ARCHITECTURE & IAExpanding the Metaphor
Jessica DuVerneay @jduverneay
WHAT IS IA?
Michigan - Circa 1992
METAPHORS
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/King's_Cross_Western_Concourse.jpg
. Conductor
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/arts/music/susanna-malkkis-wide-appeal-on-both-sides-of-the-atlantic.html?_r=0
.
.
is to make places, not just spaces.
The reason to work with an architect
.
Places where strategy shapes the structure to ensure good fit between what you intend…
.
experience it…and how people
Do you use physical architecture as a metaphor to explain or discuss information architecture?
WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE
http://somethingwickedhorror.kinja.com/the-winchester-mystery-house-1736574784
http://somethingwickedhorror.kinja.com/the-winchester-mystery-house-1736574784http://www.weirdretro.org.uk/the-winchester-mystery-house.html
https://eatingfastfood.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/fascinating-tales-from-history-the-winchester-mystery-house/
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Film, 2004
STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS
If you use physical architecture as a metaphor to describe IA, what strengths or limitations have you found?
Strengths
• All humans have experiences in built spaces
• User needs are important in both
• Workflows are important in both
• Wayfinding is important in both
• Context is important in both
Limitations
• May turn clients off
• Misalignments between websites & physical places
• Time
“The objective of IA is not the production of environments for inhabitation, but for understanding.”
- Jorge Arango
The current discussion of IA and the use of built-world examples is mostly a reference to western architecture from the past 100 years.
.
http://www.laurelhighlands.org/things-to-do/arts-culture/frank-lloyd-wright/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Le_Corbusier_buildings
So, what’s wrong with that? Those buildings are cool.
This is problematic.
Lack of Diversity
Sustainability
It was fossil fuel-derived electricity that lit and air-conditioned modern buildings, which often spurned natural light and ventilation. Modern architecture is thus an energy-profligate, petrochemical architecture, only possible when fossil fuels are abundant and affordable. Like the sprawling cities it spawned, it belongs to that waning era historians are already calling ‘the oil interval’. Although histories of modern architecture still overlook this critical fact − failing to note what is, literally, blindingly obvious − any future history must surely begin by noting this relationship, which is axiomatically unsustainable.
- Peter Buchanan “The Big Rethink”, Architectural Review
http://chrisdent.co.uk/new-york-skyline
“The problem…is also that these structures lack an authentic connection to nature and the very cultures in which they exist. This, in turn, leaves us feeling disconnected, isolated and longing for true connections to each other and our communities.”
- Monica Gray “The Problem With Architecture Today”, 2014
The Big Rethink …Most of what we now see as exceptionally stupid design concepts – such as the ubiquitous, a-contextual, energy guzzling, airconditioned glass box – were initiated by architects and once hailed as exemplifying Modernist ideals.
…No amount of the desperate fad for jazzing up facades in syncopated ‘barcode’ patterns and other jittery rhythms, and jollying up with strong colours can conceal the tawdry, mean-spiritedness of the design and the flimsy thinness of much construction. (Even inoffensive seems beyond us.) These faults are largely the inevitable consequence of the rhetoric of cheap and ‘efficient’ utilitarianism promised by Modern architecture.
- Peter Buchanan “The Big Rethink”, Architectural Review
increased isolation
increased disparity
increased pollution
increased illness
economic collapse ecological collapse http://www.handsoffmydinosaur.com
universal independence
uniformity urbanism efficiency economy industry
machined mass production material centric
profit http://chrisdent.co.uk/new-york-skyline
As the field matures, and as more of our daily interactions involve information environments, we must become also increasingly proactive in our role as agents of cultural and political change.”
Jorge Arango “Architectures”,
Journal of IA, Sep 2011
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
“Lord of the Rings”, Film, 2001
Little Book of Sloth - Lucy Cooke
local interdependence
customization earth integration
quality affordability community hand made
bespoke ideas
people
www.yearofmud.com
www.yearofmud.com
local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people
local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people
local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people
global independence
uniformity urbanism efficiency economy industry
machined mass production material centric
profit
https://prezi.com/1mul6vuq_a2s/earthships/
local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people
global independence
uniformity urbanism efficiency economy industry
machined mass production material centric
profit
local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people
global independence
uniformity urbanism efficiency economy industry
machined mass production material centric
profit
We can become better practitioners of IA by expanding our metaphors to include examples & strategies from traditional, natural, and indigenous architecture.
4 STRATEGIES FROM NATURAL & INDIGENOUS ARCHITECTURE
1. Prioritize Sustainability 2. Consider Context 3. Demand Inclusion 4. Look Beyond the Project
Prioritize Sustainability
http://www.iasc-culture.org/THR/THR_article_2012_Summer_Yates.php
Prioritize Sustainability
http://timfrick.com/2015/06/30/ted-talk-on-internet-sustainability/
Consider Context
Vincent van Zeijst https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/cf/2e/cc/cf2eccf463ba9c75a0de258f333e22b8.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faroe_Islands,_Streymoy,_Kirkjubøur_(1).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horyu-ji11s3200.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Pagaruyung_palace.jpg
Vincent van Zeijst
Consider Context
Andrew Hinton Understanding Context
Demand Inclusion
http://risingearthbuilding.blogspot.com/2015_10_01_archive.html
http://www.alternativehomestoday.com/blog/deanne-strawbale-studio/
http://return2green.blogspot.com/2010/07/earthship-touches-down-
in-haiti.html
Look beyond the Project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_spaceEames, “Powers of 10”
http://www.qrpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Rosa-Parks-Circle_04-960x640.jpg
Maya Lin
http://kfouchephotography.com
http://www.thomaskoziol.com/photography/
Michigan - Circa 2015
START NOW
Dan Klyn
Workshop Origins of Pattern
Language: Learning from C. Alexander
Tim Frick
Book Due July 2016
Andrew Hinton
Book
Sunday 1:15pm
#NOBODYUBERSINTHEHOOD: ARCHITECTING FOR INCLUSION
IN THE DIGITAL SERVICE ECONOMY
Working Session Architect the Information of Georgia House Bill 757
Reserve your seat today Email to RSVP: [email protected]
Saturday 6-7:45pm
Our goal must be not to disparage, deny the threats under which we live, but to boldly go forward toward a new practice, an understanding that may save us from what many past and present follies are now dumping in our laps…If we take it up as a goal, it will spread like fire to other minds and other fields… Information architects should adopt this as a goal. We are uniquely qualified to get it done, so let's do it.”
Brenda Laurel Closing Keynote 2015 IA Summit
THANK YOUJessica DuVerneay @[email protected]
@undrstndngunderstandinggroup.com