1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/4028Chapter 3 final (3.3)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/26/10 8:45 AM Page 120
Initial ideasInterview summaryO’Donnell + Tuomey’s considered architectural response to
place is not dependent on the inspirational quality of every
site that they work with; it is a consequence of their ability
to see poetry around them.
Language and literature are not just sources of inspiration,
they are also practical design tools. Before the direction of
an architectural idea has been established or architectural
form generated, words are used to collaborate within the
office and with clients. Sketching, modelling and even
physical gesture are treated in the speculative and flexible
manner of a conversation: quick, explorative watercolour
paintings; palm-sized, tiny sketch models; sketches on
overlay paper passed between and drawn by many hands.
Drawing is an act of design and exploration rather than
a means of recording decisions made.
This openness to ideas, and testing them for their
effectiveness, encourages creative reverie and inspiration.
At certain points it provides an escape from the complexities
and practicalities of the design problem at hand. The
movement between reflection and action is particularly fluid
during the initial ideas stage of a project. As John Tuomey
says, ‘I came across this term that Hans Arp, the Bauhaus
artist used about his work: he called it his ‘concretions’,
which I found a very satisfying terminology for a concept.
A concretion: the making evident, the making substantial
of something in form. Just as concrete cures and settles,
it becomes hardened. I think concepts also pass through that
same stage before they are made concrete.’
If an architect’s mind is sufficiently nourished, by literature for
example, their work will thrive and the richness of their ideas
will be communicated to those who inhabit their buildings.Text
1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/4028Chapter 3 final (3.3)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/26/10 8:46 AM Page 120