The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

PART FOUR | INNER KNOW-HOW
First Stage: Preliminary Design
It makes the most sense to invite a critique of a project after the
creative direction and basic design language have been established.
The question that needs to be answered is, “Does the proposition
stand up to local or global review? Is there a convincing demonstration
of the benefits of the proposition?” Is the big idea capable
of carrying the project into the world?
If you are prone to severe self-criticism and impatience, then
you may find you are unable to internally grow an idea to its richest
outcome. You may need to get to know your critical voice and
consciously recognize it when it possesses you so that you can shift
to the part of you that believes the project is worthwhile and
worthy of being successfully completed. This doesn’t mean that you
should allow your ideas to go untested. But initial testing must
always have the intention not of attacking the work, but helping to
search for the truth of the founding idea in the project. If a critique
is constructive, it addresses the substance of the idea. As the idea
becomes more and more substantial, the proposition will naturally
need more rigorous testing.
Designers are always searching for certainty, something that, in
the cycle of design, is constantly shifting. Our bodies, dreams, and
shadow are always available to us to deepen our sense of knowing
the true course of our work. The reason that we need to bring an
awareness of these phases to the creative process is that there is a
real danger of activating critical states that will destroy creative
impulses. And, as we have seen, the compounded result of these
acts is that, eventually, the artifacts and places of the built world
transmit these negative messages. For the designer, once the
creative impulse is muted or deadened, it may be very difficult to
bring its rich voice back to our task.
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