your eyes will be given by their different space requirements, both exterior and interior. We will never exhaust or understand its shadow. Light and shadow relate dialectically to allow the brightness, texture and the enigma and, why not say it, the mystery of light. It is what allows us to see everything else. splendor of the object to come out. Their apparent contrast is combined and works for the piece and the intended ambiance. The requirements used to develop a project must include the different grading of this light according to the different objectives established. We will be able to appreciate, Taking little consideration of this complex and delicate structure of light and shadows recognize and admire objects and spaces in their entirety and depth. Sometimes poor- leads us to make the error of having two opposite faults, which burden the entire deco- ness does not come from the lack of abundance or things, but in the lack of our own rative ambience that is intended. This way, the excess of shadows produces exhaustion, sight, which makes things visible and beautiful: light and shadows. makes it difficult to appreciate detail, and focuses one’s eyes only on the thick areas, turning all nuances uninteresting. At the same time, the effects of the excessive light The office of Enrique Concha B & Diseñadores Asoc. is made up of a team of 20 people that has must be diffused, since it also does not allow us to see anything, or worse, everything been dedicated to interior design for over 25 years. In addition, it owns two important decorating shops with a permanent furniture display and a large collection or art pieces and antiques. The firm that can be seen is on the same artistic level with no relief. has provided interior design services for over 45 hotels, six cruise ships, offices and private residences. What characterizes this office are the professional results of creative diversity for the ambience it has It is understood that I am not referring to the different lighting effects — those used achieved. It has also been responsible for very important projects in Europe and the U.S. Important projects include the interior design of the Chilean Pavilion at Expo Sevilla 92, in Spain, remodeling for advertising signs and billboards that specifically look to get attention using signs the Government Palace of Chile, and the Summer Palace of the President of the Republic of Chile. 8.43

J o h n

F a u l k n e r

G r i m s h a w Global cultures are merging, for the better, for the worse, the future will reveal all.

The challenge is how we as designers can succeed in assisting evolving and developing global communities through good design while maintaining a diversity and individuality design essential for human sustainability and balance.

Good design ideas should transcend all cultures, to be a defining influence based on the simple premise of improving people’s lives. Good design matters, but as with any language, does not always directly translate from one culture to the next. Assumptions that are made for based on a specific cultural definition of what constitutes good design, for all the right rea- sons, can spell disaster when combined with a lack of local knowledge and understanding.

Geographical, climatic, social, political, religious, historic, linguistic, economic — many variables demand that culturally specific design processes and preconceptions adapt, rein- diversity vent or completely change to address this emerging critically important aspect of crossing cultural design borders. So often international design formulas and architecture either only address the foreign expectations of good design or notionally incorporate a regional stereotypical cultural theme born out of Hollywood.

For example, in Mexico, one general international perception of a regional design theme is bright primary colors, so often used by foreign design firms to such poor effect. In actual fact, Mexican culture is hugely rich and diverse. It presents so many more interesting design opportunities that could be incorporated in the context of an internationally driven project, if the designer would just take the time to look beyond merely a general understanding of a foreign culture.

Our goal must be to provide the very best of international design processes, at the same time incorporating the sometimes subtle but important specifics of a different culture. Failure to acknowledge or incorporate a different perspective, however small, shows only contempt and ignorance of the unfamiliar or new and will inevitably lead to a homog- design for diversity 8.45

enized, dull global community where individuality, personality, character and identity are John Grimshaw has over 10 years of design experience involving complex international building suppressed in accordance to mass general preconceptions. developments with completed projects in China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, United Kingdom, Philippines, South Africa and Mexico. As the design director of Edmonds International, his prime responsibility is to direct all planning and design work incorporating Cross-cultural design strategies are challenges rewarded by virtue of assisting cultures strong design ideals with the pragmatic needs of an individual project and client. through proposing and sharing familiar design precedents and processes to an unfamiliar audience. They provide the designer with a tremendous opportunity to improve, reinvent, innovate and conceive new ideas that challenge existing design preconceptions and help to define and evolve a new design language as we move forward into the twenty-first century. Cross-cultural design factors and how effectively we deal with them will ultimately define the very future shape of our global built environment.

We can provide both ordinary and extraordinary design solutions through discussion, review, self critique and an open mind, and through understanding the effectiveness and limitations of our own design culture, while embracing the precious assets valued attributes of both emerging and now unfortunately disappearing regional design cultures.

Identifying the balance between providing design solutions that are just as appropriate for one culture as another against solutions proposed based solely on our own individual and often unique cultural values, and only assumed to be applicable for all, is not always easy. Design priorities for developing communities need to be understood and addressed within the whole picture of the region. Design recommendations should be just that — recommendations, not foreign design policy.

Pushing the envelope, thinking out of the box, cutting-edge, progressive design must translate through all cultures only through a legacy of real sustainability, not just an executive egotistic sales pitch.

Design does matter because, when truly effective, it can help develop and evolve a rich global community that can celebrate and appreciate all types of design culture while still maintaining the uniqueness and color of its own. 9.47

F r a n c i s

D u f f y James Joyce had a word for moments of insight when we see right through convention and suddenly appreciate how things really are. He called such moments “epiphanies.” Such a flash of insight happened to me when I was in Texas. I had been explaining to the senior partners of a very large international client how they could use their office design space far more effectively. Since these partners were rightly concerned with driving down occupancy costs, throughout all their operations everywhere, my proposals were very acceptable. Immediately after the minor consultancy triumph — how nice to be able to make a universally popular, cost-saving proposal — I glanced out of the window of the presentation room and saw before me the whole of downtown Dallas, glistening under strategy the pale, dusty blue November sky. Four unpalatable truths came to mind. First, half of the shiny office buildings I was looking at were less than ten years old; second, half were half-empty because of enthusiastic over-building in that highly volatile city in the late 1980s; third, I had just been explaining how, quite practically, my clients could reduce the amount of office space that they would normally have expected to use by one-third for the or even half; and finally, I was almost certain that about half of the partners I had been speaking to had some portion of their pensions invested in funds that owned such build- ings as the ones I was staring at.

Suddenly real estate didn’t seem so real any more. I realize just how rapidly ways of future working in the office were changing, and how radically these changes would affect the conventions upon which office design and real estate practice have been based for decades. But I saw that what was more important was that everyone will be affected by the changes because they are irreversible. The future of the economies of all advanced countries, as well as of the shape and the quality of life in our cities, depends upon office architects and people in business not only anticipating, but taking full advantage of, all the changes that are taking place.

These changing ways of working are being generated by an unprecedented combination of global economic pressures and extraordinary advances in information technology. While intense, international competition is forcing businesses to examine and rethink design strategy for the future office 9.49

their organizational structures, modern technology is making it possible to use time, as generated by that person over that period of time — are becoming so important. Such well as space, in the office in new and creative ways. No longer is it necessary for an indices inform top management of how well office space is serving business; and push individual to occupy a particular place from nine to five, five days a week. Equipped with architecture, space planning, and interior design from being nothing but a nuisance, or the mobile telephone, the modem, and the personal computer, people can choose when, simple decoration, into the cut-and-thrust world of strategic management. as well as where, to work. The implications are profound and far-reaching for business as well as for office design. A few years ago, it would have been hard to find enough convincing examples of innova- tive, new offices. It would not have been possible, as it is now, to show how closely office Just as a business must flex and change to survive, so the most vital function of an office design related to business success. Nor could the changing relationship between design building is to facilitate and accommodate change. The wrong one in the wrong place, and organizational structure have been described so clearly. Today we can see the potential fitted out in the wrong way, can quickly snuff out organizational initiative. Many people that office design has as an instrument of change management. The opportunities must do not realize the crucial effect that buildings can have on business. Bad architecture can not be lost. Managing change must involve simultaneously rethinking the use of human sap business life in a variety of ways because the pathology of poor office design is so resources, reinventing the ways in which information technology should be used, and extensive: space that costs too much to run; leases that cannot be escaped from in times of redesigning the working environment. And it must be recognized that the ways in which recession; square footage that suddenly becomes too abundant or too scarce; cranky build- office buildings are procured and managed are as important in determining the quality of ing forms that make face-to-face internal communication difficult; parcels of space that the working environment as the physical structures and their interiors. are fragmented and exacerbate internal divisions; design features that insidiously overvalue status; inadequate physical apparatus such as clogged ducting that can cripple an electronic The office building is one of the great icons of the twentieth century. Office towers network; and environments that poison and pollute. Above all, and often perilously under- dominate the skylines of cities in every continent. The most visible index of economic estimated, is the importance of the messages that are broadcast by architectural imagery activity, of social, technological and financial progress, they have come to symbolize about the values of the organizations and of the people who work in them. the enormous changes that have come about. What is extraordinary is not so much that the office has been such a success over the last one hundred years but that this success Designed well, however, office buildings can play a pivotal role in business success. The is so rarely acknowledged, and that the received image of the office is gray, not golden. right fit-out, for example, might call for great initial capital investment, but is easily Office work and office culture rarely feature in literature, in art, or in the theater, and justified when spectacular reductions are made in revenue wasted on space per year. when they do, the picture tends to be grim. For Franz Kafka (Austrian poet and novelist) But more than this, good buildings can become the means by which the achievement the office was a nightmare — the physical manifestation of life-destroying bureaucracy. of commercial objectives is accelerated. Properly used and professionally managed, they For the American painter Edward Hopper, the landscape of the office-bound city was can be instrumental in driving forward change. And in an increasingly fluid business the setting for a bitter commentary on the emptiness and melancholy of modern life. environment, the relationship between success and the design and use of office space In the novels of Sinclair Lewis, Arnold Bennett, and H.G Wells — not to mention the is critical. This is why systematic measures of a building’s performance — such as the more colorful comic-book pages of Batman and Robin — office work provides the drab, telltale comparison between the cost of accommodating a person per year and the income diurnal backdrop against which a parallel, alternative world of fantasy and imagination design strategy for the future office 9.51

is all the more entrancing. Film, that quintessentially twentieth-century medium, often their contribution to modern enterprise. By the 1960s the office began to be populated by presents the office in a more glamorous light but even in the movies offices are not usu- wave after wave of new specialists — programmers, systems analysts, paralegals, market- ally the favorite environment of heroes. ing managers, consultants, designers. But they seem to have had little sense of their place in history (and generally even less of an interest in their working environment). Instead, And even though so many people in present-day North America, northern Europe and they tended toward an overwhelming and exclusive interest in whatever they were doing Japan work in offices — at least 50 percent of the working population, as opposed to at the time. The consequence was that very few office workers realized how numerous, a mere 5 percent at the beginning of the century — fundamental anti-office attitudes different and diverse they were becoming. More importantly, they failed collectively to seem to persist. It is easy to believe that the negative views expressed by certain artists notice that their familiar office environment was very rapidly becoming the dominant and writers are shared by many office workers. factor in shaping the urban and social landscapes of the twentieth century. So, although the status of office workers began to improve from the 1960s onwards, it seems that One particularly deep-seated reason may be that the values embedded in office architec- collectively they continued to be as unassertive as their less-qualified predecessors and, in ture rank as one of the least attractive features of our times. Until the last decades of the doing so, they failed to make much positive impact on the image of the office. nineteenth century ‘real’ work was done on the farm, in the mine, on the high seas; the dreary office, with its complement of compliant clerks, was peripheral — certainly not But perhaps the most fundamental reason why the importance of the office to twentieth- worth giving serious thought to or spending serious money on. The office, in its present century society has always been underestimated is that much of what it generates, is to form, exists directly as a consequence of the managerial changes that occurred in the all intents and purposes, invisible — certainly to the outside world. Information cannot western world at the end of the nineteenth century when it became both possible and be seen. In a materialist century, if you expect something to be noticed and talked about, necessary to exercise control over manufacturing and distribution through accumulating immateriality is, not surprisingly, a grave disadvantage. Yet today, more than ever before, and manipulating large amounts of information. More and more people became neces- offices are essentially all about knowledge, the highest form of information, and the most sary to carry out what were inherently very dull and repetitive tasks, largely paper-based. precious commodity we have. Its rapidly growing importance in modern society, and (It is easy to forget that the very term ‘computer’ referred originally not to machines the prediction that the management of knowledge will be one of the chief features of but to the people who laboriously performed the arithmetical calculations that are twenty-first-century life confirm the centrality of the office in modern society and make carried out today, automatically and practically instantaneously, by electronic devices.) a serious re-evaluation of our attitudes imperative. The top-down style of management associated with organizing such routine tasks was never associated with sensitivity or imagination. The dominant office culture of the twentieth century can be traced back to the work of Frederick Taylor, 1856–1915. He made his great contribution to the study of working Another reason for general negative perception of the office — acknowledged as a com- methods at the Bethlehem Steel Mills at the end of the nineteenth century, revolutionizing, mon theme of mid-century sociology — is that even as their numbers grew, the status of through careful observation and ruthless control, the way in which physical tasks were done. the majority of office workers continued to decline during the first half of the twentieth Taylor’s methods made possible Henry Ford’s subsequent development of mass produc- century; more and more of these workers were women, with a tendency to under-estimate tion. His great contribution to management thinking was called “scientific management.” design strategy for the future office 9.53

What it meant was treating people as if they were simply so many units of production. of all, your very own office. It is hardly surprising, given these values, that the typical “Taylorism,” as it is also called, led to the dehumanization of work, first in the factory and early-twentieth-century office building became nothing more than what the American then, a little later, in the office. People at work were observed and calibrated, literally with sociologist C. Wright Mills described as an “enormous file.” a stop watch, through carefully designed “time and motion studies,” conducted by men in white coats whose job it was to find the most efficient ways of using labor. It was not, No one today takes Taylorism seriously — it has long since been superseded by far more however, the idea of measurement that was repugnant about Taylorism — measurement sophisticated and human ideas and practices in management thinking. Yet the kinds of remains crucial to business and is one of the most important aspects of profitability — but office interiors, buildings, and cities that Taylor indirectly created are still being replicated. the attitude that lay behind it: that people are managed best if they are treated as unthinking Until recently, it was only in the social democratic climate of certain northern European automatons. Taylor’s unfeeling abuse of reason in the cause of productivity engendered the countries, particularly Scandinavia and Germany, in the years following the Second World same denial of sentiment that made the horrors of the Second World War possible. It is not War, that Taylorist office environments were seriously questioned and rethought. The surprising that among his greatest fans were Stalin and Hitler. Taylorist office may never have been much loved, but it has certainly proved itself to be most remarkably persistent elsewhere. The reasons for this need serious analysis because Textbooks on how to run the office in the Taylorist way began to appear in North Taylor’s influence on the physical office environment is today hindering the adoption of America in the first decade of this century. The influence they exerted spread to Europe, new ways of working and is in danger of suffocating new management initiatives. but there the ideas were taken up with less wholehearted energy and more inhibitions from the past. What mattered most on both sides of the Atlantic were the impersonal What happened was this: Taylorism was the dominant management philosophy when bureaucratic virtues of order, regularity and thrift. Intelligence and inventiveness were the office as a building type was created, so the particular values that Taylor emphasized not expected from ordinary workers. Punctuality and synchrony certainly were, because — order, hierarchy, supervision, depersonalization — became an integral part of the with the only information technology of the time — the typewriter and the telephone architecture of those initial, pioneering, turn-of-the-century North American buildings. — it was absolutely essential for all the clerks to be assembled together in one place at The creation of these buildings involved not just accommodating what were then the one time in order to get the work done. Supervision was another key feature of the office most up-to-date and perfect ideas in office organization, but also required equally bold run on Taylorist principles. It was thought that people on their own could not be trusted, inventions in construction, in building services and in real estate practice. This melange that without the presence of a constant watchful eye, they may revert to non-machine- of innovations was so successful that, once established, the pattern of the office building like behavior. Accepted norms in dress and behavior naturally followed. immediately crystallized, and in that process of crystallization the transient values of the pioneers of office organization found their way into short-term interiors and long-term Implicit in Taylor’s thinking was hierarchy. Everyone had their place; everyone knew architectural forms. The consequence of so much success has been extraordinarily self- their place. Male clerks were expected to stay in the same job for life. Honesty and sustaining and resistant to change, particularly in the U.S. commitment were rewarded with job security. With chronometer-like precision, career progress was marked by the gradual unfolding of rewards, often in what became the Meanwhile, management ideas moved on, in different ways in different parts of the universal currency of space standards: a larger desk, more space around the desk and, best world. From America streamed a series of inventive theories, including, in the 1960s, the design strategy for the future office 9.55

notion of the office as cybernetic system — a kind of computer that connected people Of course, rethinking the office as a club won’t suit everyone, nor is this the only way and machines. But until the 1990s, when managerial innovation gathered more momen- forward either in organizational terms or in office design. Club-type offices happen to tum, stimulated by developments in information technology, these ideas had surprisingly suit particular kinds of business. Other ways of rethinking the office are just as valid for little effect on the ways that designers thought about the physical office environment. other types of business where patterns of occupancy are less intermittent and activity Today, somewhat as it was in the North America of a hundred years ago, there is a is more intense. In terms of overall number of all offices worldwide, however, innova- revolution happening in the office workplace. New ideas about organization are being tion is very far from being statistically significant. A more representative sample of the actively explored. Old habits are being questioned and abandoned. The conventions that thousands of office buildings in the U.S. and on the Pacific Rim demonstrate how sadly govern the relationship between home and office life are being renegotiated. As a result predictable and repetitive office design has become. the discrepancy between the limited vocabulary of standard office layouts and increas- ingly novel forms of organization is becoming much more apparent. Until very recently, Born in Great Britain, Francis Duffy has spent much of his professional career on both sides of the what little innovation there had been in office design has tended to lag behind, rather Atlantic. He obtained his doctorate degree from Princeton University. He is founder of the interna- than anticipate, organizational initiatives. Now, however, there is evidence of change. tional architectural and management consulting practice DEGW and supports the global development of the company from New York. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects and New kinds of office environments are appearing. In some organizations, for example, the received a CBE honor from Queen Elizabeth for his services to architecture. This essay is excerpted office is turning into a kind of club. The traditional club allows an elite group, often of from his book The New Office, with permission of the publisher Conran Octopus. ambitious, successful, intellectual people with many common interests, to share what is, in effect, a kind of palace, a rich and diverse environment that provides a level of comfort and service that each member could not afford separately. Moreover by frequenting the same club, members are able to take calculated advantage of the probabilities of more or less accidental, more or less intended, personal encounters. Some businesses today are trying to simulate this in order to promote interaction among their staff, to give them access to richer resources, to accommodate more types of activity, and to save money at the same time. The conventional office is an exercise in simultaneity — it can only work when everyone is at their place. From this simple premise comes the nine-to-five working day, the sharp separation of home and work, the dormitory suburb, and the vast apparatus of commuting which characterizes the cities of the twentieth century. The club- like office relies on a very different sort of timetable, one for networkers who don’t have to be told what to do or where to be at a certain time, but nevertheless need a place to meet, exchange ideas, and share resources. This approach has only been feasible thanks to advances in communication and information technology.

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T o m

P e t e r s The following is excerpted from an interview in @issue magazine.

What does design encompass for you? Design ranges from the physical layout of a room to the makeup artists who present design Larry King to the public. It’s Winston Churchill’s “spontaneous” witty remarks, all of which he had carefully written out the night before on small scraps of paper and carried around with him. Another huge part of design is usability. Steven Jobs is quoted saying “design is the soul of a man-made creation.” Design is also rather like the lines in Rose Tremain’s novel Music and Silence... “We do not really know where music comes from, as a way or why, or when the first note of it was heard, and we shall never know. It is the human soul speaking without words, but it seems to cure pain.” For me design is elusive, it’s soul, it’s abstract and it’s all of the opposites of those things. In a world loaded with stuff that looks like all the other stuff and performs like all the other stuff, design is to stand a way to stand out. Is design more important for marketing services than products? Harvard marketing expert Ted Levitt pointed out years ago that if your product is tangible (planes, boats, cars, pen knife), you need to distinguish yourself from the herd by emphasizing intangibles, i.e. service. If your product is intangible (banking, out travel, etc.), distinguish yourself from the masses by emphasizing the tangible design — FedEx, for example, stands out on the tangibles — strong branding, clean trucks, easy-to-use forms. To me a business system like FedEx’s that works transparently on the surface and offers brilliant simplicity is as much about design as an iMac or a Beetle. If you’re a service business, it’s important to specifically work on the tangibles.

I found it interesting that when ID Magazine published its Top 40 list of organizations that make effective use of design, half of them were service companies. There were as many FedExs, Bloombergs and New York Yankees on the list as there were Gillettes, Caterpillars and Apples. design as a way to stand out 10.59

Why do designers often claim that corporate executives think differently from them? Do you consider the physical manifestation of a brand important? We’re trained as engineers. We have MBAs. Because we believe that business is a reduc- The physical manifestation of a brand is infinitely important. There’s nothing distinc- tionist activity, rather than a holistic activity. Mistake number one is treating design as a tive about the Kodak identity except Kodak yellow. Shell yellow, Time red, Coke red. veneer issue rather than a soul issue. The dumbest mistake is viewing design as something But the physical manifestation of a brand must always be consistent with what’s going you do at the end of the process to “tidy up” the mess, as opposed to understanding that on inside the company. it’s a “day one” issue and part of everything. In In Search of Excellence I said that the number one trait of excellent companies is a bias for action. That action is manifested in Tom Peters has been synonymous with business management since he authored In Search of the design of prototypes. Once you have a prototype you react with innovation. In other Excellence in 1982 written with Robert H. Waterman, Jr. and cited as one of the “Top Three words, when you have real things to play with, you have something to talk about. Business Books of the Century” by NPR. This seminal work and his other popular books have helped to transform corporate America. His latest work includes “The New Reinventing Work Series.” This interview is excerpted from @issue, The Journal of Business and Design, Vol. 6. To what extent is the design of the workplace important? No.1, published by Corporate Design Foundation and sponsored by Potlatch Corporation. Space design is arguably the most powerful organizational, culture-shaping tool. To give one example, an exponential curve from Tom Allen at MIT showed the effect of location of communication. It demonstrated that if team members are situated within thirty feet of each other, they communicate like crazy. More than that and it might as well be three thousand miles. I discovered while consulting with a unit of Pitney Bowes that a secret to their success was that when a little restaurant near their headquarters went out of business, the division rented it for $2,000 a month and put a team there. For all kinds of reasons, like distance from the corporate headquarters, like shabby surroundings, like proximity to one another, it was enormously powerful. I have been appalled by the sterility of corporate settings. The real world of enterprise, whether it’s serving customers or developing products, is about risks and blood and passion and life and human beings. It makes no sense to me that the places where we are supposed to do productive work are incredibly impersonal. Corporate managers overseeing design need to appreciate the importance of design. Ninety-nine percent of the population appreciate design on a personal level. Why else do we agonize over what color car to buy and what style reflects who we are? But we turn it off when we come to the office. In working with people on this, including myself, I found the only practical exercise is to carry a notebook and pay attention to stuff that turns you on or turns you off — and don’t worry about why. You’ll begin to find that your preferences go from the deep soul aesthetic stuff to (Don) Normanesque usability features. 11.61

F r a n k O .

G e h r y From a lecture at Archeworks January 2000

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao was what the city wanted. It was a business decision, made by the Minister of Commerce and the President of the Basque region. They hired design, other architects to revitalize their city, including Sir Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava, James Stirling and Ricardo Legoretta. These businessmen in Bilbao are very interested in architecture. They understand that it pays. Unfortunately this is something we seem to have to keep learning over and over again, although I don’t know why. There is some value in architecture, in terms of an economic return. The Bilbao museum and all the artistry other buildings in the city have brought prosperity and jobs to the region in Spain. It has seen an economic transformation as a result of architectural investments.

I’m sorry to say that at the end of the day most people still don’t realize that architecture pays. They just go back and do the ordinary. They ask for something less without real- and izing that something better does not cost that much more in the end. It takes a little longer to conceive. You can’t just drip it out. The first sketch I did of Bilbao on the first day I was there does look like the finished building, but it took three years to get there. I wish I could figure out how to can it right away, I would be able to make a fortune. But it’s an excruciatingly slow process from my point of view. It’s like watching paint dry. economics Although we do work within normal business schedules or else nobody would hire us if we didn’t get the job done on time. We are pretty good at meeting schedules.

We start with a very thorough understanding of what the project is about, what is the intent and what the client wants. Then we identify the budget. In most cases the budget isn’t adequate to accomplish the client’s needs. Everybody has wishful thinking. But we try to be very clear and thorough in our estimates. Over the years, the curvilinear shapes I got into led me to a computer (which I still don’t know how to turn on today). But the idea of being able to define these shapes with such accuracy changes the equation between the architect and the contractor quite a bit. The normal system of construction in America is that the architect and the contractor, after the working drawings are done, design, artistry and economics 11.63

somehow magically become different people. The architect rises to a judicial relationship With our system, shapes can be transferred to the computer in fifteen minutes and then between the contractor and the owner. But it never does work that way. What happens we know how much it’s going to cost per square foot to build those shapes because we’ve is that the contractor and the owner get close, because the owner is worrying about the had the necessary experience. Now we can budget jobs in the earliest design phases. Also money and the contractor is controlling the money. And the first thing the contractor we know that if we use flat materials it’s relatively cheap, when we use single curved mate- says is: “If you straighten out that line, I can save you $100,000!” rials it’s a little more expensive, and it’s most expensive when we warp materials. So we can rationalize all these shapes in the computer and make a judgment about the quantity of We found in Bilbao that by using the computer we were able to get amazing accuracy each shaped to be used. The most important thing is that the computer gives us a tool we on the shapes of the steel. The steel is plasma cut in high intensity liquid. We give it the can use to communicate with the contractors. It’s interesting because you wouldn’t think program and each piece is numbered and then shipped to the site, and it goes up like that would happen with something as technical as the computer, but in fact, it has. And an erector set from then on. The contractor loves the precision of it because he doesn’t you wouldn’t think an office like ours would lead it, and actually be writing the software have to think about what the architect was doing, or why he was doing it. In Bilbao we program that other people may be able to use. We use an enhanced program that allows had six different bidders on the steel and they were within 1 percent of each other and us to control the architectural processes to within seven decimal points of accuracy. This 18 percent under budget. So that kind of precision changes the relationship between can change the way architecture is practiced and can make new buildings possible — more owner and contractor. exciting sculptural shapes in the landscape instead of just plain boxes.

The existing system of responsibilities for the most part in this country is very antiquat- Working with Paul Allen on the Experience Music Project in Seattle was fascinating. He ed, but we are helping to change that. We are getting creative with insurance coverage to insisted I explain every phase to him and I did. That’s what happens more or less in every minimize finger pointing as to who is responsible when something goes wrong. It starts client confrontation I have. I bring them into my process. I say: “Watch it, get involved, to give the architect a more responsible role. I welcome this change. I think it would be understand that I’m not stopping here, there’s more to it as I go along.” When I present best if the architect had a parental role, instead of being infantalized by the system as is this to them, I explain where I’m going in words that human beings can understand. I so often the case at present. explain the issues. If the client doesn’t feel married to a project, you’re dead. If the client buys in, you’re home free because then no matter what happens the client will go along The new computer and management system allows us to unite all the players with one with you. My success has been that, and it makes for better buildings. modeling system. It’s the master builder principle. I’m designing with specific conditions and I don’t go out of bounds. When you design without knowing the boundaries, you Born in Toronto in 1930, Frank O. Gehry studied architecture at Harvard and subsequently estab- find a form and you become enamored with it. It crystallizes. It’s a fixed image. It’s really lished his office in Santa Monica, California. Recipient of the Pritzker Prize, one of the most presti- hard once it’s a fixed image to go back and cut, cut, cut (to come down to the budget). gious honors in architecture, he has also received the AIA Gold Medal and over one hundred awards from the American Institute of Architects for his outstanding architectural design. Today he is appreci- But if you’re cutting as you go, as we do now with the new system, you don’t get fixed ated as a world leader in his field. These remarks, from a lecture he gave at Archeworks, an alternative until you know you can do it and you know you can afford to do the building. design school in Chicago in January 2000, are printed with his permission.

12.65

P e n n y

B e n d a Without a doubt, things have changed. In the past century or for that matter, the past decade, we have witnessed a series of unsettling economic and cultural mutations, sudden and radical departures from our past, from everything we thought would last. We’re already miles from home and moving fast towards an even greater unknown the — more modern miracles and wonder.

By now, the experience of overdrive is familiar if not comfortable. Most of us speed through the day and into every corner of the world via wired and wireless technology. Nearly all of us have become participants in the new consumer society with its compel- case ling and ever-changing array of products and their media-born images. In Tom Wolfe’s words, Americans are a people possessed by “hog stomping baroque exuberance” for the things of this world. Without apology, we love our Harleys, our Fender guitars and Zippo lighters. We cherish the Crayolas and high-tops we had as kids. And we’ve exported our appetite for material objects across the barriers of language, culture and for politics. We’ve exported the American Dream.

But what has all this got to do with design? Just that design has been integral to the construction of the modern landscape, investing objects with meaning as well as giving them form. Design is the agency by which the dream of the good life, available to all, design is made real. Design is the crucible in which the material world takes form.

During the twentieth century, there was a radical cultural shift as hand-guided tools gave way to the machines of mass production and then to the bits and bytes of the digital age. Along with this shift, design became an essential part of the production of human artifacts. By mid-century our private and public spaces were filled with designed things, the material artifacts of commerce and culture. Design became a fea- ture of modernity. It changed the way the world looked. And by the end of the century, we began to see that design not only shaped our tools, systems and spaces, but the deeper dimensions of our experience, our lived life.

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Today, design has achieved a place in the cultural hierarchy alongside the fine arts and designers. It will shake design loose from threadbare concepts and require American enter- architecture, although design is more closely aligned with advertising, marketing and busi- prise to put our country’s best design talents to good use. ness. The client sets the brief and picks up the tab. Unfortunately, few have understood the fundamental role of design as an element within the production process or that design has Taking an historical perspective, the design profession in America came to life in people purposes of a broader scope; that it is, itself, an economic force and a way of shaping a rich like Raymond F. Loewy, George Nelson, Florence Knoll, Saul Bass, and Eliot Noyse all collective life in our culture. of whom were closely aligned with business. Noyse saw himself as a “bridge between large corporations and the artistic sensibility.” Too often, that bridge has been unsteady, It is time for American designers to stop apologizing for their ties to the business of laden with mutual suspicion. But more recently, designers as diverse as Michael Graves, producing and selling goods. And it is time for corporate America to understand the Bruce Mau and Massimo Vignelli have done much to convince the corporate world real work of design. Design is not decoration. Designers are not “commercial artists.” that design is more than a frill tacked on when the real business of the day is done. Designed objects are not just about status. Design is not just about the way things look. It is indeed, essential to the transactions between a company and its audience. There It is about the way they work and how they mean and the way they act in our culture. is good reason why design-driven companies like Disney, Martha Stewart and Apple stand out from the crowd. These enlightened companies place design at a premium. The value of an Eames plywood chair does not reside only in its glamour as a legendary They invite designers to set high standards of aesthetics and performance that convey artifact, its ability to signify the prestige and aesthetic sophistication of its owner. It lies the thoughtfulness with which they do business. Their extraordinary success is solid — first in the simple fact that the shape of the chair is sympathetic to the human body objectively verifiable — evidence of the value of good design. — it’s comfortable. It’s also easy to mass produce and thus makes good design affordable and available to a lot of people. Then there’s what the chair has to tell us about the prag- Of course, the history and achievements of design are not limited to the United States. matism and idealism of mid-century America when it first appeared. The Eames chair One has only to think of the Volkswagen by Ferdinand Porsche, the little black dress by reflects a time and a place, a cultural moment if you will, when “modern” designers Coco Chanel, or the Barcelona chair by Mies van der Rohe. These economic works are sought to help people live a life of great simplicity, comfort and creativity. emblematic of the rigor, originality and flair of European design and its close creative link with companies like Alessi, Vitra, Braun and Artemide. In fact, European designers have Design remains modern in that most designers still want to make life easier and better and enjoyed a stronger alliance with industry and are granted more authority than is typically more interesting. Their strategies, however, have diversified in response to new conditions, true here. Still, America can claim to have created the profession of design, as distinct from articulating new ways of thinking, living and working. Today, expanding technological architecture or craft. As a profession, design was nurtured and invigorated in the United possibilities and a new pan-cultural marketplace create new ways of being and acting in States by a vital capitalist economy, a freer intellectual atmosphere and what can still be the world. Design must address a pluralistic and often dissonant global culture, as well as a called the “pioneer spirit.” younger generation bred on complex, infinitely variable electronic images that challenge old notions of “reality.” Call it the MTV generation if you like but this visually literate, hip-hop In spite of the profession’s best efforts, design often remains a fugitive concept. The audience is wired differently from previous generations and will challenge our creativity as trouble is, design is multiply defined and multiply employed. Its process is intuitive if the case for design 12.69

not imprecise; its purpose hotly contested by designers themselves. To add to the confu- making design a strategic asset. The FedEx logo is clean, bold, smooth and dynamic; the sion, the genres of design have become blurred — graphic design overlaps interior design, forms are easy to read and to use. The logo conveys the company’s approach to doing product design and electronic design. Too many of the people who hire designers still business and who it is. The user-friendly forms create the expectation for a positive think of design as mere execution, as a way of cleaning up. Design hides the fingerprints relationship between the customer and FedEx. It isn’t art — or rocket science. It isn’t of engineers or smoothes out the surface with cosmetic gloss of style. Designers are called “clever” or “hip.” It simply fulfills its purpose gracefully and efficiently. But the “problem” in only after the marketing team has charted the trends and crunched the numbers. This of creating a unique identity was solved as a design problem, a communication problem blind faith in “hard data” and superficial understanding of design may account for the — and therefore, it succeeds and so does Federal Express. slick and faceless corporate identities that too often see print and for giant steps in product design like Crystal Pepsi, the Pinto and Microsoft Windows 3.0. Then, there is the iMac. Early on, Apple realized the importance of design in making and packaging “intimate devices” (then chairman John Scully’s term) in ways that people The point is that design with originality, rigor and elegance does not come out of a could identify with. The company, with its deep commitment to research and devel- focus group or a market survey that sees users as programmable consumers. It hap- opment, focused on design and confronted the challenge of humanizing technology. pens because someone trusts the designer to do his or her job. Design must, of course, In 1999, it introduced the iMac with a translucent soft-edged housing. There were five address the expectations of its audience. But it can also challenge assumptions — and candy colors to choose from. You could see inside. You could pick it up by the handle provide consumers with the delight of surprise, the subversive pleasure of unexpected and carry it around. It was new and it promised to be fun. Sales were phenomenal. On color, scale and shape. Design is, after all, a creative activity even if that creativity is the other hand, the mouse created for the iMac failed as design and as a product. It “managed” by IBM. As Helmut Esslinger of frogdesign has said, it is in first seeking just doesn’t work right. good design, “to design mainstream products as art,” that one creates successful prod- ucts that set new social and commercial trends. The first computer mouse, invented by Douglas Engelbart in the early 1960s, was patented in 1970 as the X-Y Position Indicator. It was a brilliant concept, a way of If the “hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes,” then perhaps the hardest integrating the mechanical action of the hand with a fluid visual and intellectual expe- thing for a designer to do is to explain design. Outside the profession, “design words” rience. Rather than just pushing a button, the user could hold, move and direct the like function and form are seen as arcane concepts used only by coffee-fueled designers mouse while making a series of choices among the icons floating on the monitor screen. when talking among themselves. However, those esoteric design ideas are not just The mouse acted not only as an extension of the body, but of the activity of the brain words, but guiding principles that have meaning in the real world. They become actual with its own scurrying neurological software. It was at once, a highly innovative control and material in simple and efficient kitchen tools, beautiful furniture, and legible mechanism and a “friendly” animated entity, born from extensive design exploration as subway signage; in public posters that convey their purpose with clarity and authority, well as the study of psychomotor coordination and other human factors. logotypes that use symbolic language with precision and elegance. In contrast to the original mouse, the smaller iMac mouse, designed in 1997, kept the Federal Express, for example, is a company that solved its communication problems by muscles of the hand in perpetual tension and caused pain in the fingers, wrist, forearm the case for design 12.71

and shoulders. Its plump shape and lucid case were perhaps more visually appealing than Penny Benda is a freelance writer who works with corporate clients and graphic designers to create annual the original beige mouse, but it was too small and too light in weight. This unfortunate reports, corporate and product brochures, institutional brochures, catalogs, web sites and miscellaneous com- pany materials. Clients include Teknion, Vanderbyl Design, Mead Paper Company, Design Within Reach, evolution seems like a case of the marketers getting the better of design intelligence. Formica Corporation, Sony, the AIGA and Bank of America.

The case of the iMac mouse gives clues as to the complexity of the design process. Again it suggests that design is about more than the way things look; it suggests that the designers must be able to address a myriad of functional and formal factors. And work in concert with the rest of the product development and marketing teams, to ensure that intelligent decisions prevail. Here I want to suggest the true reach of design. I want to propose that design can offer more than strategies for creating higher profits and presenting a preferred image to the world.

My proposition is that design is engaged with nothing less than the total physical and cultural landscape. It makes it possible to fit our environment to our human needs and desires and provides a way for people to construct and interpret their lives in a world that sometimes tilts towards chaos. It is itself a force that can generate new cultural directions.

Most of us would agree that the force and beauty of art can change the way people think, feel and live. So does the grandeur of architecture; the violence of poetry or film and the banality of television. Chaos or brutality can change people. So can living with things that fall apart or create disease. It is my conviction that the power and grace of good design can also act as an agent of change to the benefit of our human life. It can guide us in creating the life we can imagine; in shaping a world with less waste and confusion, a world more beautiful, prosperous, interesting and humane.

Let’s open up the arbitrary boundary between the “suits” and the “creatives”; between business and design. It’s a dichotomy as false as any other. As allies, rather than antago- nists, we have a chance of making good on some of the promise of this new global culture, a world without boundaries, with no barriers to our individual or collective achievements. 13.73

P e t e r

L a w r e n c e The idea of the open office has been around for 30 years, but used primarily as a way to get more people into less space and lower cost. Today business objectives for the workplace are shifting way beyond reducing costs. The effective workplace program looks specifically at office designs that facilitate cultural change and enable people design to be more innovative.

As an example, SEI Investments has one of the most radical designs I’ve seen. Nobody has an office. Everybody is allocated 64 square feet of floor space, there are no cubicle walls, everything is on wheels. They have complete flexibility. That place is the result and the of years of corporate reinvention by founder and CEO Al West. In 1989, he was struggling with the question of how to get the people in the organization to work more effectively together and be more innovative. They had three businesses that might as well have been three separate companies. There was no cooperation. When a customer might have used the services of two or three of those groups, they sabo- bottom taged each other’s efforts. West brought in psychologists and did training sessions. He could not move people to think more collectively. Then a bad skiing accident laid him up for two months and he had a lot of time to think about the problem. He re-invented the company. He began by making the organization much flatter. He eliminated secretaries, including his own. Also, he wanted to shift the mindset of line people whose professional careers drove them, who saw the company as just where they happened to work. He lost 50 percent of the organization, people who didn’t fit the new company they were becoming. He felt the physical space was something they had to deal with as part of this re-invention. They lowered the cubical walls in their original space, but didn’t have as much flexibility as they wanted. They still had to pay electricians and other professionals to come in when they wanted to move people around. West eventually came to the conclusion that they needed to find a new site and build from scratch. He had been adamant that buildings and real estate were not things an organization should put money into; now he feels that the building is a major enabler to their success. design and the bottom line 13.75

There is another example of the workspace design growing out of new thinking from To produce workplace change, a benevolent dictatorship seems to produce the most the top management. When Paul O’Neill took over as CEO of Alcoa around 1990, he successful result. You need someone at the top of the organization with a very clear accelerated a re-invention process that had already begun. He felt very strongly about vision of where they want to go, what’s wrong with the current situation, and how people working together. He also believed that people needed to feel good about them- can they get there. If you ask everybody what kind of space they need, they all want a selves and that part of feeling good was being more aware of who you’re working with. closed office and twice as much space as they have now. This is because we operate with So he wanted to open up the organization and connect people. O’Neill is convinced the vocabulary of what we have now, and because the reward structure is pegged to the that chance encounters are where creative things happen. Almost three years before they reward of that corner office. Senior management has to separate hierarchy from space; moved into their new building, he took a unique step. Alcoa was in a classic aluminum- status in the organization should not determine the size office you have. Everybody clad Abramowitz building in downtown Pittsburgh. He had the top floor gutted and needs their own personal space, but it doesn’t have to be an enclosed office or cubicle. put the nine most senior people with their assistants in open-office furniture up there. He made the senior executives the prototypes of the re-invented workplace. A year later When I talked with Al West about privacy, he said at SEI they put in enclosed phone he told me, “I’m 100 percent more effective than I was before... I get more done by spaces, and they were never used. The new space has none. Al said, “The truth is accident than I did by planning.” He went on to say that in the previous organization if nobody’s listening. You just make your phone call.” His organization is truly focused on he needed to meet with the treasurer of the company to discuss a problem his secretary the success of the organization, not who said what to whom, or political issues around would call the treasurer’s secretary and they would arrange a meeting that might be two missing a critical meeting. That’s gone. weeks away. By then the immediacy of the problem was gone. He needed to be able to bump into him or walk over and talk to him about the thought in the back of his head Of course, there are some situations where separation and privacy make sense. For right then. The floor was built around a residential-size kitchen which had a table and a example, in Silicon Valley, the programmer needs heads-down space, but there are soft- coffee machine. O’Neill says, “We got more work done sitting around the kitchen table ware companies where nobody has an office or even cubicle. Somehow it works. Alcoa than anywhere else.” The other central feature was an all-glass conference room with has phone rooms with high cubicle walls built on their standard 9 x 9 footprint. You the door open all the time. Anybody walking by could join a meeting. can walk in and close the door if you’ve got to do a private interview or make a private phone call. There are conference rooms of different sizes. When I went through their In today’s work environment we have to think about the technology used in the work- new building, every room of the conference center on the ground floor was brimming space, but we need to give more attention to supporting the computer between our with activity, filled with people with laptops open, people eating meals, people talking. shoulders, which is still the most powerful one we know. Some managers I have inter- viewed see technology as the enemy. They know it’s essential to getting work done, but How do employees learn to work in these new spaces? When you move from doors and it separates people. You have people sitting in adjacent cubicles e-mailing each other. offices to an open environment, you’ve got to help people understand how it’s going to CEOs are struggling with the question of how to get these people to bump into each be different. The CEO of Alcoa was a “benevolent dictator” insisting on his vision of other. So they ask, “What can I do to my physical space to encourage the connections an open environment. The benevolent part came out in an extensive communication which are so important to innovative and creative ideas!” program to all the people in Alcoa while the building was being designed and built. design and the bottom line 13.77

They did a newsletter. Every couple of months, they did a video status report on the value of your own people. At 3COM, they decided to make the connectors between building that included a group of employees visiting the new building site and com- buildings extra wide so people could stop and have a conversation without impeding menting on it. The videotape was played regularly in an area near the lobby of the old the flow of traffic. The bean counters said, “What? You’re putting in extra floor space? building. You had a whole program around keeping people informed. While the CEO It’s expensive!” But it was done. Spaciousness also makes a building more pleasant. had set the direction, the people were involved in the process. That balance is important. The classic example is Grand Central Station in New York. You could say there’s a lot of “wasted” air space, but it’s a gorgeous space where you can have thousands of The successful work place has symbolic as well as functional power. SEI did not antici- people on the floor and feel fine because of all that air above you. pate how much the physical space would represent who they are. Everybody in invest- ment banking says, “We’re different,” but their space shows how different they are. Last year I heard someone from Microsoft saying they have “voluntary employees.” One particular SEI group has a 90 percent close rate whenever they can get a potential Folks have so much in stock options that they can do anything they like. That’s an customer to the site — over twice the old rate. It’s not saying, “Here’s the image we extreme, but people increasingly look at things other than money when it comes to want.” It’s trying to be who you are. A classic example of doing it wrong was how AT & employment. Having a nice place to go to every day is one of them. But the aesthetic T instructed Philip Johnson, who designed their New York building. They said things should evolve out of a clear understanding of who the organization is, where it’s like, “If we had a portrait painted, Norman Rockwell would paint it.” As a result, going, and what you’re trying to do. SEI had a performance objective for this space, they got a Chippendale-topped building that, by the way, they no longer occupy. It not an aesthetic objective. But they got both a successful and attractive space. If your is essential to understand the symbolic power of space, but symbolism cannot be the performance objective is clear and you are working with a good designer, you are more driver if it’s going to be a successful building. likely to get a space that performs well and looks wonderful.

It’s not just conference rooms and workspaces that are important today. Cafeterias, As initiator of the “Effective Work Place” program, Peter Lawrence has analyzed numerous lounges and libraries are more important than ever. The head of facilities at Sun talks office environments. Chairman of Corporate Design Foundation, a non-profit organization about spending extra money on the detailing of a cafe-restaurant in the courtyard. dedicated to educating corporate America in the value of good design, he was previously Director of the Design Management Institute. For many years he has conducted programs There are wonderful wood and fabric finishes that make it a rich environment. You about design for business managers and has collaborated with business school faculty to have want people to want to go there, because they’ll bump into their co-workers and solve design included in the business school curriculum. He has developed and taught design courses the problems that are in the back of their minds. You may have saved money on open at Boston University School of Management, Babson, The London Business School, and others. offices and maybe you’ve put more people in a small space. But the intelligent CEO This essay is based on an interview with Knowledge Connections, the newsletter of the Institute for Knowledge Management. just doesn’t take that money and run, but builds more and better public spaces, more team spaces, and details them so people want to use them.

It might be said that you have to buy into the value of chance conversations to want to make those kinds of spatial investments. But actually, you have to buy into the 14.79

R o g e r

W h i t e h o u s e There is a unique manner in which each of us perceives and processes the environ- ment around us. It’s not just a matter of the differences between, say, a sighted and a blind individual, but of the remarkable variations between one sighted individual and another. These unique features of individual perception have important implications design for design. However, as design cannot respond to each person on an individual basis, designers must search for some areas of commonality. Perhaps these areas should be defined as the circles of separate spotlight beams, each encompassing a specific group of individuals. In ideal situations, the beams can be broad and so include a large group of people; in other cases, they must be more tightly focused. The essential lesson for and its designers is to understand individual needs and ensure that no one is left in the dark, either inadvertently or through ignorance.

Examples of perceptual differences abound. Some individuals who have perfect pitch can identify or whistle middle C or any other note precisely. At the other end of the impact on scale are those who are tone deaf and can’t even hold a tune when given a middle C to start with. Others, such as expert wine tasters, have such highly developed senses of taste and smell that they can identify the specific vineyard and vintage of a wine. To some of the rest of us, smell and taste are relatively insignificant aspects of our total sensory universe. In the area of visual perception, similarly, there are those who possess perception a so-called photographic memory, the visual counterpart of perfect pitch. Some indi- viduals can memorize an entire page from the telephone book at a glance and recall individual numbers from it with apparent ease.

At any specific point in our lives, our individual perceptual fingerprint is made up of three essential components. First, it depends on our sensory mechanisms, the recep- tors; such things as the rods and cones of our retinas, which determine whether or not we are colorblind, or the physical construction of our eardrums, which affect how well we hear. Second, it depends on the processing of the information received by the brain. For instance, although we actually see things upside down, we perceive them right side up. If we wear special glasses that invert our vision, our brain, after a short design and its impact on perception 14.81

but unpleasant period, corrects the situation and we see right side up again, until we parallel. Moreover, an environment of parallel lines is one rich in natural perspective remove the glasses. Then the whole process starts all over again. The specific brain — the lines of the curb, street or highway converge toward a point on the horizon. cells allocated to processing sight vary greatly from one individual to another. There is evidence to suggest that in some instances areas of the primary visual cortex of People in other cultures, in under-developed countries, for example, see far fewer blind individuals may in time be given over to the processing of auditory information, straight lines. Linear perspective is rarely experienced and so is typically not a devel- partially compensating them for the loss of sight. The third influence on perceptual oped attribute of their perception. Instead, they inhabit a landscape of plains, hills and individuality is the meaning we ascribe to what we see, hear, taste, smell, or touch. meandering rivers, inhabited by trees and animals. Their immediate environment is This interpretation, in turn, depends on memory, on the culture in which we have been of more fluid forms. Instead of the linear perspective with which we are familiar, they brought up, and on the myriad experiences we associate with what our senses tell us. inhabit a free-form world of organic shapes. As a result, their perceptual experience tells them, size is the clue to distance; perspective is of little consequence. With regard to the first component of perception, sensory mechanisms, it is worthwhile remembering that nearly 10 percent of the male population is red-green colorblind. Not only do our individual perceptual differences distinguish us from one another, However, the very term red-green colorblind, only serves to emphasize and perpetuate the but all three components of perception — sensory, brain mechanism, interpretation misconceptions we have about perception. In fact, it varies considerably in its intensity. and meaning — also change, often dramatically, over the normal course of life. As There are two very distinct types of this condition; one is a function of the red-sensitive time goes on, many of us begin to notice that we can’t focus as closely as we once did. receptors of the retina, the other of the green-sensitive receptors. If you are deficient in At some point, typically in our mid-forties, holding the newspaper at arm’s length is seeing red, you are a protonaope. Individuals deficient in seeing green are deuteranopes. no longer sufficient to enable us to read it; the type just appears too small. Then as the ability of the eyes to focus continues to decrease, both near and distance vision The second component of perception is the way our brain, in the most basic way, under- need to be corrected. stands and interprets what our senses tell us. Some people do not have the conceptual “software” to look at two-dimensional drawings and create a three-dimensional image At sixty years of age, we need a great deal more light to read by than we did as a teen- in the mind. This has enormous relevance to a designer trying to explain drawings to ager. Our ability to adjust from bright to low light has also dramatically decreased and a client, who may not have the conceptual “software” to interpret the work. In these the after-image of car headlights in our rearview mirror at night makes night driving situations, an actual site walk-through can make all the difference in understanding the increasingly less pleasant and more difficult. All of these changes are absolutely normal. designer’s intentions. But for designers, this declining visual acuity presents a special challenge, which has not been adequately addressed. It has assumed that each individual is located at the In the third component of perception, past experiences, memory, and cultural influ- center of the perceptual universe. Designers may have done, at best, a good job of ences all affect meaning. In Western culture the environment abounds in straight, and responding to the demands of that idealized universe. At worst, however, this attitude frequently parallel, lines: the facades of buildings, streets and sidewalks, railroad tracks has disenfranchised many whose needs could be readily met. Whereas we could just as — our world is constructed of beams, planks and panels whose very essence is to be easily choose a color palette perceptible to the entire sighted population, we routinely design and its impact on perception 14.83

expect the approximately 10 percent of the male population who are colorblind to tual differences as our cultural and ethnic distinctions. If that embrace is expansive differentiate among colors that are, to all intents and purposes, indistinguishable and generous enough, it will ensure that all are part of one truly common humanity. and that render most color-coded maps unintelligible. In the same vein, why do we continue to package dose-critical drugs intended for adults in medicine bottles that New York design consultant, architect and graphic designer Roger Whitehouse is one of the world’s display essential information in small, difficult to read type? leading experts in the design of universal and accessible information and wayfinding systems. He has taught at the Architectural Association, London, the School of Architecture of Columbia University and many other schools in the U.S. and U.K. He is a Fellow of the Society for One of the greatest human attributes is adaptability. Thus, individuals adapt them- Environmental Graphic Designers and an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and selves without complaint to unnecessarily difficult circumstances. Nonetheless, we has authored several books. This essay is excerpted from Information Design, edited by Robert should not accept the lowest level of performance as an acceptable design parameter Jacobson and published by MIT Press. just because people will put up with it. Much more attention needs to be paid to users of all ages and cultural groups. We need to be conscious of, accept and embrace the notion of unique perceptual ability and respond generously to the needs it implies. Although this notion is analogous to multiculturalism, it is more difficult to defend, because it operates on a much more individual level. But it is important to defend it, because the consequences of ignorance, avoidance and exclusion are serious. It is tragic when dyslexic children are made to feel stupid, defective and infe- rior just because we are uncomfortable with the idea of “standards” of performance being adjusted to include them. It is tragic when the prevailing attitude avoids or ignores the fact that aging persons with failing eyesight may have needs that require more effective lighting, larger higher-contrast print, or larger and clearer controls on electronic equipment.

Because it is blithely assumed that we all conform to a standard or norm, we often tend to think of the differences between others and ourselves as aberrations of normality, rather than accepting others as just a different kind of normal. In more extreme cases, they are perceived as “disabled,” and incapable of playing an active part in our culture. At best, they are tolerated when what these individuals require is active inclusion.

It is time to realize that precisely because we are so different, there is no “them” and “us.” We are all “us.” There is as much reason to embrace and celebrate our percep- 15.85

A l a n

W e b b e r The following is excerpted from an interview in @issue magazine.

Explain your premise that design is a critical part of how we communicate, collaborate and compete. design We have a long-standing slogan at Fast Company: The new MBA is an MFA. At the heart of the New Economy is the challenge of design. It’s not a narrow definition of design. It’s not just organizing type on a page or arranging the office interior. It’s the design of a business model. It’s the way you design the relationship with your collaborators, your as a network, your customers, your employees. Those are design issues. What made you feel there was a need for another business magazine? We started Fast Company because the standard business magazine didn’t look like the world we were living in. Most still looked like they were in the 1970s and the photography, type- faces and presentations were pretty much reflective of the kinds of organizations being written business about. We saw a world emerging where there were few fixed points from the past. Shrinking technologies — laptops, cell phones, pagers — were changing how work felt. Baby boomers were rising to positions of authority with different backgrounds and expectations than their parents’ generation. Women in the workplace were affecting how people talked to and worked with each other. Business people were just as comfortable flying from Boston to Tokyo, Paris tool to Tokyo, as from Boston to San Francisco. And the Web and the internet were on the verge of re-routing conversations and information so that an individual with a Web connection, a Rolodex and a good idea could literally change the course of an industry. Rather than highly structured, hierarchical organizations, we were seeing places where people mattered most. Work had become more than a way for people to put bread on the table — it was who they were. They felt they could bring their own ideas, energy and sense of purpose into their work and find ways to do things that were fun, fulfilling and profitable at the same time.

Fast Company didn’t just introduce new content; it departed from the look and feel of traditional business magazines. Early on, we began to catalog the language of design emerging in business, in work tools design as a business tool 15.87

and in hot products like Nike shoes. While editing Harvard Business Review I discovered for the person walking by outside. What do people experience when they walk in the that Nike concentrated on the mythology of the shoe, and created products that came front door? What do they experience after an eight-hour day? Are their eyes fried? from looking at how actual people run and the kinds of situations that they find them- Have they had good fresh air because the ventilation system works? In the same vein, selves in. How does the shoe look, feel to the touch and the foot? What kind of energy someone working at a technology company should not be thinking about what color does it have? All of those attributes communicate values, mission and purpose. It’s impor- to make the product case, but about the design of the experiences that the user has. tant that design gets cooked into the product at the start, whether you’re talking about software, office space or a web design. It’s not an afterthought. Having handsome design Is there a revolution occurring in workplace design? as a central business quality aids the ability to attract highly regarded investors. Workplace design is undergoing a revolution, but there is also a sense that some people have been carried away. They’ve tried to make a cool office, with exposed brick, a Business people don’t appreciate being told that they should learn to think like designers. coffee bar, and everyone in a high-tech chair, but that’s not really design. That’s rear- Let’s be honest. There’s been a history of animosity. Business people look at a designer ranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. But I respect the energy behind designing as somebody just interested in doing pretty things. And the designer looks at the busi- where people work and how the work gets done. It’s fundamental but it’s great. nessperson as a barbarian willing to sacrifice quality to win at the bottom line. But in the New Economy, the capacity to talk to each other and see each other as necessary A lot of what I honor as great design, whether it’s an example of architecture, a maga- collaborators is more important than ever. What do successful entrepreneurs and business zine, an office space or a web site is classic, elegant design. It’s good smart design people in the New Economy do? They reconfigure reality. They reimagine the space in that could have been done a hundred years ago and is refreshed, reinvented, and which their company is going to compete. They redesign their organizational operation. made contemporary for what we’re doing right now. That’s true in many lessons about They reconceive a metaphor for their business. In fact, they operate in a land that’s how to succeed in the New Economy. You have got to build organizations where you often pretty intangible. Venture capitalists and incubator companies are constantly attract talent and where people want to work. The big myth that has been exploded is trying to foresee what doesn’t exist. They look for openings where there are oppor- that people will only respond to the promise of instant wealth. For some people that tunities. Designers by contrast often start with things that are very tangible. How do may be true. But a lot of others respond to the idea that their work is something they people work, talk to each other? How far do they move from their desks? How do they care about. People in the New Economy need to have a sense of community, which is get information off the printed page? These are tangible propositions that they work reinforced with well-designed communication tools. They want to develop their own from to create the organizational principles that will solve those tangible problems. rituals and their own practices that make the community. Good design does that for them. It provides the recognizers and the habits and the signposts that people depend How would you define a great designer?­ on to engage in the real underpinnings and muscle of community. A great designer is someone who understands human beings and what they really want, need and will use. My wife, a trained architect, taught me everything I know about design — which is that design isn’t about buildings that look like wedding cakes. It’s about creating the experience for the person who works inside the building as well as design as a business tool 15.89

Alan Webber founded Fast Company magazine with William Taylor in 1995 after six years as the managing editor/editorial director of the Harvard Business Review. During Webber’s tenure at HBR, the publication was named a three-time finalist for the National Magazine Awards. Webber went to Harvard Business School in 1981 to serve as senior research assistant and project coordinator on the American auto industry. He is author of Changing Alliances, and Going Global. This interview is excerpted from @issue, The Journal of Business and Design, Vol. 6. No. 2, published by Corporate Design Foundation and sponsored by Potlatch Corporation. 16.91

K e n t C . B l o o m e r

C h a r l e s W . M o o r e Since Louis XIV and into our own time, architectural themes and designs have come to be organized around special functions. Office buildings and apartment and medical “complexes” are built and accepted simply because they serve a specific purpose, inde- pendent of whatever homage they may pay to history and the human condition. The design roots for such an acceptance go back to the years of the Enlightenment.

A specialized architecture which ignored and excluded the more general function of extending the human self and order onto a portion of the earth into an “ethnic domain” had been academically sanctioned as early as the seventeenth century, when for a Western Europe began to industrialize. At that time the human and divine themes perpetuated by the aristocracy and church were challenged by the engineers, militarists and industrialists whose influence was rapidly expanding.

The transition from the presence of the body as a “divine” organizing principle in better architecture to a more mechanical organization gained momentum from Galileo’s argu- ments in favor of mathematical measurement and experiment as the criteria for physical truth. Telescopic observation and the mathematical analysis of freely falling bodies could describe for Galileo a world which obeyed mechanical laws, and the human body as well as the starry skies belonged to that world. Before Galileo, it was natural world to imagine an architecture which celebrated the properties of the human body, and easier to believe that this body was possessed by a sacred authority. But if, instead, the human body was thought to obey mechanical laws, should not the architecture which served it also obey mechanical laws? A search for new laws with which to govern all physical form was institutionalized by the founding of national academies of science and learning throughout Europe.

Inevitably debates arose as to whether a building was “beautiful” because of its orna- ment and proportions or because of other more “functional” criteria. Engineers argued that proportions should indicate the mechanical properties of the building, and thus the thickness of a visible beam should demonstrate the weight it carried; doctors pro- design for a better world 16.93

posed that their hospitals be shaped as ventilators for the removal of germs from the the difference between the nonrational knowledge derived from the senses and the air within; and prison officials asked that their buildings be designed for the efficient pure knowledge derived rationally from logic, and he continued to declare that while surveillance of prisoners. Military engineers seized for their own the right to plan urban sensible knowledge was also real knowledge, it was nevertheless inferior to the clear fortifications, whereas in earlier times artists such as Leonardo and Michelangelo had and distinct knowledge developed logically by the mind. Thus the science of aesthetics undertaken the construction of these civic buttresses. was dubbed by its founder to a science of lower knowledge; art, it was implied, was inferior to science.) These different and often conflicting interests were to be intensified by the growth of scientific studies during the Enlightenment. At this time, for example, the study While the Royal Academy of Architecture in France emphasized the scientific approach of physics became separated from the study of philosophy within the academies. to architecture, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, founded shortly after the French Revolution, Eventually different kinds of national schools were founded, dedicated to more spe- treated architecture as an art. It started with a concern for human experience, personal cialized professional and applied studies. Engineering schools emerged as independent identity and a carefully developed sense of compositional order and beauty. These institutions around 1740 in France and 1754 in Germany, while medical academies qualities defied (as they still do) precise quantification, though the presence of sensual asserted their independence from scientific societies throughout the eighteenth century. delights can be noted in magnificent existing buildings. What resulted in the ensuing Like industry itself, this specialization created a complex division of purposeful years, not surprisingly, was a sophisticated evolution of techniques to elaborate a labor which was to recognize and generate alternate ways of defining architecture. model which included some (but not all) aspects of building. The main concerns Architecture had benefited from an embodied and memorable legacy when it was were with sections, elevations and especially plans in which walls were the expressive centered around a sacred model, but with the Enlightenment a great many new models medium. On architectural drawings these were thickened (and filled in with carefully evolved; palaces and churches had to compete for architectural eminence with a range ground ink) to correspond to sensed structural necessity (just as the well-developed of secular building types. musculature of limbs and torso may express the grandeur, proportion and fitness of the human body.) Between 1750 and 1758, within the same academic climate that led to the founding of the schools of art, engineering and applied science, the German philosopher The idiom of this partial body metaphor in Chinese ink and watercolor could be based on Alexander Baumgarten wrote two volumes called Aesthetika in which he attempted to the five kinds of columns known to the ancients, or on the medieval modes, or later even on establish aesthetics as a scientific study. His was the first systematic effort to employ the Spanish or Egyptian modes. Regardless of whether these archaic symbols became grad- rational principles and scientific rules for the treatment of the beautiful, and to elevate ually of diminishing interest to the world at large, or to the people responsible for equip- the study of that which depends on feelings and the sense of beauty to the status of ping complex functional environments, a schism in architectural thought was to develop. a science with an independent body of knowledge. By recognizing that feelings dealt with sensitive knowing as compared to rational knowing, Baumgarten proposed that The trouble was that this splendid translation of human existence into architectural sensing the beautiful was real knowledge. (His conclusions, however, had the effect form cared little for what human occupants did or accomplished as they went about of taking with his left hand what he had given with his right, for he still emphasized their business, and such commonplaces as the delivery of comforting heat received design for a better world 16.95

scant attention from the architects trained at the Ecole. Moreover the excitements of The prophetic reference to a “distinction” between mechanical, visual and bodily a developing technology, the delicacy of spun cables bridging great distances, or the measures, together with the “confusion” cited between the appearance of a building power of rushing trains, were given a separate status from “architecture,” so that a and the feeling it gives, reveals the profound dilemma inherited by the twentieth rather hermaphroditic organization might appear in a monumental setting such as a century from the debates of the Enlightenment. The visual sense had been exalted railroad station or a power plant. In the former case, for example, an enormous futur- for so many centuries that other means of sensing objects had come to be regarded as istic span could be constructed in the rear to house the trains while the stationhouse definitely inferior and less important in the formulation of knowledge about objects, itself would be romantic, reminiscent of earlier times, and more celebrative of the including buildings. (The word “enlightenment” itself echoes the Platonic metaphor human body. Certainly both halves of these schismatic structures were appealing in of vision, which connects sight with light and truth.) their homage to different-sized “occupants.” How indeed could an academic concern with human sensuality and memory cope with a technological point of view during By the end of the nineteenth century almost all aesthetic problems which dealt with those years in which nature was being harnessed with such apparent success? three-dimensional forms were treated automatically as visual problems. In contrast to the apparent loftiness of seeing, the sense of touch had been reduced to a sort of A fundamental distinction is evident between an attitude which treats architecture as Victorian fingertip activity (better with gloves on) more comparable to measuring an applied science and one which treats it as a more holistic art. The former, in its with calipers than with the whole body. (Even some sculptors, despite the directness pure form, does not explicitly carry a notion of human identity independent of an and three-dimensionality of their art, deferred to the visual. The turn-of-the century efficiently operating function, but instead attempts to predicate identity on the func- sculptor and aesthetician Adolf Hildebrand argued in writing about form in sculpture tion itself. The basic purpose of developing schools of engineering was to establish the and architecture that sculpture was a visual art derived from drawing. He preferred to precise rules governing the objective performance of physical operations, not to con- have finished sculptures viewed from a distance rather than intimately.) sider the emotional experience of human beings. (Unfortunately, by these standards, a specific work of architecture from the past could be declared generally inferior because J.J. Gibson, acting as an environmental psychologist rather than as an investigator of of its awkward and less efficient technical resolution, even if it gave to its inhabitants physiological apparatus, has contributed enormously to the literary unscrambling of the a superior feeling of joy and satisfaction.) sense of touch and has even added another “basic sense” for our consideration. Like Aristotle, Gibson lists five basic senses, but unlike Aristotle, he defines them as percep- The academic difference between engineering and art schools was to become institu- tual “systems” capable of obtaining information about objects in the world without the tionalized by the different ways in which buildings were to be measured (and by whom intervention of an intellectual process. While Aristotle lists the senses of sight, sound, or what). The struggle to determine new laws of measurement for every aspect of archi- smell, taste and touch, Gibson lists the senses as the visual system, the auditory system, tecture was thus coincident with the founding of modern architectural thought. As the the taste-smell system, the basic-orienting system and the haptic system. The combining authority of the sacred themes became either less acceptable or less comprehensible, the of taste and smell into a single system is the logical product of Gibson’s focus on the type need to debate the basis for these new norms of measurement intensified. of information received instead of on the physiological details of the receptor. Of great significance are Gibson’s basic-orienting and haptic systems, for these two senses seem to design for a better world 16.97

contribute more than the others to our understanding of three-dimensionality, the sine instrument, such as a cane, in which case the “feeling” of an object moves out to the qua non of architectural experience. Basic orientation refers to our postural sense of up end of the cane; but when you extend sight or sound telescopically or electronically, and down which, because of its dependence on gravity, establishes our knowledge of the you continue to see and hear figuratively and at a distance. ground plane. A consequence of this postural orientation is our need to symmetrize fron- tally the stimulus impinging on the sense of sight, sound, touch and smell. For example, Gibson’s model of perception is an objective one with a clear method of approach. By if a hunter senses danger he will turn his head and focus his eyes and ears symmetrically regrouping the senses around the types of information that individuals seek in their on the source in preparation for an attack or defense. This mobilized orientation involves transactions with the physical environment, he has provided us with a rich mechanical a total body balance. Gibson’s reference to this sense of orientation takes on poignant model of perception from which we might better understand some of the processes that meaning when it is listed alongside the classical senses, for one cannot escape the feel- generate experience in architecture. We require a measure of possession and surround- ing that something had been missing all along, or at least suppressed in our conscious ing to feel the impact and the beauty of a building. The feeling of buildings and our thinking about “sense” perception. sense of dwelling within them are more fundamental to our architectural experience than the information they give us. The haptic sense is the sense of touch reconsidered to include the entire body rather than merely the instruments of touch, such as the hands. To sense haptically is to expe- Kent C. Bloomer is professor of architecture at Yale University. The late Charles W. Moore was rience objects in the environment by actually touching them (by climbing a mountain professor of architecture and urban design at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at rather than staring at it). Treated as a perceptual system the haptic incorporates all those the University of California in Los Angeles, as well as a visiting professor at Yale. This essay is extracted from the book Body, Memory and Architecture published by Yale University Press, sensations (pressure, warmth, cold, pain and kinesthetics) which previously divided up which they co-authored in 1977. the sense of touch, and thus it includes all those aspects of sensual detection which involve physical contact both inside and outside the body. For example, if you acciden- tally swallow a marble you may haptically sense it as it moves through your body, thus experiencing part of the environment within your body. Similarly, you may sense body motion haptically by detecting the movement of joints and muscles through your entire bodyscape. (This property of haptic sensing is called kinesthesia.)

No other sense deals as directly with the three-dimensional world or similarly carries with it the possibility of altering the environment in the process of perceiving it; that is to say, no other sense engages in feeling and doing simultaneously. This action/reaction characteristic of haptic perception separates it from all other forms of sensing which, in comparison, come to seem rather abstract. You see and hear things figuratively and at a distance, but you touch the actual thing. You can extend haptic perception with an 17.99

K a r i m

R a s h i d Old School Industrial Design involved characters such as Arthur Pulos who wrote The Great American Design Adventure. In this text he traces the manufacture of products through the twentieth century. He emphasizes the fact that design is subject to the predatory grasp of commerce and repeats that the designer is the humane and aesthetic the conscience of industry and surrogate for the consumer. Design has been subordinated to manufacturing since the turn of the century. The machine as the dictator of design has relinquished its position as a mechanical butler for ideas, imagination, experimentation and fantasy. The first modern industrial designers (who flourished between 1930 and 1980) — Dieter Rams, Max Bill, Enzo Mari, Giotto Stoppino, Rodolfo Bonetto, Joe subject Colombo, George Nelson, Charles Eames, Donald Deskey, Achille Castiglioni, are just a few of the industrial designers who had a very systemic, analytical, hard-core approach to the development of product. They embraced the issues of performance, efficiency, utility, economy and industry, developing competent solid products. The search for new ways of solving problems seems to be the ideology of the time. Creativity was within the bound- of aries of production, manufacturing and tooling. At the same time designers not only were problem solvers (where problem meant utility), with concerns of the bettering of human conditions, but a great back-seat emphasis was placed on aesthetic or appearance design. Many products originally designed by engineers needed face-lifts or cleaning up of forms, or relied on sacred geometry or style to market objects. More functional, less design ornamental products with little extraneous qualities were developed. Concerns included improving the physical environment, reduction of hand processes, efficiency of manufac- turing, shared tooling, modular systems, ease of assembly, shipping requirements, repair- ability, maintainability, proficiency of process, ease of use, friendly interface, low-cost product by production expediency. All these issues informed the form. Also, competition was key with American manufacturers.

In 1952 the first polyester fiberglass chair to be seen in the low price bracket was manufactured by Hettrick Manufacturing Co. and designed by J.M. Little. In 1953 it was included in the Industrial Design Annual as a chair commended for knockdown ease of shipping, minimal low-cost tooling, and interchangeable legs. the subject of design 17.101

Today Old School ways have been replaced by New School industrial designers who century. The result is few ideas and many variations. approach their work from a different perspective: a poetic design of products based on a plethora of complex criteria; human experience, social and global issues, economic The object as commodity has lost significant connection with human emotion and artistic and political issues, physical and mental interaction, form, vision and a rigorous experimentation. The Post-Modernist’s attempt to deal with the loss of emotional ground understanding and design of contemporary culture. However, manufacturing is based and the loss of Modernism’s hold on the popular imagination was unsuccessful. The on another collective group of criteria: capital investment, market share, production result of the Post-Modern movement from 1970 to 1990 with its iconoclastic objectivity ease, dissemination, growth, distribution, maintenance and service, performance, resulted in an object language that had very little to do with human life and more an quality, ecological issues and sustainability. The combination of all these issues shapes elitist game of history and surface. Although objects were highly visible, we witnessed our objects, informs our form, our physical culture and our human experiences. These in theoretical circles little discourse on the new ways of informing physical objects. quantitative constructs shape business, its identity, its brand and its value. Architecture and art in those decades embraced discussion on immateriality, ambiguity, hybridization, post-structuralism, representation, simulacra, phenomenology, feminism, Even more critical is the inertia and speed at which products are developed and dis- semantics, deconstruction, Post-Modern condition, tribalism, and so on. The indus- seminated. The new global phenomena of speed has a great impact on our social lives, as trial design rhetoric “that design is no longer strictly about things or objects” became it alters the way we absorb and edit information, perception, thoughts, knowledge and the controversial argument. That in our newer synthetic world — a world where the things. Companies spend far less time developing products, rarely do intensive research departure is the digital phenomena — those objects are to respond to our emotional but instead develop objects based on other existing objects. This is strictly an appropriative and environmental needs as well as sensual, intellectual, and ever-changing social approach and not necessarily an additive approach. A designer once had the liberty to behaviors. Are our social conditions really changing as digitalia seeps its way into have time to develop concepts. Now design has been relegated to the least time of the every aspect of our every day life? When design fell under the notion that objects product development process. Once, a chair required at least four prototypes to get it really possess meaning, was this a way or rubric as a point of entry into finding new perfected. Now companies expect the first prototype to be perfect, and bring objects direction in design; a new pedagogy? quickly to the marketplace without working out all the issues. The demands of the market are immediate, the consumer more rapid, and the condition irreversible. Today industrial design is changing, though the role of designers is plagued by either not being necessary in a knock-off marketplace, or being involved only on a surface or At the same time speed has had a great effect on progress, communication, the global “skin” level of objects. Their involvement, instead of being instrumental, is to design economy and on our human psyche. We readily accept change and it brings higher product that only deals on a predominantly visual level. Design encompasses a political quality, a better standard of living, a more experiential existence, and a savvier, more and socio-role. The hyper-explosive period of the twenty-first century is the advent for contemporary consumer. Yet our human experiences are becoming less apparent and a critical stance and celebration of the object and its interjection to an “immaterial” products around us have taken on a banality and certain sameness due to rapid mass- infinity. Traditional empoisons of design methodology and a globalization of the con- production, lack of research and development, lack of interest in a cultural signifi- sumer product have brought an end to the modern language of the object. Yet objects cance, low-capital investments, all due to the great mass mechanization of the twentieth have become endless appropriation of one another, a cloning of clones as we trade the subject of design 17.103

spiritual values for material values and originality for simulation. The design process The form follows function discussion — a banality in itself — is completely irrelevant is marking time with works that become a platform or foundation for other works via when it comes to sophisticated products with such complex subjects, digital compo- the continuum of concept from subject. nentry, almost mythological hyper objects that engage little interaction, if any. So how do we shape these objects? A return to the subject is the origin of discussion and a The designer’s role must be in the mnemonic stage of development, in conceiving place to study meaning and myth. Inanimate objects do not have meaning. We project ideas and playing a rigorous role at defining the object’s value, performance and intel- meaning on objects. Design is the study of the subject that informs the objects. Form ligible existence. In turn, industrial design must become more visible in a world of follows subject. media so that design is of pedestrian interest and desire rather than a marginal subject. The greater the awareness, the more the need for the design participation and hence, Subject is not necessarily necessity-driven or an issue of function. Subject may be a a richer more relevant commodity landscape, where design engages the three most philosophical position on contemporary culture, a tenet on a changing condition. important roles of successful business — quality, service and loyalty. A subject may be human experience, gathering, behavior, movement, cultural phe- nomena, medial flexibility, sustainability, variation, reconfigurability, immateriality, Are companies really interested in people, in culture? Do manufacturers discuss personal materiality, consumption, transparency, digital production, etc. Maybe the subject is rituals, the depths of private relationships, the warmth of family, the codes of love, the erroneously banal such as “reusing existing tooling” or tooling modification. These signs of human emotions, the regard for happiness, freedom, personal expression, the well issues constitute a language based on dealing with the subject and not the object. This being of our human existence? And do they address these questions through the product is the First Order of good design. To quote Immanuel Kant: “In a product of beautiful they sell? Only then can business be holistic, and comprehensive. Brand would then be a art, we must become conscious that it is art and not nature; but yet the purposiveness given, and brand would be a result of the product and not a marketing myth. Remember in its form must seem to be as free from all constraint of arbitrary rules as if it were a brand allegiance today is based on a product living up to the expectations (or surpassing product of mere nature.” for that matter) of the user. There is no brand allegiance any more. If a brand lets one down, it is dropped instantly in this hyper competitive, ever-growing marketplace. Karim Rashid, principal of Karim Rashid Design, New York, was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1960 and raised in England and Canada. Since graduating in industrial design from Carleton Can design transcend its past and become a subject or methodology for commentary or University, Ottawa, his ideas and products have consistently found acclaim. Clients includes Sony, Tommy Hilfiger, Estee Lauder and numerous other companies. He was the recipient of the self-expression? Can we expect from product design an actual commentary on culture, on Daimler Chrysler Award and the George Nelson Award in 1999. He has 42 objects in permanent social issues or a message? Or is design relegated to serving purpose, to fulfill needs only, to collections in noted museums. create a more comfortable, convenient situation or condition? We realize that commodity is dangerous in as far as the proliferation and hyper consumption of it is concerned. At the same time, objects shape our everyday lives, as we perpetually interact with them at every moment. For every object that is placed on the market today, it should replace three objects. That is good design. 18.105

P a u l

S a f f o The following is excerpted from an interview in @issue magazine.

In an increasingly digital and virtual world, is the design of physical things still important? Physical design is more important than ever because we are not just designing inani- prostalgia mate objects any more. Computers, now in everything, are making objects interactive. That means that designers must design physical things that are seamless links to the electronic. They must think less in terms of designing an object and more in terms of designing a process. and Why is the shift from object to process important? When objects were inanimate, you built an artifact that remained inert until someone picked it up and did something with it. Now we’re beginning to see more devices with rudimentary intelligence and the ability to respond to the environment around them. It means that the age of interface is over. Interface as a concept made sense when com- cyberspace puters just squatted on our desks and waited for us to do something. It made sense when we had two parallel worlds — the physical world of “reality” that we occupied, and the purely symbolic “cyberspace” world that computers occupied. We peered into cyberspace through the porthole of the computer screen. Computers, for the most part, had no idea that anything was on the other side of the screen. But now through design a combination of sensors, bandwidth and everything else, we’ve blasted that screen away. Computers are invading physical space, moving ever deeper into our lives. That’s why designers need to eliminate the word interface from their vocabulary and think in terms of interaction.

Define the difference between interface and interaction. With interface you can pretty much predict everything. It involves a limited number of formal, very stylized exchanges. With interaction, you must design for the unexpected. Computers no longer wait for us to do things; they’re doing things on our behalf, and we may not even know that a computer exists inside. Interaction implies a deeper symbiotic relationship. Eyes, ears and sensory organs are applied to computers, asking prostalgia and cyberspace design 18.107

them to observe the physical world on our behalf, and not stopping there, designers are I write in a paper journal, use a paper calendar, and carry a Palm Pilot V. But it’s not asking them to manipulate it. The more you connect computers to the physical world, a retro thing. There’s a word that’s leaking into our vocabulary: prostalgia. A nostalgia the more the issue of interaction becomes important. for things that don’t yet exist. I think too many people suffer from prostalgia when it comes to technology and are not asking hard questions about what will really serve How do designers connect the analog world with the digital world? them. Some people use a Palm V for a calendar. If they are sharing their calendar with Designers are keepers of the larger picture. In some ways, designers are the conscience others and constantly changing dates, that’s great. In my case I absolutely value my of artifacts, they look at things from an outside-in perspective. They can add dimen- Palm V as an address book, but not as a calendar. If someone wants to see me, they sionality in a way that traditional engineers and computer scientists can’t do because must contact me. I purposely make myself hard to schedule. they’re too close to their machines. I think that designers live on the edge of that point where artifact and the physical world interact. Their job is almost one of material I use a journal for notes because I like to integrate graphics, images and text. For me, alchemy, reconciling the objects with the world and making the two coexist. computers are not good enough yet for note taking. However, what I don’t get from my notebook is pure searchability, but that’s not enough to push me into electronics. Unfortunately, designers are the Rodney Dangerfields of the industrial age, “they don’t That day will come eventually. That said, I still carry enough electronics — Palm V, get no respect.” Occasionally, one or two famous designers are paraded out in front of pager, cell phone and laptop — to get nervous in a lightning storm. the public, kind of like a trained seal, but then people don’t understand what designers do. Designers still struggle for relevance. The good news is that the role of design is going Will offices as a physical place become obsolete? to become steadily and ever more central to the future of what’s going on. The struggle I don’t think that offices will disappear, just change. History shows us that the shape of is going to continue because it’s a lot easier for computer scientists to pretend to know our offices has been driven by the reality of information technology. For instance, the something about design, even though they are ignorant on the subject, than for designers introduction of telephones allowed companies to separate their executive offices from to pretend they know computer science. Computer scientists and engineers are going to their factories. While it decentralized the company, it centralized functions. White-collar end up driving the process. Hopefully, they will be willing to collaborate with designers. workers became concentrated in Manhattan, and highrises were built to accommodate them. In the future, new concentrations of workers are likely to form. Places like Aspen, What other responsibilities must a designer assume? Colorado, may turn into a knowledge enclave for the very wealthy, and places like Santa It used to be that designers made an object and walked away. Today, the emphasis must Fe, New Mexico, may be favored by middle-class computer commuters. shift to designing the entire life cycle. For instance, designers can make a plastic bag that’s not just an object, but a process designed to photodegrade under sunlight. Some Do old technologies die away? things you want to become part of the natural environment, other things you want to More commonly they get reinvented. TV did not make radios and movies obsolete. It last forever. If you’re merely thinking in terms of designing an object, you may or may displaced radio from our living rooms as a central medium, but at the same time, radio not be giving people what they actually need. co-evolved with the automobile and the suburbs into being the audio wallpaper for our cars. TV displaced movies as the main visual medium in our lives, but the movie prostalgia and cyberspace design 18.109

industry responded by restructuring itself to deliver a more complex entertainment experience. The technologies didn’t disappear; they were simply redefined to serve consumer needs in new ways.

Will people soon be working only in cyberspace? People still work best in teams when they trust each other. For that, you need face- to-face interaction. That’s why more people are traveling in airplanes. The more you communicate electronically, the more you’re going to need face-to-face meetings. And once you meet face-to-face, you’re going to continue the conversation electronically. There’s no substitute for face-to-face interaction.

Paul Saffo is Director of the Institute for the Future, a 30-year-old foundation that provides strate- gic planning and forecasting services to business and government. Renowned as a forecaster of long- term information technology trends and their impact on business and society, Saffo served in 1997 as a McKinsey Judge for the Harvard Business Review and was named one of the 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. He is a member of the AT & T Technology Advisory Board and the World Economic Forum Global Issues Group. This interview is excerpted from @issue, The Journal of Business and Design, Vol. 5, No. 2, published by Corporate Design Foundation and sponsored by Potlatch Corporation. 19.111

E b e r h a r d H .

Z e i d l e r Our time has become one of confusion. We are restlessly advancing into an unknown future exploring it from multitudinous angles with seemingly fewer restrictions. Yet the world around us seems to disintegrate and lose the coherence it once had in the past. From the Greek city to the Baroque and even Classicism, Romanticism and the design various manifestations of the Victorian city, all had an integrity that gave unity to the urban environment. Yet the further we advance in time the more disunity seems to emerge. Science seems to have taken control of our thinking.

As the nineteenth century advanced, a scientific approach controlled the western world. and the There was a belief that the gaps in understanding the universe could only be reached through science, and this in turn subjugated emotion as its handmaiden. Architecture followed these concepts and in its modern manifestation tried to create an expression that was adopted solely through rational thought. Hannes Meyer, one of the leaders of the Bauhaus, said that architecture is function and construction only — nothing else. urban In the second half of the twentieth century, there was a swing back into the forgotten world of emotions. The rational approach was suppressed in Post-Modern architec- ture. One of its followers, the German architect Oswald Matthias Ungers declared that function and construction are merely the slaves of the architectural idea. But environ- while this movement rediscovered forgotten elements of architecture, it neglected the rational side.

If we believe that good design will influence life, make it more meaningful, and affect our health and well-being, we must ask, “What is good design?” Is it just an isolated ment event we can admire like a beautiful chair, a painting or a building? Or can good design fulfill the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total art work) as, for example, Hector Guimard created in Castel Beranger (1895–1897), a trailblazer that achieved a vision of a total integrated work of art? Doorways, windows, mosaic and metal work, even the water pump in the backyard and the letterbox, all echoed the same motif, the growth of plants portrayed symbolically. design and the urban environment 19.113

The unity of expression that was achieved in the past happened partly because of When the other buildings came to be built a few years later, the city did not insist the natural limitation imposed by the technical abilities of those times. For example, any more on the original concept. The owners to the west wanted the density of the the buildings in a medieval city, or even the Champs d’Elysees, had a unity that site pushed toward the back, with only a four-story building on the street. That left was achieved through height limitations, through lack of elevators, and the limited the adjoining firewall of the eight-story building exposed. On the building to the east, availability of materials and construction methods. Another unifying factor came the owners wanted to build a twenty-story hotel and got permission to do so. But the through dictatorship or oligarchy of the ruling class, who did not have to compro- crowning point of this urban tragedy was when the church fathers, in need of money, mise with diverse individual desires to determine expression. It was not an either or believed that they had a God-given right to build a twenty-story condominium, higher but a mutual influence of all those factors that created such visual unity. Today these than the church spire, demolishing the parsonage, and in so doing totally destroyed the “natural” restrictions that controlled the urban environment are gone. Today we can unity and visual power of the Church. build almost anything from a faithful quotation of an historic structure to a building without walls. The only true restrictions are financial. It is also true that the nature of Of course, all the considerations of these groups were economically sound. The public, democracy is change, so with changes in political power coming in the space of a single however, has received a severe blow, and loss of texture of the urban fabric that could generation, it is difficult if not impossible to impose unifying principles. have been achieved. The delight to be in such an environment and enjoying it is gone forever. The failure of the city planning staff to monitor development and cave in on A case in point reflecting contemporary urban reality is the Anglican Cathedral of the original concept, is not solely their fault. Planners are controlled by politicians St. James in Toronto. It was built in the Gothic Revival style toward the end of the who give changing directions to them, as they in turn are controlled by other fiscal nineteen century and has become a city landmark. About twenty-five years ago, the and international powers. four-story building facades that once surrounded the church were deteriorating. A few eight-story buildings and parking lots had destroyed the unity of the surrounding city In times gone by when a city had its own financial power it used this power to create fabric. However, the inner square had a low-rise parsonage beside the cathedral and a an urban environment that represented the city’s wealth and desire for beauty. Venice few historic buildings. The rest of the original nineteenth-century buildings had been is the supreme example. Toronto is subject to national control of its revenues, and superseded by a fine park. At this time, an enlightened group of city planners felt its wealth is mostly globally controlled. Even the income taxes generated within the that the area could be visually improved by having the towers of the cathedral control city disappear into the federal and provincial coffers. The money that the city needs the urban environment. They suggested that the square would be the center of the to build and maintain its infrastructure is now handed over to remote bureaucracies urban composition, while the facades surrounding the square would be maintained to which will not necessarily spend it on Toronto. The only revenue the city has to approximately eight stories, below the height of the cathedral. It seemed like a marvel- maintain its infrastructure are property taxes, which are not sufficient to do the job. ous concept of renewing the beauty of this urban fabric. There were three lots on the north side which had to adhere to this concept. On one site, the available density was Given these realities, we must believe that good urban architecture is needed and we moved toward the street and an urban structure of eight stories along this frontage was must find a way to encourage it. For example, we can prove that nutrition, health built creating a street facade according to the plan. and proper housing are essential in our lives. Medical research, however, has shown design and the urban environment 19.115

that the extension of our lifespan is only affected by 15 percent through medical room in domestic surroundings, to one of the total assembly of the urban environ- influences, and that up to 85 percent is controlled by nutrition, housing and a proper ment and its relation to nature. lifestyle. This is important to remember, as today we seem to be solely concentrating on the extension of medical care. Of course, it is difficult to tabulate and translate How can we achieve such an urban environment? First it needs the understanding and these findings into statistics. How will a beautiful environment extend our life expec- acceptance of the public that design does actually influence our lives. Given the steady tancy? We have only glanced into these factors to assess their validity, such as Roger world population growth, it will be difficult to preserve the natural environment. With S. Ulrich’s research into the healing powers of a visually pleasing environment. Based the recognition that the natural environment must be preserved, we must concentrate on medical records, he investigated the results of a surgical ward in a hospital over a our habitation. This leads to the conclusion that the city will be where most of us will ten-year period on the healing results of its patients. He re-established, with every- live in the future. Without acceptance of this basic lifestyle, all attempts to achieve thing being equal, severity of operations, medical and nursing staff, etc. that patients good design will not be successful regardless of what laws we introduce. located in rooms with a pleasing view (a delightful landscape) showed a 30 percent faster recovery and 30 percent less use of analgesic drugs than those who were in When it comes to public space, control is placed into a legal and political structure rooms with a boring view (a brick wall). and it is here that the problem starts. There are different interests that intermingle. For example, the utility commission that wants to distribute power at a low cost would like We know that pleasant surroundings make us feel better. It is difficult to assess exactly cheap overhead wiring instead of underground distribution. A developer who wants to what makes them pleasant and to what degree visual changes influence this environ- build an office structure with economic rents will build cheaply and is not necessarily ment and through it, us. In other words, at what point does a new addition become interested in making the exterior fit into the urban environment, other than integrating a positive or negative influence? Such an environment could be natural or man-made. items that his future tenants deem attractive. Yet those who live and work close to The only difference is that most of the natural environment influences us positively, these urban manifestations and look at them daily, have no control over them. To create while the man-made environment can be either pleasing or devastating. This has a fitting environment for all, and give participatory rights in its creation is more easily nothing to do with the density of habitation. Made-made influences can destroy the said than done. Yet to leave things as they are does not necessarily bring good design pleasing and healing nature of the environment even with very low densities of popu- to the urban environment. We have to find a way to encourage good urban design lation. On the other hand, we can create a pleasing environment with high densities which not only encourages its built form but also the capital investment that is of habitation. It is the quality of the design in the environment that matters — not needed to achieve it. the quantity. We have to realize that good design is an essential part of our lives and that in a growing Good design is all embracing. There are no fixed rules about how it should be done, world population we will not be able to escape bad designs anymore. Design is all around but only an emotional feeling when it is right. Even this feeling is not universal, yet us and affects the space we live in privately and publicly. From the living room, to the there are certain elements that finally become universal — design in which every- street we walk in, to the nature we enjoy, we must find means to prevent the spoilage of thing reflects pleasing coherence, from the small item, such as a view from room to our environment through uncontrolled private interest and public disinterest. design and the urban environment 19.117

We have the power to make it beautiful and meaningful — or destroy it. The creation of rewarding urban environment will enhance our lives immeasurably.

Eberhard H. Zeidler is a partner in Zeidler Roberts Partnership, an architectural firm in Toronto, with overseas offices in London, Berlin, and West Palm Beach, Florida, and holds a doctoral degree in architecture. His awards include Fellow of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, and Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. 20.119

J o h n

D r e y f u s s In our family, we seldom talked about “pure” design. But we frequently talked about design.

We were a family that cared about design. My father was totally dedicated to the design industrial design profession; my mother was just as focused on managing his business, which she did magnificently.

The five of us — my parents, two sisters and I — loved design and we loved to talk. At meals, on trips, sitting around the pool on weekends, in the living room after dinner, and we never were silent. Marriages into the family didn’t change anything, except the number of people who enjoyed those countless conversations.

We talked about everything; travel, history, manners, money, theater, food, politics, homework, art, gardening, personal problems, business problems and why our two everyday German shepherds insisted on trying to annihilate one another. Design could creep into any conversation, and usually did.

Our discussions of design almost always turned toward people and corporations, and the impact of design on the two of them. The conversations didn’t dwell on “purities” life like perfect proportions or color spectra.

Not that those purities were considered unimportant. Quite the opposite. But, for the most part, they were looked upon as tools for excellent design that would make life better for people.

It always came down to that: what could design do for people? There was even what amounted to a Henry Dreyfuss credo, which we heard so often that we all but committed it to memory:

“We bear in mind that the object being worked on is going to be ridden in, sat upon, design and everyday life 20.121

looked at, talked into, activated, operated, or in some other way used by people, that he was terribly interested in the relationship of his products to people... he was individually or en masse.” absolutely extraordinary about people.”

“When the point of contact between the product and the people becomes a point of Never one to pull a punch, George went on to say that he disapproved in many ways friction, then the industrial designer has failed.” of my father. “I disapproved of him because he was always immersed in the establish- ment. I disapproved of him because I really envied him greatly. I disapproved of him “On the other hand, if people are made safer, more comfortable, more eager to pur- because he was such a terrible square, and he was always taking the corporate side in chase, more efficient — or just plain happier — by contact with the product, then any argument, and I disapproved of him because he didn’t do real far-out, ‘Bauhausy’ the designer has succeeded.” kinds of designs. I suppose I disapproved of him for other reasons too. I don’t recall... And then, very abruptly a few years ago, something happened, I don’t know what, and As an extension of those ideas came the conviction that surrounding people with I began putting all the pieces together, and they all fit. Henry never did far-out design good design — and encouraging them to do so for themselves — is the surest way to because he didn’t see any point to it. He was trying to design things that made very develop a broad, meaningful appreciation for the wonderful aesthetic, practical and good sense in terms of people and in terms of manufacturing and in terms of other spiritual contributions that good design can make to life and lifestyle. things, and... these many, many things we see in our houses and offices that Henry had something to do with have stood up very, very well.” The credo went beyond industrial design. It applied to illustration, photography, graphics, film, fine arts, packaging, advertising and other subjects. Eventually, we I had never met George. When the memorial ended, I introduced myself to him. I told seemed to look at everything in terms of what it does for people. It always was clear in him he must have been at our dinner table, on our trips, sitting by our pool on week- our house that design was more than one giant step from idea to product. There was ends, because George Nelson had a perfect grasp of what design meant to our house. manufacturing to consider, distribution, display and other steps between the glimmer of an idea and the finished item. And again, people quickly became the focus of John Dreyfuss, writer, and son of the late Henry Dreyfuss who is recognized as one of America’s conversation. When we talked about manufacturing, it wasn’t in terms of materials most influential industrial designers of the twentieth century, was brought up to appreciate design and machines but in terms of people and their working conditions which, through a in daily life. This commentary was written as an introduction to a catalog published by Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, and is reprinted with permission of the college. designer’s influence, might be improved and, concomitantly, so might their efficiency and therefore a client’s profit margin.

Shortly after my parents died, the late George Nelson, himself an influential designer, spoke at a memorial for them:

“It took a long time to realize one of the very special things about Henry, which was Teknion’s commitment to sustainability practices is reflected in our design, manu- facturing and daily operations. These initiatives drive our growth and innovation, strengthen client relationships, are good for business and, of course, the environment. We are committed to continually learning from and evaluating our results to achieve our goal of total sustainability.

The following environmental savings have been calculated based on the 18,269.27 pounds of 100% PC, Mohawk Options, 80# text, recycled paper used in this book.

Savings derived from using postconsumer recycled fiber in lieu of virgin fiber: 219.24 trees not cut down 9,880.12 lbs. solid waste not generated 633.05 lbs. waterborne waste not created 19,309.37 lbs. atmospheric emissions eliminated 93,123.91 gallons water/wastewater flow saved 126,195,398.51 BTUs energy not consumed

2,729.15 lbs. air emissions (CO2, SO2 and NOX) were not generated by choosing a paper from Mohawk’s windpower portfolio. The fossil fuel equivalent for this amount of wind energy is 10,148.57 cubic feet of natural gas. This amount of wind energy is equivalent to planting 184.76 trees and trees fulfill the vital function of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This figure is also equivalent to not traveling 3,044.87 miles in an average automobile, as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the primary by-product of fuel combustion.

Values were derived from information publicly available at: http://www.ofee.gov/recycled/cal-index.htm http://www.ofee.gov/recycled/calculat.htm Teknion wishes to acknowledge with gratitude:

Corporate Design Foundation 20 Park Plaza, Suite 321 Boston, Massachusetts 02116

For permission to reprint three interviews from @issue, sponsored by Potlatch Corporation

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