My Creative Process

1. Understanding the Assignment

This step is crusial for avoiding future mistakes as it defines what the client really wants. Sometimes client do not know it themselves, but at least they have restrictions, wishes and concerns. It is then up to the architect to figure out what the challenges of the project are (if its thight money, weird shapes of the site or just harsh conditions) and to make these challenges into opportunities. Accepting them and to bring them into future ideas. Of course there is always room to play and architects should definitly go beyond what the client wants to push the project to positiv limits.

2. Site Analysis

Architects are essintially problem solvers. All we do is find problems/challenges and trying to find a way to solves it in a spacial way. Thus, the site analysis is one of the most important steps if not the most important. This step helps to understand the context the future proposal is situated in. May it be the climate conditions, the topographic conditions or the historic conditions. Each surrounding house has a story and creates the context for the new proposal among it. Personally I enjoy zooming into the project sites from a large scale 1:20 000 to a smaller scale 1:100. This way I understand the infrastructure and the neighbourhoods better. Where is the nearest shopping? Where is the nearest bus? How do people access the site? Foot? Car? etc.

3. Research relevant topics (Case studies)

This step also helps to understand the scale of the project, seeing what others have done with similar programs and seeing how that affected the size of it. How much is 3000sqm is reality? Have a visited a building in this scale before? Did I perceive it as huge or small? Furthermore, case studies reveil ideas of whats possible and what materialities, construction methods and design tools have been used. Can I use similar ones? Or should I go into a whole new direction?

4. Concept (Rulebook)

The concept...The heart of every project and the one thing clients might understand the least. In my opinion the concept is the rulebook of every design. By defining a concept I am defining rules that cannot be broken in every step after this. The concept, to me, should tell a story, should be respectful of the site and be open enough to allow versatile variations and interpretations of it. Yet it should be clear and appropriate.

5. Make proposals based on the concept (volumetric studies, facade studies, sketches, etc.)

Every step until here is irreversible. It’s set in stone and even every step besides the concept is objective (as much as it can be, as everything is already subjective once retold). Based on findings, reality and studies the architect tries to create an understanding of what is given. Only with these there can be proposals. Whithout them there is no concept and all the proposals are scattered and illogical. Volumetric studies are helpful in a sense that the required sqm can be seen in different volumes in the context of the site. Should it be high, low, long, wide, small scaled boxes integrated in one whole, or just monumental?

6. Detailed design (whenever a problem is encountered see if the solution is still true to the concept)

Once a proposal is decided on, its time to switch the scale and go deeper in the understanding of constructions. How wide are the walls really? What*s behind them? How to devide the room? Its totally ok to switch inbetween the previous step and this one - yet it is crucial to keep loyal to the concept!

7. Concept Loyalty Check-Up

Every decision made after the concept needs to be true to the concept. If the logic is lost between the concept and the proposal it can be hard to follow the coherency of the project. It might get harder to tell a nice story and decisions might not be able follow. If e.g. the goal of the concept was to build circular its impossible to choose a facade material that is not recyclable...