Ideas for sustainable design

As we enter a new decade, today's designers find themselves caught between the fierce competition of the market place and the calls for sustainable production, of ever satisfying consumers needs and desires yet in environmentally responsible ways. But this dilemma also highlights the ideological difference between modernism (c. 1920-70) and postmodernism (c. 1970-90) regarding what is art and design. That is, between the meta-narratives and somewhat elitist ideologies of modernism, within a broad social and political context and the subversive and glossy statements of postmodernism. Because in the over-reaching debate about climate change, the ideas, theories and methods of modernism (which also embraced experimentation, new technology and rigorous and systematic research) rather than the fragmentation, simulation and deconstruction of postmodernism might offer a more fruitful and effective approach to reducing the negative effects of global warming, and therefore a better ideas base for sustainable design futures. Discuss.

Bauhaus ideas

As the centenary year of the Bauhaus, possibly the single most influential modernist art and design school of the 20^th century, draws to a close, it may be wortwhile to recall the creative drivers and main ideas behind the school's achievements. First, Bauhaus didn't emerge from nowhere; it was inspired and influenced by the international Arts and Crafts movement (c. 1880-1920), the Werkbund, the creative associations of artists, architects and industrialists established in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the early 1900s, and the Dutch de Stijl movement (1917-). Second, it saw as its mission to bridge the gap between traditional arts and crafts and modern industrial manufacturing aiming at an alliance of the arts under the wing of architecture. This mission also paved the way for the International Style and Brutalism as well as postwar modernism in architecture. Third, Bahaus developed a pedagogic model which combined the teaching of arts, crafts and architecture stressing design as a process where ideation and experimentation with new materials were integral to problem-solving, a model that later became a blueprint for design education worldwide.