9
THE STEPS
BYE (FOR NOW) ‘DEAL WITH THE LIMITS’
You can of course ignore limits, but that will make it impossible to create a design that works. My opinion is you have to say, ‘okay, I will take the limits into account, and be more creative.’ You can already achieve this to a great extent if you work with strong central elements and look at your design from different angles and scales.
‘DON’T FOLLOW THE STEPS!’ You need certain steps in order to create your design. These steps are different for every design, and sometimes you have to try out certain steps to find out if they are necessary. Compare it with walking on ice: you have to test every step, and sometimes you have to let go of a certain direction or apply it on a later moment in the design process.
‘THE IDEA MEANS NOTHING’ It is easy to get an idea, but it is not easy to bring it to life. In order to do this you sometimes have to let go of the in Delft much appreciated ‘concept’. It can be a useful tool in the beginning of your design process, but it can also hold you back and prevent you from seeing other opportunities. And unfortunately some ideas just do not work. You can find out with experience and willingness to let go.
‘EVERYTHING MATTERS AT THE SAME TIME’ I would not say this is my slogan, yet, but I experience this more and more every day. A column in a building is part of the supporting construction, but it can also be an urban reference point, an entrance, and a boundary between public and private space. How everything works together you can only truly learn in practice. I believe it is the core of our role of architects: to be the director of the whole design, and acknowledge the important of not only every element, but also the way they work together to create one whole.
‘THE BUILDING IS IN THE DETAILS’ It is a trend to create seamless buildings with invisible details. But the details are the elements that can give expression to a design and create buildings with substance. The bachelor education for example splits the detailing into climatological design, design of the supporting structure, and the building construction. But the truth is you cannot see these things separate from each other, they create one whole after all. A very useful tool to practice the correlation of these three aspects is working with the ‘section-perspective’. This tool allows you to work with the reciprocal influence of the structural engineering and the appearance of the design.
‘CRITICISM IS NECESSARY’ Criticism should always have the intention of helping the student to get further. In order to give this kind of feedback the teacher needs to be able to keep being surprised. Criticism is not about judging, but about keeping the complexity of a design, adding layers, and helping to put the design in context. This way the student can learn to improve the design and the design process, and the teacher can learn to understand.