The environments that we design may be thought of in terms of assemblages. Assemblages of not only things but also processes, histories and potentials. Assemblages are interesting to designers because of what they do, and their affect(s). The idea of affect has a wide range of synonymous implications such as alteration, change, disruption, disturbance, impingement, modification and transformation. Affect implies force. The interior and exterior environments that we create operate on us, reveal and expose us, and in different ways influence the behaviors of a systems actants.

As designers we create assemblages, and consequently enable affect. From the creation of our environments come the opportunities and the limits of potential becomings. Our assemblages situate, contextualize, operationalize, influence and generate emergence. Assemblages are about difference, about possibilities, about creating the conditions for differences to emerge. Assemblages may be less predictable than systems, and may be very different from what we normally like to think about as, for example, ecosystems. Assemblages are not tidy or predictable, but they may currently be the best way of coping with wants, needs and desires in the company of humans and other living things.

s u g g e s t e d  t o p i c s

s e s s i o n  t h e m e s

p r e s e n t e r s

l o g i s t i c s  &  e v e n t s

U n i v e r s i t y  o f  M a n i t o b a

F a c u l t y  o f  A r c h i t e c t u r e

P a r t n e r s

 F e b r u a r y 5  - 7   2 0 1 5

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