Hi Jon,
I'm not sure how much this will help you, but I couldn't help thinking
that the generative idea in this case was the dream / idea
of "getting up there with the birds".
The flapping wings was one attempt at solving the task and realising
the dream.
You mention Utzon's orange. I take this to be a metaphor or
representation, that maybe helped him get hold of an intuitive
possibility or idea for a solution.
Maybe there is a difference in your term "generative principle" and the
term "generative idea".
I'm not that hot on aviation history, but the Wright brothers got it
right. Was their dream to get up there with the birds
or was it to solve an engineering principle?
Best regards,
Chris.
Jon Nelson wrote:
"...He made the point that as long as would-be flyers used the
operational
principle of "flapping wings", where the force created by flapping of
the
wings needed to be greater than the force of gravity on the individual,
then
nothing would progress; it works fine for birds but doesn't appear to be
useful for people. It was not until we switched to the operational
principle
of moving a wing through air, with the force of pushing the wing forward
creating a force of lift sufficient to overcome the effect of gravity,
that
progress really began. The operational principle made the difference.
But, not only is the operational principle a general statement of
bringing
forces together, it is a structured statement. It is quantifiable. In
some
ways it is tangible. As I read through the previous posts on the
subject the
concept of the orange came up as a generative principle. I don't mean
to treat
the issue lightly (because I probably don't understand completely) but
to me
the notion of an orange as a generative principle lacks a quantifiable
structure that I think is important for being able to rigorously apply a
generative principle to a design task or to communicate it to others...
"
-------------
from:
Chris Heape
Senior Researcher - Design Didactics / Design Practice
Mads Clausen Institute
University of Southern Denmark
Sønderborg
Denmark
http://www.mci.sdu.dk
Work:
tel: +45 6550 1671
e.mail: chris @mci.sdu.dk
Home:
tel +45 7630 0380
e.mail: [log in to unmask]
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