Massive Change

by Bruce Mau, Jennifer Leonard, Institute Without Boundaries

Massive Change is a modern illustrated primer on the new inventions, technologies, and events that are affecting the human race worldwide. The book is a part of a broader research project by Bruce Mau Design intended to provoke debate and discussion about the future of design culture, broadly defined as the "familiar objects and techniques that are transforming our lives."

In essays, interviews, and provocative imagery aimed at a broad audience, Massive Change explores the changing force of design in the contemporary world, and in doing so expands the definition of design to include the built environment, transportation technologies, revolutionary materials, energy and information systems, and living organisms.

The book is divided into 11 heavily illustrated sections covering major areas of change in contemporary society — such as urbanism and architecture, the military, health and living, and wealth and politics. Each section intersperses intriguing documentary images with a general introductory essay, extended captions, and interviews with leading thinkers, including engineers, designers, philosophers, scientists, architects, artists, and writers. Concluding the book is a graphic timeline of significant inventions and world events from 10,000 B.C. to the present.

Genres: Design, Architecture, Nonfiction, Science, Art, Art Design, Business

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Mau was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He studied at the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto, but left prior to graduation in order to join the Fifty Fingers design group in 1980. He stayed there for two years, before crossing the ocean for a brief sojourn at Pentagram in the UK. Returning to Toronto a year later, he became part of the founding triumvirate of Public Good Design and Communications. Soon after, the opportunity to design Zone 1/2 presented itself and he left to establish his own studio, Bruce Mau Design. From 1991-93, he also served as creative director of I.D. magazine.

In addition, Bruce is an honorary fellow of the Ontario College of Art & Design and a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He was awarded the Chrysler Award for Design Innovation in 1998, and the Toronto Arts Award for Architecture and Design in 1999. In 2001 he received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.

In 2006, he participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions. As of 2007, Mau was in residence at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in the Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Design Objects Department.

[from wikipedia]

Reviews

[joana · Rating 3 out of 5]

i did a whole essay about this for uni and overall: It seems to me that the world to which I was brought has not changed in comparison to the world in which I currently live, but we must open our eyes to clearly see what is happening around us so that we become part of this change. It is up to the designer, as an entity that carries the power of change, to impose it, because we live in a time when it has never been so possible to participate in it!
now... is the book good? yeah. it is groundbreaking? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este livro proclama ser não uma obra sobre o mundo do design mas sim sobre o design do mundo. É um objectivo elevado para um retrato de novas tecnologias e tendências culturais que contém a possibilidade de permitir ao homem redesenhar o planeta. Do urbanismo à engenharia genética, passando por meta-materiais, ciência avançada, organização económica e à inevitável influência militar, Massive Change mostra-nos possibilidades de redesenhar as sociedades, combater os maiores problemas com que a civilização humana se debate e novas soluções tecnológicas que prometem maravilhas já ao virar da esquina. Publicado em 2004, as tendências e desenvolvimentos tecnológicos ainda não se encontram amplamente aplicadas aos olhos de quem lê em 2012, mas a promessa e a necessidade de mudar o mundo, fugindo da espiral de pobreza, predação ambiental e decadência civilizacional não perdeu a incisiva importância.

[Abraham · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exciting book to get into - I love all those OMA-related big colorful books. The problem is that this is one of those visionary books that attempts to throw a big WOW over the nauseating forward motion of science and technology. That would be great if this weren't already fairly dated - nothing fades faster than the big wow of what technology will do to our way of being than a hint of being dated. And it'd not dated enough to be a nostalgic walk through the future of the past.

Still, some of it is pretty fascinating, and the argument, that the world in which we live and which we build is a design masterpiece to put the death star to shame, is a compelling one. It is the sense of wonder that comes through. Still, it is a bit hard to finish.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hugely important book to me.

Everytime I need some direction, am depressed with the state of the world, and/or I don't know what the hell is going on with my life, I have to read this book.

It's hopeful and optimistic to a degree that I could never be; a perfect foil, if you would. This book could be my mentor in design.

It was, and still is an absolute must-read for me.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like maybe my rating is generous but I’ve bought, given away, sold, checked out so many books over the years and this one still sticks in my mind.

It’s ambitious and restrained in ways that really resonate with me. The scale of life sometimes is overwhelming to think about. If you’ve ever been in a stadium of thousands of people, visited a landfill, been a stranger in a large city, taken a college level astronomy class, looked out at the Pacific Ocean from your plane window, seen the Grand Canyon, sat in a busy airport watching people go by or shopped in a giant mall during the holidays, you can see just how many people there are and how massive the world is. It stresses me out sometimes compared to the feeling of sitting in a cozy little coffee shop or camping in the forest.

All of that industry and those people and the mechanics of the world still exist when I’m frolicking through open fields or traipsing through sand dunes.

I feel like this book attempts to address the sort of object permanence issue of humanity. Those systems deteriorate with or without us if we don’t actively maintain them or design them well in the first place- hence the need for a sustainability mindset. We no longer live in a tribal world where you might see 2,000 faces in your entire lifetime. There are 8 billion people on the planet! Yet still, we pretend that burying our trash in the landfill is a sustainable option. If you cover it up with dirt, it just goes away and you don’t have to think about it anymore. I feel like this book exposes the landfill and the magical thinking that all humans are prone to. We all are held accountable in one way or another to our actions. We all live on the same planet, looking up at the same sun each day. It’s on all of us to build a better society and maintain its infrastructure. We cannot deny our innate needs for social cooperation. And without active cooperation, the world succumbs to entropy.

This book illustrates that beautifully.

[Christian Molenaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn bro this issue of Wired is long asf

[Yokusun Basi]

Massive Change (DESIGN) by Bruce Mau (2004)

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the words of author and designer Bruce Mau, "Massive Change is not about the world of design; it's about the design of the world."

The design of the world is a daunting and broad subject for a book, but somehow the Mau largely delivers on his promise. Massive Change is structured as a series of vignettes focusing on different subjects — bioengineering, housing huge populations, information communication and visualization, eradicating disease, militarism and war, etc. Within each chapter, international thought leaders are profiled in often fascinating interviews about their contributions to science and society.

The book almost reminds me of a printed version of NPR in the sense that it treads somewhat lightly on complex subjects, but still provides enough interesting insight to inspire further reading. Plus, like NPR, most of the storytelling in the hands of interviewed experts.

Although I really enjoyed the book, I thought it was made worse by only relying on liberal ideologies, which came through especially in the chapter about military technology. Although I'm glad the book has a strong point-of-view, some of the interviews on controversial subjects would have been more interesting as one-on-one debates from opposing viewpoints.

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the kind of book you don't read from cover to cover, but rather pick up off the table and read bits and pieces of from time to time, or just look at the pictures. The urban planning and sustainability sections are a little hard for me to get through since they contain essentially very basic information of the type I deal with every day at work, but presented as if they're the most radical notions ever put in print. And my brother-in-law Caleb is mentioned in the acknowledgments/contributors section of book, but not next to the section they wholesale stole from him... doh!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes on a huge challenge and doesn't completely succeed. It doesn't completely fail either. The book is well-organized and beautiful to look at. There are interviews with people who are prominent in various areas of industrial design and related fields. The themes are important: Responsibility, sustainability, the application of technology to human problems. It made me want to learn more.

[Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its more of a coffee table book. Simple spreads about a topic or a person of interest vision on what is out there to be done in this field. Ultimately Mau is trying to perform the binding of many fields together in one book under the title of design. The article on Curitiba, Brazil made me completely re-think urban rapid transit to encapsulate something that is a more open system (buses with movable docking terminals that can grow and change with a city instead of a closed system like a rails.

[Pierre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our world is changing ever more rapidly and at ever larger scale. Contributing essayists give a glimpse of our future ranging from information and science to medicine and health to infrastructure and the environment.

I am a policy analyst dealing with clean energy and the environment and find this book to be very uplifting that we can indeed meet the challenges of this new century.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great photographs in this book and information on new technology related to sustainability.

[Ian]

Full of interesting ideas, some are appealing and some are kind of worrisome. I the basic premise and optimism of the project are refreshing, but I sometimes wondered "were have i heard this before?"

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a great eclectic mix of crazy thoughts. it's visual. The exhibit, while it was in Chicago, was great as well.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

changing the world through graphic design.
People will notice if you MAKE THE FONT ALL CAPS AND BOLD AND SO THAT IT COVERS AN ENTIRE PAGE SPREAD

[Pierre · Rating 2 out of 5]

This pretentious book is hopeful in the feeling that, YEAH WE CAN DO IT! but a big let down when you realize, WHY WE LREADY DOING IT ALL THE TIME AND THERE'S STILL SHITTINESS!

[Michael Cetrone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent compilation of where mankind is doing great things around the world in many endeavors that will be important to renewable and sustainable cultures.

[Faye]

designing designing systems

[Skander]

After seeing the exhibit, I need to get a copy and devour it.

[David Witte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource for new approaches and ideas developed and being developed out there. It was fascinating.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

bruce mau yo. bruce mau.

[David]

Excellent source for urban planners, alternative energy companies, architects, etc. The book focuses on what we should do by exploring what we should expect in the future.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

So smart! People too often write design off as trivial because they think that it is just about "making things pretty."

[Moses · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really a reading-type of material. Never finished due to disinterest.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting yet also extreamly boring at the same time.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

how can design change the world? this book profiles how its done.