The tower of Babel project came to an end with the curse of many languages that foiled any further teamwork. By contrast, the English word "design" is understood without translation around the globe.
But far from giving the universal word automatic clout, there is mass confusion about its meaning. Naturally, the English speaking countries are most aware of the ambiguities of the term design and it's may meanings. For the English speaker "design" can be a verb or a noun, it can describe the process and the result. For a designer it is shaping a product. For an architect it is a phase in the process of drawing up a new building, for a transportation engineer it is the period when a project moves from planning to engineering. For most laypeople it has to do with fashion or the shape of products, something at best skin deep.
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Nikolaus Philipsen FAIA
Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
Baltimore MD
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