03 February 2011

Manifestos for design

Over at Building Design's website, the excitingly-named "The Engineer's Blog" reports on an attempt to get engineers to write their own manifestos for design.

While manifestos are most often associated with politicians, they are also fairly common in art and architecture, with a tradition dating back at least to the Futurist call to "exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer’s stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap".

They are much less common in engineering design, presumably because a call to design objects "that work efficiently and don't injure their users" lacks a certain pizzazz.

The manifestos reported at The Engineer's Blog place their emphasis not on the product but on the process, asking for "connecting ideas" and to apply the "wisdom of crowds".

In the interests of applying the latter principle, I thought I would ask you, the reader, for your input.

What would a manifesto for bridge design or engineering look like? Have there actually been any?

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