Awais Lodhi_Design Intelligence

• Postmodernism, de-constructivism, minimalism and super-modernism are now more historical than contemporary concerns.
• There is now a “A hunt for the next big thing” as the “practice” of architecture is “undergoing remarkable transformation”.
• Institutions, Individuals in the profession, termed as “spotters” are now obsolete and lost in the “tealeaves” and fail to look beyond.
• If sought after, “Signs of a trend already affecting the practice of architecture have begun to appear”.
• This trend is largely driven by a new relationship between “thinking” and “doing” in architecture with the emergence of the knowledge-based economy is now bringing forth “new forms of architectural practice”.
• According to Speaks, Martin Heidegger in his latter writings highlighted technology’s impact on philosophy and on thinking in general.
• For Heidegger, Computation and Cybernetics marked the end or completion of philosophy as metaphysics and anticipated the return of a more “fundamental thinking in abeyance by philosophy.
• But, philosophy throughout history has itself has refused to confront a fundamental question, “what is thinking?”
• Philosophy engaged in “non-essential thinking”, called metaphysics, which sought rational meanings for regulation, which was then, for Heidegger replaced by Science which in the contemporary period provided the essential truth.
• Deleuze in following consorted that, philosophy should not concern itself with discovering and representing metaphysical truths.
• According to Deleuze, every philosopher generated a “plane of emmanence”, a paradigm.
• According to Michael Speaks, for Deleuze, there were three forms of thinking which produced distinct products.
• For Deleuze, Thinking is “pragmatic constructivism” and opposed to calculative thinking, because it inhibits more experimental thinking that produces the “as yet-unthought”.
• Deleuze in Spinoza, differentiate between, for his well known, “plan” and “plane” which resultantly show distinction between metaphysical and experimental thinking.
• Work of Deleuze has however been used, his “plan”, “plane” and “fold”, moreover exploited by creating new metaphysical vanguards.
• Such, exploitation according to Michael Speaks have covered the “more planar significance” of Deleuze’s words and call for more experimental endeavors.
• Speaks, Differentiates between pragmatic methodology and the continental theorists and practitioners.
• Similar to Deleuze’s “plan” and “plane”, Drucker draws distinction between problem solving and innovation.
• Major shifts in the use of prototyping where prototyping was not any longer used to prototype a product for mockups but, where the innovations take place through thinking with and through the prototypes. Hence “the prototypes themselves driving the innovation process”- Michael Schrage (MIT Media Lab Professor).

“for the party is moving to another venue” says Michael Speaks, hinting the great paradigm shift in designerly knowing is already taking place.

Image: The programmed wall - Gramazio & Kohler