Christopher Witmore (Brown University)

Abstract

The work of design has taken on an expanded scope over the last ten years. It was not so very long ago that design was understood as the aesthetic veneer to the stuff created by engineers. Function was commonly separated from design. While design is admittedly a contested field of practices, this bifurcation of form and function is no longer the case. From the teapots of Donald Norman and the toothpicks of Henry Petroski to sustainable buildings, landscapes, cities, genes, or even environments, design has come to encompass the making of myriad things. In this paper, I wish to situate ‘design’ as a concern around which archaeologists, artists, engineers and industrial designers may assemble. To this end, I offer an archaeological engagement with a castle in the Greek Peloponnesus: Acrocorinth. This castle tale provides an occasion for me to further articulate the peculiar contribution of archaeology to design. This contribution will be sketched through two concerns related to 'designing collectives' and 'collective design.'

NOTE: the original design of this paper included a second castle, the Larissa of Argos. In order to respect the 25 minutes set aside for the presentations, I have decided to stick to the slopes above Corinth.