[p2p-research] possibilities of open source architecture

Sun Feb 15 05:10:43 CET 2009

superb contribution Eric,

I'm posting it on the 22nd,

Michel

On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 2:30 AM, Eric Hunting <erichunting at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here's my second shot at this. I was really astounded when digging into
> that reference to Constant Nieuwenhui. I'm amazed that New Babylon has never
> appeared in any of the literature I've read to date on urban futurism and
> Post-Industrial culture and by how well it fits into all our discussions on
> adaptive architecture and open technology. I need to find more material on
> this.
> ________________________
>
> Hardspace, Softspace and the possibilities of open source architecture -
> Usman Haque (http://www.haque.co.uk/papers/hardsp-softsp-open-so-arch.PDF)
>
> This paper is an excellent example of a new sensibility emerging among
> contemporary designers. An emerging awareness of the evolution of
> civilization's artifacts from static products developed by specialist
> professionals to, as writer Bruce Sterling has dubbed them, networked and
> information-bearing 'Spimes' that exist in a perpetual evolutionary feedback
> loop and shift control over their development and evolution from
> professionals to end-users. In this discussion Usman presents us with a
> notion of architecture as evolving toward a conversational process between
> end-user and structure and offers a new role for the contemporary architect
> as systems/platform developer rather than creator of static permanent
> structures. The discussion culminates in the notion of the architectural
> operating system which mediates the technical and aesthetic aspects of
> structural design and the dynamic functional needs and personal tastes of
> the individual inhabitant. We are also presented with the exciting prospect
> of an open source architectural operating system, where the inner workings
> of a system of habitation remain open and evolvable in the larger community
> with participation ranging from the professional to the personal.
>
> What  is lacking in this first discussion is a contemporary demonstration
> of its proposed principles. There is no flaw in this, of course, since this
> is such a very new area that pre-existing examples are scarce. His one
> reference goes back to that remarkable era of architectural and intellectual
> experimentation among mid-century Modernists; the New Babylon project
> proposed by Constant Nieuwenhui in 1974. This is a very important reference,
> which we can examine here;
> http://www.notbored.org/new-babylon.html
> http://www.notbored.org/ten-years-on.html
> http://www.notbored.org/constant.html
>
> Here Usman presents us with not only a model of adaptive architecture and
> the kind of society evolving with it but also one of the early explorations
> of what would come to be known as a Post-Industrial culture -though here
> referred to as a Unitary Urbanism- and one premised on the very same
> expectation of a state of future post-scarcity deriving from automation that
> we now see so commonly expressed today in Open Software, Open Industrial,
> P2P, Post-Industrial, Singularity, and Maker movements. So here Usman has
> tapped into one of the key common roots and discovered the precedent of a
> new architecture expressive of these many movements' shared philosophies.
>
> In another article called Urban Versioning 1.0, (
> http://uvs.propositions.org.uk/uvslongver.html)<http://uvs.propositions.org.uk/uvslongver.html%29> produced
> in collaboration with Matthew Fuller, Usman takes us further toward a
> reduction to practice, as it were. Here the two authors propose a model for
> open and freely -spontaneously- participatory urban design based on a
> 'license' akin to that of open software and organized as a series of
> 'constraints' -though more in the nature of propositions. This is not a
> reduction to any particular technology but rather to a set of propositions
> by which a kind of open source operating system for open collaborative
> architecture can be characterized and it is modeled heavily after the
> examples and ideals of open source software. One of the most interesting
> aspects of this license is the notion of avoiding pre-design in favor of
> participatory construction. This parallels the vision of spontaneous
> adaptiveness as envisioned by Constant Nieuwenhui but presents us with a
> question as to the communication of shared tasks among participants that
> implies a digital solution more advanced than the simple design graphic.
> Also interesting was the authors note of the overlapping of social entities
> independent of physical territory -virtual states in shared space, if you
> will. This is a concept we are likely to see enter an increasing number of
> discussions in the future.
>
> Overall, we have here a very promising start for the cultivation of an open
> source architecture model, though one as yet not as accessible in its
> language to the uninitiated as may eventually become necessary. Above all,
> though, this work begs -screams for- physical demonstration and
> experimentation both as a means of research and a means to wider
> communication. Combined with the various existing and emerging evolvable
> building technologies this author has discussed in the past, much potential
> exists for such demonstrations. Perhaps the time is ripe for an exploration
> of these compelling ideas in the material world.
>
> Eric Hunting
> erichunting at gmail.com
>
>
>
> On Feb 4, 2009, at 10:03 PM, Michel Bauwens wrote:
>
> Hi Eric,
>
>
> if this is still relevant, thanks for considering a commentary for our
> blog:
>
>
> Paper by Usman Haque: Hardspace, Softspace and the possibilities of open
> source architecture, 2002 (PDF)
>
> URL = http://www.haque.co.uk/papers/hardsp-softsp-open-so-arch.PDF
>
>
> what an "operating system" might mean in the context of architecture,
> particularly an "open source" operating system
>
>
>
> [edit]
>
> Example
>
> Urban Versioning System, http://uvs.propositions.org.uk/
>
>
>
>
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