Good design or Safe design?

Replies

• 

  Ramani Aswath

  I feel that a safe design need not imply a good one for other reasons. However,
  a good design necessarily imples a safe design. Safety is an essential 'Good factor'. It is so in the design of biomedical devices.
  
  Here is a discussion from a related site:
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  Bioramani
• 

  CIVILPRINCESS

  yeah a deign can't be good if it is not safe 😀
  
  good design must take into account the economy, safety, and aesthetics. so a good design will be my choice.
• 

  anuraadha

  A good design means it is a safe one. While designing any structure, safety is first considered then comes aesthetics.
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  PraveenKumar Purushothaman

  Lets design the Safe Design first and we can make it Good anytime, without compromising the safety... 😀
• 

  narayana murthy

  we have to concentrate on both i vote for both best in best in safety and technology ofcourse economy too
• 

  ISHAN TOPRE

  Interesting discussion Farjand. I think good design is not so safe design.
  
  A good design is commercially feasible. It is economical. Have anyone of you seen old temples or churches or gurudwara or any other historical monuments? Well old people built a safe and a best design possible. They never thought of money.
  
  Now a good design is a ball pen which is made considering its market cost so that ordinary people should buy it.
  
  A safe design is a space shuttle. The space scientists never keep money as a factor. It is always of secondary importance.
  
  So in other words, a safe design has higher factor of safety and a good design has a comparatively lower factor of safety, depending upon mostly money.
  
  What say people?
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Not necessarily. A pressure cooker has to be an economical design. If it has to pass applicable international standards, it has to be a very safe design. How many of these temple towers can stand a Richter 7 much less Richter 9? Why did the Kalahasti Temple tower collapse killing people?
  
  Of course, for all its safe and costly design the Titanic sank.
  
  Bioramani
• 

  ISHAN TOPRE

  Let me acknowledge that you have got a point.
  But not necessarily sir, we have so many forts in our world, still standing tall because they were built for safety and not because they wanted built things to create tourism attractions.
  
  The fort of Janjira is an impregnable fort which no one could conquer. It is still standing facing sea for more than 500 years now. Look at Kumbhalgarh fort awesome design.
  
  In case of space shuttle space agencies like NASA and ISRO have to look after the safety of apace shuttle more than anything else to protect astronauts. They cannot let the factor of safety be neglected. They keep it very high.
  
  While I understand the points you mentioned about Titanic and Kalahasti Temple. After all nothing is 100% perfect and accurate.
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Re: Good design or Safe design? Semantics?
  
  Robert Thouless, reader in psychology at Cambridge University, wrote a book called 'Straight and Crooked thinking' in 1953. One of the finest books in my opinion.
  
  Available as a PDF here free:
  PDF
  
  I bought it in 60. Some one took it. Bought again. Lost again. Got one again. He describes a conversation where the American Philosopher William James, another great chap, shows that some arguments end up as semantic ones rather than on concepts.
  
  The semantic debates lead to hectic arguments. Every one has a very good time. However, each one argues from his/her understanding of the point being argued about. Once the terms are defined there may be nothing left for argument. It may be so in this case.
  
  Let us consider this case itself. My understanding of design is coloured by my background in aerospace R&D, biomedical devices and domestic appliances in all of which human safety is a necessary part of the product, often enforced by external regulatory agencies.
  
  This is not necessarily true of, say, recreational hardware, where competitiveness is a primary concern. In these all the points that you make are valid.
  
  I fully agree with you that even where safety is a primary requirement ( with cost of no concern) things fail. Space shuttles burn up, pace makers kill and Titanic sinks.
  
  Nothing IS perfect
  
  Bioramani
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  ISHAN TOPRE

  Very well said. Then I think the dispute is solved. By the way thanks for the book Sir. 😀
• 

  PraveenKumar Purushothaman

  ishutopre

  Very well said. Then I think the dispute is solved. By the way thanks for the book Sir. 😀

  Ishu, there are people, still, who compromise safety for beauty and even knowing it, people will come!!! 😲
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Early in my career I came across a book 'Design for the Real World' by Prof.Victor Papanek. This has been my bible in all my design activity since then. No engineer should avoid reading this.
  Victor Papanek - iciscenter
  
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  Your designs will never be the same after you read this.
  
  Bioramani
• 

  ISHAN TOPRE

  @Praveen: Let them come. We will eventually increase our knowledge by answering them.
  
  @Bioramani sir: First time heard of Victor Papanek. By the way, do you have any knowledge about Dessault systems? They have a university in France dedicated solely to design. Do you know how to get into universities related to design? especially Japan?
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  ishutopre

  @Praveen: Let them come. We will eventually increase our knowledge by answering them.
  
  @Bioramani sir: First time heard of Victor Papanek. By the way, do you have any knowledge about Dessault systems? They have a university in France dedicated solely to design. Do you know how to get into universities related to design? especially Japan?

  Have you tried this free 2D CAD software from them. I downloaded this a few days back Very nice.
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  How about our own home grown National Institute of Design?
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  Bioramani
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  PraveenKumar Purushothaman

  What about 3D Home Architect... A 3D visualisation software... 😀
• 

  ISHAN TOPRE

  bioramani

  Have you tried this free 2D CAD software from them. I downloaded this a few days back Very nice.
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  How about our own home grown National Institute of Design?
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  Bioramani

  Hmm. I am currently trying to learn Catia as a designing software. As far as home grown institutes are concerned need to think about it. The main problem with any university is, How to apply. That is why I need to search their sites.
• 

  PraveenKumar Purushothaman

  Wow!!! MxCatia??? I can suggest you a book for it... 😀
  CATIA V6 Essentials By Kogent Learning Solutions Inc
• 

  ISHAN TOPRE

  Thanks for that Praveen. I Will try to buy it now or search for soft copy.
• 

  PraveenKumar Purushothaman

  Dude!!! Am also in very severe search for a softcopy... By the way, my dad has a hard copy of it... Lolz, its about 3K!!! 😛
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  Ramani Aswath

  Re: Good design or Safe design? Semantics?
  
  An update:
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• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Re: Good design or Safe design? Semantics?
  
  Another update:
  
  #-Link-Snipped-#