Design as Aesthetic Communication: Structuring Random-Order; Deconstruction of Formal Rationality (American University Studies, Series XX : Fine Art)

The book presents a theory of design as aesthetic communication which tends to bring design and specifically architecture in phase with contemporary views of the universe, society, and culture expressed by modern physics, biology, information theory, cybernetics, and current technology. It stresses the concept that within the seeming randomness of the twentieth century life there is an «order» that is more meaningful than the order imposed by formal rationality. It puts forward an alternative model for the traditional view which supposes that aesthetic judgement and design processes are linear progressions. Design is viewed here as the process resulting from attempts in communicating symbolic information.