Architecture Depends • Jeremy Till • 2009
On Architect as Sense-Maker
In Short
The role of the architect can be seen less as an expert problem solver, and more as a citizen sense-maker who brings together conflicting voices into a coherent, responsible design.
In Depth
To top off his book’s thesis, Till outlines a reframed role for the architect.
The introduction of dependency as a defining feature of architectural practice, and in particular the introduction of others into the processes and products of that practice, brings with it political and ethical dimensions. This in turn suggests a reformulation of aspects of practice: a move from the idea of architect as expert problem-solver to that of architect as citizen sense-maker; a move from a reliance on the impulsive imagination of the lone genius to that of the collaborative ethical imagination; from clinging to notions of total control to a relaxed acceptance of letting go. (p.151)
Or in another description:
It is not about the architect as the detached polisher of form and technique, but as the person who gathers the conflicting voices of a given situation and makes the best possible social and spatial sense of them. (pp.192-193)
It’s not too hard to see a connection with this description to the role that an interaction designer plays in a design project. In my view, interaction design is not centered on designing for a particular medium, digital or otherwise. Rather, as the name says, the focus is on interaction, the relationships that are created through the process and by the product, relationships between people and relationships with the world. The parallels with architecture (or at least the type of architecture that Till is advocating) have always been fascinating to me and I hope to see it become better recognized in practice.