The Act of Making
For the entire existence of man, we have used our hands to create, invent, investigate, and make our way through time. The act of making an object grants its maker a level of intimacy with that object that would not be possible without the physical connection that is established throughout the process of the creation. The striking image comes to mind of a blind person examining one’s beauty not through visual observation but through the simple sense of touch.
Historically, the architectural profession has been considered a profession of craft. The architect was the original master builder. This was true because of a close physical relationship between the architect and the physical construction of the design. Divisions of labor in the construction industry along with the excessive digitalization of our field have disestablished the architect as the master builder. The sensibility practiced by a craftsman such as the conscious manipulation of materials and the relationship between the maker and the made object is something that could be immensely beneficial for us to examine as architects. The role that drawing plays for the architect is not simply a form of two-dimensional representation, but it is the architect’s method for investigating their design. Therefore, rather than simply drawing lines, we imagine the third dimension that we create. We feel the materials, walk across the floors, and experience the spaces. If this is true, and I don’t think that any architect would make the argument that drawing does not have a purpose in the design process, then the physical connection that is practiced through the act of making would provide a knowledge equal or greater to that of drawing.
With the continual push towards a fully digital architectural design process, we risk reaching a point where the haptic connection between the designer and his/her creation is absent. The human hand serves as a bridge between mind and matter. Without some sort of physical connection between the designer and the practiced design we cannot accomplish a holistic creation. The digital resources that we have access to as designers present an efficiency that is hard, nearly impossible to deny. This discourse will investigate this connection between the designer and their work at different points and scales throughout the design process from small-scale investigation models to full scale and the role of design/build.
