Notebook III - School of Architecture - The Chinese University of ...

design
14 Design is widely and validly regarded as the core
Design pedagogy, if it is not be limited to There are no “general” ways of seeing,
15
of architectural education. However, it is not
demonstration and apprenticeship, must describing, or designing a form, just as there
limited to the work in studios. It applies to all
involve theory, an operational theory which are no “general” ways of studying a subject.
studies in the programme. It is a way of thinking.
provides the tools for conception, description, Any such action is particular to the terms of
It is a habit of mind towards every action as a
and discussion of design. Without a theoretical
its theoretical structure. All “seeing” is particu-
fusion of knowledge, reason, and esthetic intention.
structure, a basis of reference, the words lar within a culture of beliefs, a set of implicit
It is an approach to education.
we use have little more than personal and assumption, or an underlying theoretical structure
isolated meaning, limiting every statement to
which exists independently of any one
personal opinion, since it cannot exist independently
object being seen. In a sense, speaking of the
of a person.
process of design without reference to posi-
tion is too abstract.
In teaching, the personal passion of a teacher
about a viewpoint is important, but is no
replacement for the intellectual independence
afforded by a free-standing theoretical structure
for the subject.
The process of design, described simply in
terms of a cognitive activity, is too abstract to
be useful to a student of design. At an abstract
level, free of content, the process is the same
in any subject. Therefore the study of design
in a particular subject needs to be particularly
related to the content of works in that subject.