Emergent Capacity

Our environment is defined by systems, both natural / physical and human / virtual. Physical and virtual systems are interconnected and inform each other, sometimes resulting in unintended consequences. We can see the unintended consequences of Jefferson’s grid as it relates to water rights and responsibilities. Comparing John Wesley Powell’s map of the western states based on watersheds and the present day delineation of our country, we can see the potential conflicts created between states surrounding access to water. These grid based decisions have significant impact on our economy and political structures. In the end any map identifies a clear agenda shaped by policy. The environment is changed because of the line and the power the policy has to radically change the physical environment and extend back into the virtual systemic network of our globally connected condition. Only by understanding the systemic conditions that shape our environment do we have the potential to intervene and impact these authoritative systems. Through systems analysis we can subvert the traditional role of the architect as one who works for a client, and move to a role where we identify emergent capacity for shaping the built environment. Performative strategies, beyond the scale of physical architecture, must become the priority of architects to shape democratic space. Through this approach, works can be catalysts for bottom-up change. This paper presents the pedagogical framing and student design projects that situate themselves in the world through a systems theory based design seeking mutualistic and emergent capacities of architecture. Utilizing the methodology of synthetic mapping the interconnected systems of the existing conditions, latent potential is revealed. These potentials are then utilized to create a generative performative space of varying scales. The paper evidences design proposals that range from the scale of a pavilion that amplifies public discourse and access to education, to that of engaging the complexities that are the West and how we can continue to sustainably inhabit the place. The pedagogy empowers the student to understand the implications of their existence in a larger, rapidly changing context and gives agency to the designer who can manage these complexities to create emergent capacity.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.110.18

Volume Editors
Robert Gonzalez, Milton Curry & Monica Ponce de Leon

ISBN
978-1-944214-40-1