Hi Phil,
Thanks for your response and questions. Here¹s a short answer to part of
it:
On 4/3/10 5:13 AM, "Phil Jones" <[log in to unmask]> >
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Your commentary on "seeing asŠ" raised some really interesting
> questions for me. Would you agree that any object, such as a wall, is
> an access point to "encyclopedic knowledge" in that such an object
> might be an element within a variety of different conceptual frames. A
> particular wall might well fit within different scenarios, for
> example, a scenario in which an over zealous property owner asserts a
> claim on a piece of land, or a scenario in which a responsible pet
> owner prevents his dogs from wandering away, or a member of the local
> community highlights local heritage by building a wall in a particular
> style, and so forth.
I'd prefer to agree that designers need to and can be taught to widen their
framing awareness of the potential of a thing, be it a wall or otherwise.
The object of "seeing asŠ", at least for me, isn't encyclopedic knowledge,
but as a preparation for an expanded qualitative making that does its job
AND reaches beyond one-dimensional, first-order, solutions to design
problems. In your language, it serves to first identify and then to
integrate in a design a series of potential scenarios that ³want²
expression.
The goals here are to create designs that do more work (purposefully
integrate more qualities) and therefore have a greater qualitative
resonance; that have a wider potential affordance; and that carry more
strata into the re-cognition that is meaning in experience. It's hard not
to do that to some degree. My point is that the expanded awareness of
³seeing as...² enables the designer to be in a better position to direct and
control the process of composition and expression.
The opposite of what I'm describing would be Minimalism, the purposeful
minimizing of metaphor, where the compositional strategy is to limit the
potential for reference in order to sharpen the experience. It can be a
useful compositional strategy for giving emphasis.
Yes, "seeing asŠ" is clearly a metaphor. It's in quotes so that you have to
imagine it in my way as a process concept for importing imagined qualitative
possibilities, facets and dimensions. After all, what¹s a meta for?
Pacific Northwest regards,
jerry
--
Jerry Diethelm
Architect - Landscape Architect
Planning & Urban Design Consultant
Prof. Emeritus of Landscape Architecture
and Community Service € University of Oregon
2652 Agate St., Eugene, OR 97403
€ e-mail: [log in to unmask]
€ web: http://www.uoregon.edu/~diethelm
€ 541-686-0585 home/work 541-346-1441 UO
€ 541-206-2947 work/cell
