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HarvardX GSD1xThe Architectural Imagination

Lecture 1.1 Aesthetic Perception

Transcript:

K. MICHAEL HAYS: I'm in Gund Hall, which is the home of the Graduate School of Design. And I'm in the studio space, which is where the most intense activity takes place of design, of analysis and research, of imagination. We'll speak about the

architectural

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What kind of interface could enable people to collectively learn and build knowledge as a group? I'm trying to imagine a system that goes beyond forums and linear discussion threads, with highlights and summarization to distill key ideas [design thread]

... While texts often build and maintain an internal and pre-set collection of references in the form of footnotes, prior foundational texts, or subtle cultural “calls” to “events or people or tropes of the time and place the text was written,” it’s a far more personal practice to form one’s own links in an inter-textual manner.

I’d like to think

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But McLuhan would say, try not to only think about the fact that we make the tools. Think about how much the tools make us as well.

In order to fill each deck, I have to mine references - reaching both into the past and as close to the present as possible. And in doing so, I come across rich histories I didn’t know existed. It reminds me the spawn point of this technology is rooted in Black history. Further defining what I bring to the club, office, and my home.

One of my (many) contrarian beliefs is that we do not have strong enough preferences. We often blame social media or the speed of information as the reason why we’re easily distracted, but the real reason behind our inability to focus has less to do with the sheer quantity of media and more to do with our laziness when it comes to distinguishing... See more

I’ve always thought that what we colloquially call “tech” (hardware, software) really ought to be seen alongside other forms of technology: social, cultural and spiritual. So, while some places in the world might have great infrastructure and highly efficient software systems, they may lack the sophistication of social and cultural technology that... See more