2009

The experience of manual engagement with our world, of making and fixing things, is vital to the idea of human agency and dignity, but is often denied by designed objects that seek to smooth the rough edges for us.

When work is rooted in a reality external to yourself, you are taught a kind of humility in order to reach a level of understanding that then empowers you to act. This can be an unselfish way to see the process of design.

Work is made meaningful through shared standards of good that emerge from the context of a community of use and of practice. Environments that abstract this intrinsic good end up demoralizing the worker.

Many standard processes in architecture actively shut out the forces of time, change, and use, transforming the work into a more manipulable abstraction. But this move has a negative effect on the architect’s ability to see the social and political dimensions of their work.

Any work of design or architecture is inherently concerned with social ethics, whether you acknowledge it or not—which is probably why you should acknowledge it.

The uncertainty of design contexts is not something to shut out. Rather, it can be both liberating (because it creates the potential for choice) and meaningful (because it means working with the forces of the real world and the intents of others).

Lo-fi architecture is shorthand for an approach to architecture that embraces everyday life, with all of its complexity and contingency, as the context of design and looks to create the space for it to unfold.

Phenomenology has some useful philosophical ideas for design, but some can also come off as confusing and alienating. So, take the parts that are useful (the focus on lived, human experience of the world as starting point) and drop the rest of the baggage that comes with it.

The role of the architect can be seen less as an expert problem solver, and more as a citizen sense-maker who brings together conflicting voices into a coherent, responsible design.

Capabilities associated with design shouldn’t be limited to designers, but should be practiced by a wider range of professionals working to solve a broader range of problems.