Notes
The Chinese symbol for crisis is comprised of two characters: one indicating "danger," the other, "opportunity."
A design problem is not something to be overcome, but an opportunity to be embraced. The best design solutions do not make a problem go away, but accept the problem as a necessary state of the world. Frequently they are little more then an eloquent restatement of the problem.
The Chinese symbol for crisis is comprised of two characters: one indicating "danger," the other, "opportunity."
A design problem is not something to be overcome, but an opportunity to be embraced. The best design solutions do not make a problem go away, but accept the problem as a necessary state of the world. Frequently they are little more then an eloquent restatement of the problem.
Don't seek to relieve your anxiety by marrying yourself prematurely to a design solution; design divorce is never pretty.
If you can't explain your ideas to your grandmother in terms that she understands, you don't know you subject well enough.
Some architects, instructors and students use overly complex (and often meaningless!) language in an attempt to gain recognition and respect. [...] Professionals who know their subject area well know how to communicate their knowledge to others in everyday language.
The more specific a design idea is, the greater its appeal is likely to be.
being nonspecific in an effort to appeal to everyone usually results in reaching no one. But drawing upon a specific observation, poignant statement, ironc point, witty reflection, intellectual connection, political argument, or idiosyncratic belief in a creative work can help you create environments others will identify with in their own way.
We move through negative space and dwell in positive space.
The shapes and qualities of architectural spaces greatly influence human experience and behavior, for we inhabit the spaces of our built environment and not the solid walls, roofs, and columns that shape it.
Nathan's lists
Architecture for Interactive Designers
While my profession is in interactive design, I have an interest in architecture and feel many of it's principles are very valuable and close to my profession. The following are architecture books I've read and enjoyed.
Description edit
2008 Silver Award Winner, Architecture Category, Independent Publisher Book Awards. and Winning entry, General Trade Illustrated Category, in the 2008 New England Book Show sponsored by Bookbuilders of Boston. This is a book that students of architecture will want to keep in the studio and in their backpacks. It is also a book they may want to keep out of view of their professors, for it expresses in clear and simple language things that tend to be murky and abstruse in the classroom. These 101 concise lessons in design, drawing, the creative process, and presentation—from the basics of "How to Draw a Line" to the complexities of color theory—provide a much-needed primer in architectural literacy, making concrete what too often is left nebulous or open-ended in the architecture curriculum. Each lesson utilizes a two-page format, with a brief explanation and an illustration that can range from diagrammatic to whimsical. The lesson on "How to Draw a Line" is illustrated by examples of good and bad lines; a lesson on the dangers of awkward floor level changes shows the television actor Dick Van Dyke in the midst of a pratfall; a discussion of the proportional differences between traditional and modern buildings features a drawing of a building split neatly in half between the two. Written by an architect and instructor who remembers well the fog of his own student days, 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School provides valuable guideposts for navigating the design studio and other classes in the architecture curriculum. Architecture graduates—from young designers to experienced practitioners—will turn to the book as well, for inspiration and a guide back to basics when solving a complex design problem.
Additional information
- Pages: 128
- ISBN: 0262062666
- EAN: 9780262062664
- Dewey: 720
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: The MIT Press