Total Designer

Description

This book develops an alternative and inclusive approach -- based on the hypothesis that the impact of digitalization on architectural culture is similar to the effects of the linguistic turn in philosophy --- and steers clear of exclusive dichotomous approaches, without the foundational reconsideration of the discipline or its ontological conservation. Most studies on the digital phenomenon carried out in the context of the discipline are focused on the more technical aspects, with expert discourses based on the standpoint of the optimization of existing processes. Given the general tendency toward creating experts and encapsulating knowledge, this text is meant to be based on a transversal vision, which can help non-specialist readers to understand certain complex phenomena. This publication won a Graham Foundation Grant.

Lluis Ortega is Ph.D. Architect by the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), MA in Philosophy by the Universitat de Barcelona, and obtained his Master of Science (AAD) degree from Columbia University. At present, he is Distinguished Research Professor Beatriz Galindo at UPC, Associate Professor at IIT in Chicago (on leave), and Visiting Professor at the Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires. Previously taught at UIC (Chicago), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Universidad de Alicante, Harvard University, and at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, Vienna.

"What is unique here is that Ortega's interest is focused on the repercussions of a highly technical instrumental context for architects, beyond the conventional fascination with formal prolificacy or the productive efficiency of digital tools. What's more, its main focus could be defined as an answer to the question of how we should interpret this context in order to help author and time paint together in synchronicity, to help them be more creative and critical, especially in the context of a particular period: in our present, which is already postdigital to some extent. Critique: A seminal and impressively thoughtful work of scholarship, "Total Designer: Authorship in the Architecture of the Postdigital Age" is exceptionally informative, deftly written, and remarkably well organized and presented. Unreservedly recommended for both college and university library Architecture collections and supplemental studies reading lists, "Total Designer" will prove to be of immense practical value and enduring interest to architecture students and professionals." --John Taylor, Midwest Book Review