The Culture of Nature in the History of Design

The Culture of Nature in the History of Design confronts the dilemma caused by design's pertinent yet precarious position in environmental discourse through interdisciplinary conversations about the design of nature and the nature of design. Demonstrating that the deep entanglements of design and nature have a deeper and broader history than contemporary discourse on sustainable design and ecological design might imply, this book presents case studies ranging from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century and from Singapore to Mexico. It gathers scholarship on a broad range of fields/practices, from urban planning, landscape architecture, and architecture, to engineering design, industrial design, furniture design and graphic design. From adobe architecture to the atomic bomb, from the bonsai tree to Biosphere 2, from pesticides to photovoltaics, from rust to recycling - the culture of nature permeates the history of design. As an activity and a profession always operating in the borderlands between human and non-human environments, design has always been part of the environmental problem, whilst also being an indispensable part of the solution. The book ventures into domains as diverse as design theory, research, pedagogy, politics, activism, organizations, exhibitions, and fiction and trade literature to explore how design is constantly making and unmaking the environment and, conversely, how the environment is both making and unmaking design. This book will be of great interest to a range of scholarly fields, from design education and design history to environmental policy and environmental history. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Endorsements......Page 3 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Table of contents......Page 6 Illustrations......Page 9 Contributors......Page 14 Introduction: The culture of nature in the history of design......Page 18 Designs on nature......Page 19 Throughout any scale......Page 22 Conceptual environments......Page 23 Ecotopian landscapes......Page 25 Design in the garden......Page 26 Design as ecology......Page 28 References......Page 30 Part 1 Conceptual environments......Page 34 1 Design’s ecological operating environments......Page 36 Keynoting the stakeholder environment from the Whole Earth Catalog to Bruno Latour......Page 37 The commons without tragedy: three respondents......Page 42 Conclusions......Page 44 References......Page 46 2 Pattern watchers.I: Environmental seeing, c. 1970......Page 48 References......Page 59 Environmental conservation at Cape Cod......Page 61 Environmental.design......Page 64 Environmental privacy in a community......Page 65 The architecture and computer conference......Page 70 Notes......Page 72 References......Page 73 4 Ludic pedagogies at the College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley, 1966 to 1972......Page 75 Design 12 and after......Page 76 Environmental Yard......Page 79 Arch 284......Page 81 Conclusion......Page 85 References......Page 86 Part 2 Ecotopian landscapes......Page 90 5 A cityless and countryless world: The total appropriation of nature in Victorian utopias......Page 92 The nature of the natural......Page 93 Half room, half garden......Page 95 Not a waste corner......Page 97 Accidental, unmeaning beauty......Page 100 References......Page 104 Postcolonial ambition......Page 106 The cleansing machine......Page 108 Invested in gardening......Page 110 Garden city values......Page 112 Touring the garden......Page 114 Conclusion......Page 116 References......Page 117 7 Desertification, or designing new worlds in the dust......Page 120 The perpetually unravelling container......Page 123 ‘Un-natural’ bodies......Page 124 Radical futures, cities in dust......Page 126 Desertification, drifting sands......Page 128 References......Page 130 8 ‘There’s a world going on underground’: Ecotopian realism in subterranean design......Page 133 A nuclear-age hobbit hole......Page 134 The view from below......Page 136 Pioneers of the underground......Page 137 Unconventional facilities in rock......Page 139 Ecotopian realism......Page 142 References......Page 144 Part 3 Design in the garden......Page 146 9 Contested development: ICSID’s design aid and environmental policy in the 1970s......Page 148 ICSID, development, and sustainability......Page 150 Interdesign ‘78......Page 153 Diverging views......Page 158 Conclusion......Page 160 References......Page 161 10 Power in the landscape: Regenerating the Scottish Highlands after the Second World War......Page 164 Designing and shaping the wilderness......Page 165 Re-articulations of longstanding conflict......Page 167 Nature, standing reserves, and infrastructures......Page 168 Hydro schemes and architectural traditionalism......Page 170 References......Page 175 Stepping out into the garden......Page 178 The material culture of gardening......Page 180 The garden sprayer: a weapon in the war on weed......Page 181 Vegetal apartheid: the monocultural lawn......Page 183 Garden tools for making and growing......Page 185 Garden waste: treasure or trash?......Page 187 Negotiations with nature: from private to global concerns......Page 188 References......Page 189 12 Permanence and.magic: Super-natural metaphors of stainless steel......Page 192 Nature and steel: the power of metaphor......Page 193 A rhetorics of modern materials......Page 194 A non-rusting steel: the origin of stainless......Page 196 Stainless as a post-Second World War modern metal......Page 197 Stainless steel and sustainability......Page 200 Conclusion......Page 201 References......Page 202 Part 4 Design as ecology......Page 204 13 Forms of Human Environment (1970): Italian design responds to the global crisis......Page 206 Anticipating a design ecology through displays in Forms of Human Environment......Page 208 A new syntax: graphic design’s engagement with environmental issues......Page 214 Design as ecology: commenting on the biennial from inside and outside the box......Page 218 Notes......Page 220 References......Page 221 14 Environmental design pedagogy in Leningrad in the 1980s......Page 223 Visions of environment in the 1970s......Page 224 ‘Ecological consciousness’ in industrial design......Page 225 Student exercises in ‘environmental design’......Page 226 Decentering the human?......Page 232 Conclusion......Page 234 References......Page 236 15 Throwaway houses: Garbage housing and the politics of ownership......Page 238 System building......Page 240 A pedagogy of reuse......Page 243 The unfinished house......Page 246 References......Page 251 Autoprogettazione is conceived......Page 254 The rebirth of Autoprogettazione......Page 257 Autoprogettazione commercialized......Page 258 Autoprogettazione as a platform......Page 260 The unmaking of Autoprogettazione......Page 261 Conclusion: an object lesson in idealism......Page 262 References......Page 263 Index......Page 265 "The Culture of Nature in the History of Design confronts the dilemma caused by design's pertinent yet precarious position in environmental discourse through interdisciplinary conversations about the design of nature and the nature of design. Demonstrating that the deep entanglements of design and nature have a deeper and broader history than contemporary discourse on sustainable design and ecological design might imply, this book presents case studies ranging from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century and from Singapore to Mexico. It gathers scholarship on a broad range of fields/practices, from urban planning, landscape architecture, and architecture, to engineering design, industrial design, furniture design and graphic design. From adobe architecture to the atomic bomb, from the bonsai tree to Biosphere 2, from pesticides to photovoltaics, from rust to recycling--the culture of nature permeates the history of design. As an activity and a profession always operating in the borderlands between human and non-human environments, design has always been part of the environmental problem, whilst also being an indispensable part of the solution. The book ventures into domains as diverse as design theory, research, pedagogy, politics, activism, organizations, exhibitions, and fiction and trade literature to explore how design is constantly making and unmaking the environment and, conversely, how the environment is both making and unmaking design. This book will be of great interest to a range of scholarly fields, from design education and design history to environmental policy and environmental history."--Provided by publisher Conceptual environments -- Design's ecological operational environments / Simon Sadler -- Pattern watchers I : environmental seeing, c. 1970 / Larry Busbea -- Computing environmental design / Peder Anker -- Ludic pedagogies at the College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley, 1966 to 1972 / Timothy Stott -- Ecotopian landscapes -- A cityless and countryless world : the total appropriation of nature in Victorian utopias / Nathaniel R. Walker -- Clean and disciplined : the garden city in Singapore / Jesse O'Neill -- Desertification, or designing new worlds in the dust / Fattori Fraser -- "There's a world going on underground" : ecotopian realism in subterranean design -- Even Smith Wergeland -- Design in the garden -- Contested development : ICSID's design aid and environmental policy in the 1970s / Tania Messel -- Power in the landscape : regenerating the Scottish highlands after the Second World War / Frances Robertson -- Design for the garden : questioning gardening as environmentalism / Jette Lykke Jensen -- Permanence and magic : super-natural metaphors of stainless steel / Nicolas P. Maffei -- Design as ecology -- Forms of human environment (1970) : Italian design responds to the global crisis / Elena Formia -- Environmental design pedagogy in Leningrad in the 1980s / Yulia Karpova -- Throwaway houses : garbage housing and the politics of ownership / Curt Gambetta -- The unmaking of Autoprogettazione / Avinash Rajagopal and Vera Sacchetti __The Culture of Nature in the History of Design__From adobe architecture to the atomic bomb, from the bonsai tree to Biosphere 2, from pesticides to photovoltaics, from rust to recycling - the culture of nature permeates the history of design. As an activity and a profession always operating in the borderlands between human and non-human environments, design has always been part of the environmental problem, whilst also being an indispensable part of the solution.The book ventures into domains as diverse as design theory, research, pedagogy, politics, activism, organizations, exhibitions, and fiction and trade literature to explore how design is constantly making and unmaking the environment and, conversely, how the environment is both making and unmaking design. This book will be of great interest to a range of scholarly fields, from design education and design history to environmental policy and environmental history.