I have been giving considerable thought as to why the house I live in today, built just 10 years ago in 2002, isn't all that much different than the house I grew up in the early 70's. Everything we use today, cell phones, computers and cars for example, have evolved greatly over the past forty years. It's extremely difficult to find a rotary dial phone with a tethered handset. Forty years ago, computers were room size and definitely not personal, and a hybrid vehicle was a pick-up truck with a camper top installed on the bed. The one glaring exception to this evolution is the house. The house of today is not all that much different than the house of 40 years ago.
A trip through the local neighborhood will give you no indication of the era in which we live. Instead, you will be greeted with nostalgic images of houses that have been regurgitated and poorly imitated at best and at worst, cartoonic memories generated from some historic fantasy. Houses are being built with the same material, and other than the "bigger is better" phenomena and the technology of appliances that goes in those houses, you are hard pressed to find any real innovation in the house of today.
The primary reason for the stagnation of evolution of residential architecture is the utter absence of design, both the verb and the noun.
The process of design (the verb) is a reiterative methodology used for the purpose of transforming the imagined, the impossible and the possible......... into reality.* It is a process born from creative inspiration that requires research and development as well as trial and error. This process is highly evident in the evolved, but absent in the un-evolved. Somebody had the inspiration that a phone would be a better product with a remote handset in which you could walk room to room without being restricted by a 3 foot long cord. Through a lengthy design process, that inspiration became reality. Today, phones, (with computers on them) fit in our pockets and we can shop for the latest and greatest automobiles from them. My question is.....Where is the inspiration in the residential architecture of today, and the creative spark that generates innovation? Instead of research and development, the process used in the house of today is cut and paste from magazines, and the spark is usually ".....can you make it look like the third on the left?"
If Design (the noun) is defined as the intended physical and emotional meaning conveyed through the crafted object, then the reality of our constructed neighborhoods falls far short of good design.* It's left the public with a desire for the nostalgic, a yearning for romantic images of memories of houses they grew up in, or that their parents grew up in. These images are poorly translated into a built product, with little imagination and less originality. The result of this regurgitation of old ideas, poor planning and lack of creative inspiration has left our neighborhoods with caricatures void of any character. In short, our neighborhoods are void of design.
The design of the laptop computer that I use was inspired by stealth technology, and not in the image sense only. Its base is tapered to allow for improved ergonomic typing. This tapered design allows for bigger cooling fans in the back, resulting in better performance and longer life. I use 3d mouse (exceptionally designed) to facilitate the design (verb) process of the designs (noun) that come across my desk. My computer of today…………….
looks and performs like nothing that was around 40 years ago. …….
Apple II
It has been designed. The design has adapted. Innovations have been made. The computer has evolved.
The house of today…………... not so much.
1970
2010
Adaptation leads to innovation, innovation leads to evolution.
RBP 4.3.12
*Note: For an excellent resource on design and its impact on our world, refer to: “Imagine, Design, Create” Autodesk, Inc. Published by Melcher Media.
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