Jumping to Solutions

For some reason, back in college, every design assignment was referred to as a "Design Problem". And true to its name, our first instinct would be to come up with a solution. Perhaps this is the approach that we are so used to, that even when we're faced with answering certain design related questions pertaining to the projects that we're just starting out with, the instinct is to resolve them. But at this stage, it is not about the plans or sections but rather ideation and perception of spaces. And this is exactly what Sai explained to us today. He urged us to not look for solutions in the way that we were trying (and getting stuck with). Rather he pushed us down a path to just come up with ideas that could be possible solutions - to start discussing the questions first, understanding them and then moving towards resolving them. And that did help. 

We were still not sure of what we were doing right in the beginning but as we kept working on it the direction became somewhat clearer. We sat together, each one of us bringing our skills to the table, discussing, shooting ideas at each other. While Ananya and I were constantly swapping narratives and bringing up important points, editing what the other had written, Akshay, Nikhil and Clarence worked on some brilliant sketches to support our writing. Ritika was the missing link to tie it all together, story-boarding and visualizing what all the parts would look like when put together as a whole.

It's still a work in progress and ultimately we will come up with design solutions too, but for now its about going one step at time and not jumping to solutions!

-Mannat