| good question for Architexturez Sub.Gate,
| what the the progress in there?
How to Teach and Archive Tacit Design Knowledge
“Case studies that have been a staple diet in the business world,”
writes Cal Swann, “are almost non-existing in design.” He properly
observed the lack of systematic and documented study in design professions.
This non-existence definitely applies to architecture—and more in
general, to Architecture, Engineering and Construction; this is all the
more surprising given the particular type of knowledge involved in this
field. Although architects may view knowledge with disdain, as a
hindrance to unfettered creativity1 or an encapsulation of ‘freeze-dried
prejudices’2, this disdain does not make architecture an exception to
the rule that every discipline has its own realization of knowledge3.
Since architecture tends to deal with unique projects, a good deal of
the knowledge involved is experience-based and tacit.4
In general, tacit knowledge differs from explicit knowledge by the
degree to which it can exist independently of a specific context or
“knower.”5. Tacit knowledge only arises when knower and knowing become
one—a phenomenon called “indwelling”—as its acquisition tends to be
staggered over time and rooted in experience.6 In architecture, as in
other design domains, design is learned primarily by experience.
....
Architectural practice is not—and has never been—documented and studied
very systematically. Despite the immense wealth of professional
expertise embedded in design processes, apart from a few isolated pilot
efforts there are no consistent and systematic actions to establish and
maintain access to the profession’s knowledge, let alone to extend its
potential reach.
cont'd....
http://www.di.net/article.php?article_id=442
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Footnotes
1. Joseph Press, 1998
2. Horst Rittel, 1985
3. Harry Scarborough and Gibson Burrell,1996
4. Jeong-Han Woo, et al, 2002
5. Michael Polanyi; 1964, 1967
6. M Grene, 1969