The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

PART TWO | THE CREATIVE INSTINCT
are carrying on an internal dialogue and answering our own questions
through the creation of images, text, or drawings. What
happens if I move that over here? Would it be better if the top of
the building were shaped like this? Is that window really in the best
place? I don’t like that. I like this. There is a constant stream of
inner commentary that accompanies our creations–a great deal of
it silent and unconscious. What is important is that after a few
years of studying design, we become increasingly aware that this is
going on and learn how to participate in it consciously. The tone
and immediacy of this voice becomes our companion in the
creative world. By slowing down and reflecting on this process, I
want to examine what happens when we become more aware of it.
Can we actually use our awareness of this process to enhance our
creative search?
The inner world of design is activated by a call and response–a
question asked and answered. I imagine it as the kind of interaction
heard in religious services when the leader calls out a question
and the congregation answers in unison. Following a designer’s
question (call), the response is received in the form of an image or
impulse from the unconscious. I think of this dynamic that occurs
during the design process as the “designers’ liturgy.” It is at the
center of the sacred studio and is the designer’s inner instrument
of creation. The call is an ascending appeal and the response is a
descent of that appeal into matter. Like inhaling and exhaling, the
two are complementary and form a natural creative cycle. They
need each other to complete the cycle of design, a cycle of question
and response that is naturally iterative and reflects the fact
that an experiment is taking place. We never know the outcome
when we start out on a creative task because the outcome, by definition,
is unknown. As a byproduct of making the built world,
designers learn to unconsciously explore the inner world of
images, rituals, and unrecognized instincts that accompany and
enable the transformation of spirit into matter.
What is happening inside the designer’s mind during the
process of design? When we set out to design something, we bring
two worlds together. The world we are conscious of includes the
conditions of the building site, the client’s needs, and the budget
39