From Watch Design to The Structural Principle of Persistent Systems: La Profilée
Abstract
This paper reconstructs the emergence of La Profilée as a structural principle of persistent systems. The starting point was not a theoretical model but a concrete design process: the development of an independent watch form. Only in the course of working with this form did it become apparent that it contains a structural organisation that reaches beyond the individual object. From the design process there emerged successively an object architecture, a generative design logic, and industrial, economic, and sustainable consequences. Only then was the underlying structure theoretically formulated: as the Structural Law of Persistence — the minimal condition for a system to preserve its identity under real transformation. The path led from form to theory. This paper documents that path.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Design Education and Practice
Sustainable Design and Development
Architecture
Modernity
and Design
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Publication date
- 16 March 2026
- Language
- EN