The Seagram Building, 375 Park Ave., New York, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, serves as a metaphor for the model of political participation. Photo: Jules Antonio (Flickr). Some rights reserved.
Can we keep on organizing decision-making processes as we used to do in the age of the Enlightenment or in a scenario where information only flows from top to bottom? Designers and creators have been questioning this for a long time now, seeking to go beyond the user paradigm which has determined innovation processes in recent decades. Today, their concern is how to put people at the center of new experiences.
As we know, the rational-enlightened perspective was based on the hypothesis that it was the expert, the professional specifically trained in a given field, who could best decide what to do in relation to any area of human activity and interaction. Mies van dere Rohe’s famous Seagram building on Park Avenue in New York is rightly considered a masterpiece of rationalist architecture. He designed the building from the perspective of what he believed to be the best possible combination of architectural rationality and ability to meet the needs of those who would inhabit it. Everything was thought through down to the last detail. He left no room for anyone to put some flowers on the window ledge. The windows open either completely or halfway, and it is not possible to open them in any intermediate position. And, of course, nobody can think of hanging curtains, since their presence could impair the building’s iconic, integral beauty.
