DAISY AMES

John Maeda said once that “what is dear, is what is near. And vice-versa.” I immediately thought of the things and people that are dear to me and tried to justify why they were not near. It all comes down to choices - I have chosen this path and my actions have always reflected what I want, even when I was not aware of it myself. However, it’s possible that what is dear and what is near are in opposition to one another as well. Because dear implies a phenomenological presence and near implies contiguousness, it is sometimes the thought of something far which amplifies the sense of dear. Similarly, once something is near, you realize it is no longer dear - that it was the idea of something that made it beautiful. Sad but true. 

Ultimately, we are talking about happiness. Happiness derives from what you do and what you think. If your actions are in accord with what you think (and you don’t have to always be conscious of this) then you’re bound to be near to that which is dear, and vice-versa. 

“You have so many suggestions, and I don’t understand any of them. But thank you for them.”

- one student to another

It’s a good thing that process is appreciated in design because sometimes the progress is not as linear as the profuse amount of time spent on the product.

- john maeda tweeted this quote this morning, and i immediately applied it to current architectural trends. i am especially (un)interested in the unsubtle architect who resorts to showy gimmicks in order to seem sophisticated, and hence, their (unprecedented) popularity. in previous posts i have pointed out the architecture fad of incorporating decoration as a way of expressing a design aesthetic. decoration and design are not parallel entities.

a person wears jewelry in order to draw attention, complement a particular feature, or to make some ostentatious point. anyone can decorate his or her self. however, the internal composition, integrity, motives, intellect and substance cannot be added, it must exist within. the application of material bears no meaning in the larger plan of a building. it only appeals to those who have succumbed to the socially constructed belief that the shinier and more expensive something it is, the better quality it must be. quality and quantity are not parallel entities, either.

there are, however, certain parallels that can be made about that which is decorated (humans and buildings) and the subsequent aim to acquire quantity, opposed to that which is thoughtful (sophistication and design), with an aim to acquire quality. the importance lies in the ability to abandon the notion that popularity actually means something.