David Orr: The Nature of Design Chapter 3

Please respond to the reading as you wish. Please be sure to address the following questions in your answer.

• Orr creates a list of assumptions that he believes "fast knowledge" is built upon. Do you agree with his list? What are his strongest notions... weakest ones?
• Based on your own experiences and that which you can refer to- do you see Orr's position here as accurate? applicable to current issues? (from page 38)"The result is that the system of fast knowledge creates social traps in which the benefits occur in the near term while the costs are deferred to others at a later time."
• Orr creates a list of beliefs that he believes "slow knowledge" is built upon. Do you agree with his list? What are his strongest notions... weakest ones?
• Protagoras was the first to say, "Man is the measure of all things"- here Orr attributes this to "fast knowledge." If not man, then who, or what do you think Orr values as a more effective measuring stick?
• How might this chapter- fast/slow knowledge be applicable to your own designs /to architecture in general?

Due October 14th, 2008

Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling

At MoMA.

See the show. Respond by describing the work, the problems they are addressing (why is this work relevant).

Buckminster Fuller @ The Whitney:

Chapter Two-David Orr: The Nature of Design

Please post all comments and discussions here. 

Chapter One: David Orr: The Nature of Design

Attach all comments/ discussion on chapter 1 here.

Questions

How does architecture affect an individual, a family, a community, or even a nation? Think of the tension surrounding the rebuilding of the trade center downtown in the financial district.

What difference does it make if a building is beautiful or ugly? In style or out of style?

Penn Station Case...

Case to examine:

New York City's original Pennsylvania Station was demolished in 1964. Built by the firm of McKim, Meade, and White in 1911, it was designed to last 500 years. It was torn down after fifty-three. It was a source of pride for New Yorkers as the structure referenced the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome. In the 1960's  it fell out of style and commercial real estate developers recognized the value in it's centralized location. They knocked down Penn Station, built a new one underground, and constructed Madison Square Garden atop it. By all accounts, the decision to replace a monumentally grand and open structure with a downscaled and buried one was a catastrophic mistake. Ultimately, it was considered one of the biggest cultural blunders of the 20th century in the United States. 

Should architectural preservation be an inherent cultural value? In what ways has New York prospered as a result of these decisions?