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The Wonder of Trivial Machines
Author(s) -
Gage Stephen
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
architectural design
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.128
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1554-2769
pISSN - 0003-8504
DOI - 10.1002/ad.700
Subject(s) - wonder , cybernetics , craft , architecture , metaphor , context (archaeology) , conceptual architecture , epistemology , computer science , sociology , artificial intelligence , cognitive science , philosophy , art , visual arts , history , psychology , theology , archaeology
Having arrived in the 21st century at a definition of architecture that is time‐based and responsive to the user, Stephen Gage finds ‘reliable conceptual tools that can be used to understand our craft’ wanting. He looks across to the rich seam of postwar cybernetics for inspiration. Drawing, in particular, on Heinz von Foerster's metaphor of the ‘trivial machine’, he urges us to transcend the reality of the predictable, creating the wonder and joy that is essential to architecture, through a dynamic relationship with context. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.