I’m going to try to gather together an inchoate collection of thoughts for this post but I’m hoping that, like a good Jethro Tull song (1), something sensible will emerge from the chaos by the time I’m done.
My dear Colin, only one year to transform you from skeptically enthusiastic to full-on skeptical? Oh, I don't even know how to begin! Just think of it from this perspective: when architects and urban designers claim their inspiration from parametricism or rhizomes, correctives must be offered. Let's leave it at that. As ever, a wonderful read.
Hi Sarah. Well I think the best way to characterize my current thinking is that I'm mired in the dissonant intermezzo of a Jethro Tull song, confident that if I live long enough something more melodic is going to emerge. I do enjoy poking some fun at the neuro-everything crowd. But underneath the fun-poking is a genuine concern that if the arguments of that crowd are taken too seriously we are encouraged to flatten the meaning of human experience. Indeed, I see that happening in very many ways. I do think that there's a place for neuroscience in discussions of architecture and urban design but it has to be tempered by reverence for the granularity of human experience. I'll say much more about that....somewhere....
Most of all, thanks for reading and commenting though. It means a lot to me.
My dear Colin, only one year to transform you from skeptically enthusiastic to full-on skeptical? Oh, I don't even know how to begin! Just think of it from this perspective: when architects and urban designers claim their inspiration from parametricism or rhizomes, correctives must be offered. Let's leave it at that. As ever, a wonderful read.
Hi Sarah. Well I think the best way to characterize my current thinking is that I'm mired in the dissonant intermezzo of a Jethro Tull song, confident that if I live long enough something more melodic is going to emerge. I do enjoy poking some fun at the neuro-everything crowd. But underneath the fun-poking is a genuine concern that if the arguments of that crowd are taken too seriously we are encouraged to flatten the meaning of human experience. Indeed, I see that happening in very many ways. I do think that there's a place for neuroscience in discussions of architecture and urban design but it has to be tempered by reverence for the granularity of human experience. I'll say much more about that....somewhere....
Most of all, thanks for reading and commenting though. It means a lot to me.