housing building homes - a 'cyberempathic' process part 1: the model

CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 2/2012. Cyber Sky

Peter Schmid, Housing building homes – a ‘Cyberempathic’ process part 1: The Model

www.CyberEmpathy.com

Abstract:

The Meta Model Integral Bio-Logical Architecture - IBA Meta Model is

both - a systematical check list for quantities and qualities of our built

environment and a 'mandala' for contemplation and meditation on the

place and meaning of architecture, building, and planning. The IBA

model is based on an holistic approach. It can be beneficially applied in

education, in research, in R&D as well as in design - dynamically

balancing between the parts and the whole...

PETER SCHMID Rome, 1935; Univ. Prof. Emeritus, Mag. Arch. (MA = magister architecturae), Ing. (Building Technology), Dr. h. c. (Yoga); Studies with Clemens Holzmeister and Konrad Wachsmann; work in paintings and graphics; Architectural design practice in several countries, freelance and as studio director;

PETER SCHMID

HOUSING BUILDING HOMES - A 'CYBEREMPATHIC' PROCESS PART 1: THE MODEL Kokazone. Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.




HOUSING Building Homes - A 'CyberEmpathic' Process

PART 1 - THE MODEL

The author had the opportunity of – a very short but well – a meeting

with Norbert Wiener, the inventor of Cybernetics (a term of Greek

origin). And ‘Cyber’ is coming from Cybernetics. This meeting happened

in one of the late 1950ties International Salzburg Summer Academies in

Austria. Those summer courses’ artistic director was the famous

painter Oskar Kokoschka with his ’School of Seeing’, while art collector

and gallery owner Max Welz acted as administrative director beside. As

a participant of the Salzburg Summer Course ‘Building in Our Time’ the

author thanks to Konrad Wachsmann, who invited Norbert Wiener in

that time. Wachsmann was a highly creative and stimulating architect,

innovative researcher, brilliant team leader, and writer of the rather

amazing Turning Point in Building.

‘Empathy’, while being a newly used term for what in German

language means‘Einfühlungsvermögen’ (from where

‘empathy’, in a way was translated, also by taking a Greek

term), is a – demanded – quality, which already plays an

important role within theYoga philosophy, long before

the Love Message of Christianity. It is particularly an

attribute to be exercised according the Eight-folded

Path or Asthanga Yoga, eventually described

by Patanjali possibly a half millennium ago. The author had

the privilege of being a disciple of Sri

Swami Yogeshwarananda Saraswati during two decades. In

this time he used the opportunity of theoretical and practical

integration empathic and similar features in life and work.

More over it also appeared that those features take essentially

part in a Buddhist approach.

The following contribution focuses on both the steering and

skills of steering (or governing and feed back) concerning

the process of building, housing, and dwelling. Naturally it

includes care for people regarding their homes in the




broadest sense of this term. This very elaboration is done

from the viewpoint of a professional architect,teacher, and

researcher in building technology with a broad interest and

engagement in culturally relevant questions especially World

/ Peace.

If we distinguish between what we could call as something like a

creatively conceptual energy and a possibly nearly endless

shapeable stuff (Reality or Imagination ?) it might be a kind

of Empathy, which is responsible for the creation of the whole universe

or even all universes what may be somewhere once. Similarly,

humankind is continuously active in creating its culture and civilization :

all might be based on Empathy although some persons or people often

seem to limit Empathy to themselves or to very selected groups. The

challenge of our time the beginning of the 21st century of usual time

calculation might be to extend Empathy – without borders !

To house people, particularly the uncountable home - and roofless, and

steering – cyber – housing in order to reach the desired results

efficiently and effectively might be another important challenge.

Both challenges come together in an Integral Bio-Logical Approach,

which is described already in different languages and visualized in The

Meta Model Integral Bio-Logical Architecture.

Introduction

If we observe our domesticated humankind empathically we have to

conclude that many, many influences determine the ongoing process of

designing, planning, producing, and building our housing and built

environment with all results around and in between. Many influences

continue to be relevant for the changes and maintenance of the built

environment, and for eventually mostly demolishing, or demounting of

the built objects, which brings the building materials towards reuse, or

dumping in the environment – back. The rough sketch of this important

human behavior has to be completed with the increasing number of

effects towards lots of directions, and unexpected, or unwished side

effects as well. Some of them might bother future generations on long

term. It differs from pyramids, castles, and temples, et cetera.

More over – still empathically observing – we recognize that there are




millions of home- and roofless on Earth. Related researchers expect that

one billion of people nowadays living in inhuman sheds or poorest and

much too small rooms within shantytowns or slums will be doubled in

less than two decades.

The here briefly described situation around our housing is not unknown.

As a consequence there came lots of reports, publications, various

research projects, divers rules, some new movements, and also numbers

of loudly protests against the usual way of handling our quest for

housing – worldwide. Nevertheless, it seems that this - for humankind

itself rather dangerous - situation is hardly changing towards a better

one.

Under these dark circumstances we are forced to offer an approach for

running our affairs in a harmonious way, striving towards a dynamic

equilibrium. That approach might be a ‘natural’ approach also without

the current problems.

Figure 1 IBA Meta Model Integral Bio-Logical Architecture

The IBA Meta Model serves as an integral checklist for all engaged participants

in design, production, and use of housing in its broadest sense




A MODEL FOR A HARMONIOUS REALITY

We assume that there has to be an idea or a purpose in order to move

matter independently of whatsoever kind. Subsequently we developed

an approach, an idea, a theory, or simply a base, which shows the

opportunities of a balanced building of our civilization and culture. By

bringing the components of influencing powers in their

interrelationship, structurally into our mind and – heart, we get the

ability to take them into consideration for practical application.

Fundamental ‘ingredients’ are the building blocks of the basic

philosophy for an integral – holistic – approach. Their mutual

relationships are finally simultaneously visualized in The Meta Model

Integral Bio-Logical Architecture, shortly IBA Meta Model.

The terms in the name of the IBA Meta Model cover various

dimensions:

Integral - in this context - is a synonym for holistic, inclusive, in German

language – sometimes borrowed – ‘ganzheitlich’.

Bio-Logical, shows a stripe between bio and logical, which underlines

the difference to all what already is traditionally part of the discipline

Biology. The double-term refers to the fundamental phenomena

of bios and logos (being ancient Greek), understood as Nature with

its Laws and Human (bios) Mind and Spirit (logos) and, in our vision,

in their interrelationship. In terms of the oldest known philosophical

tradition, the Indian Vedas, logos and bios can be interpreted as the

ever lasting Purushaand Prakriti.

Architecture should be seen in its broadest meaning. It is what

humankind is building as civilization and culture. Building and Housing

is an essential and important part of them. And, Architecture is the art

(technique and science) to bring parts together to a new whole.




Figure 2 The centre or core of the IBA Meta Model

The fundamental constellation of humankind with its culture and civilization

within the natural environment

The IBA Meta Models’ main elements are shown in nutshells:

The center represents humankind within nature and the man-made

culture, expressed in the silhouette of a house. That simplified,

fundamental constellation will be elaborated in the following

descriptions.

The square under the center contains our natural environment (bios-

orientated). In four layers there are representative features given, which

roughly might engulf the wholeness of human being.

The square above the center is dedicated to our human constitution

(logos-orientated). In four layers there are representative featu

res given, which roughly might embrace the whole of

our ‘outdoors’.

In the left hand side square, we find the columns of civilization and

the quantitative scales of the builtenvironment. Civilization is

represented in production of food and goods, trade, social service, right

sand duties, and governance. Building deals with the scales of detail,

interior, room, grouping of rooms, building, complex and grouping of

buildings, rural and urban agglomeration, and physical planning.




In the right hand side square, there are the cultural columns and

the qualitative aspects of the built environment. Culture is represented

in education, science and research, philosophy, and (particularly non-

institutionalized) religion.

Within civilization and culture you find empty columns, which are

reserved for any other field or sector within our society. Hence we can

use them for localizing i.e. management, or medicine, physics, or

chemistry, electronics, or traffic, et cetera.

Figure 3 Four squares, each with 4 x 4 pictograms show in a

nutshell nature or bios (down), human (above), and‘quantitative’ civilization(left),

and ‘qualitative’ culture (right)

The fields in the ‘corners – diagonally’ include the essential, polar

phenomena of variety and oneness, internal and external, one and all,

space and time, quality and quantity, positive and negative, everything

and nothing, here we find female and male, plus and minus, taking and

giving, movement and rest, analysis and synthesis, … within our

human(e)-ecological behavior in all corners of our world/society.

All those aspects, components, or factors play their role – from bottom

to top – between relative andabsolute features.




Figure 4 Polar phenomena, pervading all life

The surrounding circle of the IBA Meta Model shows our passive

(sensorial), and our (less known) active sense organs at the bottom:

- seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and our sixth

sense or extra sensorial perception(djnanendriyas according Indian

traditions) – left hand side;

- grasping, moving, expressing, excreting, conception, and the

fundamental impulse or instinct(karmendriyas according Indian

traditions) – right hand side;

- both types of senses are in mutual connection with our

thinking, feeling, wanting, and acting.

The ‘sides of the circle’ remind you on the human, who is designing

building and habitat – in the depth, width, in balance, and

wholeness (left hand side) towards sheltering, comfortable, cozy, snug,

andprotecting – Integral Bio-Logical Architecture - IBA.

On the top of the circle you see the more or less guiding states

of Consciousness:

- awake (and day-dreaming), or sleeping and dreaming;

- sub- or under, and eventually higher or super;

- we can make use of awareness, memory, know how, reason,




ingenuity, and intellect on the one hand;

- we have the opportunity to use intuition (from body and

belly), inspiration, emotion, assumption, experience, and spirit (and -

‘heart’) on the other hand.

Figure 5 The circle around the manifold aspects, components, factors of

ourselves, our artifacts, the built environment and ideas behind within the

natural environment – literally and figurative

THE APPLICATION

The IBA Meta Model offers at least two opportunities of application in

the process of research & development, education, and design:

The aspects, components, or factors are structurally grouped. This gives

the possibility to use them systematically as check lists during designing

all kinds of artifacts, and – ranking, or judging them within this process.

Already existing artifacts can be ranked similarly. The integral – holistic

– feature of the model helps that none of the always and ever influencing

components can be forgotten in building our environment – physically

as well as socially. More over, in case of gatherings and consultations,

theIBA Meta Model can function as a kind of accompanying road map

for localization of problems and / or goals.

Another – attractive and seducing – invitation for using the IBA Meta

Model is to experience it as a‘Mandala’ for contemplation and mediation




– individually or i.e. in a team. The pictograms, used for illustration of

most of the aspects, components, or factors may be helpful in focusing

them, separately as well as in groups, and finally in the totality of all the

interrelated issues. All practically happening design and building

processes – in the broadest sense of ‘building’ – are more or less under

influence of those issues. It might be impossible to take all of them into

consideration – although a computer program perhaps could help – but

an internalized view on the complex whole can give the proper holistic

approach to the designers, the makers of our built environment.

Figure 6 Once more : The IBA Meta Model in its totality

The IBA Meta Model – a ‘Mandala’ for mediation, contemplation, and meditation




CONCLUSION

In this Part 1 of ‘Building Homes – A ‘CyberEmapthic’ Process’ we

presented The IBA Meta ModelIntegral Bio-Logical Architecture as one

base for, and in Steering of (Cyber)Empathic processes. Soon we go to

offer in a Part II the MHP Method Holistic Participation,

as another base, instrument and tool for effective, efficient, and

enjoyable teamwork.

For the time being, the human(e)-ecological, (w)holistic IBA Meta

Model was discussed and explained in order to support balance, or

equilibrium – dynamic balance, or dynamic equilibrium between all

partners and parties for all projects in relation to Housing as well as to

our whole common natural, social, and cultural environment.

A contribution to World/Peace can be done by empathic and practical

application of the obvious as well as inherent, or intrinsic items of

the IBA Meta Model in the process of shaping our world –

‘empathically’.




REFERENCES

The author

gratefully acknowledges the cooperation with Gabriella Pál-Schmid;

and the conscious and unconscious contributions of

students, colleagues, friends, and teachers.

A Selective Bibliography

Yukteswar Giri

The Holy Science,

SRF - Self Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, 1956;

Konrad Wachsmann

Wendepunkt im Bauen,

Krausskopfverlag, Wiesbaden, 1959;

Konrad Wachsmann

Turning Point of Building,

structure and design,

Reynold Publishing Corporation, New York, 1961;

Peter Schmid

Bio-Logische Architektur,

Ganzheitliches Bio-Logisches Bauen,

ein Hand- und Lehrbuch als fundamentale Einführung in die

Grundlagen eines integralen, menschen- und umweltfreundlichen

Planens und Bauens,

Verlagsgesellschaft Rudolf Müller, Köln-Braunsfeld, 1982, 1983, 1986;

Gabriella Pal-Schmid & Peter Schmid

Meta Model Integral Bio-Logical Architecture,

International ‚inbar’ Congress on Bio-Eco-Architecture,

Silandro / Schlanders, Alto Adige / Süd-Tirol, Italia, 2006.

http://www.gabriella-peterschmid-red.com

http://www.gabriella-peterschmid-red.com/

housing building homes - a 'cyberempathic' process part 1: the model

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