Abstract

The paper lays out an ontological enquiry into the ways of ‘being of equipment’ as analysed by Heidegger and its role in understanding the design process. Equipments are things that make up our world. It is hard to imagine living without things because our existence is thingly textured. Heidegger’s analytics of equipment far exceeds the ontic sense of things. The argument is that there is a danger when designers limit themselves with the ontic understanding of equipment. Such an understanding coaxes us to believe in the half-baked truth about equipment- an isolated instance of a piece of artifact and leave us ignorant of the equipment's character as a part of an equipment structure. An ontological reflection on equipment brings forth its relational nature and can be rewarding in several ways in improving its design process.