As we are progressing with small group designs, it can be tough to land on a concept that really clicks… however it seems the best thing to do is to propose essentially anything – rather than waiting for the perfect ideas to arise from no where (it’ll never happen). Throwing anything onto the table without expectations of it sticking helps to foster something to critique. It needs to be drawn or at least physically critique-able as ideas can be easily miscommunicated between each other. I like to call this repeated process of tossing drawings and ideas into discussion for critique “Trudging Through the Mud” (to put it politely).
While all may seem lost in the moment, eventually enough fostered conversation and denial of ideas will surface what the project really wants from it’s designers. A process of finding the right answer through ruling out all of the wrong. Eventually if enough rigor is put into sifting out the wrong, a “click” will happen and an avenue of iterations will be rushed towards with newfound hope and inspiration (a step out of the mud).
Currently within my mud trudging journey I’ve looked towards inspiration from old theory, classic solutions to circulation, and re-invented ways of drawing. Mies van der Rhoe’s infamous Brick House floor plan has been inspiring for ideas of blending circulation and theory of programmatic boundaries. Classic forms of circulation such as Groin Vaults, combined with the inverted perspective of James Stirling, has furthered these ideas of figure ground and their effect on spatial experiences. I can’t provide exactly what this all culminates into, as it hasn’t fully “clicked”, but the mud seems to be almost ready to pull away from temporarily.