Design is a power – underestimated by designers and ignored or exploited by others. Our collective failure to recognise the extents of power we yield as designers has ‘hollowed out’ architectural culture.
The opinions and criticism I hear around architecture’s obsession with the sublime and ineptitude of codifying it seem unnecessary through a UX lens. There can be method in madness.
I see images of these ‘stramps’ and others like them do the rounds on social media, accompanied with loads of praising comments like ‘this is so good for wheelchair users’ and ‘this is how you do great accessible design’. The problem is: it isn’t, and it isn’t.
Here’s a short update on the WeWork/UX case study progress. I share my preliminary thoughts on the purpose of the case study, my theories and assumptions, like how I think WeWork applied a product-business model way of thinking to office space, using architecture as a research and development tool.