design as a reflective conversation with the situation

"The situation is complex and uncertain, and there is a problem of finding the problem."
Donald Schön

1

The heading of this post is the title of an essay by Donald A. Schön, in his book The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (1983). At the center of that chapter is the story of a student (Petra) and professor (Quist), as they talk about Petra's design ideas for an elementary school on a hillside setting. In his analysis of the exchange, Schön talks about how the problem is framed (and reframed), about the early "what if" (try something) moe, followed by the later "musts" that a selected "what if" entails.

"Each move is a local experiment which contributes to the global experiment of reframing the problem." (p94)

"The designer's moves yield systems of implications." (99)

Schön discusses the role of language in the exchange, also the situation's "back-talk" as one moves through — and reflects on — actions.

We also read pages 88-90 of Schön's conclusion ("What can be learned from the experience of the architectural studio") in his The Design Studio: An Exploration of its Traditions and Potentials (1985).

2

We are joined on Monday morning by film maker David Gatten, who will show three films (probably The Secret History of the Dividing Line (detail above, 20 minutes), The Great Art of Knowing (37 minutes) and Moxon's Mechanik Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-works Applied to the Art of Printing (26 minutes). We'll be discussing stories, finding stories in the material (that sort of thing).

3

It is my hope (and expectation) that the Schön reading (and our discussion thereof) and David's films (and our discussion thereof!) will feed into our thinking about design practice, theory, history and, specifically, that they will help and/or encourage us with the experiment I assigned orally in class:

1. a prospectus, eight frames (squares, pages, but needn't be thought of as a book, necessarily, and could certainly be a website)
2. presenting selected material from Cramsie (chapters 10 The Style of the Street and 10 The Simple Art of War), possibly mixed with material of your own, or from other sources, that gives an "experiential" sense of moving through space in an exhibition.
3. select some images, or theme, could even be a detail (matches at page 166, but also pp14-15, or "lines" — same pages, but also cuneiform...) that you want to argue something about.
4. you may extend out beyond these chapters, within and beyond Cramsie. it is interesting that he discusses the technologies of design (specifically, of printing) far less in these two chapters, than elsewhere in his book. why?
5. the panels are not so much "helps" to move through an exhibition, but rather a suggestion of how that would feel, of the experience. something large (a detail enlarged), followed by something else (and so sequence matters, scale matters).

think "movie."

This exercise/experiment needs time to evolve. It may move to other areas of Cramsie, periods we've not yet touched on.

4

We are reflecting on the connection of practice (which tends to be messy), with history (which tends to smooth over the rough edges, and to have little to do with the immediacy of design practice), and with theory.

We are interested in modes of working, in the dark, sometimes; and with design as conversation.