Concept Design
Design is ubiquitous. Perhaps the most semantically overloaded word in English, Design is often misunderstood. Across many fields the term carries its own presuppositions. It could mean the aesthetic of a proposed building such in architecture, the composition and usage of elements in a software suite found in ux design, or the functional usability and application of manufacturing constraints represented in industrial design.
For our purpose we use an early definition of Design (to be) “characterized by constructive forethought”.
When NASA decided to plan their first residence in space, Skylab, they were faced with a very human problem. Regarding those living in the proposed space station “Whether their experience will be one to which they wish to return, rich and rewarding, or a ghastly stretch in some cosmic Devil’s Island, is, in a large way, up to us all.” was written by Raymond Loewy, an industrial designer brought on by NASA to make Skylab livable.
Over his long career Raymond Loewy worked on trains, cars, planes and even a space station. His work as well as that of his conceptual counterparts in Syd Mead, Normal Bel Geddess, and Daniel Simon explore the edge of probable. While Concept Design as a label is generally applied to Entertainment, our background, it has been prevalent across all industries whenever the need to convey future possibilities arises.
Above: Raymond Loewy
Below: A collection of Raymond Loewy’s Skylab work
