Difference and Repetition.
Repetition is not generality… Repetition and resemblance are different in kind… Generality presents two major orders: the qualitative order of resemblances and the quantitative order of equivalences… generality expresses a point of view according to which one term may be exchanged or substituted for another.
Deleuze, Gilles. Difference and Repetition.
In the 1990s, all through uni, I worked as an assistant to the regional architect for McDonald’s. The region was South West England & Wales. SW England was determined to be South of Liverpool, west of Swindon. Huge!
The architect’s role was to select and allocate, from macro-to-micro firstly which archetype for a given site through to which design packs to apply exterior and interior. The bespoke parts were the site arrangement (pavilion-type) and any retrofitting (street/mall-type). So yes — I’m sure some of my interest in streetscape and parking layouts came from those drive-throughs.
It was all very well-engineered, pre-designed and efficient as different types already had framework supply and installation trades lined up. We only used AutoCAD LT r9 but even this (with a few customisations) could be made to enhance an already streamlined process. So little waste and sensible allocation of automation set me in good steading for a career.
Stylistic and indeed nutritional naysayers will have justified critiques of the whole industry, but when considered in-the-round it was industrialised design par excellence.
I’m 100% supportive of @dr_danieldavis recent discussion and the appeal for more AEC technologists and companies to focus on the “fat-middle” premise and @trycanoa and any other progeny from @case_inc and @WeWork and through the configurators like @TestFitInc et al.; it is not a novel lineage but amazing that AEC professionals might only now be catching up. The number of supporting apps/firms/consultancies is booming and that is a good thing. Presentations of work by matterlab of their work in housing a particular highlight.
I proposed, as part of my partIII professional submission, a form of franchised housing design that would allow fashion brands into the residential sector. I was nearly thrown out of the department by the course leaders for suggesting copyright was a shareable resource if architects JV’d with the brands allowing for local/ personal customisation akin to the master-builder led mass housing approaches of 19th into 20thC
There’s no real conclusion to this thought other than to ask why it’s taking so long for a profession that has aesthetically fetishised the Bauhaus and British hi-tech and yet mocks IKEA (and McDonald’s and others) Perhaps there would be fewer “McMansions” around if the proper effort was put to increasing the number of types/brands/archetypes available to a process-driven industry. Environmental imperatives could be the USP rather than an afterthought to a noddy box.
It is a truism, of course, but perhaps the real opportunity for addressing energy consumption is actually using less and wasting less. This is a non-novel point, and yet forever producing the one-off may not be good for the environment nor perhaps good for the soul.
Within my part of the AECO industry the appeal and capability of designers to spring forth 75 twisty towers before lunch is well understood. Less well known until the last decade is the capability we can bring to bear to solve the issues faced by most of society with the houses we live in ad the cities we walk around in. No one is seeking to devalue the “Architectural profession” if you fear that, seek out teams and tools that will allow more time to go for a bike ride before sunset or read a book before bedtime. Even the most righteous aesthete could agree those are good things also.
Bring on the best minds to address the fat-middle and for those that don’t, tools to help us work less are also close to my heart.
