1. BODIES &
BUILDINGS
NYU ITP LECTURE COURSE SPRING 2013
APRIL 15, 2013
JEN VAN DER MEER @JENVANDERMEER WWW.JENVANDERMEER.COM
2. ASSIGNMENT
Concept source and exploration?
What part of the system of how we care for bodies, or how we
make and maintain our buildings, interests you the most?
What are the anomalies and failures that irk you?
What possibilities do you see?
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3. PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM:
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards)
11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows
10. The structure of material stocks and flows (transport networks, population age structures)
9. Length of delays, relative to the rate of system change
8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against
7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops
6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to what kinds of information)
5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints)
4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure
3. The goals of the system
2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system – its goals, power structure, rules, its culture-arises
1. The power to transcend paradigms
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4. 1. The power to transcend paradigms
Keep oneself unattached in the arena of
paradigms.
-D. Meadows.
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5. No paradigm is “true”
Every one, including the one that sweetly shapes your
worldview, is a tremendously limited understanding
of an immense and amazing universe that is far
beyond human comprehension. It is to “get” at a gut
level the paradigm that there are paradigms, and to
see that that itself is a paradigm, and to regard that
whole realization as devastatingly funny.
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6. The basis for radical empowerment
If no paradigm is right, you can choose whatever one
will help you to achieve your purpose, you can listen
to the universe and do his, her, its will, which is
probably a lot better informed than you will.
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18. GENERATIVE DESIGN
Generative design is not about designing a building,
it’s about designing the system that designs a
building.
Using modeling and to see what works.
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19. “VIRTUAL BUILDING”
a concept in which all design, construction, environmental
performance, and operational problems are visualised, solved,
and optimised using integrated computer simulation.
-The Arup Journal 2/2008
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21. “VIRTUAL BUILDING”
The virtual building is intended to support stakeholders throughout the project’s
lifetime in the following areas:
Exploration: a constantly evolving tool for exploring new directions in design and
construction
Communication: enabling project teams to quickly and accurately communicate design
forms, functions, and behaviours to other team members and the broader collection
of stakeholders
Integration: providing an environment where design and facility team members can
share and co-ordinate project information quickly and efficiently
Optimisation: facilitating analysis tools that are capable of optimising performance,
sustainability, and costs to meet both short-term and long-term goals.
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24. ASSIGNMENT
Concept development:
Now that you have identified a problem, how will you solve it?
Who will your solution address?
What levers do you need to pull?
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25. LINKS AND PRESENTATION
Today’s class presentation is available
http://www.slideshare.net/bettybluegreen/bodies-and-
buildings-nyu-itp-4-15-2013
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