Lecture 1: General points: Process:  Architecture wraps up a set of processes.  Early architectural process is system/rule - there is some large document that guides and shapes outputs (orders, pattern books etc)  Systems make order out of discrete components  Design practice in pattern-book system might be conceived of as computation vs controlled application of process  Shifts in conceptualising order come out of the second world war  Rise of computation changes model of thought - no longer able to conceptualise large system  Digital architecture/process operates in that new space  This can be liberating - but it also makes us wonder about our continued agency Systems:  Control and order form a key aspect of systems approach, from mid 19th c onward  Hand of the designer still implicit in these (metaphor of the invisible hand omnipresent?)  WWII gives us larger systems of control + idea of cybernetics + super systems with little oversight but many feedback loops and self correcting elements (many invisible hands?)  Potential for design agency to shift from total control to acting within system, or perhaps, dropping out (archigram vs oregon woodbutchers / drop city)  Systems still omnipresent (Mai '68) - so what else can designers do?  Construct criticism of system from tools of system (Superstudio)  Interconnection with PROCESS o Understanding process not as THE process but as many fragmentary and contingent processes is one way of subverting the single story. o Designers can no longer hope to control all spaces but can influence, map, and construct relations o Can also utilise the opportunities in process to expand potential sites for action o Ceding some level of scope control might amplify action Task: Think about a digital tool that you use. Describe a process or system within it. How much control do you have over this? How do you evaluate the outputs? How conscious are you of the 'big picture' when you are using this fragment/tool? Provide a sketch of the icon or symbol for this tool/system. 150-200 words.