Design Thesis Recollections 2008/09

Today I presented a slide show that lasted about six minutes to the school. I showed snippets of slides taken during the studio sessions, albeit studio pin-up, interim crits and studio inputs.

I started with saying:

When I was asked one year earlier about the Design Thesis – whether sustainability and conservation is incorporated into the 5th year design thesis project, I was hesitant to answer. After a year, I could confirm now that every facet of sustainability and conservation is being explored in the studio. For sustainability, issues were drawn out from ethics, environmental sustainability, economic viability and social justice. For conservation, building and urban rehabilitation and adaptive re-use.

Design thesis allows you to explore, examine and investigate something that you wanted to after all 4 years of study.

It followed this text: (from my other blog postings)

(Starts after first two slides)

The Truth of the Matter

Do you know what the real story is?

The real story about you, is that – You have got to KNOW yourself.

You have got to do anything in your life for your own sake.

If your lecturer says, “It’s a C!” It does not matter. What matters is that your own evaluation of yourself. If you think it’s an A, and not a C… guess what? It is an ‘A’. What matters is not what your lecturer thinks but what you think. Believe me, I am telling you the Truth about Life.

Life is about how YOU see it. Not about how your lecturer or anyone sees it, not even your parents.

This is not about not being grateful to your lecturers or your parents. No, it’s not about that. You are grateful and all that. It’s about “what really matters”. And that is what you think. And not what other people think.

The truth of the matter is – it does not matter what people think. The truth of the matter, is what you think is what truly matters!

(Pause for quote shown in slide)

People say you are not good enough, or that your work is not to par. Well, it’s all up to you to believe what people say.

To be honest, people have to do their jobs and are guided by some rules or beliefs or principles. It is up to you to believe them or not. It’s up to you whether you want to follow them, inside your heart.

Find your own way to evaluate yourself. Find your own truth and that’s what matters most.

In all honesty, that’s what really count, in your life. What you think and what you feel.

(Pause for quote shown in slide)

Let the Design Take You Away

The best designs are intuitive. Because everything that you need to design is inside of you. You just need to let it flow and channel it correctly.

Huat talked about the mind’s eye. He said, “Getting that evasive image in one’s mind’s eye and then executing it is what it’s really about”. In my opinion, that image comes after intense searching, like soul-searching for ideas. It is an exhaustive exercise, being thorough and testing all possibilities or considering all elements in order to find “the one image”. You don’t get it by forgetting it. You can only get it by persistence.

(Starts after first two slides)

This is the core characteristic of a true designer. Engaging him/herself in this search. When the image comes into focus, things starts to make sense.

Do not give up the search for this “evasive image” as it tends to be elusive until you find it.

The perception of being intuitive is not the same as just relying on one’s instincts. It is not child’s play. One definition of intuitive is being insightful. To be insightful is to expand knowledge.

To be intuitive is the first step in being a good designer and to be able to originate and not merely rehashing other people’s images. It is working through a problem and finding an answer. Your own original answer.

(End)

Download ppt: Design Thesis 0809 Slides

Design Thesis Process Diagram

I was having a discussion with some of the students yesterday, when I realised the “question” needed to be stressed again and again, as the students were mumbling more about the “what” and the “how to”.

The “what” and the “how to” is more to do with the “hypothesis” and is further down the design thesis road. You need to know where the starting point is if not you go down the “merry path of no where” and that would be wasting your time, so back to the “question” which has to be the right question as you will need to answer it further down the road when you finally summarise all that you had gathered and start with the concept.

If you look at this diagram and the co-relation with semester’s duration of time, this is the optimum or predicted time to be taken along the road.

So there have been cases where the time taken was really long to get to the concept.

We want to avoid that, but if it happens and you are pulling your hair being static and motionless suddenly in the course of the journey, take a look at the diagram and see where you are. Perhaps you may need to retrace your steps even right back to the “question”.

So when we say “process”, we really mean a step-by-step journey rather than a jump or a leap to the unknown. Well, sometimes the process do feel like a leaping off a cliff but its more a feeling of dread doing something you have never done before rather than the process itself.

Design Thesis Manual – Quotes from others

I am doing research and compiling data (quotes) from participants interviewed (students, studio masters, guest critics) for a Design Thesis Manual project.

It’s still early days, but here are some quotes that my collaborator, Kong Seng Yeap dug out from the internet:

Design Thesis: Students’ and Lecturers’ Point of View (Internet Discussion Forum)

“Your thesis should be thought about as an exploration of all of the ideas you have formulated about architecture in the last four years. It is about doing something that is of supreme interest and importance to you. If you look upon the thesis as something you have to finish to graduate, you are missing a wonderful opportunity to fully understand why you chose to become an architect in the first place. Pick a topic that hopefully is the beginning of search that will last your entire career. Remember, a thesis can be about raising difficult questions as well as providing solutions. Challenge yourself with this exercise. It will be well worth it. It is important to make this project uniquely yours and not let the agenda of your thesis advisor take over. Most of all enjoy it.”

(Shiraz Allibhai, April 27, 2001)

“A thesis is an opportunity for you to look more carefully at issues and concerns that interest you and address them through design. It isn’t the beginning or the end of your search but an opportunity in your career to pause and address what is important to you.”

(Tanzeel Merchant, April 29, 2001)

“…The issue often gets coloured by what is ‘in’ or fashionable, don’t let that influence your choice…”

(Tanzeel Merchant, April 29, 2001)

“…A good supervisor who is capable to answer you even in the midnight…”

(Ashik Ikbal, November 10, 2001)

“…try to find a problem that you may interested or may be something ‘breakthrough’ in your field of study…”

(Ruly Darmawan, November 19, 2001)

“…right now I am in the same situation as u were or u are (in case u r still looking for a thesis topic……) the problem is that I am not able to decide what should I look for…
I mean as such I don’t have any particular interest in a field but I want do a very good project, not for marks but for my self satisfaction…”

(Haneet Khanna, December 20, 2003)

“…at my college and some of the neighboring colleges, a normal trend is to go and see the projects undertaken in various colleges…it really helps and broadens our horizons…the search engine on net is also a very helpful tool to get to know about various projects…”

(Prashant Das, December 21, 2003)

“…the idea of thesis is very important and helpful. The choice of a topic for design thesis should be made to steer oneself towards the goals one has set for the future development. Thesis should address the issues in a given context.”

(Akhtar Chauhan, December 25, 2003)

“Just pick a subject that you will enjoy doing. If you enjoy it. the research, and the final presentation will come easy. You will be willing to spend long hours to solve issues. Most of all HAVE FUN. This may be your real last chance to enjoy it. Go for it.”

(Ashley de Vos 25th November 2001)

“…Why should one ever forget the idea of “thesis”. I am of the opinion that all the great architects of all times achieved their greatness because they pursued their “theses” in architecture. This means that it is important to evolve a philosophy of architecture as a general direction which may contain several theses. Such an approach enables one to develop an architecture of a higher kind, which is recognized by the clients, society and fellow professionals. That is what separates excellence from mediocrity in architecture…”

(Akhtar Chauhan, December 25, 2003)

“I would urge that no architect should ever give up the idea of thesis! One should explore the unlimited space of creativity through thesis! The design thesis of the final year in architecture is just the begining of the quest for excellence in architecture.”

(Akhtar Chauhan, December 25, 2003)

“I would recommend going for the topic which you as a human being – not as an architect – feel like doing: for the ‘have-nots’! I say this because later in life, there may not be too many opportunities to do a project for the ‘have-nots’ as architecture, in most cases, is sponsored by the rich and the ‘haves’ and whether we like it or not, we all end up working for them. So you will have lots of opportunities to work on gleaming steel and glass structures and sprawling housing estates.”

(Hammad Husain, December 23, 2003)

“I wanted to tell you something that the teacher told me when I took the course before my masters thesis. He said that if you are faced with a question to which you do not know the answer, you have two choices. The difficult choice is to admit what you do not know and act accordingly; the easy choice which most students opt for is to expand the question. So my suggestion is not to feel that one faces a challenge only with a project that is of a sufficient size or complexity. If you wish to explore the principles of architecture you have learnt, then it is possible to do it within a small project. So before trying to zero in on the project title and description just give some thought to the principles of architecture you wish to explore in your thesis. And then take on a project that will give you an opportunity to go into depth rather than width of issues, given the time constraints of a final year thesis.”

(Prem Chandavarkar, December 26, 2003)