DESIGN COMPETENCE

Architects, to maintain their license to practice, need to earn a certain number of what are called Continuing Education credits per year.  Many of you readers are architects, and are of course familiar with the process.  

For those of you who don’t know, the vast majority of these credits are centered around Technical Competence.  We are offered courses on moisture control within building assemblies.  There are courses on acoustics, interior light control, sustainability, structural systems, etc.  For some credits, you read a paper and then take a quiz.  For others, there is a lecture by one or more presenters.  The increase of the technical knowledge of architects is important.

What is of equal importance is the Design Competence of architects. What we should be given are courses which increase our problem solving capacities.  Yet, we cannot earn Continuing Education credits which increase our capacity for creative thought.  And this is a travesty. 

Design Competence

Just as the technical competence of architects should be expanded, so should their design competence.  We improve our design thinking via the nurturing of your visual instincts.  Architects should be able to earn continuing education credits with courses that expand our associative capacity.  I absolutely believe that this capacity can be improved in each and every one of us.  And I absolutely believe that this omission, by the profession, is unconscionable.  

Generation of holistic form, with transparent drawings, as a pure geometric exercise, is my solution.  The generation of a holistic form, on your paper, is an encapsulation of the process of building design.  We posit disparate geometric data, which we resolve with the tool of Transparent Drawing.  We employ a wide range of materials. This expands your imagination. And it serves to expand your problem solving capacity. It is one pathway.

What do you do to improve your design capacity?