Inspiration? Nah... Take his hyper-rational approach instead!

Find yourself some forestry, Enerson-style. Become a transparent eyeball.

Play with the idea of what a museum is.

What about a museum of the 20th century? Or a museum to 20th-century junk food (that is basically one giant food court)?

Emerson...

Quit thinking about it and do something different for a day or 2.

Or get wasted - this should "stress" you into inspiration.

Do what you THINK should be there and run with it.

if you're waiting to be inspired, you'll be waiting a long, long time. work comes from work.

just design something 'cool' and he'll be impressed!

joke aside, that should be the last thing to do. If somebody is telling just do something in order to get something done, don't listen, because on the end it will hurt you even more.

Posting a question on here to design a museum is very silly, because there is no magic answer to that. There are many issues we face as architects and designers when we get a design challenge on our table. What kind of a museum is it? Location of the museum? Client? All of those can be used as a starting point to get you going.

It's hard to tell how to get you motivated, because we don't really know how far you are in the process to get to the final product.

Do you have a process? I think many students get stuck simply because they already have an idea how a project should look like. They have an image of a certain material, size, typography and that is all they have but what they lack is the critical thinking, analytical process to get to the output.

Maybe you should start with something simple (element A) and try to manipulate that element to get to the next phase, and every step you have should have a reason and 'well i thought it was cool' does not count. When you are at the phase 2, then you do the same to get to phase 3 and every move you make is justifiable and has reason behind it so when Cowell asks you why did you do what you did, you always have a answer. That answer does not have to be necessarily good or it doesn't have to be the same steps your professor would take, but it's something you did and you wanted to do because blah blah blah and so on.

We've all been in the same situation and sometimes it is very hard to find that little push that gives you all the ideas.

You definitely have to think about what your concept is, starting from something very simple and add more complexity to it in order to have a very successful and complex, yet simple project.

Maybe your concept is NOT to have a concept, I don't know. But even that would still need some kind of process.

Good luck!

Cheers

i like sejima's approach - sit down and start with the most obvious solutions, and keep going until you get to something non-obvious

go to the beach
go skiing

do something that you don't think is directly is architecture
go to a cafe
go look at art

head back to the studio, and it will be there

Agree with architechno and NLW2 above.

I believe in response to a similar question on this board I recommended climbing a decent sized hill. Fresh air, extertion and views are great for the mind.

And/or begin anywhere as per John Cage.

architechnophilia... lol...

be intimate with the significant other, halfway down you'll be distracted and ideas start popping up and you'll know what to do. And if it doesn't work at least you had some fun...

Atechno and xaia have a point. I always find the best way to get inspiration is to step away from the porblem for a while, let my mind wander to something else. I can't tell you how many times I've done this and in the midst of my doing something else the solution has dawned on me. Good luck. I hope you find your answers.

you could tell your instructor that the assignment is bullshit (which of course it is) and then present your own project: a fabulous hot dog stand.

that's what we do in asia^^

In architecture thinking and doing are the same thing. You cannot cerebralize a project and expect to get anywhere. You have to diagram/draw/model/read/write/render it. The idea of the project is the most difficult thing. Try to design the problem, and then the answer will be readily apparent.

God damnit, aspect... now this thread is rated R. =/

Building as Stair
Building as wall
Building as big hole in the ground

These are all undefeated.....

i think jplourde hit a nail on the head: just start working at something, don't think alone, think through operations... talk to people and have random conversations too.. but keep it loose and work with a medium: photomontage (photoshop) and collage something... or another approach is: invent an strategic model and run it against the problem... Like: "weave a museum" or "fold a museum" or "carve a museum" or... design a museum based 100% on flow of a site... or that is about the emotions of the viewer?

actually i think architechnophilia has a point too: juxtapose something unrelated into your project (although i think its sort of hillarious the way you put it, cause... it won't just "be there", it's pretty dangerous to go skiiing because you're uninspired, i've done stuff like that back in school and it hasn't been all that successful in my experience... :p

but the point is good: if your project is say a museum, try juxtaposing something random, that you don't normally associate with "museum" and write that as your starting point. then try to imagine the craziest shit you can as to how that thing (say, a circus, or a performing arts center, or a subway station, or a fish market) might be if it were a museum. let it go. be free and surreal, let yourself do something totally irrational if that's what it is, and even if your product looks crazy like a salvidor dali painting or his "lobster that's a telephone", that's cool... THEN... pull back a bit to reality... Make that crazy shit have a rationale for it... like: "museums are sometimes about cataloguing things, are historical, pretend to objective and real"... "circuses on the other hand are all about spectacle, about fantasy, imagination and the carnevalesque... entertainment based on things that are a little bit absurd..." and then ask yourself a question as the starting point of your project, and write it down large, with a big fat crayon/marker so that you always can go back and look at that original crazy shit you made, and the question that emerged from it, and know what your project is exploring. The question for the circus juxtaposed with the museum might be: "what is a museum that embraces fantasy? that's not about a pretense of authenticity, but about purely about spectacle and illusion?" or... "what is a museum that is momentary, about performance.. that arrives in a city and then goes away at the end of the night?" Well, it's not just a circus, because the museum part of it should also come into play... Bring the aspects of museum to the circus, and the circus to the museum...

That could be an interesting project, museum / circus but it's something that could never be invented without a little *crazy randomness* and intention to juxtapose something methodically with the museum... "Museum" by itself doesn't let you be creative because it already is loaded with existing meanings... You can't invent something totally new without a process for methodically (either intentionally or by accident) something weird to happen... This is a method that Dali came up with: "paranoid critical method"... juxtaposing extraneous things to discover something new... Playfulness... have fun, don't take your project so seriously, but work really hard at it, but if at the end it's a piece of junk, at least you had fun trying something... Because in the end "it's only architecture" (it's not REALLY that important)...

Hmmm...here are a couple of suggestions. I agree with some of the previous posts on getting bogged down by the museum aspect of your project. If that is in fact what you're meant to be designing. Thinking about museums is not going to help you. This critical professor of yours is also not helping your confidence, no doubt, so you're feeling the pressure to do something amazing to impress them. I'd definitely forget the professor and please yourself first : ) If you are totally into your project, then that does rub off.

Why not design a building aesthetic first, like a kit of parts that look good together, and then fit the program into your aesthetic? You may find some interesting design moves come of it, that may totally impress you. I suggest reading my blog post too...


Thriving in Design Studio

Good luck!

think about the purpose of the museum...... then dream. like a walkthrough.... trying to visualize in detail all the aspects of the design. the view, the light, the smell, textures... engaging all the senses.

A museum should not only showcase the subjects on display but should be in and in itself an experience to remember. If you engage Your senses, you'll be close to what the user will experience.