Daniel L. Purdy
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801476761
- eISBN:
- 9780801460050
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801476761.003.0010
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural Theory and Criticism
This chapter examines Hegel's account of architectural history as it relates to two spatial thinkers usually placed at a far remove: Henri Lefebvre and Daniel Libeskind. While Lefebvre might well be ...
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This chapter examines Hegel's account of architectural history as it relates to two spatial thinkers usually placed at a far remove: Henri Lefebvre and Daniel Libeskind. While Lefebvre might well be situated in the broad reception of Hegel within French theory, few would posit an affinity between Libeskind's architecture, particularly his Jewish Museum in Berlin, and Hegelian thought. Given Hegel's associations to a state that had given rise to Hitler and the Holocaust, it seems unlikely that a memorial to the Jewish culture in Germany would reiterate Hegel's aesthetics of building. Yet, in architecture and urban planning, the European state is often the sponsor of radical design. And given that Hegel presents several scenarios that demonstrate how grand buildings form national identity, the chapter considers how subversive architecture operates when it is aligned with official policy, especially if that policy is itself highly self-critical.Less
This chapter examines Hegel's account of architectural history as it relates to two spatial thinkers usually placed at a far remove: Henri Lefebvre and Daniel Libeskind. While Lefebvre might well be situated in the broad reception of Hegel within French theory, few would posit an affinity between Libeskind's architecture, particularly his Jewish Museum in Berlin, and Hegelian thought. Given Hegel's associations to a state that had given rise to Hitler and the Holocaust, it seems unlikely that a memorial to the Jewish culture in Germany would reiterate Hegel's aesthetics of building. Yet, in architecture and urban planning, the European state is often the sponsor of radical design. And given that Hegel presents several scenarios that demonstrate how grand buildings form national identity, the chapter considers how subversive architecture operates when it is aligned with official policy, especially if that policy is itself highly self-critical.
Thomas Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816698875
- eISBN:
- 9781452954264
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816698875.001.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Design
Design involves envisioning what we need that doesn’t yet exist, and realizing possible futures better than what we have. This book applies that way of thinking about design to a range of poorly ...
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Design involves envisioning what we need that doesn’t yet exist, and realizing possible futures better than what we have. This book applies that way of thinking about design to a range of poorly functioning systems – our schools, highways, and cities – and services – be they public, private, and non-profit – that either no longer meet our needs or that have underperformed for too long. We rarely think of systems and services as designed and, as a result, we tend to accept their failures the way we do the weather. But we should not give into such acquiescence. Designed every bit as much as the products we buy and the environments we inhabit, our systems and services deserve as much critical scrutiny and creative re-imagining as we would give any other design. This book, drawing from previously published essays by the author, makes the case for applying design thinking to the “invisible” systems we depend on for our daily lives and then shows what that might mean for our educational and belief systems, our infrastructure and public realm, and our political and economic systems. In the process, the author challenges the design assumptions that have led to so much poor performance: that our schools cannot teach creativity, that our governments cannot predict the disasters that befall us, that our health system will protect us from pandemics, that our politics will remain polarized, that our economy cannot avoid inequality, and that our industry cannot help but pollute the environment.Less
Design involves envisioning what we need that doesn’t yet exist, and realizing possible futures better than what we have. This book applies that way of thinking about design to a range of poorly functioning systems – our schools, highways, and cities – and services – be they public, private, and non-profit – that either no longer meet our needs or that have underperformed for too long. We rarely think of systems and services as designed and, as a result, we tend to accept their failures the way we do the weather. But we should not give into such acquiescence. Designed every bit as much as the products we buy and the environments we inhabit, our systems and services deserve as much critical scrutiny and creative re-imagining as we would give any other design. This book, drawing from previously published essays by the author, makes the case for applying design thinking to the “invisible” systems we depend on for our daily lives and then shows what that might mean for our educational and belief systems, our infrastructure and public realm, and our political and economic systems. In the process, the author challenges the design assumptions that have led to so much poor performance: that our schools cannot teach creativity, that our governments cannot predict the disasters that befall us, that our health system will protect us from pandemics, that our politics will remain polarized, that our economy cannot avoid inequality, and that our industry cannot help but pollute the environment.
