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  • The cell, the field, and the tower: the spaces of ecological cybernetics

Goodbun, Jon, 2017, Book Section, The cell, the field, and the tower: the spaces of ecological cybernetics In: Rumpfhuber, Andreas, (ed.) Into the Great Wide Open. DPR Barcelona, Barcelona, pp. 77-101. ISBN 978-84-947523-1-5

Abstract or Description:

Ecology and cybernetics, in their everyday folk meanings at least, might seem to be completely dissociated fields: the first suggest- ing the study of living organisms in their environments, and the other conjuring images of automation, machines, and their con- trol and management. They share however a concern with under- standing systems, and as even the most cursory study shows, the histories of these concepts are intimately intertwined with each other. In fact, I argue that they have a common structure in a certain abstract spatial imaginary which determines think- ing about systems in modernity. This spatial abstraction itself emerges through a new division of labour which transformed our production and thinking about bodies, machines, and buildings. This is the story of three architectural typologies—the bounded cell, the networked field, and the observatory tower—, a story which raises questions about the nature of architecture and its relationship to other forms of technical and scientific knowledge, and to systems theory in general.

Official URL: http://www.dpr-barcelona.com/index.php?/projects/i...
Subjects: Architecture > K100 Architecture
Architecture > K400 Planning (Urban
School or Centre: School of Architecture
Date Deposited: 10 Sep 2018 14:44
Last Modified: 09 Nov 2018 14:32
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/3611
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