Everything is shaped and designed by human purpose. Everyone is a designer—the decisions we make impact our environment and shape the world around us. From farming to choosing to the mow the lawn to the products we consume—all have some impact. As such, architectural form plays a huge role not only in function and look but in shaping the space and environment around it. As a designer, I have an especially unique opportunity to shape the way people experience the built world and the way they experience their everyday lives. Design can change the way we live, and in order to change the way we live, we must first start by changing the way we design.
This idea has been continually growing and changing since I
first entered the college and has begun to shape and inform the way I design. I
like to think of design as an opportunity to shape experiences and get people
thinking more about what we can all do to begin reshaping the way we live. I love the idea that every decision is a design decision and the implications that can have on the entire process of design, from start to finish. Studying Charles Correa allowed me to start to stretch this idea in a different direction. His idea of complete integration--the many layers of design and how we must zoom in and zoom out as we reshape details and the big picture as a whole. Design is fundamentally about people, for people, and by people.
In this sense, I align more with Ruskin than Viollet le Duc, although I don't necessarily align fully with his ideals of craftmanship and individualism as an art form. I look at design as a response to context, to culture--to people. That is where individualism comes into the play. Each design problem requires a solution that responds to and solves the problem--perhaps a note to Mies van der Rohe's desire for design to respond to the fluidity of life, which for him resulted in the open plan. I probably identify most with Morris's ideals of uniting social and political issues and design. But each individual solution must also work within the larger context, although there is room for a break when trying to change the context itself--collaboration plus individualism.
I am excited to see how these ideals--which have really just begun to form and and have just begun to shape the way I design--will begin to grow and change as I mature as a designer. Since I first started I have loved the idea of design being all about people, and I'm excited to expand upon this idea, to discover where the limits are and push beyond those.
