Richard Coyne

Richard Coyne is Professor of Architectural Computing at the University of Edinburgh where he is Head of the School of Arts, Culture and Environment, which covers the disciplines of architecture, history of art and music. Coyne is an architect by training and attempts to bring a design-oriented and spatial understanding to his research and writing on digital themes.

Influences

Coyne is author of several books on the implications of information technology and design, published by MIT Press and Routledge. His work is strongly influenced by the writings of the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer on hermeneutics and interpretation theory, particularly as developed by his colleague Adrian Snodgrass in the 1990s, and with whom he co-authored the book Interpretation in Architecture: Design as a Way of Thinking. Coyne’s work often returns to an appeal to a “commonsense” view that we are interpretive beings, in community and operating in a practical context. He articulates the pragmatic thread in his book Designing Information Technology in the Postmodern Age: From Method to Metaphor, a theme picked up by HCI researchers such as John McCarthy and Peter Wright, and in which he indicates a debt to Winograd and Flores’ work. He wrote this book while at the University of Sydney, where he completed his PhD. Coyne also acknowledges his debt to John Lansdown, an architect who pioneered many innovations in digital art and design.

Technoromanticism

Coyne’s writing on the theme of technoromanticism has been well-received, particularly amongst art and design theorists looking for inroads into philosophical debate. His book on the subject book explores the spectrum of romantic narratives that pervades the digital age, from McLuhan's utopian vision of social reintegration by electronic communication to claims that cyberspace creates new realities. The book posits strategies of deconstruction as antidote to technoromanticism, and draws particularly on the writings of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek.

Hybridity and the network economy

His most recent book awaits the reception enjoyed by his previous publications. It was stimulated by the growth in e-commerce and the development of the online gift society. In this book he argues that the relationship between design thinking and the network economy is characterized by the reckless spirit of the trickster, the crosser of boundaries, and the malingerer in the hybrid and uncertain condition of the threshold. The book thus presents a designer's view of the network economy, drawing on insights from architecture, design, economics, classical philosophy and cultural theory. Hermes was the trickster god and his name was ascribed to the task of interpretation. The theme returns to hermeneutics.

Sound and space

Coyne’s recent work develops insights from the relationships between the cultures of vision and those of sound. He thinks that the impact of ubiquitous and mobile devices are best understood as sonic phenomena. This research has taken him and colleagues into the investigation and development of innovative mobile phone technologies.

Research context

Much of Coyne’s work is stimulated by interaction with music colleagues and students within a suite of one-year MScs: Design and Digital Media, Sound Design and Digital Media and Culture. He also works with PhD students investigating science fiction and architecture, virtual reality, surveillance, haptic interfaces, robotics and other themes.