Column

10-11-2022

WE ARE ALL BORN ARTISTS – DESIGN SENSE

This year will culminate in my 18th year of private practice in the residential design sector. Along the way, one gains industry knowledge, construction understanding, and the ability to communicate ideas. However, with time comes a degree of institutional baggage.

Recently, I have been running ‘design nights’ with my daughter Eden (13yrs) and one of her school friends Aleria (12yrs). Both girls are interested in architecture and interiors. These evenings are about setting small design tasks and responding creatively to space, form, and aesthetics.

I must say, when I embarked on sharing what I knew about design with these young ones, I wasn’t prepared for the level of creativity that would emerge from them.

On one of our recent evenings, we considered the design brief set by a prospective client located on Main Western Road. I asked them to look at the site and interpret their ideas of space, view, light, and airflow.

Each floor plan sketch resulted in three vastly different outcomes that were all individual and relevant. Please see the three drawings above.

If I'm completely honest, it isn’t easy to decipher who did what.
In an American paper for the space agency NASA, Dr. George Land and Beth Jarman looked at a longitudinal study assessing the creative potential of 1,600 people beginning at ages 5 to 31. They found that 98 percent of 5-year-olds tested at the “genius” level.

By the time their subjects got to 31 years of age, only 2 percent were still able to retain their ability to think imaginatively for problem-solving.

As adults, it’s easy to box in our young ones, seeing their contribution to be limited based on their age. My experience of spending time with Eden and Aleria has made me see things very differently.

I believe there is relevance in slowing down to invest in the creative potential of our children. If we drew more from the purity of sight that they ALL have within them maybe our built landscape would be less dreary and make more sense.

Picasso once said, ‘Every child is born an artist; the trouble is remaining one.’


Words: Anthony Rigg – BLEUSCAPE DESIGN