future options, by sam grawe

alex wang fall 09

alex wang | fall 09

Design is an expression of the moment we live in, purposefully or subconsciously moving in step with political order, societal disposition, popular culture and technological improvement. As time marches forward, our designs - from the clothes we wear to the buildings we inhabit - leave behind a physical record of our dreams and desires.

birds nest | beijing

birds nest | beijing

An obelisk from ancient Egypt, a city plan by Baron Haussmann, flared jeans from 1969, OXO Good Grips; these all tell us something not only of the spirit of the time in which they were created but also of the direction in which their creators wished the world to move.

spaceshiptwo | world’s first commercial spacecraft | virgin galactic

A shopper at Bed Bath & Beyond may see a spatula with a soft, ergonomic, and easily graspable handle as that and nothing more, but undoubtedly, its creator saw something else - the promise of a future where a certain arthritic sector of society would be able to enjoy cooking again. Of course, not all design is so noble, but even in the creation of the most questionable things there can be contained some shred of optimism.

urban porosity by big | bookshelf+landscape | gmoma exhibit

The atomic bomb, perhaps the most notorious product design of the 20th century, makes a fine example. Just as it is capable of horrific destruction, its creators may well have preferred to see it as a means to achieve and maintain peace.

travels of an atomic bomb

gas centrifuge enrichment plant | piketon ohio | nyt

The Finnish architect Alvar Aalto - witness to two world wars - captured these exact sentiments during a speech he gave in 1957: “There is an ulterior motive, too, in architecture, that is always peeping out from around the corner. The idea of creating paradise. It is the only purpose of our buildings. If we do not carry this idea with us the whole time, all our buildings would be simpler, more trivial, and life would become - well, would life amount to anything at all?”

barache residence in normandy

barache residence | normandy | jean baptiste barache

At Dwell we have always shared a similiarly hopeful outlook. What attracted us to modern design was not the dogma or rigidity of statements like “form follows function” or “less is more” but rather the notion that by exploring and exploiting all means available to us in the world today, modern design offers the surest foothold on the future - a step closer to paradise. The aesthetic, ideological, and technical improvement of our surrounding portends better things to come.

atnmbl | electric car

In this relentless continuum of progress, it’s easy to forget that the future will consist largely of where we have already been. Just as we do now, future designers will have to solve the problems left to them by pervious generations - yesterday’s need for more housing becomes today’s question of how to address transportation, and so on.

Paradise may remain just out of reach, but as Aalto attests, we can’t stop trying to get there.

sam grawe | dwell | editors note decjan 2010