No, but if you get to close to something it can be difficult to see clearly. Put it away for a bit and work on something else. You’ll come back to it with a fresh eye.
Similarly to what Miles said, sometimes when you look at something for so long you start to miss the obvious answer. Missing the forest for the trees so to speak. Go do something else and come back to it with fresh eyes.
Back when I was in school I often found that late nights became stagnant & I was far more productive the next morning.
This is going to sound really elementary, but as well as taking a break from it--as others have suggested--sometimes you literally just need to view if from a different perspective. I will often intentionally flip the floor plan upside down or sideways. It's funny how your brain will interpret things differently after looking at them for so long in one orientation.
John Behringer at RISD: "Turn it upside down. What is it now?"
Aug 26, 21 11:03 am ·
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Wood Guy
Totally--I always do that myself, and tell clients to do it when I leave them with a design.
Aug 26, 21 3:04 pm ·
·
gibbost
I've always found this phenomenon peculiar. We architects are trained to see things before they materialize. But because we tend to standardize our way of looking at a site or floor plan (north up the sheet) we fall victim to looking at the layout from only one perspective. Despite actually experiencing the final architecture from an infinite number of directions and vantage points.
If you usually design on the computer, try using a pencil or pen and paper. If you usually sketch ideas first, try arranging blocks on the computer. Take a walk, observe nature, think about the structure of trees, or the natural history of a landscape, or the physics behind flowing water. Read a book that puts you in another time or place, and pay attention to the details. Physically travel to a new place and pay attention to the details. Write an article about something you find important in design. Try hypnosis and/or meditation; this is one person I find helpful: https://houseofwellbeing.co.uk....
Depends on the why as well. Is eat, pray, loving all it will take to renew your creativity? Or are you in an existential funk, bitterly depressed and lost all passion and motivation to be creative?
Architectural writer’s block
Do you ever feel like you can’t design anything? Like you would be better off rearranging the plates in the dishwasher?
Yes. Cut yourself some slack.
go outside & move your body
the brain will follow
+1. I've rarely met a problem a medium-to-long walk hasn't fixed.
No, but if you get to close to something it can be difficult to see clearly. Put it away for a bit and work on something else. You’ll come back to it with a fresh eye.
Similarly to what Miles said, sometimes when you look at something for so long you start to miss the obvious answer. Missing the forest for the trees so to speak. Go do something else and come back to it with fresh eyes.
Back when I was in school I often found that late nights became stagnant & I was far more productive the next morning.
Happens to me. As others have said it helps to step away for a while. I've found it helpful to talk through the design with someone else.
This is going to sound really elementary, but as well as taking a break from it--as others have suggested--sometimes you literally just need to view if from a different perspective. I will often intentionally flip the floor plan upside down or sideways. It's funny how your brain will interpret things differently after looking at them for so long in one orientation.
John Behringer at RISD: "Turn it upside down. What is it now?"
Totally--I always do that myself, and tell clients to do it when I leave them with a design.
I've always found this phenomenon peculiar. We architects are trained to see things before they materialize. But because we tend to standardize our way of looking at a site or floor plan (north up the sheet) we fall victim to looking at the layout from only one perspective. Despite actually experiencing the final architecture from an infinite number of directions and vantage points.
If you usually design on the computer, try using a pencil or pen and paper. If you usually sketch ideas first, try arranging blocks on the computer. Take a walk, observe nature, think about the structure of trees, or the natural history of a landscape, or the physics behind flowing water. Read a book that puts you in another time or place, and pay attention to the details. Physically travel to a new place and pay attention to the details. Write an article about something you find important in design. Try hypnosis and/or meditation; this is one person I find helpful: https://houseofwellbeing.co.uk....
Depends on the why as well. Is eat, pray, loving all it will take to renew your creativity? Or are you in an existential funk, bitterly depressed and lost all passion and motivation to be creative?
We've all been there - take a break.
under pressure everything becomes fluid...
I get the opposite. I can come up with shit all day long and all night in my sleep too.
My problem too. I have a clutter of ideas…most not good…so for me it’s more about calming down and panning through the mud for a few gold nuggets…
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