Tinker Town

“But we have a right to ask ‘why’ housing should be as cheap as possible and not, for example rather expensive; ‘why’ instead of making every effort to reduce it to minimum levels of floor area, space, of thicknesses, of materials, etc. we should not try to make dwelling spacious, protected, insulated, comfortable, well equipped, rich in opportunities for privacy, communication, exchange, personal creativity etc.”

Architecture’s Pubic Giancarlo de Carlo pg 9

Reminding ourselves that we have responsibility to the greater user as a whole is inspiring. This article questioned academia vs practical, this is a great point to make especially since we are only months away from being in the “real world”. Asking why is something that we should do out of habit. Questioning the norm and pushing clients/users to new levels is part of our job. If we gave our client just what they asked for are we providing the best service as possible? In short I think we should bring our critical thinking and design know how to improve, but at times it makes sense to keep with the status quo. I understand the whole “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it” mentality but, as a designer we find our motives are to always fix and adjust in hopes of bettering the process and is that really such a terrible thing, to be a tinkerer? A tinkerer of ideas, processes, and space. Whenever the word tinker comes to play I think go Jean Tinguely and his massive tinkered sculptures now that is a master tinkerer in scale, color, sound, and interaction. Could architected be the start of the Domino process of designing for the greater user and need, not just for the client who is funding?