Concepts as Tools
Often we hear the terms, designer or architect, not only referring to the traditional senses of those terms…individuals working in their respective fields of design and architecture...but as the “designer of a bill" or “architect of the treaty.” These usages acknowledge our contribution and the role of our disciplines as greater than aesthetic and technical ones. These usages acknowledge that a big part of what we do involves forming concepts, organizing information based upon those concepts and delivering this ordered information purposefully to others. Concepts deliver information with a point of view and clarity. Concepts are powerful and with power comes responsibility.
The clearest way to make this point is by looking at maps. Think of all the many views of the world given in maps. Each projection has a bias…has accuracies and inaccuracies and each creates different perceptions of the world.
The Mercator projection (image 1) is accurate only at the zone surrounding the equator. Notice how it distorts the land mass towards the poles…that is because the longitudinal lines that normally converge on the globe at the poles, when flattened through the cylindrical projections of the Mercator…become parallel. Alternately, the Peters Projection(image 2) preserves size but distorts shape…look at India and Greenland…and their relative size on the Mercator vs. the Peters Projection. Clearly the Mercator Projection, which is one of the more commonly used projections, (which is why it doesn't look strange to us) favors North America and Europe. In the Peters Projection, which is accurate in terms of size, Africa looks huge compared to what we are accustomed ... compared to the conceptions that formed our perceptions of the world. Imagine how these different concepts of the world affect perception...the battles that are planned.. the policies made... and treaties that are signed. If we think of what we do that way…that our concepts of the world are powerful tools that can affect perception and policy and the human condition…would it change what we do, how we teach and what we make?
