Program Interpretations

The trafficking project program is left uncertain at the class level, demanding that each designer decide on what needs to occur in order to address the social and personal issues in the unique context of Carrizo Plain. As a base line we intend to provide a safe place for a few trafficked persons, beyond that the responsibility lies with the designer to explore the questions and possibilities for a relevant program.

In a self-generated process one is inevitably alone in deciding where to start, what to do. Left alone, one probably does what thet have done in the past… and that is reasonable. Initially however, we want you to consider a few striving imperatives and related questions that may guide your actions [the numerical arranging is neither time nor heirarchy ordered]:

1. The question of Existence. The basic topic, human condition [slavery], or question under consideration needs clarity in order to establish the motives for design. This is the work of the Self as it attempts to understand existence. In Kahn’s discussion of the existence-will or the will-to-exist he was leaning toward content [Subject]. Kahn’s quest for Volume Zero grew from this line of inquiry. To these ends one may well be served by exploring questions such as: why does the condition exist/ what human urge or will brought it into existence? And, beyond the essential topic there are always a range of particular issues that need sorting, prioritizing and clarifying as well.

2. The question of Self and the Other. Without empathy of the other, design for the Other is inevitably superficial. To empathize with the Other: the emotional distance between the Self and the Other needs clarity; the Self needs to know [facts/ motives/ desires/ fears] the Other through deep inquiry; and, to accept the inevitable condition of being unable to know all. The assumptions and implications of empathy are rooted in the belief that good architecture is the production of the Self; the Other ‘becomes’ the Self through empathy and understanding. [Self-consciousness in design refers to the object of design rather than to the awareness of Self. The Object is architecture, not the Self or the Other.]

3. The quest for Object. The search for implications about the Object emerges from questions of existence, the Self, the Other, the desire for content [Subject] and other Objects of desire. We know of no single path for knowing the as yet unknown Object, except that such a path passes through the first two questions. The quest is both unique to the Self as well as to the nature of the topic of the Subject. The path to a memorial as an Object would inevitably differ from that to a hospital as Object. To this end, Kahn observes, "Order is ?"

It is from these questions that 'Program', the will to exist, may emerge. Each designer poses their own questions and sets their own intentions in accordance with the

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