Designing is Mining: Historicizing Material Ecologies of Design
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The modern design profession is often considered a product of the Industrial Revolution's division of labor, which separated the ideation of artifacts from their execution. As part of the same legacy, where industrial manufacturing—as a system—was premised on the exploitation of extractive materials and fossil fuels, designers are natural-born miners. Designing entails crucial decisions on which and how much materials to mine, blast, drill, excavate, or fell. This article argues for an expanded view of the subject matter and the methods of design history, as designing with, designing without, and designing out extractive materials are crucial parameters in both the history and the future of the human-built world.
Source: Design Issues
DOI: 10.1162/desi_a_00789
Author: Kjetil Fallan
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4405802202