Form follows eccentricity

Ideation is about ways of generating and communicating ideas. But does ideation adhere to methods, techniques or principles? Such as Louis Sullivan's maxim "form follows function", Mies van der Rohe's "less is more", or Dieter Ram's "principles of good design"? Or, is it rooted in designers' personal style developed through practice and theory? MVRDV, the Dutch design practice, claims, through elaborate research, that they seek not to develop a specific style of architecture but to provide and develop different methods in designing architecture and urban space.Yet the start of MVRDV's design process for Depot Boijmans art museum in Rotterdam, built with panels of mirror-coated glass clipped on to a concrete bowl, and which officially opened in November this year, did not reflect the practice's cherished design methodology. Instead, during a lunchtime brainstorming session, the design team was inspired by a piece of IKEA table ware, in the form of a stainless salad bowl. Indeed MVRDV revels in turning design models upside down, or inside out, or grabbing whatever is to hand and adding it to the mix of ideas. Such is the design process of a practice that embraces eccentric spectacle. It seems, then, there's method in eccentricity.

The workshop as exemplar for flexible learning

Education was adapting to the digital world long before Covid 19 but, as with so many other human activities, the pandemic has given learning a huge shove towards the virtual. Overnight, schools and universities closed and teachers and students had to find ways to do what they do exclusively via the internet. Covid highlighted how critical the social aspect of learning is, and that something extra happens when students and their teacher share a physical space. education needs to be more adventurous and captivating – and, above all, more flexible. To achieve this, three major changes should happen: The first concerns the content, which should emphasise such things as creativity, critical thinking and entrepreneurship, rather than collecting and storing information. The second is that students should have more control over their learning, with the teacher’s role shifting from instructor to curator of learning resources, counsellor and motivator, or "active learning" where students learn in a hands-on way – through discussion and interactive technologies. Thirdly, students learn better from their own or others’ failed attempts to solve a problem, before or even instead of being told how to solve it. Indeed, design education already embodies these proposed changes. For example, the studio/workshop space, essential to creativity, active learning and experimentation, does not and cannot exist apart from the events and activities within which it is implicated. That is, as a socially and culturally produced space, the studio combines the cognitive, the physical and emotional.constituted by human experience, attachment and involvement. Or, simply, design education as a vehicle for learning through the lived experience. Reference: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/08/the-big-idea-should-we-leave-the-classroom-behind