I want to talk a little bit about the creative process and making things with your hands
today.
You know I got into architecture because I wanted to be able to build models every day
of my professional life and it's actually what I thought architects spent most of their
time doing and although that's not entirely true I definitely make time for making models
as often as I possibly can.
There's something really special about them and in architectural practice today they're
actually somewhat exotic because most architects are relying on digital modeling and rendering
tools which are - you know - faster and they're easier to change and you get all these realistic
materials.
And you know my response to people who ask me, “Why do you even bother building physical
models out of wood and cardboard and clay at all any more when you have access to these
great tools?”
My response is always that I find I just get better results that way.
And, I know this can kind of seem like anecdotal personal evidence that's just applicable to
me, but there's actually scientific research that's been done that shows making things
with your hands actually is linked to our thought processes, it actually produces more
efficient, more creative, and often more insightful results.
This is proof that thinking isn't a task that just happens up here in…it's not just relegated
to the brain but it also happens as sensory inputs from our environment.
You know if you think about if you've ever played Scrabble what you do with the Scrabble
tiles as you line them up you know you're looking at the letters here but you're physically
rearranging them and you know sometimes that's by chance and sometimes that's intentional,
but it's these collisions of the deliberate and the unexpected that produce some really
great things.
One of the things that making physical models allows you to do is step away entirely from
the distraction of the digital environment.
So moving away from the computer and picking up your pencil and sticks and wood and glue
and rulers and tweezers, doing this kind of distraction-free thinking is really valuable.
And there's very little space in our world for that right now.
You know something else, the end product: it's tangible.
You know models are these beautiful kind of little jewels and I think they're really irresistible.
You know, digital models just aren't endearing in the same way that your Instagram feed isn't
something you'd probably frame on your wall they just don't encourage you to engage with
them in the same way that a physical model does.
A model is this manifestation of your work it's something you can hold in your hand and
there's something really wonderful about that.
You know like sketches they are open-ended.
They suggest a multiplicity of solutions not just one solution you know the finished rendering
and the finished computer model suggests one singular solution.
This suggests that the cladding could be metal, it could be wood, it could be any number of
things.
And, you know I could spray paint this thing 16 different colors if I wanted to, to test
you know what those solutions might do to the final form of it.
You know this idea about deliberate moves, deliberate design moves, versus unexpected
ones is really interesting to me too, and models allow for that to happen in an open
exploration.
I view these models as teaching tools.
It's very difficult to fake the realities of construction even with a tiny physical
model like this.
So if you build something here and it feels flimsy it starts racking - like this - you
understand pretty quickly, okay I need a shear panel here I need to brace this wall from
moving back and forth and and you get a real tactile sense of how materials go together
how they're joined what works and what doesn't.
You know, building models is a practice that builds material intuition and I just don't
think there are very many ways to get that experience other than practicing in real life
with real buildings and real materials where there's a lot more liability and a lot more
risk and there's human safety involved.
And so, building models is a really great teaching tool.
Now there's this term called metacognition which is stopping, taking a moment to think
about how you're actually thinking about a problem.
And building models is this kind of metacognition process for me.
Models are a way of stepping back, re-evaluating the problem, and asking yourself if you are
asking all the right questions.
Alright, that's all I have for this time, go out there and make things.
Cheers my friends, we'll see you again next time.