design forum - DesignAddict


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	title of this thread your message I continue to cogitate on Will McDonough's and Renzo Piano's efforts at green design. The more I study all of McDonough's work and Piano's latest, the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) building, the more I see two designers being lauded for what seems to me engineering, rather than design, accomplishments. In turn, I sense that engineering is eclipsing design in architecture. In turn, I fear we are in for a high tide of ugliness as move farther into the quasi religious trend of letting nature be our latest god, rationalizing choice with enviro-think (rather than science) and its underlying ideology of environmentalism (rather than empirical facts). Consider Will McDonough first. Practically all the virtues of McDonough's work are engineering related, as the buildings are either banal, or incongruous and awkward aesthetically. And McDonough himself stakes no claim to being a great aesthetician. He advocates a philosophy that constantly verges on ideology, a philosophy that asserts that everything human beings make ought to be rethought and remade to be recycled either to earth, or to technology, and that aesthetic concerns are clearly subordinate to this task. In fairness to McDonough, it is hardly cricket to critique his work in terms of design at all. He is not busy reconstituting the form language of modern design for environmental needs. He is, rather, focused on changing what things are made of. In focusing on that, he becomes effectively an engineer. Design is an afterthought. Verdict: Will McDonough seems to support the argument that engineering is eclipsing design in architecture. associated web images (optional) associated web link (optional) your email your password create a forums account \| you forgot your password?