SD3082 Introduction to Design Theories and Culture

Autumn Semester 2017

Subject coordinator: Dr. Sandy Ng

Radical Design: The Fall of Modernity

October 20, 2017

Tutor: Sandy Ng
 Question
• What is needed in order to create a radical
design?
• Can you give a contemporary design example
that your group consider radical?
 Analysis
*Would you consider the following objects
radical & why?
Toast rack
Place of origin: Crusinallo, Italy (made); London, England (designed)
Date: 2005 (made) 1878 (designed)
Artist/Maker: Christopher Dresser (1834 – 1904) (designer)
Alessi (maker)
Materials and Techniques: Stainless steel
Toast Racks
Christopher Dresser
Teapot, ca. 1879
Place of origin: Sheffield
Materials and Techniques: Electroplated nickel silver with ebony handle
Manufacturer: James Dixon and Sons Height: 18.5 cm.
Lamp, ca. 1928
Jacques Le Chevallier (French, 1896–1987)
Aluminum, ebonite H. 11 in. (27.9 cm), Diam. 9 in. (22.9 cm)
Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, 2001 (2001.410ab)
Pablo Picasso
Female Nude, 1910
Oil on canvas
187 x 61 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

Analytical Cubism
Natural forms broken into abstract design of
tilting overlapping planes compressed into a
space. They move outwards towards the
viewers rather than towards a vanishing point
within the image.
Architect's table
Maker: David Roentgen (German, Herrnhaag 1743–1807 Wiesbaden, master 1780)
Date: ca. 1780–95 Culture: German, Neuwied am Rhein
Medium: Oak, mahogany, walnut, pine, and cherry, veneered with mahogany;gilt bronze,
brass, iron, steel; partially tooled and gilded leather
Dimensions: Overall: 31 7/8 × 44 1/8 × 27 1/2 in. (81 × 112 × 69.9 cm)
1.A horizontal molding allows reading, writing, and drawing materials to be propped,
when the top is raised.
2.A long frieze drawer decorated with milleraies banding and moldings and
mounted with drapery-swag handles.
3.The interior is fitted with a leather-covered writing slide above a nest of moveable
drawers.
4.Latches underneath the tabletop can be turned outward to hold adjustable candlesticks.
5.All four legs are screw-topped to permit easy transport.
Longcase Regulator with Equation Work and Calendar (Régulateur à equation),
ca. 1768–70
Movement by Ferdinand Berthoud (French, 1727–1807);
Case by Balthazar Lieutaud (French, ca. 1720–1780)
Case: oak veneered with ebony, with gilt–bronze mounts and glass panel;
Dial: white enamel with black numerals;
Movement: brass and steel; 90 1/2 x 21 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (229.87 x 54.61 x 32.39 cm)
Mechanical game table, ca. 1780–83
David Roentgen (German, 1743–1807)
Germany; Neuwied
Partially stained oak, mahogany, maple, and fruitwood, felt, partially tooled
and gilded leather, iron and steel fittings, brass H. 30 7/8 in. (78.5 cm)
Beautiful, superbly crafted, functional, challenge the concept of the object, improve
technology
 Videos
The origin of the '80s aesthetic
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCI8lP
vr6SM
TED Talk: Treat Design as Art
• https://www.ted.com/talks/paola_antonelli_
treats_design_as_art#t-169390
 Next Week’s Reading
• Rem Koolhaas, “Generic Cities”, in S, M,
L, XL, edited by OMA with Bruce Mau
(Rotterdam/NY: 010 Publishers/The
Monicelli Press, 1995), 1238-1264.