The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

PART TWO | THE CREATIVE INSTINCT
comes more slowly. Insight arrives with a kind of velocity, and
needs to be treated as something precious. You have a chance to
actually learn something from your insight. Before it arrives, you
have never met it before; you have been waiting for its arrival,
nonetheless it is a surprise. How can you learn about the insight?
Try exploring a relationship with it. Treat it like a newfound friend.
Ask it questions about itself. Ask yourself questions about it. What
are its implications? Another insight may arise, and then, through
the answer, understanding arises. Understanding involves us in
patiently or steadfastly listening, assimilating, and digesting.
Insight without understanding will leave us stuck and our work
will seem not fully formed.
Understanding makes us feel whole and happy. When we
understand something, others naturally recognize this and often
are drawn to ask about it. We don’t have to force the understanding
on others; they will naturally be attracted to its contents. So
another characteristic of understanding is that it benefits many
people–it is naturally harmonizing. The door of understanding,
once open to us, is naturally there for others to experience through
the way it is embodied in our work. Understanding brings an
exemplary quality to our design work. It is a kind of beauty that
lingers like a deep porch overlooking a garden.
Stabilizing the idea
A key moment in the life of any creative project occurs very early
in its development. This is the moment immediately after the
design is born, when the designer needs to begin developing his or
her project. Remember that inspiration is something we receive–
once we have received it, we need to become aware of the qualities
that distinguish our work so that we can consciously develop them.
At this stage of work we begin the tricky process of balancing inflation
and humility, in which the authors must learn to both separate
from and have affection for their designs. Becoming aware of the
essence of your idea and analyzing its qualities is really the introduction
of the ego into the creative process. Without this step we
may never be able to develop the richness and complexity of our
projects. Stabilizing the design involves the active acceptance of
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