A place for my thoughts on design, art, & architecture.
On Design
At its heart, a well designed object or space is nothing but an expression of purpose. Purpose implies a need, a problem that someone would like to solve.
The modern idea of the act of designing sprung from this scenario. Though I accept this, I think there is another less rational element that one should consider. It relies on intuition more than pragmatism. A well designed chair, for example, will give you the feeling you’ve known it before but you’ve since forgotten it. It feels right and you’re not sure why at first. There’s a natural rhythm to it. It’s simple and irrefutable. And you think to yourself “of course! Why didn’t I think of that?”
I think of it similarly to recognizing when words are transformed into a poem. Or when an image becomes art. There’s no line to distinguish it.
Inside the museums
Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what
Salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
-Visions of Johanna, Bob Dylan
Contradictory Ideas
Early in Frank Gehry’s career as an architect he worked for two men who exemplified seemingly opposing philosophies. One architect was pragmatic in providing a service to clients and, Gehry felt, lacked conviction and belief in his work. The other architect was dogmatic in his creation of forms and the only barrier was in convincing a client to accept his proposal.
Gehry thought there was room for both: solving client problems pragmatically and creating new and interesting forms which surprise and engage. The two ideas appear at first to be contradictions, but both can be achieved simultaneously. Design defers to the constraints of a given problem and balancing them while you shape a solution is difficult to accomplish, but that’s the job…
I believe the best sign of intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your head at the same time without rejecting one.​
In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows there’s no success like failure
And that failure’s no success at all
-Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Bob Dylan