In the process of researching ideas of Open Architecture, I came across Cameron Sinclair's TED talk, where he outlines his desire to create an open network of designers linked in their desire to affect change (essentially). If you don't know, he's the co-founder of Architecture for Humanity (along with Kate Stohr)
The TED prize awarded him this wish in 2006 and out sprang the Open Architecture Network! www.openarchitecturenewtork.org
This was where my 1 + 3 + 9 was going....awesome. It's great to see this initialized, though I need to study the implementation more. I want a greater access for the non-architectural public to have a voice in the implementation of projects, and I'm unsure how submission of ideas works with OAN. I hadn't thought about the format of submissions, and the competition format works really well to focus the collective efforts of the design community, which is great and absolutely necessary for Open projects on their way to Critical Mass. example: Wikipedia is maintained now by a HUGE collective user base, but it took concentrated time to get there. (I should look that up, the actual time....)
Anyway, the TED talk Cameron Sinclair gave is fantastic, you should watch it!
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Spencer,
ReplyDeleteJust because Cameron Sinclair already had the same idea doesn't mean it's a bad idea. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a good one either. I think OAN is an interesting notion, but frankly I don't quite buy it yet. There are myriad reasons why it's problematic, from the practical to the sublime: issues relating to client, liability and constructability, not to mention the role of the ego and of taste.
I know that these last two may seem anathema to an open source network, but I do believe that they cannot be discounted. Doing so is willfully naive at best: they are crucial to determining design accountability.
And, this needs to be said: just because everyone in the network thinks it's a good idea doesn't make it so. The truth of beauty doesn't always rise to the top in an open source network.
I also have no quick way of finding how this fits neatly into a project in Doha, if that's where you end up in the spring. What would you be proposing: the design of the system that designs projects? How do you know if you've succeeded? I'm not suggesting that you drop it, I just suggesting you take these questions on fully.