1.
ARCHITECTURE & IA
Expanding the Metaphor
Jessica DuVerneay
@jduverneay

2.
WHAT IS IA?

3.
Michigan - Circa 1992

4.
METAPHORS

5.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/King's_Cross_Western_Concourse.jpg

6.
.
Conductor
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/arts/music/susanna-
malkkis-wide-appeal-on-both-sides-of-the-atlantic.html?_r=0

7.
.

8.
.
is to make places, not just spaces.
The reason
to work with
an architect

9.
.
Places where strategy shapes the structure
to ensure good fit between what you intend…

10.
.
experience it …and how people

11.
Do you use physical architecture as a metaphor to
explain or discuss information architecture?

12.
WINCHESTER
MYSTERY
HOUSE
http://somethingwickedhorror.kinja.com/the-winchester-mystery-house-1736574784

13.
http://somethingwickedhorror.kinja.com/the-winchester-mystery-house-1736574784
http://www.weirdretro.org.uk/the-winchester-mystery-house.html

14.
https://eatingfastfood.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/fascinating-tales-from-history-the-winchester-mystery-house/

15.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Film, 2004

16.
STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS

17.
If you use physical architecture as a metaphor to
describe IA, what strengths or limitations have
you found?

18.
Strengths
• All humans have experiences in built spaces
• User needs are important in both
• Workflows are important in both
• Wayfinding is important in both
• Context is important in both

19.
Limitations
• May turn clients off
• Misalignments between
websites & physical places
• Time
“The objective of IA
is not the production of
environments for
inhabitation,
but for understanding.”
- Jorge Arango

20.
The current discussion of IA and the use
of built-world examples is mostly a
reference to western architecture from
the past 100 years.

21.
.

22.
http://www.laurelhighlands.org/things-to-do/arts-culture/frank-lloyd-wright/

23.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Le_Corbusier_buildings

24.
So, what’s wrong with that?
Those buildings are cool.

25.
This is problematic.

26.
Lack of Diversity

27.
Sustainability
It was fossil fuel-derived electricity that lit and air-conditioned modern
buildings, which often spurned natural light and ventilation. Modern
architecture is thus an energy-profligate, petrochemical architecture, only
possible when fossil fuels are abundant and affordable. Like the
sprawling cities it spawned, it belongs to that waning era historians are
already calling ‘the oil interval’. Although histories of modern architecture
still overlook this critical fact − failing to note what is, literally, blindingly
obvious − any future history must surely begin by noting this relationship, which
is axiomatically unsustainable.
- Peter Buchanan
“The Big Rethink”, Architectural Review

28.
http://chrisdent.co.uk/new-york-skyline

29.
“The problem…is also that these structures lack an
authentic connection to nature and the very cultures
in which they exist. This, in turn, leaves us feeling
disconnected, isolated and longing for true
connections to each other and our communities.”
- Monica Gray
“The Problem With Architecture Today”, 2014

30.
The Big Rethink
…Most of what we now see as exceptionally stupid design concepts – such as
the ubiquitous, a-contextual, energy guzzling, airconditioned glass box –
were initiated by architects and once hailed as exemplifying Modernist ideals.
…No amount of the desperate fad for jazzing up facades in syncopated ‘barcode’
patterns and other jittery rhythms, and jollying up with strong colours can conceal
the tawdry, mean-spiritedness of the design and the flimsy thinness of much
construction. (Even inoffensive seems beyond us.) These faults are largely the
inevitable consequence of the rhetoric of cheap and ‘efficient’ utilitarianism
promised by Modern architecture.
- Peter Buchanan
“The Big Rethink”, Architectural Review

31.
increased isolation
increased disparity
increased pollution
increased illness
economic collapse
ecological collapse
http://www.handsoffmydinosaur.com

32.
universal
independence
uniformity
urbanism
efficiency
economy
industry
machined
mass production
material centric
profithttp://chrisdent.co.uk/new-york-skyline

33.
As the field matures, and as more of our
daily interactions involve information
environments, we must become also
increasingly proactive in our role as agents
of cultural and political change.”
Jorge Arango
“Architectures”,
Journal of IA,
Sep 2011

34.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

35.
“Lord of the Rings”, Film, 2001

36.
Little Book of Sloth - Lucy Cooke

37.
local
interdependence
customization
earth integration
quality
affordability
community
hand made
bespoke
ideas
people

38.
www.yearofmud.com
www.yearofmud.com

39.
local
interdependence
customization
earth integration
quality
affordability
community
hand made
bespoke
idea centric
people

40.
local
interdependence
customization
earth integration
quality
affordability
community
hand made
bespoke
idea centric
people

41.
local
interdependence
customization
earth integration
quality
affordability
community
hand made
bespoke
idea centric
people
global
independence
uniformity
urbanism
efficiency
economy
industry
machined
mass production
material centric
profit

42.
https://prezi.com/1mul6vuq_a2s/earthships/

43.
local
interdependence
customization
earth integration
quality
affordability
community
hand made
bespoke
idea centric
people
global
independence
uniformity
urbanism
efficiency
economy
industry
machined
mass production
material centric
profit

44.
local
interdependence
customization
earth integration
quality
affordability
community
hand made
bespoke
idea centric
people
global
independence
uniformity
urbanism
efficiency
economy
industry
machined
mass production
material centric
profit

45.
We can become better practitioners of
IA by expanding our metaphors to
include examples & strategies from
traditional, natural, and indigenous
architecture.

46.
4 STRATEGIES FROM
NATURAL & INDIGENOUS
ARCHITECTURE

47.
1. Prioritize Sustainability
2. Consider Context
3. Demand Inclusion
4. Look Beyond the Project

48.
Prioritize Sustainability
http://www.iasc-culture.org/THR/THR_article_2012_Summer_Yates.php

49.
Prioritize Sustainability
http://timfrick.com/2015/06/30/ted-talk-on-internet-sustainability/

50.
Consider Context
Vincent van Zeijst https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/cf/2e/cc/cf2eccf463ba9c75a0de258f333e22b8.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faroe_Islands,_Streymoy,_Kirkjubøur_(1).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horyu-ji11s3200.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Pagaruyung_palace.jpg

51.
Vincent van Zeijst
Consider Context
Andrew Hinton
Understanding Context

52.
Demand Inclusion
http://risingearthbuilding.blogspot.com/2015_10_01_archive.html
http://www.alternativehomestoday.com/blog/deanne-strawbale-studio/
http://return2green.blogspot.com/
2010/07/earthship-touches-down-
in-haiti.html

53.
Look beyond the Project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space
Eames, “Powers of 10”

54.
http://www.qrpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Rosa-Parks-Circle_04-960x640.jpg
Maya Lin

55.
http://kfouchephotography.com
http://www.thomaskoziol.com/photography/

56.
Michigan - Circa 2015

57.
START NOW

58.
Dan Klyn
Workshop
Origins of Pattern
Language: Learning
from C. Alexander

59.
Tim Frick
Book
Due July 2016

60.
Andrew Hinton
Book

61.
Sunday
1:15pm
#NOBODYUBERSINTHEHOOD:
ARCHITECTING FOR INCLUSION
IN THE DIGITAL SERVICE ECONOMY

62.
Working Session
Architect the Information
of Georgia House Bill 757
Reserve your seat today
Email to RSVP: info@iainstitute.org
Saturday
6-7:45pm

63.
Our goal must be not to disparage, deny the
threats under which we live, but to boldly go
forward toward a new practice, an
understanding that may save us from what
many past and present follies are now
dumping in our laps…If we take it up as a
goal, it will spread like fire to other minds
and other fields… Information architects
should adopt this as a goal. We are uniquely
qualified to get it done, so let's do it.”
Brenda Laurel
Closing Keynote
2015 IA Summit

64.
THANKYOU
Jessica DuVerneay
@jduverneay
jessica@understandinggroup.com
@undrstndng
understandinggroup.com