Embracing today’s Economic and Technological Reality: What It Means for Design Professionals

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A B S T R A C T History has shown that technological advancements alter the way we produce, exchange, protect, consume and save all kinds of goods. The First Industrial Revolution, for example, has been named as such since it indeed revolutionized everything related to daily living including art, culture, economy and politics. History has also showed that most cultural actors are reluctant to embrace advanced technology at first as they might see it as taking away something at the core of humanity. Arts and Crafts movement for example, grew out of a concern for the effects of industrialization on design, on traditional skills and on the lives of ordinary people. Today, economists, scientists and policy makers in developing countries are talking about the coming of the fourth industrial revolution and the Second Machine Age, that not only will redefine the way humans live their daily life but also the very definition of human beings. The aim of this study is to discuss the effects of these changes on theoretical and practical issues related to design professionals and education, including advanced technologies available and social and cultural implications of their use. The paper will argue that today’s economic and technological reality will alter the design profession from its education to its implementation.

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Embracing today’s Economic and Technological Reality: What It Means for Design Professionals * Dr.YASEMIN INCE GUNEY Faculty of Architecture, Balıkesir University, Balıkesir, Turkey E mail: yasemince.guney@gmail.com A B S T R A C T History has shown that technological advancements alter the way we produce, exchange, protect, consume and save all kinds of goods. The First Industrial Revolution, for example, has been named as such since it indeed revolutionized everything related to daily living including art, culture, economy and politics. History has also showed that most cultural actors are reluctant to embrace advanced technology at first as they might see it as taking away something at the core of humanity. Arts and Crafts movement for example, grew out of a concern for the effects of industrialization on design, on traditional skills and on the lives of ordinary people. Today, economists, scientists and policy makers in developing countries are talking about the coming of the fourth industrial revolution and the Second Machine Age, that not only will redefine the way humans live their daily life but also the very definition of human beings. The aim of this study is to discuss the effects of these changes on theoretical and practical issues related to design professionals and education, including advanced technologies available and social and cultural implications of their use. The paper will argue that today’s economic and technological reality will alter the design profession from its education to its implementation. CONTEMPORARY URBAN AFFAIRS (2018), 2(3), 107-111. https://doi.org/10.25034/ijcua.2018.4725 www.ijcua.com Copyright © 2018 Contemporary Urban Affairs. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The rate of change in all areas of human life has been increasing ever since the First Industrial Revolution. Today not only the rate of change is drastic but also the number of changes that are taking place are numerous. It has been discussed that we are entering a new era in human history where digital technologies are creating new life practices altering our very way of life and revolutionizing everything related to art, culture, economy and politics. Today, economists, scientists and policy makers in developing countries are talking about the coming of the fourth industrial revolution, termed as Industry 4.0 in 2011 in the Science Fair in Hamburg, Germany, and the Second Machine Age, that not only will redefine the way humans live their daily life but also the very definition of human beings. Internet, the new renewable energies, and 3D-printing are the keys for the Third Industrial Revolution that was initiated after the 1970s which are increasing their effect on human lives. History has also showed that most cultural actors are reluctant to embrace advanced technology at first as they might see it as taking away something at the core of humanity. Arts and Crafts movement for example, grew out of a concern for the effects of industrialization on design, on traditional skills and on the lives of ordinary people. However, their idea of art for the people could not be accomplished because their exquisitely made and decorated pieces could only be afforded by the very wealthy. Today’s technological advancements offer new perspectives and opportunities that already started to affect all areas from archeology to medicine, from construction to heritage. More importantly, the Industry 4.0 signals the end of capitalism as economist Jeremy Rifkin (2016) suggests, while a new economic paradigm is emerging which he calls collaborative commons which will transform our way of life. The aim of this study is to discuss the effects of these changes on theoretical and practical issues related to design professionals and education, including advanced technologies available and social and cultural implications of their use. The paper will argue that today’s economic and technological reality will alter the design profession from its education to its implementation. 2. Literature Review 2.1. First Industrial Revolution and Architecture At the time when James Watt invented steam engine in 1765, architects were almost unaware of its implications for architecture. Architects were more interested with finding the appropriate ‘style’ for emerging functions such as banks, libraries, hotels, museums, opera houses, train stations etc. due to social changes taking place. In this period known as Neo-Classism, architects’ discussions were focused on finding ‘the style’ that would fit better into these new functions based on the ideals of their newly established nation states. Italian architects were considering Roman architecture more appropriate to them, for example, while Gothic was declared as the most British. America, on the other hand, decided Greek architecture more appropriate for their newly established democracy, while Baroque was found more appropriate for Paris Opera House by French architects as a place of human emotion and drama. Technology, however, was already on its way to produce new materials and techniques that would alter architecture drastically. It would take some time for architects to accept and use these new technologies and materials available as representatives of the new age. It required not only the availability of these new materials and technologies but also acceptance of them by architects first and also by the society leading the way to consider technology as the “cultural manifestation of modern man.” One of the earliest examples of steel columns, for example, is in a public library in Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (1843-1850). Designed by Henri Labrouste, the building (Figure 1) is a representative of how inexperienced and noncreative architects’ of the period were. They were hesitant and non-imaginative in using new materials such as these slender cast-iron columns shaped as sort of Corinthian columns having set on stone pedestals. From the outside the library just looked like traditional stone and brick buildings without ever indicating the use of iron columns and beams inside. Figure 1: Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (1843-1850). The architects’ preoccupation with style and lack of interest with the technological developments are reflected most clearly in the story of the world’s first temporary exhibition building, the Crystal Palace in London. The building’s story starts when the world’s first developed colonial power Britain wants in 1850 to organize the world’s first expo to showcase the latest technologies and innovations from around the world titled ‘The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations.’ In January 1850 they announce a competition and form a committee to select the winning design. The structure had to be as economical as possible and be built before the exhibition was scheduled to open on May 1st, 1851. Within 3 weeks the committee receives 245 entries, all of which are rejected. None of the designs would satisfy the requirements until a gardener Joseph Paxton, who happened to be in London and heard about the difficulties, visits Hyde Park and quickly doodles his famous concept drawing of the Crystal Palace for the committee (Figure 2).

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