The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

PART TWO | THE CREATIVE INSTINCT
of myself that I didn’t realize was hungry is fulfilled by this nourishment.
It lets me grow and include aspects of myself that would otherwise be
excluded.
The purpose of the following exercises is to become more familiar
with what moves you. You will get to know who you are through what
you like.
1. Make of list of your favorite things. Visualize them or bring some of
them together. Arrange them in some form of composition.
Everything we choose has a meaning. What do these things have in
common? Ask yourself why you like them? What are their design
qualities? What do they have to say to you? Go through each room
in your house and reflect on the space and its artifacts. You can even
look at your city in the same way.
2. Use your imagination to visualize something that would make you
happy. Something that would make your family or community
happy. Something that would make your town or city happy.
3. Think of the place where you spend most of your time. Are you at
home there? If so, why? What makes that place feel “right”? If it
doesn’t, why not?
Starting a project by connecting to your heart’s desire generates
the creative power necessary to survive the resistance, constraints,
and hardship that inevitably accompany the transformation of an
idea into matter. The complexity, doubt, and difficulty that naturally
occur in the planning, managing, and construction of
something will overwhelm a project that does not have a heartfelt
essence at its core. Projects that have this heartfelt essence inspire
people. At the same time, with this starting point, the designer
must guard him or herself against the arrogance and sense of
power that can easily seduce us and spoil our creativity.
As a designer recognizes the sensation of being moved, a new
phase of development begins. Anyone can be open and therefore
moved, but for designers this moment has even greater significance
and responsibility; it is the precise moment when the possibility of
transformation comes alive. The designer’s new responsibility at this
point is to investigate exactly what has moved him or her and why.
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