vol 3: Development
chapter 13: Design
Introduction
Site map
Directory
Search this site
Home
1: About
2: Synopsis
3: Development
Next:
Previous: Design: toc
This site is part of the natural religion project The natural religion project A new theology A commentary on the Summa The theology company
Introduction
Our mental exploration of the world yields possibilities for action. Because the world is so complex, however, there is generally a wealth of detail to be dealt with before a bright idea becomes a practical reality.
I started with very little knowledge of web publication. It has taken me a couple of years and many dead ends to bring this site to this stage, and I can see how far I have to go when I look at more developed sites.
The same is true of every task from cooking to space travel. The devil, as they say, is in the details. It is the designer's job to master all the details, often building on many years of personal and collective experience in a particular industry.
We expect good designs to be safe and easy to use, environmentally friendly, easy to manufacture, attractive in the market place and in every way perfectly fitted to their task. This is not easy, and every designer is continually faced with compromises.
Design does not apply to physical objects only. Spiritual structures, including religions, are also subject to design, consciously or unconsciously. This part of the site is devoted to the discussion of good and bad design, drawing its principles and constraints from the information presented under the heads of religion, culture, politics and economics
Further reading
Books
| Cook, Theodore Andrea, The Curves of Life: being an Account of spiral formations and their applications to growth in nature, to science and to art, with special reference to the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, Dover 1979 Jacket: '... portrays the signifcance of the spiral in 426 illustrations, from a Narwhal's tusk to Dürer's plan for a cylindrical helix. From the spiral in nature, science and art, the author suggests ideas on the essence of beauty and man's response to it. "One of the chief beauties of the spiral as an imaginative conception is that it is always growing yet never covering the same ground, so that it is not merely an explanation of the past, but is also a prophecy of the future."' Amazon back |
| Mandelbrot, Benoit B , The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Freeman 1988 Jacket: 'A rarity: a picture book of sophisticated contemporary research ideas in mathematics. Here, it concerns recursively defined curves and shapes, whose dimensionality is not a whole number. Amazingly, Mandelbrot shows their relvance to practically every branch of science.' Douglas R. Hofstadter Amazon back |
| Mattheck, C, and W Linnard (translator), Design in Nature: Learning from Trees, Springer Verlag 1998 Review: '[Claus Mattheck's] habilitation was in fracture mechanics, so he is well placed to see that the shapes of nature, by eliminating self weight and stress concentrations, represent optimised solutions for engineering design. ... He summarises the computer models he uses, and the reasons for using them, and applies them to growing, damaged and diseased trees and then to bone, claws, thorns, shell structures and bracing. Finally he applies his methods to the design of a variety of engineering structures. I recommend this book to biologists and engineers alike. Julian Vincent: Nature 392: 242 19 March 1998 Amazon back |
| McHarg, Ian L, Design with Nature, Doubleday/Natural History Press 1971 Introduction, Lewis Mumford: 'In establishing the necessity for conscious intention, for ethical evaluation, for orderly organisation, for deliberate esthetic expression in handling every part of the environment, McHarg's emphasis is not on either design or nature by itself, but on the preposition with, which implies human cooperation and biological partnership. 'back |
| Papanek, Victor, Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change, Granada/Paladin 1992 Preface: 'In an environment that is screwed up visually, physically and chemically, the best and simplest thing that architects, industrial designers, planners etc., could do for humanity would be to stop working entirely. In all pollution, designers are implicated at least partially. But in this book, I take a more affirmative view: it seems to me that we can go beyond not working at all, and work positively. Design can and must become a way in which young people can participate in changing society.' Amazon back |
| Prigogine, Ilya , From Being to Becoming: Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences, Freeman 1980 Jacket: 'How has order emerged from chaos? In this book, intended for the general reader with some background in physical chemistry and thermodynamics, Ilya Prigogine shows how systems far from equilibrium evolve elaborate structures: patterns of circulation in the atmosphere, formation and propagation of chemical waves, the aggregation of single-celled animals. In an effort to understand these phenomena, he explores the philosophical implications of the work that won him the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.' Amazon back |
| Prigogine, Ilya, and Isabelle Stengers, Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature, Bantam 1984 Foreword: 'Order Out of Chaos is a brilliant, demanding, dazzling book -- challenging for all and richly rewarding for the attentive reader. It is a book to study, to savour, to reread -- and to question yet again. It places science and humanity back in a world where ceteris paribus is a myth -- a world in which other things are seldom held steady, equal or unchanging. In short it projects science into today's revolutionary world of instability, disequilibrium and turbulence. In so doing, it serves the highest creative function -- it helps us create fresh order.' Alvin Toffler, xxvi Amazon back |
| Stewart, Ian, Life's Other Secret: The new mathematics of the living world, Allen Lane 1998 Preface: 'There is more to life than genes. ... Life operates within the rich texture of the physical universe and its deep laws, patterns, forms, structures, processes and systems. ... Genes nudge the physical universe in specific directions ... . The mathematical control of the growing organism is the other secret ... . Without it we will never solve the deeper mysteries of the living world - for life is a partnership between genes and mathematics, and we must take proper account of the role of both partners.' (xi) Amazon back |
| Winter, George, and Arthur H Nilson (A textbook originated by L C Urquhart aand C E O'Rourke), Design of Concrete Structures, McGraw-Hill Kogakusha 1923-1979 Preface: 'This edtion retains the dual orientation of its recent predecessors: to lay the foundations of a thorought understanding of the materials behaviour and the basic mechanics and performance of reinforced- and prestressed-concrete structures and, at the same time, to present ample material on up-to-date design practices and procedures as a preparation for, and aid in, professional practice.' xi Amazon back |
| Yates, Yates Garden Guide for Australian Gardeners, Angus and Robertson 1988 Jacket: 'The name Yates has been synonymous with successful gardening in Australia since 1887. The Yates Garden Guide was first published in 1885. Since then 6.5 million copies have been sold. It contains up-to-date information on efficient methods of cultivation, landscaping, pest control and fertilisers, and the newest varieties of flowers and vegetables. Included are 295 diagrams, illustrations and photographs. You will find the advice sensible practical and easy to follow.' Amazon back |
Papers
| Joscowicz, Leo, "Computer-Aided Mechanical Design using Configuration Spaces", Computing in Science and Engineering, 1, 6, November/December 1999, page 14-20. back |
| Lawland, T A, "A solar cabinet dryer", Solar Energy, 10, 4, October/December 1966, page 158-164. back |
| McMahon, Thomas A, "The Mechanical Design of Trees", Scientific American, 233, 1, July 1975, page 92-103. back |
| Tabor, H, "A solar cooker for developing countries", Solar Energy, 10, 4, October/December 1966, page 153-157. back |
Links
| Australian Government IP (Intellectual Property) Australia Australian government agency for patents, trademarks and designs back |
| Environmental Ethics Journal Environmental Ethics Journal back |
| Harvard University Harvard University Graduate School of Design back |
Click on an "Amazon" link in the booklist at the foot of the page to buy the book, see more details or search for similar items
Related sites:
Concordat Watch
Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty
Copyright: You may copy this material freely provided only that you quote fairly and provide a link (or reference) to your source.
