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> From: M P Ranjan <[log in to unmask]> > Date: 19 August 2005 1:18:16 AM GMT+05:30 > To: Jerome Diethelm <[log in to unmask]> > Cc: M P Ranjan <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: [PHD-DESIGN] I|d like a copy -- Re: a specific proposal > that fits? > > Dear Jerry > > Your description of the Bucky experience is no exaggeration, at least > from what I remember of my own experience from his visit to NID in the > late seventies (? - need to check my dates), he conserved his strength > through the day, looking sharply with his eyes (and mind) at the > Institute and the city, did not utter a word in casual conversation, > but in the evening lecture in Ahmedabad went on and on for many hours > non stop, taking the audience of Ahmedabad on a mind blowing journey > through the exciting perspectives that he brought to design thinking > and philosophy. Some of us at NID, faculty and student got together > and built domes for many months after his visit, with much discussion > and reading, late into the night..... > > About the "problem - solution" debate, I have the following thoughts > to offer, may be theoretically unsound but here it is anyway. > > I have given up, many years ago trying to define design in terms of > "problem solving", many other professions do that too, and it is not > necessarily very beneficial in describing and in communicating exactly > what designers do, either to design students or the industry and > government clients who know very little about design at all its levels > of manifestation, especially at the systems level. I have found it far > more effective and fruitful to talk about locating opportunities and > in mapping and modeling the contours of these situations without > really using the word "problem" in the discourse, identify the gaps > and possibilities. The word "problem", somehow has a very negative > connotation especially to young students who are literally sent out of > the Institute campus in search of new assignments to handle in their > classroom and/or diploma projects, and invariably they used to come > back with a clutch of very morbid perceptions from the field, (we have > plenty of problems in India if anyone wants to know about these) and > the enormity of some of these sometimes discourages the student s (and > faculty) from even attempting to enter that discourse, very > disheartening, for a novice and even for the hardened professional. > However if you ask them to list opportunities for improving what they > see around them in the city roads, hospitals, schools, shops, malls > and hotels, and homes, to name a few typical places that they fan out > to at the beginning of an assignment in design, they come back from > field observation and brainstorming and discussions, with each other > and with faculty, with a very long list of possible directions, a germ > of an idea which they believe is do-able, which in my view is a great > way to start building "intentions' and then "convictions' to make some > of these "opportunities" a part of their own career goals, very deep > commitments indeed, some life-long. > > While yes the 'Problems' are there to be 'Solved', we may need to look > at these from the corner of our sights rather than head-on and then > feel dejected by the enormity of the perceived task, and not take it > on at all as a result. Many of our 'problems" are in this category, > but all these desperately need design, (230 sectors in India in my > count - Ken and Terry have a longer list) not just the science and > technology and even marketing spends that are today being funneled > towards these "problems" in India, particularly when compared to very > meager design spends which in my view needs to be hugely enhanced > soon. But that is a long story, for another day. > > With warm regards > > M P Ranjan > from my office at NID > 19 August 2005 at 01.05 am IST > > PS: I checked the dates of Bucky's visit to Ahmedabad > > Quote from <http://www.amaindia.org/act_popular.html> > Series on Human in Universe by Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller, the > well-known geometer, architect, philosopher, and inventor (December > 15-16, 1978) > UnQuote > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Prof M P Ranjan > Faculty of Design > Head, NID Centre for Bamboo Initiatives > Faculty Member on NID Governing Council (2003 -2005) > National Institute of Design > Paldi > Ahmedabad 380 007 INDIA > > Tel: 91+79+26610054 (Res) > Tel: 91+79+26639692 ext 1090 (Off) > Tel: 91+79+26639692 ext 4095 (Off) > Fax: 91+79+26605242 > > email: <[log in to unmask] > web archive: <http://homepage.mac.com/ranjanmp/> > __________________________________________________________________ > > > On 18-Aug-05, at 12:23 AM, Jerome Diethelm wrote: > >> enjoyed seeing the Bucky process again and remembered the last time >> I heard him speak - as usual for four hours without a break. I’m >> sure you’ve experienced the unique unfolding of that marvelous mind. >> I remember him beginning haltingly at first, with a staccato like >> stuttering of grounding ideas and phrases that left the uninitiated >> wondering if this was the real Bucky Fuller. We’d all fallen for a >> fake Andy Warhol and his sidekick Viva in purple boots some years >> before. >> >> But by the second hour, he had once more rebuilt his conceptual >> world before our very eyes, drawn his audience into it, and was >> picking up the pace. By the third hour, for those of us with the >> stamina (and bladders – I was younger then) he was of course fluid, >> fluent, brilliant, as in radiant, and exceeding the speed limit. At >> the end of the fourth hour, he scraped us all off the floor and then >> we went outside and built a dome. Well, OK, I exaggerate a little, >> but not too much. >> >> I always think of Fuller’s “tension and compression always mutually >> co-exist” when I am asserting that valuing and meaning always >> mutually co-exist in design (as in interests/matter). And I’m quite >> sure it’s from his evolution1 - evolution2 that I have drawn what I >> prefer to call the same continuum: natural selection – human natural >> selection. I like the special flavor of consciousness, the fruit of >> the tree, applying it’s own language of evaluating and choosing >> (selection) backward on its mother matrix. Prototype isn’t always my >> first choice for describing a formative expression, mainly because >> its industrial connotations don’t quite fit my work, but why quibble >> (as in “problem”) and “purposefully” miss the point. >