5 | Module Five | Arch 8561 2022 TP

MODULE 5 | THEORY + PRACTICE WORKSHOP
Pivoting Towards Applied Systems Thinking + Emergence

“Whenever I run into a problem I can’t solve, I always make it bigger.  I can never solve it by trying to make it smaller, but if I make it big enough, I can begin to see the outlines of a solution.” | 34th President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower

Introduction to this Weeks Workshop| Purpose + Description

Welcome to Workshop Module Five. The purpose of Workshop  Five is to your emersion into the practice and design methods used for successful resilient, regenerative, inclusive, healthy, and pöietic design: Reductive Thinking, Systems Thinking and Pattern Thinking. Workshop Fives’s greater purpose is the radical transformation of design thought to be more holistic as a method for better supporting a diversity of life + community on our home planet.


Workshop Activities: Reflections + Exercises

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Theory 

Practice Templates Only

Brief Reflection Only


Template: Deep Generalist
Specialist, Expert, Multi-disciplinary, Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary describe very different types of knowledge sets and work styles. Deep Generalist captures all five within an individual, providing a place for multiple areas of specific disciplinary knowledge, that are contained within a broader field of knowledge. 

 


Template: Prototypes

Prototypes, new ideas and examples have always played an important role in design. They are defined as “a first, typical or preliminary model of something.” For Living Design, “prototype” large scale concept and not confined to 3D constructs, or mocked-ups developed during the design process.

  • Prototypes can be sketches, drawings, examples, models or completed active (or in-active) designs from the past.
  • Prototype can also refer to the processing of creating prototype(s) as part of the design process.

Preliminary Prototypes are used regularly in design.

Typical Prototypes should be treated as adaptable, and malleable ‘patterns’, that can help individual practitioners and teams leverage their creative potential, speeding development of specific realms of a design in ways that provide more time for exploration in areas less understood; and for the development of layered, rich and complex systems based solutions. The key is to understand the ‘why’ of prototypes so that you are using appropriate prototypes, and that you are using the correctly.

Typical (existing) Prototype Examples:

  • Existing Projects
  • Existing Details
  • System Diagrams
  • Prototypes from collections such as Architectural Graphic Standards, Time Savers Standards
  • Rating Systems which offer bundles of “Indicators” such as LEED, RELi, Living Building Challenge
  • Patterns (I.e. A Pattern Language, The 2030 Palette)

Prototyping:

  • The act or process of creating a prototype for a project. Prototypes can be physical models, or abstract drawings or computer simulations.

Rapid Prototyping / Testing:

  • Rapid Prototyping involves the iterative prototyping conducted in a series of quick sprints. What is learned from each sprint is used to inform the next sprint.  The TED talk “Build a tower, build a team” includes an example of rapid prototyping.
  • This concept applies to a wide range of issues. From learning how to use a piece of software to, testing water and energy efficiency strategies for buildings, to developing public policy.

Video Excerpt: View 0:00 to 3:20 Minutes


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