1 Solving for pattern: an ecological approach to reshape the human building instinct Geetanjali Rajesh Date, Deborah Dutta, and Sanjay Chandrasekharan (All authors contributed equally) Abstract The human species' adaptive advantage is driven by its ability to build new material structures and artifacts. Engineering is the modern manifestation of this building instinct, and its advent has made the construction and use of technologies the central pattern of human life. In parallel, efficiency, the overarching narrative driving technology and related life practices, has pervaded most occupations as a value, forming a cultural backdrop that implicitly guides decisions and behavior. We examine the process through which this backdrop has developed, and argue that it emerged through the constant presence and use of built artifacts and structures, which function as manifestations of the engineering value of efficiency. The constant presence and use of built structures leads to the slow percolation of their building values into society, forming a cultural narrative of efficiency. This narrative then feeds back, to further reinforce the engineering processes driven by efficiency. This loop creates a runaway building system that is highly resistant to change, even when faced with the prospect of the species going extinct. Any effort towards sustainability can be successful only when this all-pervading – and hence invisible – building loop is made explicit, and compensated for, through a counter-loop where building manifests sustainable engineering values. As a first step in revealing this structure, we characterise the emergence of the efficiency value as a cultural narrative, and analyse its wide-ranging environmental effects. We then present the design principle of 'Solving for Pattern' (SfP) as an illustrative contrast case. SfP, first articulated by Wendell Berry, focuses on interconnectedness and flourishing of all species as central design principles. We argue that these ecological principles can be extended to engineering, and can thus support the development of a robust operational-level building movement that manifests value systems oriented towards sustainability. To ground this proposal in actual practice, we outline two case studies of technology design that illustrates SfP. We also discuss three cases that illustrate SfP at a larger scale, and examine how these extend existing design approaches such as systems engineering. We conclude with a proposal to include SfP in engineering education curricula, to facilitate a faster cultural shift towards flourishing, which is required given the limited time-window available to move to sustainable building practices.

中文翻译：

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解决模式：重塑人类建筑本能的生态学途径

1 解决模式：一种重塑人类建筑本能的生态方法 Geetanjali Rajesh Date、Deborah Dutta 和 Sanjay Chandrasekharan（所有作者的贡献均等） 摘要 人类物种的适应性优势是由其构建新材料结构和人工制品的能力驱动的。工程是这种建筑本能的现代体现，它的出现使技术的建造和使用成为人类生活的核心模式。与此同时，效率、总体叙事驱动技术和相关的生活实践，已经作为一种价值观渗透到大多数职业中，形成了一种隐含地指导决策和行为的文化背景。我们研究了这个背景发展的过程，并认为它是通过不断出现和使用人工制品和结构而出现的，其功能是效率工程价值的体现。建筑结构的不断存在和使用导致其建筑价值缓慢渗透到社会中，形成了一种效率的文化叙事。这种叙述然后反馈，以进一步加强由效率驱动的工程过程。这个循环创建了一个失控的建筑系统，即使面临物种灭绝的前景，它也高度抗拒变化。只有当这个无处不在的——因此是无形的——建筑循环被明确化并通过建筑体现可持续工程价值的反循环得到补偿时，任何实现可持续性的努力才能成功。作为揭示这种结构的第一步，我们将效率价值的出现描述为一种文化叙事，并分析其广泛的环境影响。然后，我们将“解决模式”（SfP）的设计原则作为说明性对比案例。SfP 由 Wendell Berry 首次提出，专注于将所有物种的相互联系和繁荣作为中心设计原则。我们认为，这些生态原则可以扩展到工程，因此可以支持一个强大的运营级建筑运动的发展，该运动体现了面向可持续性的价值体系。为了在实际实践中建立此建议，我们概述了两个说明 SfP 的技术设计案例研究。我们还讨论了在更大范围内说明 SfP 的三个案例，并研究这些案例如何扩展现有的设计方法，例如系统工程。