Architecture

Filled with modern color palettes, genius storage solutions, and exquisite furnishings, you won’t want to miss these humble homes. From an apartment that uses bold patterns to make a statement to another overflowing with simplistic Mid-Century Modern charm, they may all differ in style but are equally captivating with their meticulously crafted floor plans and […]

composed of a series of private and public space, the treehouse’s top acts as a continuous gradient and mapping of its facilities.
The post the undulating roof of this bamboo treehouse dictates its circular sequence of spaces appeared first on designbo…

The idea was to generate a large shadow affecting the least amount of soil, as would a tree, spreading with lush foliage over its main stem.

Personal AI (artificial intelligence) assistants are now nearly ubiquitous. Every leading smartphone operating system comes with a personal AI assistant that promises to help you with basic cognitive tasks such as searching, planning, messaging and so on. Usage of such devices is effectively a form of algorithmic outsourcing: getting a smart algorithm to do something on your behalf. Many have expressed concerns about this algorithmic outsourcing. They claim that it is dehumanizing, leads to cognitive degeneration, and robs us of our freedom and autonomy.

Classically, following the work of Alan Turing, human-likeness was the operative standard in definitions of AI. A system could only be held to be intelligent if it could think or act like a human with respect to one or more tasks. The precise definition of AI is divided into four main categories: thinking like a human, acting like a human, thinking rationally, and acting rationally.

Humans have long outsourced the performance of cognitive tasks to others. If humanistic outsourcing demands its own ethical framework, then presumably AI outsourcing does too. But what might that ethical framework look like?

In order to think about the ethical significance of such cognitive outsourcing, it helps to draw upon some theoretical models. One thesis- according to the situated/embodied cognition school of thought is that cognition is not a purely brain-based phenomenon. We don’t just think inside our heads.  Cognition is a distributed phenomenon, not a localized one. We use maps to navigate, notebooks to remember, rulers to measure, calculators to calculate and so on. We can think about these interactions with cognitive artifacts at the system level (i.e., our brains/bodies plus the artifact) and the personal level (i.e., how we interact with the artifact):

• At the system level, the cognitive performance is often enhanced by the artifact: me-plus-pen-and-paper is better at than me-without-pen-and-paper. But the system level enhancement is achieved by changing the cognitive task performed at the personal level: instead of imagining numbers in my head and adding and subtracting them using some mentally represented algorithm, I visually represent the numbers on a page, in a format that facilitates the easy application of an algorithm.
• On the other hand, when we start using a new artifact to assist with the performance of a cognitive task, we shouldn’t think of this simply as a form of outsourcing. The artifact may share (or takeover) the cognitive burden, but in doing so, it will also change the cognitive environment in which we operate. It will create new cognitive tasks for us to perform and open up new modes or styles of cognition.

One thing that is missing is any discussion of the positive role that AI assistance could play in addressing other cognitive deficits that are induced by resource scarcity. If a resource is scarce to you, you tend to focus all your cognitive energies on it. In other words, cognitive outsourcing through AI could redress scarcity-induced cognitive imbalances within one’s larger cognitive ecology. This serves as a counterbalance to some concerns about degeneration.

Moreover, autonomy and responsibility should also be taken into account when it comes to a discussion of the role of AI assistance. It is commonly believed that personal happiness and self-fulfillment are best served when one pursues goals that are of his/her own choosing; it is also commonly believed that the achievement and meaning derived from personal goals is dependent on one’s own being responsible for what one does. If AI assistance threatened autonomy and responsibility, it could have an important knock-on effect on our personal happiness and fulfillment.

There is some worry that AI would gradually ‘nudge’ a person into a set of preferences and beliefs about the world that are not of his or her own making. Yet, there might be something different about the kinds of nudging that are made possible through AI assistants: they can constantly and dynamically update an individual’s choice architecture to make it as personally appealing as possible, learning from past behavior and preferences, and so make it much more likely that they will select the choice architect’s preferred option.

The primary value of some interpersonal actions comes from immediate, conscious engagement in the performance of that action. To the extent that AI assistants replace that immediate, conscious engagement, they should be avoided. Nevertheless, in many other cases, the value of interpersonal actions lies in their content and effect; in these cases, the use of AI assistants may be beneficial, provided they are not used in a deceptive/misleading way. This is, of course, very generic.

The intention would be for these principles to be borne in mind by users of the technology as they try to make judicious use of them in their lives. Yet, these principles could also be of use to designers. If they wish to avoid negatively impacting on their user’s lives, then considering the effect of their technologies on cognitive capacity, autonomy, and interpersonal virtue would be important.

More guidance on which types of activity derive their value from an immediate conscious engagement or the situations/abilities that would be in need of some resiliency would always be desirable.

The original Data Driven Investor article contributed by Ayse Kok is here. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CDOTrends.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

As one of the leading architects of the British High-Tech movement, Pritzker Prize-winner Richard Rogers stands out as one of the most innovative and distinctive architects of a generation. Rogers made his name in the 1970s and ’80s, with buildings such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Headquarters for Lloyd’s Bank in London. To this day his work plays with similar motifs, utilizing bright colors and structural elements to create a style that is recognizable, yet also highly adaptable.

About a month before he unveiled his eighth album Ye in June, Kanye West re-entered architectural conversation with the unexpected and mostly unexplained announcement that he intends to hire architects and industrial designers to staff an architecture practice connected to his Yeezy brand. An outspoken fan and admirer of contemporary architecture, Kanye’s fashion and design projects have been a major focus for him since shortly after the prodigious producer started making his own rap albums. Kanye’s architectural ambitions have been an interesting factor in the relationship between architecture and rap culture, which seems to be just coming into focus through programs like the Hip Hop Architecture Camps organized by Michael Ford’s Urban Arts Collective, and the research of Sekou Cooke. Architecture and rap music have influenced each other in ways we’re just starting to notice—with the connection between the two even revealed as consciously and conspicuously as rappers including references to notable architects in their lyrics.

Architects and designers are turning into their very own version of Midas, everything they touch turns into concrete. With products like concrete coffee machines, concrete garden gnomes, and even concrete jewelry, designers are finding remarkable ways of experimenting with the material, proving that concrete is a lot more than just a bulky, building component.

From country estate to cultural park
The Keukenhof is famous around the world for its flower garden. Laid out between 1950 and 1958 for a National Flowering Bulb Exhibition, the garden is part of the grounds of the historical Keukenhof country estate. Dating from 1658, it featured a terraced garden with an artificial dike, unique in the Netherlands at that time. In 1860 the entire park was redesigned by the celebrated father and son landscape architects J.D. and L.P. Zocher. The estate has since been accorded national heritage status. In a masterplan drawn up in 2010, the area around Keukenhof Castle was designated a ‘cultural park’.

Despite his late entry into architecture, Geoffrey Manning Bawa FRIBA, (July 23, 1919 – May 27, 2003), explored modernism and its cultural implications, and created a unique, recognizable style of design which had a lasting impact on architects across the world. Well versed in Modernist theory, Bawa was one of the original proponents of Tropical Modernism, a design movement in which sensitivity for local context combines with the form-making principles of modernism. Bawa’s architecture led to the formation of a new architectural identity and aesthetic for many tropical environments, and won him recognition and awards, including the Chairman’s Award of the Aga Kahn Special Chairman’s Award for Architecture (2001) and the title Deshamanya, in recognition by the government of Sri Lanka for his contributions to his country.

Purcell, the UK’s leading firm of architects, master planners, and heritage consultants, has completed repairs to the Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of SS. Peter and Paul in Clifton, Bristol, making Britain’s last major church building watertight for the first time. Purcell worked closely with the client, Clifton Diocese, to improve the internal environment while respecting the architecture of the brutalist structure, with detailed design proposals that harmonize with the richness of the iconic building.