JOSEPH SANDY

I recently saw a video clip on the Buddhist sand paintings called Mandalas. Truly beautiful pieces of art that take six days to complete. Within an hour of completion, they ritualistically destroy the painting. This teaching of impermanence is a good lesson for architects, for very few buildings last a lifetime.

CNN story - link -

©Henryart

 

How can this idea relate to your design method?

I once had an art teacher who told us a story about one of her teachers. After everyone had completed their sculptures or paintings, the teacher would have them destroy their work. I don’t remember the moral to that story; it probably had something do to with impermanence, but it helped lead me to one of my favorite design methods.

Design Method – Destruction – Carry out your normal method for designing a building (or anything for that matter), work through all of the problems, and come up with a design solution you like. Then trash it and start over. Challenge yourself to create a totally different design. This sounds like you are losing a lot of work. In reality, by redesigning the project, you get to use all of the knowledge built up from your first design on your second. Why is this so effective? – In design you pretty much never get the same problem twice, there is no correct answer. So by starting a design over, you now have practiced for that specific problem. And, while practice might not make perfect, it certainly gives you a better chance at succeeding. Another similar strategy is to challenge your self to come up with several completely different solutions when starting a project. The destruction method is different in that you should completely finish a design before starting over.