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Browsing for Utopia

Abrahamson, Michael

Abstract Details

2009, Master of Architecture, Ohio State University, Architecture.
This essay offers browsing—a consumer activity motivated not by ends but means—as an alternative modus operandi for work on the problem of utopia. When browsing, one simply looks, without knowing what one is looking for, working at a leisurely pace and with vague desiring parameters. One often picks a genre and scans, yet within these vague parameters, a seemingly infinite variety exists. The search engine is a perfect example. Enter a simple query in Google's search algorithm and one is guaranteed at least one surprise. Likewise, utopian thought is often of vague constitution, and never demonstrable. A further distinction must be made between browsing and mere choice.
Parametric design often bills itself as the medium of choice, generator of manifold possibilities from which one chooses. Browsing, however, is different from choice because the relationship between options is not always discernible. Parametrics are either overdetermined or lean too heavily on the "happy accident," their surprises either too specific or not specific enough. Moreover, to think utopically one must leave ration (and one's manifolds) behind. Must we leave parametric design behind in order to discover new utopic possibilities?
Jeffrey Kipnis (Advisor)
Ashley Schafer (Committee Member)
John McMorrough (Committee Member)
49 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Abrahamson, M. (2009). Browsing for Utopia [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1230663236

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Abrahamson, Michael. Browsing for Utopia. 2009. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1230663236.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Abrahamson, Michael. "Browsing for Utopia." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1230663236

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)