From best practices to tactical design

Around 1903, the German physician, psychologist, scientist, philosopher and general polymath Hermann von Helmholtz described his work in surprisingly unguarded tone: “I was like a mountaineer who, not knowing the path, must climb slowly and laboriously, is forced to turn back frequently because his way is blocked but discovers, sometimes by deliberation and more often by accident, new passages which lead him onward for a distance.” (Helmholtz, 1954) According to him, the groundbreaking research on acoustics and human perception not as a linear progression so much as a laborious and often hapless series of trials and errors. I am not sure if Helmholtz’s groundbreaking research has much in common with the work of architects today, but I suspect that many of us will be familiar with the innumerable false starts and missteps that his method entailed. And since the figure of the vigorous mountaineer conjures a far more flattering self image than the one that we usually confront, I suggest that we take the metaphor. In a few simple lines Helmholtz recognized the invaluable role of bad ideas, failed experiments and the countless hours spent on unfulfilled ambitions. More than just research or experiments, his analogy posits that these activities serve as a kind of training necessary for the hard work of cognitive climbing-practice in the fullest sense of the word. Architects should be familiar with this notion since it underlies most systems of architectural apprenticeship and licensure. As we all know, we are required to practice our trade before we can practice as architects.