The Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam is a public museum, library, and archive for architecture and digital culture. It’s pushing the boundaries of what is known and expected of design thinking and collaboration in order to challenge expectations and solve big problems. I was very excited to hear about all of the incredible interdisciplinary work that they were doing and all of the social issues they are thinking about because it shows that being an “architect” or a “digital artist” knows no boundaries and that the skills needed in these lines of work are transferable across projects and areas of need, especially when it comes to needing innovative solutions to pressing issues.
These are a few of the institute’s questions and ideas that caught my attention:
- “how can we live collectively?”
- What is effective collaboration? Who and what is integral to the design process?
- How can spaces be redefined and reexamined so that we can uncover existing issues they foster?
These questions show me that redefining a term, space, or idea can lead to a more well developed understanding of the intricacies of language and how we use it to make decisions about people and spaces. For example, an architect used to only be employed to design houses and buildings while the job is now defined more by the skill set of someone who is able to construct something to either fit or define needs. This switch in perception of the job widens the way that architects can engage with the world and create change outside the traditional scope of their work. As an aspiring urban planner and social innovator it is both exciting and daunting to think about the nuanced ways in which my knowledge and skills can be applied to so many different facets of the public and private sector.
Our afternoon session at the institute was a class discussion format. My “Ten Faces” group presented on chapter 7; The Experience Architect. We decided that planning a more hands-on activities for the presentation would be more conducive for allowing people to get a better understanding of how an Experience Architect could potentially think and act. Overall I think that our facilitation went really well and I felt that we each contributed our different skill sets to the team dynamic. From my perspective the ice breaker at the beginning of the presentation took more time than I anticipated, but I still think that an ice breaker is an important way to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak and be heard even before class starts. This can help people feel more present and comfortable in a classroom/work space and possibly help those who don’t participate as much feel included and able to share their perspectives and opinions if they decide to do so. If I had the chance to facilitate this icebreaker again I may have had people share out in small groups to save time, but I still see value in having everyone speak one time to the whole group before class starts. Finally, the discussion we facilitated at the end was, in my opinion, an overall success because people seemed engaged and willing to share their own experiences and perspectives. I wish we had had the time to shift the conversation to focusing on the different ways and E. Architect would have to work depending on if they were engaged in the public or private sector, but apart from that I am happy with how the presentation went.
**My own perspective on the E. Architect in the public vs. private sector… design constraints foster innovation and creativity, and a major constraint in the public sector surrounds funding. An E. Architect must be able to work well with other organizations and use resources strategically in order to maximize the money available while still creating an equally dynamic and multi-sensory experiences for consumers. Often times a public organization or corporation stresses attention on delivering on services and their mission statement while “extra” experiences around customer or employee morale and engagement are pushed to the side; when money is tight there can be tunnel vision from high-ranking people around what to prioritize and what to neglect. In the private sector the usual abundance of money and resources makes it easier for E. Architects to do research and prototyping of tailored experiences for their customers, ensuring that they will continually return.
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