Design Cybernetics

Thomas Fischer is a design researcher, epistemologist and cybernetician. He is a Professor and Director of Research at the Department of Architecture at XJTLU in Suzhou, China. Thomas is also a Visiting Associate Professor at the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a Fellow of the Design Research Society and received the American Society for Cybernetics’ Warren McCulloch Award. Thomas holds a PhD in Education from the University of Kassel in Germany and a PhD in Architecture and Design from RMIT University in Australia. His research is focused on epistemological issues of design computing, design cybernetics, and digital media. Christiane M. Herr is an architectural researcher and educator focusing on the areas of structural design, digitally supported design, radical constructivism, design pedagogy and traditional Chinese approaches to creative thinking. Christiane is a Senior Associate Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China, where she directs the Master of Architectural Design as well as the Bachelor of Architectural Engineering programmes. Christiane is President of the Association for Computer Aided Design Research in Asia and a member of the executive board of the American Society for Cybernetics.

• Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. The Origins of Design Cybernetics (Liss C. Werner).- Chapter 3. Try again. Fail again. Fail better: The Cybernetics in Design and the Design in Cybernetics (Ranulph Glanville).- Chapter 4. From “Failure is not an Option” to “Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better (Thomas Fischer).- Chapter 5. Practice-Based Research in Interaction Design (Delfina Fantini van Ditmar).- Chapter 6. Research by Design (Ted Krueger).- Chapter 7. Constructing Cybernetic Thinking, Designing and Educating (Christiane M. Herr).- Chapter 8. Improvisation and Constraint: Design Cybernetics in Performance Creation (Tom Scholte).- Chapter 9. Design Cybernetics in Architecture (Ben Sweeting).- Chapter 10. Polynesian Voyaging and Ecological Literacy as Models for Design Education (Michael Hohl).- Chapter 11. The Cyber(netic) City (Timothy Jachna).- Chapter 12. Daring to Construct: The Poetics of Designing Under Conditions of Uncertainty (Claudia Westermann).- Chapter 13. Cybernetics and Society Redux: The Necessity of Design (Lawrence Richards).