Point: Explorations

The ripples of water is how I see design, everything done is connected to one another.  This in design is the basis of how we embrace the design world. How everything influences one another in some way. Throughout the exploration unit and the course of the semester we explored the notion of the design process and how it is  constantly changing through the course of time in order to find a voice. 

During this unit  most of the buildings and spaces were criticized for not being meant for humans to function in. An example of an interior not being suitable for a human is the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe. This glass rectangle does have a certain glamor to it visually and the idea behind it must have been a good one, but once a person walks in one a summer day, its like they are baking in the oven. Another example is the Guggenheim museum by Frank Lloyd Wright, a modern building that breaks the rules by forcing the person to walk in a spiral ramp to view the different exhibits found inside. The idea of it sounds too good to be true and it is, the shape of it being circular is difficult for large scaled paintings to be hung up on the wall. Modernism has lost its roots of designing for the human being that will inhabiting it.

One question that was asked in my first year of IARC was “who are you designing for?” at first I was thinking that it was a rhetorical question  because there is only one reason for why we as designers would be designing for and that is the person who would be using it. This question again started haunting me as the end of this semester came to a near. Reviewing everything we have learned in this course and how the design cycle has changed throughout time, I feel that the design at first in earlier times, was to help people live comfortable and was more about substance. Now looking at different Modern buildings, design became about the aesthetics and no longer followed function.

The foundation of it all has changed from being focused on humans to just being focused on the aesthetics. There is no substance in design anymore, there is only surface.  It is as if the origins of it all has not been able to be traced back on current design. The classical language of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns are now long gone from our new modern designs. The old buildings with classical language still have a lot of contrast with new ones being built. The modernistic movement is the alternative of this classical foundation. Like the ripples of water, design now a days is hard to pinpoint its origin. Even though we may not see many classical buildings, they were the start of this modern designs. Without this foundation there would not be anything to go against. But one thing that still remains unanswered is “Who are we designing for?”, this question should be the first thing that every designer should ask themselves before they decided to go for surface over substance.