Systems Thinking

In May, 2004, I had a chance to visit Brussels, the beautiful Belgian capital. I stayed at the Ibis hotel which is located in the North West of the city, near the exposition area. That day, I was up early and had a chance to take part in the breakfast that was offered by the hotel. There were not many people in the room that was created for this purpose. It was Sunday when most of us are not so much pressed for time. I took my time for collecting the things that I apparently wanted, objects with a choice that was also influenced by the objects as they were available in this hotel, of course. I mean, in any other hotel, my breakfast would be different, both in context as well as in terms of what I would eat and how it would please me. And tomorrow’s breakfast would be different, too. I am like that. I found a tray, walked around the buffet, identifying what was actually there, and what was not there, in so far as I could. There were many objects at the buffet, some of which I needed to organize for my breakfast. And each object had it’s own look and feel, location, way of handling and potential taste. For example, there were boiled eggs, without a shell, and later I found that they were cold, where I expected them to be warm. In this hotel, the breakfast was completely self service, whereas in other hotels, a waitress offers you orange juice and coffee or tea. Here, you just collected the things you wanted, as much and often as you wanted, and the price would be the same for each guest. In all hotels, the room number is key for calculating your bill. It is registered in all your financial transactions with the hotel, breakfast being one of them, usually. Most of these transactions are validated with your signature, though I doubt that this process is full proof. If you know the rules, you can learn to break them and let other guests pay for your transactions, if you want. I am not like that. The rules are not always clear to me, and in many cases I am the victim of exceptions. For example, I was unable to find the pepper and salt, and I had to make inquiries for them. As it turned out, they were hidden in an obscure corner, just around the buffet location. The exceptions amuse me. Actually, I have learned to understand and enjoy the many exceptions that are inherent to any system, breakfast being one of them.

And there's also "Breakfast in America".

Edwin

Comfortably Numb

There is this Dutch saying "Na gedane arbeid is het goed rusten", which translates into "Rest comes easy after a job well done". For example. when the architecture is finished, the architect experiences an emptiness that can be described as being hollow or bitter. All the work that took so much intensive energy, it is completed and it is hard to stop doing it. It is also hard to start something new again. You want to sit back, to admire the achievement and to start cherishing recognition, and to see what it will lead to.

View this sensation as a trance as in "Comfortably Numb".

This is similar to receiving a gift. Once you've unwrapped it and understand the present, this experience can not be lived again, as Shakespeare already pointed out. Similar to watching a movie for the first time, or reading a book.

Edwin

Shine on you crazy diamond

Standing alone, promoting the new world, like Columbus did in 1492 (this is also the name of a movie with music by Vangelis called "Conquest of Paradise"), architects are sometimes viewed as being crazy. However, it is our responsibility to go for the best, or rather, architectures that the client can afford best. It remembers me of "Shine on you crazy diamond", combining music with art for someone who could not live up to it, being Syd Barrett, one of the original Pink Floyd band leading members.

Edwin

The Paradox between Flow & Ease

Architects have a quick mind and are active people. They are used to manage an overload of information, concentrating deeply between levels of abstraction, as if in trance. When everything goes fast and well, you may have experienced this flow as featured in Vannessa Mae's "Storm" from Vivaldi's Summer of four seasons.

Almost paradoxally, architects must also sit back, be at ease, and take the helicopter view. As someone told me recently, architects have eyes (and other senses) that allow them to observe harmony without giving it much effort, another form of trance, which is supported by "Gnossienne nr 1" from Eric Satie.

Edwin

A-Z Design

Today, I bought a book, titled "A-Z Design".
It contains descriptions of the great designers from the 19th and 20th centuries, along with nice photographs of their products. Architects will love this book. It may well imply that I will start to purchase a few of these products.

Starting with the letter "A", the first designer mentioned is Alvar Aalto, with his design of an armchair, or really, "rocking chair". To my amazement I already own this design chair, which resides in one of my bedrooms.

Aalto was an architect from Finland; at Wiki you will find quite a long description about him. He is also known for the following quote:

"God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is at least for me an abuse of paper". (1978)

As to music, imagine how you feel when sitting in a "rocking chair".

Edwin

Living Architectures

Architecture is a composition that lives through implementation.

As it is almost impossible to create a flawless architecture, its daily execution leads to (bundled) changes for improval.

Improving by learning and doing, just as we live "A day in the life".

Edwin

Good architectures last for several years

An architecture, the most stable part of your overall system, that shows interrelationships between your subsystems, lasts for several years.

An architecture is "Your Immortal".

System changes without architecture will come with wounds that won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real.

Edwin