Benjamin Federman

Relationships between
Systems, Time, and the
Mind, Body & Soul
 n
ctio
Fun ‘A system must consist
of three kinds of
th i ngs : ele me n ts ,
interconnectedness, and
e a function or a purpose’
tur
ruc M
St ec
ha Donella H. Meadows
ni
sm
‘we are [all] complex
sys tems – ou r ow n
bodies are magnificent
examples of
i n t e g r a t e d ,
interconnected, self-
m a i n t a i n i n g
complexity’
 d

n
Min

ctio
Fun
dy
Bo So
ul

u re
uct M
Str ec
ha
ni
sm
 Ecology

Equity Economy
‘Nature operates
according to a system
of nutrients and
metabolisms in which
there is no such thing
as waste’

McDonough & Braungart

‘Everywhere in Nature
we find sequences of
events where one kind
o f eve nt a lways
happens before, and
another kind after;
together, these define
the arrow of time’
Sean Carroll
 Time labels moments
in the universe
Time is a coordinate; it helps
us locate things

Time measures the

duration elapsed
between events
Time is what clocks measure

Time is a medium
through which we
‘Time comes in three move
different aspects’ Time is the agent of change–
we move through it
‘a single concept underlies our
understanding of irreversible
processes [time]: something
called   entropy,   which measures
the 'disorderliness' of an object
or conglomeration of objects’
‘Entropy has a stubborn
tendency to increase, or
stay constant, as time
passes. There are more
ways to be disorderly
than to be orderly, so an
orderly arrangement will
naturally tend toward
increasing disorder’
Time is a governing
factor on all systems. It is
the driving force which
entwines the fibers of our
mind, body, and soul
and the habitats,
o rg a n i z a t i o n s , a n d
ideologies of our societies
How does the relationship
that exists between time
and the systems that
comprise our humanity
relate to the designing of
our built environments?
‘This project of radically
reforming the cities in
which we live, while we
continue to live in them,
will still require great
change: not one great
once-and-for-all change
toward a wholly new
city, but instead a great
m any c h anges over
time’

Cameron Tonkinwise
Ti m e i s a n o ngo ing
process. It does not stop.
Should our designed
environments behave any
differently?
‘I came to realize that I
did not want my city to
be razed and redesigned
into a perfect system.
Changes must occur to
and with current cities,
rather than over and
against those cities’
‘What we need is not a
new designing, just more
designing, lots more’
The prospect of more
designing increases the
opportunity and efficiency
of entropy permeating our
environments. Does design
p ro v i d e a l te r n a t i ve
directions?
‘Just as spoken and
written language can
function in radically
d i ff e r e nt w ays i n
different cultures, so
can the relationship of
people to built forms’

Farshid Moussave
In the context of design,
built forms facilitate
communication between
humans and their
environments.
Similarly, a kitchen
appliance aids or
impedes the relationship
between food and those
who consume it
‘Mediation, which is
intended to facilitate
communication, can
just as easily obscure it’
Do our designed
environments facilitate
or obstruct the
communication between
the structures,
mechanisms, and
functions of the natural
and manmade systems
which we engage with
endlessly over time?
Can design assist in
d eco n s t r u cting the
processes we tirelessly
pa rticipa te in a s a
means to fulfill the needs
of our mind, body, and
soul?
Pragmatic manifestations
of the mind, body, and
soul in our communal
environments
The Nearings devised
their famous scheme for
allocating the day's
hours: one third for
bread work (body), one
third for head work
(mind), and one third for
s e r v i ce to th e wo rl d
community (soul)
‘We should eat live food,
consisting of living cells.
The i nte r c h a nge o f
energies between the
living cells i n food
s ub s t a nc e s a nd the
tissue cells in our bodies
gives unrivaled health-
giving powers’

Helen Nearing
Slightly Cooked Tomato Raw Tomato
(Kirlian Image) (Kirlian Image)
The less we do to our food–
the easier it is for our
bod ies to ma in ta in
optimum health. Why do
we place mounting stress
on ourselves to access,
a ff o rd , p re pa re, a n d
assimilate the nutrition
we need?
‘ W h a t ' s s o d ev i o u s
about the credit card is
the way it completely
divorces the need to
calculate from the act of
purchasing’
‘The operation of a
credit card is simple, it
me r ely m a kes the
numbers disappear into
time and space, only to
return slightly inflated
in the near future. The
credit card company is
running all the
numbers, to a fraction of
the cent. They calculate
so you don't need to’
‘Perhaps true wealth is
not a number at all, but
something we can find
at the margins of
economic thought, at
the thresholds of a
better way of thinking’
‘The Sabbath is not
just the holy day of
rest. It’s also a utopian
idea ab ou t a less
pressured, more
sociable, purer world’
‘a largely forgotten
aspect of the history of
Western civilization
and a non-academic
way to explore the
s o c i a l mo r a l i ty o f
time.’
‘a l l a b o u t g e tt i n g
connected. The
Sabbath blocks out
ti me fo r s he dd i ng
one’s professional or
workaday identity and
weaving the bonds of a
collective identity’
Can we preserve or
rec rea te wh a t t h e
Sabbath gives us–a time
outside time–without
following its rules?
The opportunity and the
need to design is
constantly recurring all
around us. How can we
enhance the tools to make
that experience more
enjoyable, communicable,
and meaningful, while
complimenting the
creative and innovative
processes?
Benjamin Federman