Heraclitus & the design studio

Aydınlı, S., Akpınar, İ., ‘Heraclitus & the Design Studio’, ITU journal, a architecture, planning, design, 2003, pp.58-72; ISSN: 1304-4583.

Heraclitus & the design studio1

Semra AYDINLI* and Ipek AKPINAR

Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Taşkışla-80191, Taksim-Istanbul

Abstract

In this article, the first year design studio at ITU, where the Heraclitus’ epigrams were questioned and

interpreted in connection with design issues, is introduced. Through the ideas of Heraclitus, students develop

a holistic way of design thinking, considering the dialectics of design. In this studio they are encouraged to

deal with the uncertainties and to manipulate the paradoxes of design issues, and are motivated to transform

their creative thinking into critical thinking. The empathetic way of teaching and learning emerges through

this process helping the students to be creative, have flexible minds, tolerate ambiguity, view things

metaphorically, challenge their assumptions and reverse their expectations.

Key words: first year design studio, holistic design education, discovery of knowledge, critical thinking,

flexible thinking, Heraclitus’ epigrams

Herakleitos ve tasarım stüdyosu Özet Bu makalede Herakleitos’un epigramlarının tasarım sorunlarıyla bağlantılı olarak sorgulandığı ve

yorumlandığı, 2000-2001 akademik yılından itibaren İTÜ Mimarlık Bölümünde uygulanmaya başlayan,

birinci yıl tasarım stüdyosu tanıtılır. Bu stüdyoda benimsenen bütünsel yaklaşım tasarım olgusunu,

tasarımın oluşum mantığını Herakleitos’un epigramları yardımıyla kavrama, her duruma göre değişen

sonuçları irdeleyebilme, esnek düşünebilme becerisi kazandırma üzerine kurgulanır. Her tasarım problemini

kendi içinde değişen ve dönüşen bir örüntü / çerçeve model olarak kabul eden bu yaklaşım, yaratıcı

düşünceden eleştirel düşünceye geçişi açıklayan bir paradigma olarak kabul edilebilir. Söz konusu

yaklaşımın paradigma olma özelliği, özgün tasarım düşüncesinin temelinde yatan metaforik yapısından

kaynaklanır. Son üç yıldır uygulanan birinci yıl tasarım stüdyosunda bütünsel bir tasarım düşüncesi

geliştirmek amacıyla yaratılan intellektüel atmosfer, tasarım problemlerini Herakleitos’un epigramları

yardımıyla çok-katmanlı düşünebilme olanağı sağlamıştır. Bu stüdyoda, öğrencilere tasarımın belirsizlik

ve paradoks içeren sorunları ile başa çıkabilme, onları farklı bağlamlarda dönüştürebilme becerisi

kazandırılır. Öğrencinin daha esnek düşünebilmesine, belirsizlikleri tolere edebilmesine, metaforik olarak

görebilmesine, kabulleri sorgulayabilmesine, beklentilerini tersine çevirebilmesine, yaratıcı olmasına

olanak sağlayan bu süreç sonunda empatik bir süreçle ilerleyen öğrenme ve öğretme şekli ortaya çıkar.

Yaratıcı düşünceden eleştirel düşünceye geçişe izin veren bu stüdyo ortamında, tasarım bilgisinin öğrenciye

iletilmesi yerine, kendisinin sezgi ve mantığını birarada kullanarak her duruma göre değişebilen bilgiyi

keşfetmesi / yakalaması sağlanır.

Anahtar sözcükler: birinci yıl tasarım stüdyosu, bütüncül tasarım eğitimi, bilginin keşfi ( yakalanması),

eleştirel düşünme, esnek düşünme, Herakleitos’un epigramları

* Semra Aydınlı, [email protected] tel : 02122931300 ext : 2254

mailto:[email protected]

Introduction Today, the fundamental problem of design

education is to develop more effective learning

and teaching strategies. As Ledewitz puts it:

“The lack of clarity and effectiveness of the

design studio reflects its complexitiy as a

teaching / learning setting. It is characterised by

multiple and sometimes contradictory goals,

implicit theories and inherent conditions of, in

Schön’s words, inexpressibility, vagueness and

ambuigity” (Ledewitz, 1985). In order to face

uncertainty and ambiguity of design issues, in

this study a holistic way of thinking that can be

articulated to account for the dialectics of

teaching and learning is adopted. The dialectics

of teaching and learning emerge in the design

studio through the systematic exchanges

between conceptual and experiential arguments

that require both rational and intuitive

reasoning. In this atmosphere, both the process

and the product simultaneously proceed in a

spiral movement, and coexist completing each

other by asking questions and finding answers

within a comprehensive and open-ended

structure. This is a sort of intellectual

atmosphere created in the design studio that

requires flexible thinking and facilitates the

manipulation of ideas, images and feelings. The

flexible structure of ideas, images and feelings

emerging from the psychological and

philosophical questions, guides students to open

their ‘mental locks’ and to think something

different. Von Oech defines ‘mental locks’ as:

“the right answer, that’s not logical, follow the

rules, be practical, play is frivolous, that is not

my area, don’t be foolish, avoid ambiguity, to

err is wrong, I am not creative” (von Oech,

1998).

The term ‘mental locks’ is also defined as

mental blocks that follow conceptual blocks

(Adams, J., 1986) emphasizing that mental

walls block the problem-solver from correctly

perceiving a problem or conceiving its solution.

According to Adams (1986), to be aware of the

extent of their mental blocks / locks can give the

students the motivation and the knowledge

necessary to modify or avoid such blocks. There

are several ways to overcome mental blocks or

to open the mental locks, being aware of the

extent of conceptual blocks. Mental locks are

obstacles that prevent creative thinking in the

design studio. Particularly in the first year

design studio, students have to develop creative

thinking that leads to a holistic understanding of

design issues that varies its intellectual rigor

from being emotionally, through rationally, to

philosophically based. In order to open the

‘mental locks,’ an integrated first year design

studio at the Faculty of Architecture, ITU is

designated for a discussion milieu, which is an

intellectual atmosphere. In this article, this

atmosphere created in the first year design

studio is introduced through the structural

relations with Heraclitus’ epigrams leading to a

new way of design thinking. Von Oech (1998)

mentions that Heraclitus is the first teacher of

creativity whose “short, polished, pithy saying,

usually in verse, often with a satiric or

paradoxical twist at the end” is called an

epigram (von Oech, 1998). The term epigram is

derived from the Greek word ‘epigramma’

meaning ‘inscription’: a brief, witty, pointed,

often antithetical saying; a short poem, usu.

satirical, the last line of which often contains an

unexpected change of thought or biting

comment (New Webster’s Dictionary of the

English Language). The spirit of the epigram is

in its terse and succinct form: much can be said

with few words. Heraclitus’ epigrams can be

applied to the thinking process of design that

allows the use of the conscious mind to

overpower mental locks. The Greek

philosopher’s 2500-year-old epigrams help to

set up an intellectual atmosphere in the design

studio, where the discovery of knowledge rather

than the transmission of knowledge becomes

significant. The term discovery of knowledge is

used in this article referring to Schön’s term ‘the

discovery of the wobble.’ Schön (1985)

describes this term as knowing-in-action in

which the spontaneous responses to the

phenomena of everyday life, reacting to the

unexpected outcomes, surprises are intuitive

way of going about the task (Schön, 1985).

The first year design studio, integrating design

projects, theoretical design courses, basic design

and visual arts, and a technical drawing course,

were first designated in 2000, at the Faculty of

Architecture, ITU. This design studio aims to

constitute a foundation for upper classes,

focusing on fundamental design issues.

Accordingly, the philosophy of design

education is based on a holistic approach to

design issues, emphasizing the importance of

both the discovery of knowledge and the

transmission of knowledge, an intellectual

atmosphere created in the design studio and

transformation of creative thinking into critical

thinking, all of which to be considered in this

study. This article describes the first year design

studio atmosphere at the Faculty of

Architecture, ITU, in which the students are

able to bring their mental facilities and designer

skills together in epistemic and emotional

dimensions by discussing design issues through

Heraclitus’ epigrams. The influential role of

these epigrams on discussions about the

conceptual, observational and instrumental

applications occurring in this studio atmosphere

are explained in Table 1. It is possible to

constitute the link between such discussions on

design issues and everyday experience, as

Heraclitius’ epigrams are all about life, nature

and the cosmos.

This study calls for the thinking of design issues

in a way that may help resolve a puzzle in

Kuhn’s characterization of the intellectual basis

of revolutionary change in paradigms. Kuhn

proposed puzzle–solutions “that can be proved

to be genuine solutions” (Bird, 2000).

According to Kuhn, “a scientific revolution

requires the replacement of one exemplar by

another” (Kuhn, 1962). This is liable to involve

not only change in theoretical belief but also in

perceptual experience. The intellectual


studio through the Heraclitus epigrams gives

rise to a paradigm shift, a case of learning with

examples, in Kuhn’s term exemplars. Kunh’s

notion of paradigm can be adopted to capture

the design ideas as exemplars in order to frame

and solve a puzzle using a variety of concepts.

In this respect, Heraclitus’ epigrams facilitate

setting up learned similarity relations so that the

puzzle choice is supposed to exemplify the

design issues. This article is therefore

theoretical and makes a major contribution to

first year design studio education, giving the

opportunity of a new way to design thinking and

to organize design knowledge.

A holistic approach to the design

studio In organizing design knowledge according to a

holistic way of thinking, new teaching and

learning strategies assert the primacy of

dialectics of the first year design studio.

Contemporary design education is characterized

by its unifying approach, which gives priority to

seeing, conceiving and understanding as a

whole. A gathering together of knowledge,

experience and practice is not the organic and

integrated whole, but a web of interdependent

relationships including cultural, material,

capital, political and production systems.

‘Holism,’ as a type of active model of

education, necessitates a process of learning

through life experiences. Learning by

experience can be possible through a holistic

approach to design education, having

pedagogical priorities, which enable the student

to easily reach the knowledge s/he needs.

According to the holistic approach, the

dialectics of design, which are contradictory and

complementary at the same time – science and

art, learning and teaching, conceptual

understanding and sensual perception,

rationality and intuition, technology and nature,

etc. - co-exist simultaneously and in relation to

each other. This co-existence, beyond making a

synthesis, necessitates, in Adorno’s words, a

‘negative dialectic’ relationship; that is,

opposite concepts create a whole by disposing

one another in a togetherness while reserving

their autonomous values and staying separate

from each other. An educational strategy

constitutes the spine of this work, which is

proposed so as to handle today’s design

problems with their endless complex and

contradictory issues in a flexible way of

thinking and in an open-ended dialectical

relationship.

Holism in which “everything is connected to

everything,” provides the main philosophical

challenge to the mechanistic way of thinking. In

this respect, a profound change in our world

view from the dualistic conception of Descartes

and Newton to a holistic view (Capra, 1983) has

begun to influence the design issues. The

holistic approach is grounded in both rational

thought and intuitive sensibility within the

framework of possibilities and limitations

provided by modern society (Capra, 1983).

According to the holistic approach to design

education, proper formulas cannot be

generalized; each parameter changes in relation

to its context. Having had both rational and

intuitive processes, and both respecting the

pragmatic and poetic power of design issues, the

‘both / and’ way of thinking has an influential

role on learning and understanding. In short, the

‘both / and’ way of thinking deals with the

objectively defined variables and an individual’s

subjective knowledge based on intuition. In this

respect, design is considered as a matter of both

the actual-physical properties of reality and the

perceived-experienced phenomena. This

approach provides students the awareness of

their own relationships with natural and built

environments, reasoning both in intuitive and in

logical ways. To achieve an interactive

relationship of intuitive and logical reasoning,

an atmosphere is created in an ‘empathetic’ way

of teaching and learning.

In the first year design studio, students can be

educated in a form of knowledge that generates

empathy and understanding rather than power

and control. The atmosphere created in the

design studio allows both students and

instructors to act since they are energy receivers

in capturing the reciprocal relationship between

the whole and the parts, in both general and

particular issues (Laura and Cotton, 1999). In

this atmosphere, teaching and learning strategies

suggest that both students and instructors should

be engaged in “reflection-in-action” (Schön,

1985), as Ledewitz puts it, “a process of trying

to articulate and evaluate our understanding of

design” (Ledewitz, 1985). Schön defines the

notion of “reflection-in-action” as a dynamic

knowing process consisting of strategies of

action, understanding of phenomena, ways of

framing the problematic situations encountered

in day-to-day experience (Schön, 1985). In

particular, encouraging students in the design

sudio to engage in reflection-in-action can help

to eleborate experiential knowledge and build

bridges to conceptual knowledge. The

reflection-in-action inherent in the activity

requires different kinds of design thinking to be

integrated. This dynamic knowing process

necessitates a studio atmosphere where the

dialectics of teaching and learning is essential

for creative thinking and its transformation into

critical thinking. Although the notion of

teaching and learning are opposing activities,

according to holistic approach, they are

considered as a whole in which they

reciprocally influence and determine each other,

creating the empathetic atmosphere in the

design studio.

Within the empathetic way of the teaching and

learning atmosphere, Heraclitus’ epigrams

motivate students to express themselves and

energize themselves through visual and verbal

communication forms. Goldschmidt (1994)

mentions the reciprocal relations between visual

and verbal communication ways as follows:

“the oscillation of arguments which brings

about gradual transformation of images ending

when the designer judges that coherence has

been achieved.” Similar oscillation occurs

through the ‘both / and’ way of thinking in the

design studio. This phenomenon is also

represented by the reciprocal relationships of

logical and intuitive knowledge, of verbal and

visual language, of freedom and limitation, of

affective and cognitive development, and of

creative talent and technical competence. These

dialectics have similar meaning structures with

Heraclitus’ epigrams, which give some clues to

understanding the essence of architecture

through the everyday life phenomena. 2500

years later Heraclitus’ ideas still retain their

freshness, relevance and power to stimulate

creative thinking. His message is: “Wake up and

pay attention to what is happening around you

and within you, and then act on what you have

found” (von Oech, 1998). For two years,

similar stimulating propositions are brought

about in the first year design studio by which

the students become aware of the essence of

architecture, cultivate their ideas, and eliminate

their prejudices. They are encouraged to ‘think

something different’ which means to come to

see things in new ways. In this atmosphere,

design problems are focused on issues of

thinking, feeling, seeing and remembering

which need a way of articulating the metaphor

of ‘seeing differently.’

Within this experiential learning process which

has been applied to the first year design studio

since 2000, the students become familiar with

ways of framing the puzzle-solutions through

the metaphorical meanings of Heraclitus’

epigrams. Thinking of design problems in

puzzle-solving process enables the possibility of

seeing solutions in such a way that the unknown

design issues might be connected with the

known phenomena of everyday life experiences.

It is possible to examine student projects in

relation to discussion themes concerning each

epigram in Table 1, and to see how the students

are able to grasp indeterminate forms of design

knowledge that cannot be transmitted through

conventional techniques. Heraclitus’ epigrams

therefore help students to see how the clues

relate to each other and to the whole, developing

a more unified mind.

Discovery of knowledge versus

transmission of knowledge In the design discourse of the 1950s and the

1960s, the design knowledge was characterized

by relatively fixed and limited rules. Design was

a problem-solving activity involving “well-

structured and ill-structured problems,” where

transmission of knowledge used to dominate the

design studio (Goldschmidt, 1996).

Goldschmidt considers design problem solving

as follows: “Design problems are ill structured

because one never has sufficient information in

the initial state and because the properties of the

goal state are never fully specifiable in advance,

and therefore, many different goal states are

conceivable and acceptable. This turns

designing into an indeterministic process which

is difficult to model and even more difficult to

prescribe” (Goldschmidt, 1996). However,

Ledewitz (1985) defines problem-solving as we

understand it today as, “a dialectic between pre-

conceived solutions and observed facts”. Kuhn

(1962) draws attention to this paradigm shift as

follows: “the traditional problem-solving

strategies of science, philosophical reflections

on them, and the institutional, social, and

educational contexts need to be enriched to

solve the problems that our science-based

industrial civilisation has created.”

Correspondingly, ‘puzzle-solving’ is a key term

in Kuhn’s philosophy of science that he uses to

frame a world change thesis in terms of a

perceptual conception of world. In such a

concept, perceptual changes follow paradigm

changes which follow patterns of discovery.

Similar remarks may be made about the

discovery of uncertainties in design issues

which are varied and require separate discussion

can be grasped through concrete exemplary

puzzle solutions. For this reason, indeterminate

forms of design knowledge cannot be

transmitted; and they are difficult to perceive

and impossible to grasp with the conscious

mind. Discovery of knowledge is always from a

point of view in contemporary education; and it

supplies an ontological ground on the

transmission of knowledge.

The transmission of knowledge assumes a

distinction between the knower and the known;

that is between the subject and the knowledge;

whereas the emergence of the discovery of

knowledge requires the co-existence of both

object / known and subject / knower in that they

both define and complement one another. The

reciprocal relationship between the knower and

the known requires openness and sensitivity

along with affective and cognitive development.

The dynamic relationship between two

contrasting but completing concepts of

discovery of knowledge can be grasped through

concrete examplary puzzle-solutions.

Heraclitus’ epigrams can be considered as a

case of learning with exemples, in Kuhn’s term,

‘exemplars’. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus

is an almost exact contemporary of the Chinese

thinkers, Confucius and Lao-Tzu, and the Indian

contemplative the Buddha (Robinson, 1987)

whose ideas are based on continuous cyclical

fluctuation. Heraclitus also mentions about a

process of continual flow and change. The idea

of cyclical patterns is introduced by Tao who

mentioned the archetypal polar opposites - yin

and yang - which explain the dynamic interplay

as follows: “the two poles that set the limits for

the cycles of change: the ‘yang’ having reached

its climax retreats in favor of the ‘yin’; the ‘yin’

having reached its climax retreats in favor of the

‘yang’. The dynamic interplay of these two

archetypal poles is associated with many images

of opposites taken from nature and from social

life. These opposites do not belong to different

categories but are extreme poles of a single

whole”. According to Tao “nothing is only yin

or only yang. Underlying the fundamental

rhythm of the universe, all natural phenomena

are manifestations of a continuous oscillation

between two poles; all transitions are taking

place gradually and in unbroken progression.

Hence, the natural order is one of dynamic

balance between yin and yang” (Capra, 1983).

A similar dynamic balance may occur in the

human mind, which is capable of two types of

knowledge, or two modes of consciousness:

rational and intuitive. Chinese philosophy has

always emphasized the complementary nature

of intuitive and rational, representing the

archetypal pair, yin and yang.

Today, dualism between rational and intuitive /

the cognitive and affective development in

design education is rejected, and design

knowledge based on a network of complex and

contradictory issues must go beyond mere

description and limited constraints of the

Cartesian world view. Generally speaking,

design problems are set up with misconceived

paradoxes between abstract subjects and a

material world of objects, having an

indeterminate form. Accordingly, the

transformation of the linear and syntagmatic,

combined with a certain network of thought of

modernism into a spiral which is paradigmatic,

multidimensional and open–ended necessitates

experiencing various ways of obtaining

knowledge. In parallel to this paradigm shift,

the discovery of knowledge can be

characterized through a non-linear progression

having multiple cycles. It provides the

resolutions of many issues simultaneously, since

it structures a problem holistically and leads to

puzzle-solving. The discovery of knowledge

provides students a certain feel for puzzles, an

intuition for solutions and sense of rightness of

answers. The open-ended aspect of discovery

of knowledge help students build the kind of

flexible knowledge needed for design issues and

make connections with puzzle-solving.

On the other hand, Linzey (2000) designates

how students perceive lots of raw data

constantly, bombarding them during the first

year design studio as the problematic of design

education. In order to be able to think about

these raw data in relational terms, architectural

design is at least partly about discovering,

forming and consolidating relations between

material things (Linzey, 2000). In this context,

emphasis is given to the experiences of the real

world constraints in connection with design

issues. Having an open-ended potential, the

discovery of knowledge becomes fundamental

in understanding the relations and the

connections between the experienced

phenomena and the existing design problems. In

this regard, the discovery of knowledge takes its

roots from experiential knowledge in which

students develop knowledge for themselves

according to their requirements. Discovery of

knowledge also provides special kind of

awareness, and challenges the students’

misconceptions with appropriate questions and

evidence, breaking the students’ ‘mental blocks’

or opening the ‘mental locks” as described by

von Oech. Because of its contextual and flexible

character, the discovery of knowledge can be

easily transformed into new conditions and can

be adapted to frequent changes. Flexibility in

design knowledge means that the ideas should

be floating, not anchored to any possession of

meaning. The discovery of knowledge is

therefore considered as a source of inspiration,

practical constraints or criteria for evaluation.

But criteria are useless unless they are

transformed into ideas and images. The

discovery of knowledge therefore calls for both

to ‘come to know’ and to ‘learn’ that represents

different ways of expressing similar ideas. The

psychological term ‘learn’ is based on the actual

processes through which people acquire

knowledge; and the philosophical term ‘know’

is about exploring the nature, limits and validity

of knowledge, rationality and inquiry.

Therefore, Heraclitus’ epigrams in the design

studio may provide the students to come to

know and be aware of the essence of design

issues, forcing students beyond their thinking

patterns so that they look at what they are doing

in a fresh way. Referring to the theoretical

insights of Heraclitus’ epigrams, it is possible to

grasp the indeterminate nature of design

knowledge as being complex, obscure, vague

and ambiguous. During the discussions in the

first year design studio, students are motivated

to make associations and connotations between

the epigrams and everyday experience. And so,

the reciprocal relationship between teaching and

learning encourages them to grasp the discovery

of knowledge. In this reflective teaching

strategy, the role of the instructor may be that of

an intellectual stimulator, a coach, a group

facilitator, a resource person or a counselor.

Intellectual atmosphere created in the

first year design studio Taking the discovery of knowledge as a given,

the pedagogical priorities in design education

depend on leading the students into an

understanding of what they are doing; guiding

them to the resources that are available and to

the wealth of different approaches, and

encouraging their puzzle-solving capacities

through inquiry and innovation. The design

studio is therefore regarded as a place where

students expand their ideas and obtain important

insights and knowledge with the language of

design issues. A stable combination of such

behavior patterns and milieu creates the

intellectual atmosphere in the design studio,

being both formal and informal, traditional and

progressive, authoritarian and democratic. Such

a dialectic nature of the studio requires a

shifting balance in roles while the instructor

moves from one side to the other. In order to

stimulate interest and emphasize the role of

Heraclitus’ epigrams in discovering and

understanding design knowledge, first, students

are motivated to think about the intensive

meaning of “a glass of water which is half full.”

This maxim is seen both as half full and half

empty, depending on how they want to look at

it; whether they choose to consider some

statements as resources or constraints. Students

get lessons from this dictum when constituting

their holistic way of thinking, which requires

approaching design problems both in the

general / abstract and also the particular /

concrete. In this atmosphere design knowledge

may be obtained in response to questions

acquired in connection with the epigrams;

discovery of knowledge therefore results from

asking new questions. The intellectual

atmosphere created in the design studio actively

helps students question and criticize sources of

information and to learn to derive their own

conclusions from the available evidence. By

tracing their beliefs and values in relation to

epigrams, students are in a better position to

learn and examine the validity of design

knowledge. In the first year design studio, thus

discovery of knowledge is both learned

objectively and experienced subjectively. It is

both well defined and open-ended, which can be

grasped in both rational and intuitive reasoning.

A dynamic shifting balance between these

opposing but completing concepts, pushes

students to see things in new ways. Heraclitus’

epigrams, therefore, enable students to be

flexible in thinking about design issues within

these opposing but complementary concepts,

which may give an opportunity to transform

their creative thinking into critical thinking.

The important feature of the intellectual

atmosphere created through Heraclitus’

epigrams is that, while the discovery of

knowledge changes, its internal structure

remains constant; that is, each epigram

represents the student’s best effort to solve the

puzzle in terms of what s/he understands at that

point.

To advance an experiential awareness of an

intellectual atmosphere, a set of experimental

exercises relating to the Heraclitus’ epigrams

are implemented in the first year design studio

at Istanbul Technical University. First, students

are asked to experience the cultural city center

of Istanbul - Beyoğlu as a ‘pattern’ and to

uncover the hidden meanings of cultural values

and social structures. In order to understand the

deep meaning of ‘pattern’ they are motivated to

understand the environment by reasoning the

epigram: “the cosmos speaks to us in patterns.”

Discussions on epigrams relating to their

experiences guide students to transform their

creative thinking into critical thinking. This

transformation process facilitates student’s

ability to represent the narratives of Beyoğlu

which brings into existence mental diagrams of

their conceptualizations about the first design

project. As seen in Table 1, the reflections of

epigrams on the design studio can be considered

as exemplars which consist of some solutions to

puzzles concerning design issues. A large

variety of inside and outside studio experiences

involves the functions of memory, anticipation,

imagination and fantasy, grasping multiple

meaning layers.

From creative thinking to critical thinking Today, the innovations in design require unique

configurations of multiple meanings throughout

the disciplines concerning both man and the

environment. A greater flexibility of ideas,

which keep changing and evolving, is required

for the age of pluralism where the creation that

can bring us novelty, the joy of discovering

what is different and unique through subtle

combinations. According to Osborn (1954)

creative thinking is “the imaginatively gifted

recombination of known elements into

something new.” Although this defination is still

valid, creative thinking in the contemporary

design world must be based on knowledge

gained from various fields and disciplines.

Creative thinking therefore requires an outlook

that allows the individual to search for ideas and

play his/her knowledge and experience (von

Oech, 1998). That is, it involves imagining

things in a fresh light, questioning assumptions,

and discovering connections among various

phenomena which is supported by observation,

perception, discrimination and imagination. The

essence of creativity is therefore to be found in

integration on a new layer of previously

unrelated structures of consciousness (Aydinli

and Yalcin, 2002). In this respect, creative ideas

are the result of a combination of previous

mental images and creative thinking generally

consisting of the shifting of attributes from one

combination to another. The implementation of

ideas, the interplay of variables, the

organization of constraints, the alternation

between proposals and evaluations are brought

together in order to frame these shifting

relations within a pattern.

In this regard, an intellectual atmosphere created

in the design studio paves the way for creativity

through discovery of knowledge and the use of

the shifting mechanisms of the mind. In a

general sense, everyone approaches design

issues bringing different experiences,

knowledge and attitudes, with different reasons

for the assessment of some works over others in

the studio. Depending on the individual

differences and shared commitments with the

explanations, critical thinking occurs through

pragmatic, semantic and syntactic reasoning in

the form of verbal / conceptual and visual /

representational expression. It proceeds

throughout the articulation of ideas as a

response to a question, and representation of

these responses in some form for group

discussions. Uluoglu (2000) emphasizes that

“group crits are valuable in demonstrating to

students that there are very typical issues and

problems in design, although their appearances

may be different in concrete architectural form.”

As Uluoglu puts it: “critiques in the studio may

take different forms, like individual desk crits,

group crits and juries. Here, the critiques are

thought to serve two purposes: one is to

communicate with the individual student and

live in his/her world, the other is to bring the

student face to face with others’ ideas to see

each other’s worlds” (Uluoglu, 2000).

On behalf of critical thinking, a design process

can be considered as both a puzzle-solving

activity and an interpretive search for an

appropriate answer. Approaching a design

process this way may help to develop an

articulated schema, looking at the subject from

various perspectives. It leads to thinking in

dialectics, understanding generality and

particularity, grasping denotative and

connotative codes, obtaining well-defined and

open-ended knowledge simultaneously. The

dynamic interplay between these two

complementary poles makes critical thinking

flexible and open to change (Aydinli and

Yalcin, 2002). Students, therefore, can explore

the ways of broadening the range of aesthetic

experience by creating their own principles that

are working under the surface to give coherence

to the discourse or argument. As the creativity

neccesitates the maniplulation and

recombination of experience, students should

develop a much more flexible and sensitive

understanding of the differences among various

types of value judgments. The main problem

confronted in finding a consensus on criticism is

its validity / reliability. Criticism is a type of

reasoning that involves and requires connection

with other areas of human knowledge. In

transforming creative thinking into critical

thinking, expression that requires creativity

focused on bringing something new into

existence); performance which is the process of

re-creation that transforms the ideas into

experience and response are some key concepts

that create the intellectual atmosphere in the

design studio. In this atmosphere, the

transformation of creative thinking into critical

thinking cultivates an aesthetic sensibility,

enabling students to develop their capacity for

expression in design education.

In the case of the first year design studio these

paradigmatic relations seem to be particularly

close, since the discussion themes of Heraclitus’

epigrams in connection with the design

problems of the first year design studio, as being

the ‘exemplars’, consist of a solution to a puzzle

concerning design issues. Students are able to

transform their creative thinking into critical

thinking through these ‘exemplars’ which have

both the function of evaluation of puzzle

questions along with their solutions and the

function of concept formation. Thus Heraclitus’

epigrams can be considered as the concept-

forming exemplars when they are discussed in

connection with the design issues within the

intellectual atmosphere created in the design

studio. Heraclius’s epigrams as being the

concept-forming exemplars have a potential of

enabling the students to think from different

points of view and in different contexts – the

process of ‘what if.’ Asking ‘what if’ is an easy

but powerful way to open the ‘mental locks’ and

to grasp the situation and to think something

different. ‘What if’ questions necessitates the

use of another thinking tool - stepping stones -

which are simply provocative ideas that

stimulate students to think about other ideas

(von Oech, 1998). For instance, in Table 1, the

reciprocal relationship between the student

projects and discussion themes of Heraclitus’

epigrams gives an idea how the intellectual

atmosphere can be created by making

connections between conceptual knowledge and

experiential knowledge. In this atmosphere, first

each epigram is discussed verbally, and then

connected to a design problem and finally

becomes alive visually throughout the design

project. While discussing the theoretical insights

of the epigrams, students are guided to various

ways of thinking and learn to be flexible in the

design process. And so the teaching design

becomes something more than a mere

transmission of knowledge. This approach has a

profound influence on developing creative

thinking in design education, since the

discussions about epigrams lead the students to

be aware of what they are doing, and guide

them to the resources that are available to the

wealth of different approaches, and encourages

their puzzle-solving capacities.

In the process of transforming creative thinking

into critical thinking, Heraclitius’ epigrams

motivate and energize students in seeing,

thinking and representing visual and verbal

communication forms. For instance, in Table 1,

the discussion themes about epigrams explain

how the students develop critical thinking that

leads to re-thinking existing solutions for design

issues; and how they create puzzle-solutions

that are essential for grasping the unique

configurations and innovations. The process of

seeing, thinking, creating and reasoning through

Heraclitus’ epigrams may provide certain

modifications of ambiguous ideas emerging in

the first year design studio. Although the

principles may be hard to detect and to

formulate in acceptable criteria according to a

holistic approach to design, epigrams help

students to understand assumptions and some

principles that call for support and examination.

Learning to explore and to communicate ideas

by means of epigrams, students structure their

thought process around observational and

theoretical knowledge systems with free

abstraction. This studio atmosphere encourages

students to adopt a frame of mind in which they

tolerate ambiguity, view things metaphorically,

challenge their assumptions, reverse their

expectations, and probe below the surface for

hidden meanings (von Oech, 1998). All the

epigrams explained in connection with the

design issues in Table 1 can be considered as

exemplars for a case of learning design in the

first year design studio

Conclusion There is a distance between everyday life /

reality and design ideas / possibilities.

Heraclitus’ epigrams, forcing students to think

something different, guide them to make

connections between the design problems they

confront and their everyday experience. On the

other hand, the complex issues of the

demanding profession call for a holistic

approach in design education, consisting of

opposing concepts that have to exist

simultaneously and that complete one another.

Heraclitus offers a set of criteria having

opposing values so as to be flexible in critical

thinking that can be adopted to design issues.

Heraclitus’ epigrams, which provide a new way

of thinking about design, may encourage

students to put on their ‘creative thinking cap’

and come up with their own decisions by

discovering, forming and consolidating

relations. For instance, in discussing the

Heraclitus’ epigram: ‘you can’t step into the

same river twice,’ it may cause students to

realize that their state of mind can never be the

same again, and that their own interpretations

change accordingly. Students may continue to

take on new and fresh meanings while they

respond to the design issues that require

connections between nature, culture,

technology, power relations and values. These

epigrams also may help students to rethink their

own relationships with the world through a

radical vocabulary of architectural terms.

Students, therefore, will be aware of the things

that can relate to each other with semantic

variety. Once students learn how to focus on

relations, they will identify these relational

concepts with design issues. As they become

aware of their own intellectual potential, they

will make new relations between familiar

things. By focusing on Heraclitus’ epigrams, a structure

of ideas has emerged spontaneously from the

empathetic way of the teaching and learning


studio at the Faculty of Architecture, ITU. Since

2000, the essence of this studio atmosphere

based on the metaphorical thinking has

motivated students to articulate and to

manipulate the understanding of design issues in

connection with the epigrams. The final

exhibition of the student projects and the

general reviews have demonstrated that how the

students were given a technique to handle, how

to think of and talk about the ways that things

operate, how they change, and how objects

relate to other objects. Since Heraclitus’

epigrams in this studio experience have

functioned as physical metaphors, the

metaphorical thinking had introduced new ideas

by explaining them in terms of more familiar

concepts. And each epigram can therefore be

exemplified a distinct way of thinking and a

paradigm of puzzle-solving. An important

contribution of Heraclitus’ enigmatic style may

be that it forces students to change the way they

think. Generally speaking, this study may

contribute to the development of pedagogical

approaches to the first year design studio.

Notes 1The shorter version of this paper was presented at

the Third International Design Conference on

design history and design studies entitled “mind

the map,” co-organized by ITU and Kent

University in Istanbul in July 2002.

2 The student projects exemplify the following

first year design studios:

2000-2001 Academic year: S. Aydınlı,

A. Dener, H. Kahvecioğlu,

Y. Demir, H. Şengün,


I. Akpınar, M. Aksoy, A. Sıkıçakar


I. Akpınar, A. Sıkıçakar, B. Gürgen,

H. Şengün, B. Numan

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Table 1. Reflections of epigrams on design studio2

Heraclitus’ Epigrams

Interpretations

1. The cosmos speaks to us in patterns

Since the cosmos reveals its secrets to us in patterns, pay

attention and grasp all types of information in relation to

each other.

Student projects that represent the

narratives of Beyoğlu

Discussion themes concerning Epigram 1

While understanding architecture, you have to use all of

your senses to discover new “patterns”. Find a “pattern” in

whatever you look at of your surroundings. Try to

recognize similarities, cycles, arrangements, series,

processes, flows and behavior between the everyday

experiences and design problems that you confront.

When experiencing Beyoğlu, try to discover the

architectonics narrating the meaning layers, and to explore

different ways of seeing. Using all senses to uncover the

hidden meanings of Beyoğlu, you will notice

“coincidental” issues that fit into the whole pattern.

Beyoğlu is a place where the cosmopolite diversity having

rich cultural values and a certain social structure, creates a

unique atmosphere in Istanbul - a sense of place created in

the actual world where everything is bound to and

conditioned by everything else…

What story does Beyoğlu tell you throughout its patterns?

Try to find out its narrative that occurs within time-space

relations, experiencing various layers simultaneously.

2. Knowing many things does not

teach insight

Erase former knowledge in order to manipulate the existing

knowledge – past experience

Student project that represent the

concept of manipulation

Discussion themes concerning Epigram 2 Play with what you know…. Knowledge is the stuff from

which new ideas are made. Creativity requires an attitude

that allows you to play with and manipulate your

knowledge so that it takes on new meanings. This is an

attitude where you don’t see each fact as a separate bit of

knowledge but rather as a link in a chain of ideas.

What different ways can you think about what you know?

In what different contexts can you put your issue? Use

your “forgettery”…Henry Miller once said that his

“forgettery” was just as important to his success as his

memory. Without the ability to temporarily forget what

you know, your mind remains cluttered with ready-made

answers, and you never have an opportunity to ask new

questions…In order to open your mental locks, you have to

empty your mental cup…

Try to be flexible with the rules…

3.You cannot step into

the same river twice

Update your assumptions about what is “real” and find a

solution appropriate for the problem you encounter

Student project that represents the

concept of time and space relations


Things may be similar to the way you have experienced

them in the past, but they are never exactly the same.

Similarly, architecture is a language to be understood

accordingly; getting involved with a particular issue

changes both its meaning and form. Since design is a

matter of both physical properties of setting and

experienced phenomena, design discourse is contextual,

changing according to its situation. Therefore, you should

be aware of how to deal with the design issues changing

accordingly. A flowing river constantly changes its content

and shape. The world of yesterday is not quite the same as

the world of today or the one of tomorrow. Being aware of

the existing pattern which is dynamic and open to change;

you can easily update design knowledge in accordance

with time-space relations.

Transforming the habitual way of looking at and seeing the

environment and the design problem into a ”new”, you will

be updating your knowledge.

4. Everything flows

Focus on change dealing with design issues


concept of

continuity and change


All things, including those you think are quite stable, are

continually changing, developing and transforming over

time… things flow at different rates (von Oech, 1988). So

you need to notice the rate at which change is taking

place….

In fact, it is sometimes impossible to see the changing

forms obvious in architecture.

In experiencing the main axis from Taksim to Karaköy,

you discover the paths that you wander… throughout

Beyoğlu axes and paths interweave, the main axis flows

within time-space relations having various layers. Change

and transformation of the mental matrix in Beyoğlu give

rise to new combinations having a dynamic relational

structure.

Try to understand the “flow” of your issue…Try to put

things in sequence. Do you need to change your point of

view to see the change? If everything is changing then we

need to appreciate the present because soon it will be gone.

In experiencing the natural environment you will notice the

relations and paradoxes that come up with more ideas.

5. On a circle, an end point can

also be a starting point

Always reframe the situation…


concept of ambiguity


The relativity of the set of values enables us flexibility in

thinking….

Heraclitus gave an example:

Is the beach the end of the ocean or the beginning of the

land?

Is water the end of ice or the beginning of vapor ....

This shows that a thing, idea or issue can be framed in a

variety of different ways depending on one’s point of view.

Using different words and concepts to reframe a situation

is a vital creative on thinking skill. It gives you flexibility

in the way you approach the world (Oech, 1988).

Similarly, it is possible to ask if the end of the constraints

or the beginning of freedom today, defines design?

What is design? Is architecture science or art?

6. A wonderful harmony arises

from joining together the

seemingly unconnected

Learn how to connect the unconnected ideas into a whole

leading to creative thinking

Student projects that represent the

dialectics of design issues

Discussion themes concerning epigram 6

Much of what you call thinking is your ability to connect

ideas together. You are forced to make the connections of

previously unconnected ideas that stimulate your thinking,

that make you go “aha!”…

Judith Wechsler, an art historian, speaks of “the ‘aha’ that

accompanies the discovery of a connection or an

unexpected but utterly right realization in art and science.”

Abercrombie emphasizes that her view is “the response our

logically determined surprises will evoke: our initial ‘oh?’

will become ‘aha’” (Abercrombie, 1984).

Thinking the opposite of what is expected can also be an

effective strategy in the design process…

You shouldn’t limit your problems to too small an area;

you don’t have to look in other fields that they are not

related.

As a strategy for creative thinking, to be specialized in a

subject is dangerous because it can lead to the attitude that

it’s not my area.

7. The doctor inflicts

pain to cure suffering

Be aware of the existence of reversible and opposite ways

of thinking

Student projects that represent

reversible thinking

Discussion themes concerning epigram 7

Do the opposite…Reverse your viewpoint….

Sometimes the best way to reach an objective is to use the

reverse of the apparently “logical” approach.

Try to look at what you are doing in a reverse manner.

Design proceeds within contradictions…It operates in the

space between real and imaginary; inside and outside….

Think of each random thing as a stimulant to your

imagination; dialectic mutuality of exchange between

perception and imagination creates a dynamic atmosphere

in the design studio.

During the reviews in the design studio, sometimes

students are upset when their project is refused; this causes

pain but is necessary to improve the overall work.

You cannot see the good ideas behind you by looking

twice as hard at what’s in front of you…(von Oech,1988)

Heraclitus & the design studio

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