The Craft of the Hand and the Heart

Though typically I prefer assigned readings to get quickly and concisely to the point, I enjoyed the tangential information presented in Metcalf's The Hand at the Heart of Craft.  I never stop to think about the evolutionary (God-given?) implications about why we as humans are able to use our hands the way we do, much like I don't stop to think analytically about each nuance of movement as I type or build models.  It is true that our dexterous hands are an integral part of what makes us human.  Metcalf has me believing that we should feel privileged as part-time craftsmen, though my appreciation for the abilities of my hands didn't make having to draw them fifteen plus times in freehand drawing any more enjoyable.

Metcalf writes about one of the most important things I've learned in the school of architecture:  Art is nothing without passion, without feeling.  He quotes Csikszentmihalyi: "People who find their lives meaningful usually have a goal that is challenging enough to take up all their energies, a goal that can give significance to their lives."  In my studio classes, even in my theory classes, I feel continually challenged - I tend to get whatever the designer's equivalent of writer's block is, I have to fine-tune my craft, and frankly I find myself producing a lot of shit work for a while.  I hate producing shit work.  But hopefully this will lead to a good kind of, life-fulfilling challenge, not make me want to change my major again next year.

The designer and maker used to be one and the same, but not anymore.  We (architects and designers) are, unlike engineers, self-conscious makers.  We are about functionality, but functionality plus -.  For us, objects and places aren't just to be used, but experienced.  And, as we've stated before in class, the product of our design is nothing without HEART.  Our design is verily crafted by our hands in conjunction with our hearts.  Without passion, we're just getting paid - not doing our jobs.

Kieran and Timberlake discuss, among other things, the modular construction of grand things.  They compare the construction of a building to that of a ship or an aircraft, but I'm going to make the leap by stepping back to Metcalf and comparing the development of a building to the construction of a human being.  Metcalf talked about the branching of the arm from the body and the fingers from the hands, the way the shoulder joint attaches to the body and how the nerves connect with the brain. Kieran and Timberlake talk about the spine of the building, frame, skin, systems, and equipment - how easy it is to anthropomorphize buildings construction.

And so, the conjunction of these works with Pye is this: there used to be a time when the designer's hand and heart went into the entire product, from development to production.  But now, so much of what we design relies on whether or not the contractor or whatever "maker" can execute design well.  Our heart can be lost through their hands.