Jacques Lafitte

Jacques Lafitte (1884-1966) was a French civil engineer.

"Lafitte's Réflexions sur la science des machines [Reflections on the Science of Machines], published in 1932, suggested a classification of “machines” divided in three general divisions: passive, active and reflex. Passive machines included those human constructions that are independent of a constant flux of exterior energy, such as roads, primitive shelters, poles, bowls: while they do not move, they afford and orient the motion of others either by their form, mass or volume. Gilbert Simondon later considered the awareness of architectural bodies as machines to be Lafitte’s fresh contribution to a philosophy of technique." (G. Thibault, "Passive Media," paper presented at the Society for the Literature, Science and the Arts, 2003)

Works

• Réflexions sur la science des machines, Paris: Librairie Bloud & Gay, 1932; Paris: Vrin, 1972, 136 pp. (French).

See also

• Cybernetics

Literature

• Anthony Vidler, "Technologies of Space/Spaces of Technology", Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 58:3 (September 1999), pp 482-486. [1]

• Thibault G. & M. Hayward “Understanding Machines: A History of Canadian Mechanology (1965-1985)” (forthcoming Summer 2017), Canadian Journal of Communication.