While doing some site design work today a portion of my brain, we'll call him Larry, began to wander. Larry was not a large a portion of my brain and I did not think I would miss him so I let Larry wander. I checked on him occasionally. It wasn't long before Larry was kicking around the studio time yesterday. He was examining some of your work (or more to the point my memories of your work) and examining the questions you asked and the answers I gave. As turns out Larry came to the conclusion that we're all entering into the same phase of this design project. That tenuous, tedious phase in which the concepts and their mass have to become something. When the have to take material existence. It is a very difficult time because we find that the things we produce don't always match the images in our mind; they don't match the vision of the ideas for our project. The big things aren't looking and feeling quite right. All designers handle this in different ways, but there are a few constants upon which we can rely to help us get our designs a little closer to the vision we have for the project and they don't revolve around the big things, they're all about the little things--lets look at 2 of them.
1. Go back to your inspiration. One good, and proven, way to get inspired as a designer is to keep a collection of images. Pinterest has made a fortune on this idea because they're on to something. We're designers, we're visual people. Get some images. I found this website today while seeking a bit of inspiration.
http://www.contemporist.com/2013/01/18/abo-house-by-nico-van-der-meulen/
I was looking for architectural presentation styles and stumbled upon this house. I like the design and will study it for a little bit, which brings me to constanant #2.
2. Put in the hard work. This is a tough one and not because the work is hard, but knowing WHAT work to do is the tough part. As designers we're taught to sketch and draw, but some of us rarely do it. There are several reasons for this, but I'd like to focus on two. Reason #1: I'm not good at it. This may be true, but guess what, you're not good at designing either. Ouch, was that harsh? Maybe, but it's the truth. There's another truth, you're in architecture school and you keep coming to class and putting in the hours right? Well, that shows you want to be better, but what is that doing for you? Well allow me to expound. Large things are made up of lots and lots of small things. Your design ability is made up of years and years of training, both explicit (stuff you actively do and KNOW is helping you) and implicit (stuff you do that helps you, but you don't know you're doing it). Sketching and drawing is a combination of both.
So let's examine what's actually happening when you say "I'm not good at sketching." You're actively interfering with your own progression as a designer, you're talking yourself out of it before you even start. What if you said this "I don't think I'm good at sketching, but I'll make some crappy sketches today and get them out of my system so tomorrow sketches will be better." That's a good attitude to have. Don't expect everything you do to be awesome the first time. Accept it won't be as good as the next time you do it so get the bad stuff out. Incidentally, all of your blog posts are improving tremendously. Not because you're all natural bloggers, but because you're doing it regularly. This is a by product of being human, we get better at the things we do regularly.
Guess what happens after some time? You get better at sketching and you start to enjoy it and you do it more and you enjoy it more so you do it more...it's a vicious cycle!
Reason #2: I don't know what a sketch study is or the process.
This is also a tough one. There really isn't a set method, but I'll tell you some I like. The first is to practice your freehand 2-point perspectives. Good places to do this are: urban landscapes, building interiors, sitting in any class that's not studio, and while you're awake. Just practice sketching what you see in a 2 point perspective. The second is to sketch plan, section elevation, and details of cool designs you see on the web. Take a collection of photos of a design and see if you can puzzle out the floor plan from the photos through sketching. This is a great exercise in spatial understanding and one I do quite often. The third is to sketch details of cool designs you see. Subjects include, overhangs, handrails, furniture designs, etc. Then put your twist on it and design a little change.
All these processes require you to take information in through your eyes, synthesize it and put back out again through your hands. Takes practice, just like playing guitar, riding a bike, texting and driving (just kidding, don't do this), and talking without using "Like".
These processes require some devoted time and intentional practice, but don't worry, I promise it will pay off. To bring this full circle and connect back to what Larry was up to kicking around my head let's pull it all together. Design is not done in a vacuum and it is NOT a genesis type activity. There isn't a moment of genius like a bolt of lightning. Design is hard work and takes intention and effort. You hear people reference designers they like all the time. Look them up, study their details. Study HOW they present their information, study the wall/roof intersections, study how the stairs turn 90 degrees, study how the spaces are arranged, study how the kitchen is laid out, study how the lights are placed, study how the door works, study the hand rails--STUDY THE DETAILS.
Why? Because big things are made up of lots of little things. I'll leave you with one more piece of insight-we humans only notice things that don't work. So it stands to reason that if we spend some much time looking at things that don't work all we'll produce is the same. Spend some time studying design details that work, fight the tendency to overlook them, don't miss the little things, because they make up the big things.
