»DESIGN IS THE NEW WAY OF DOING BUSINESS«

DMY Berlin is an international design network for contemporary product design (yes, even architecture is construed as a consumer product). DMY was held at Templehof, once a part of Albert Speer‘s gateway to Europe and a symbol of Hitler’s “world capital” Germania, and described by Norman Foster as “the mother of all airports”. WHAT_architecture presented ‘2ManyArchitects’…

»Designing Business« at DMY2012 reflected upon the relevance and current role of design in the context of contemporary economics. Rather than providing a manual for building a successful start-up business, it is concerned with the potential of design and design thinking to shape economic and social processes. Is design ›the new way of doing business‹? What trends and tendencies occur today? Is it true that anybody can be a designer today? Crikey if Kanye West and Brad Pitt can be architects, can architects become rappers or even actors? With this leg of our 2012 European Tour, architecture is presented as the new rock ‘n roll.

Under the conditions of continuous change and increasing complexity that define today’s world, the rules that operate and regulate our society and economy change with great rapidity. Against the dramatic backdrop of environmental disasters, demographic change and economic crisis it is becoming clear that the conventional means of conducting and operating »business« has become increasingly ineffective. For this reason, it is important to conceive of new ways of thinking and acting, of analysing problems and turning problems into opportunities. Design and design methods play a central role when it comes to solving complex problems and creatively addressing the challenges of the present and future.