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The third piece was finding ways to try to eliminate the barriers that exist in the relationship, the kind of research and its connection to design. We had a long conversation about the role of research and creative production and the differences between the two and how that was somehow to fit into this larger framework. It is one of the dilemmas that all academic institutions have and is also true with practice as well. How do you actually encourage the kind of creative production as a major informer of what you do, but do it in such a way that it takes these characteristics of being transparent, reproducible with all those kinds of pieces. So those are the three major agenda pieces that we had addressed. Then there is the transformation piece. One of the things that we thought was really critical when you look at the kind of connection between the academy and practice is that it needs to be more focused on better reformatting the curriculum in schools. It was the sense that most of what we do in schools is either not about practice at all or it's about practice as it was, not about what it is and what it's going to be. There is a real need to really think of the nature of what occurs in practice in terms of this question about design and research. The outcome from both creative production and research, but in a different kind of format, is the particular exploration of the kind of creative production piece and the relationship to research. What we really find is a way to honor and acknowledge all of the forms suggested through publications, actual reports, programs, et cetera. Then there are the limitations that the whole orientation process brings to research. We realize that somehow there has to be a much greater focus on knowledge, i.e., what schools do in terms of preparing individuals to move into the discipline and to perfection of our discipline. We need to find ways to find a much more integrative and multidisciplinary kind of context for a verdict. This came out in the discussion about how most schools are structured today, whether it's this big structure or the central studio that is intensive and takes a big chunk of the total curriculum and time span. Then there are all these other courses that get independent and, only by chance, actually get brought to the studio. That is usually because whoever's doing the studio has an interest in that subject. |
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