Curriculum For Uncertainty

Curriculum for Uncertainty
Value of Uncertainty in Architectural Education
Aleksandra Lalatovi
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Pinkau
Dr.des. Rebekka Ladewig
September 02, 2015

By
Aleksandra Lalatovi
Submitted to Anhalt University of Applied Sciences,

Bauhaus Dessau and Humboldt University Berlin in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Design Research
at the
Bauhaus in Dessau
September 02, 2015
2015 Aleksandra Lalatovi.
All Rights reserved
The author hereby grants to Anhalt University, Bauhaus

Dessau, and Humboldt University permission to reproduce
and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this
document in whole or in part.
Declaration
Herewith I declare that I have prepared this Master thesis

independently, that it has not been submitted in the same or
similar wording as an examination paper in another course of
study, and that I have not used any other aids and sources than
the ones indicated.
I have marked any quotations given in the thesis in their original

or similar wording as a quotation.
Place, date
___________________________
Signature
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By
Aleksandra Lalatovi
Submitted to the Department Of Architecture on September 2,

2015 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science in Design Research
Abstract
[Macro scale] Lifestyles, practices of everyday life, and needs
and dreams of society are changeable fashions which have been
subliminally reflected on trends in architecture. Predictability of
these fluctuations for the interest of design have proven to be
unfeasible, despite the efforts of analytical approaches which
have aimed to reduce uncertainty and indeterminacy in design
processes. Likewise, the demands of the evolving construction
industry, accelerated by technological change and the increasing
growth of information, have constantly produced rifts which the
inert body of knowledge have been unable to bridge
synchronously. Uncertainty and instability are thus
characteristics of changing situations in professional practice. As
patterns of situations change, or tend to be unique, so the usable
knowledge must follow the pace to escape obsolescence. Yet
many architectural schools prefer to restrain, staying trapped in
a figurative time warp, pursuing their own interest regardless of
any larger relevance. Apart from being unable to prepare
students for the ever-changing realities of everyday practice,
schools are already struggling to keep up with changes that affect
transformations in architecture. The question for contemporary
architectural education is how to prepare students for the
uncertain conditions in which they will operate.
[Micro scale] Architectural design is an enterprise of bringing

novel things to existence. It is doubtless that the process of
delivering the design solution faces many uncertainties on its
trajectory. Even when designers seek to find a source in clients'
needs, clients often do not know what they want due to lack of
imagination or simply find it hard to express what they want.
Nevertheless, in situations of indeterminate outcome, uncertainty
can be a motivating factor for experimentation and exploration of
undiscovered terrains. Through such encounters, uncertainty
can trigger intellectual curiosity, interest, and excitement,
fostering imagination, creativity, and innovation.
This thesis strives to indicate alternative routes to the current

pedagogical situation by suggesting that uncertainty is a
constitutive part of the design process. It will argue the
importance of uncertainty in architectural education, regarding it
as a valuable factor which fosters creative and innovative design.
Assumptions aim to lead to a general method for acknowledging
uncertainty in the continuous process of architecture design.
Thesis Advisor: Stephan Pinkau
Title: Professor of Architecture

Acknowledgements
I am deeply indebted to the following individuals and institutions

for their support and inspiration.
Stephan Pinkau, for providing me a great opportunity to attend

this Master course at the COOP Design Research and for guiding
my research process. His confidence in my work and continuous
support has been key in developing my interests and skills during
the research period.
Rebekka Ladewig, for her immense help in critical assesment

and necessary rigor, and for structuring my work and reviewing
the content of this thesis. This research would not be the same
without her academic support and personal enthusiasm.
My COOP Design Research colleagues, for their friendship,

generosity, hours of great discussions and study in the studio,
and for the great time spent together.
DAAD scholarship, for the financial support without which my

study at the Bauhaus would not have been possible.
My family, for their love and care. This thesis is dedicated to

them.
Table of contents
Introduction [an interview with myself] 1-5

a) Against Uncertainty rationalizing design process;
control and predictability; analytical problem-solving; pattern
language 6-7
b) Obverse and Reverse the culture of risk;
attractiveness and aversion towards uncertainty 8-10
c) Pleasures of Uncertainty the pleasure of an
encounter with the unexpected 11-12
01 Uncertainty in Design Process 13-14

[micro scale]
1.1 Moment #1: Identifying the Problem
[approaching uncertainty]
1.1.1 Wicked Problem no generic solution
to the problem; designerly ways of knowing 15
1.1.2 Delight in the Unknown openness to the
uncertainty of a positive event; acceptance of change and the
value of 'rethink' 16-18
1.2 Moment #2: Formulating the Program
[promoting uncertainty]
1.2.1 Reflection in/on Action making sense
of an uncertain situation; indeterminate zones of practice
19-20
1.2.2 Chance acceptance of the
unpredictability of experience; critical assessment of a degree
of control 21-23
1.2.3 Matrix manipulation and
transformation of content in distinctive ways to create
indistinctness 24-25
1.3 Moment #3: Testing Solutions
[uncertainty as a factor of judgment] 26
1.4 Moment #4: Termination
[unexpected solution] 27
02 Uncertainty of Future Use 30-31

[macro scale]
2.1 Control and Choice neo-avant-garde
movements of the 1960s and 1970s 32-34
2.2 Non-plan concept of

indeterminate buildings 35-37
2.3 Fragile Potential a plant ecosystem in the context
of architecture; precarious state over stability 38-39
03 Uncertainty in Architectural Education?

41-42
3.1 Normative
3.1.1 Your Last Chance to be Creative
nature of design process and context of design in normative
curriculum 43-45
3.1.2 Flattened Bologna issues of
modularization and standardization of knowledge 46-48
3.2 Alternative
3.2.1 School's out case study -
no curriculum 49-53
3.2.2 Learning Live case study 54-56
Merging Uncertainties 57-62
Conclusions 63-64
Bibliography 65-68
Figure references 69
Figures
Figure 1: The different views of the design process

Figure 2: Lagrange Matrix with key works, collection of
images and key words
Figure 3: Lagrange Elaborated matrix
Figure 4: Price Fun Palace
Figure 5: Rogers and Foster - Reliance Controls building in
Swindon 1967
Figure 6: Habraken La Meme (1970-72) Maison Mdical
student accommodation at the University of Louvain - La MM
(Photo: Peter Blundell Jones)
Figure 7: Tony Fretton Architects: Solid (Photo: Peter Cook)
Figure 8: Platform in de Steveraue
Figure 9: Visual medium used by The Public School Los
Angeles (Photo: Julie Faith)
Figure 10: Uncertainty in design process
Figure 11: Uncertainty of future use
Figure 12: Diagram of common concepts
Figure 13: Conceptual scheme for a curriculum for uncertainty
Figure 14: An example of four quadrant architectural curriculum
1
Introduction
An interview with myself
Your thesis project at COOP Design Research Master Program

is called "Curriculum for Uncertainty". What is the uncertainty you
are referring to?
Odd possibilities and irregular occurrences characterize
everyday life patterns, which are mainly unpredictable.
Recognition of change and awareness that the state of affairs are
instable address the uncertainty of our existence. We can hardly
distinguish the boundary line between certainty and uncertainty
in real life situations, which indicates that unpredictability is a
necessary feature of our existence. Social anthropology presents
uncertainty as a fundamental experiential realm. Yet design as a
planning enterprise strives to reduce uncertainty and
unpredictability in all aspects that affect design procedure and
decision making. Obviously, this makes the planning a paradox
in its own.
Given explanation serves to draw larger relevance of uncertainty
into the educational domain. I remember the comment my thesis
supervisor provided when discussing its contextualization within
architectural education. For her, the opposite of uncertainty
meant definition, or to reverse - the absence of definition meant
uncertainty. In that sense, lack of precision, temporary absurdity,
ostensible illogic, and open-endedness are features of
uncertainty addressed in my research. Accordingly, it was
interesting to examine how vagueness, ambiguities, doubts, and
non-determinability can enable new ideas to arise.
It seems that there might exist a particular link between

uncertainty and creativity. If this stands for a hypothesis, how
does such a notion of uncertainty relate to education, in this case,
to architectural education?
Architects deal with aspects such as change and indeterminacy
as a matter of course. Instability of the entire social, political,
cultural, and economic setting is currently a context in which
design projects are set to exist. Nevertheless, crisis and
uncertainty provide chances to ponder the essentials and deprive
of excess of any kind. In education, and therefore design, this
approach may acquire the form of revisiting former
achievements, leading to a reevaluation of recent preferences or
trends.
You are suggesting a need to rethink the current position of the

discipline, which should be receptive to the instability,
indeterminacy, and unpredictability of its space of residence.
2
How does architectural education accommodate these

dynamics?
Architectural curricular structures have not significantly changed
in the last decades, despite the omnipresent transformations that
have taken place within the growth of globalization, new
technologies, and information culture. Architecture has increased
in its complexity and we face challenging times requiring new
competences, more comprehensive skills, and modes of thought.
In the same sense, education faces problems with managing
rapid technological change in terms of generating usable
knowledge that allows it to follow the expectations of the society
it serves. This raises a question of the adequacy of professional
knowledge of the changing character as well as the complexity,
instability, uncertainty,
and changeability of the needs and problems of society.
Operating through modes of detached or complacent reflection,
conventional architectural education fails to yield a curriculum
adequate for the unstable, indeterminate, conflicting, uncertain
situations of practice, as Donald Schn defines them in his
writings on the practices of reflective professional learning.
Passive acquisition of intellectual inputs deprives students of
making their own decisions under conditions of uncertainty. It is
the reason why we should consider rethinking the purposes of
education.
Was the situation similar in your school that prompted you to

focus your research on education?
As a student of architecture, I take advantage of my 'insider'
position to inspect our educational system from within and I have
found the situation worryingly unsatisfactory. Motivated by
personal disappointment, call it education frustration, I decided
to relate the question of my research to the emergencies in
architectural education today. A vast amount of existing writings
on the subject confirms a similar dissatisfaction, raising their
voices for global education reaction. These writings contend that,
in spite of rapid transformations in all aspects of our lives,
conventional architectural education still follows principles and
rules from the past, mainly inherited from the Beaux-Arts and
Bauhaus agenda. Designers in academia have somehow
disentangled themselves from the problems of the 'real world',
choosing a small range of socio-behavioral issues to work on.
We should no longer continue to build upon the hermetic cell that
the discipline of architecture has become. In an ever- changing
world, education cannot comply to stand still.
The question to be asked is: What is the major feature that

architectural education is missing which makes it problematically
3
irrelevant for the time we live in?
How pervasive is the increasing reactionary attitude towards the

presented 'crisis' of education? What is the scale of current
alternative responses to the existing system?
Most architecture schools of Europe, due to the Bologna
Process, which intended to reduce the traditional diversity of
European universities, are struggling to conform to the
standardized educational models now required. These models,
despite the fact that they are created to increase geographical
mobility and interchangeability of students, have been made
even more inflexible in favor of a general bureaucratic
compatibility and homogeneity. In reaction to the situation, we
are witnessing the emergence of multiple alternative education
initiatives, mostly artistic-led projects. Breaking away from the
institutions, they find chance for action and exchange in any
given opportunity - schools being replaced by museums,
workshops, festivals, bars, etc. Even though progressive in their
reorientation towards a redefinition of educational purposes,
ephemerality of their existence and lack of tradition, which tends
to make things much more convincing, have left them
overshadowed by the very institutions they rebelled against.
Nonetheless, they offer significant insight and serve as
inspiration and reference for the issues brought up in this paper.
How would the perspective of your work contribute to alternative

experiences of learning?
The research aims to examine the productive dimension of
uncertainty in its pertinence to architectural education and
innovative design practices. My intention is to portray uncertainty
as a constructive part of the educational experience, placing the
emphasis on accommodating and tolerating rather than reducing
and avoiding it. Therefore, the argument is developed through
my ambition to make uncertainty central to the architectural
curriculum. Such a curriculum would infuse students with
uncertainty as an essential standing point and continuous
motivation for knowing and discovering, where doubting,
questioning, proposing, and challenging are inherent attitudes
towards learning. Awareness of and being engulfed by
uncertainties becomes a central condition of learning.
Learning through uncertainty assumes special conditions in

which acquisition of desired competences and knowledge can be
provided. How would a setting for such learning look like, as we
are generally used to a design studio as a typical environment
for exercising knowledge?
4
Learning through uncertainty requires adequate settings to foster

and maintain such an unstable condition. Architecture, in its end
form, belongs to a physical world. The theoretical understanding
of real world phenomena is considered incomplete and
uncertain, which means that there is no appropriate simulation of
reality. For Rodney Brooks, a professor of Robotics, representing
the world is the "wrong unit of abstraction", where he suggests
that it is better to "use the world as its own model" 1. The physical
world is not only the medium in which we exercise our
intelligence, but rather an integral part of its genesis. Brooks
maintains that intelligence is not meaningful when extracted from
its environment. Similarly, architectural intelligence should be
exercised in the context in which it naturally belongs. This means
that architectural education grounded on the notion of uncertainty
should take place in a real world setting, using real world inputs.
Working in real world conditions offers a direct encounter with all
the features of uncertainty, including complexity, instability,
uniqueness, and value conflicts, as defined by Schn 2. As
patterns of situations change, or tend to be unique, learning by
being directly exposed implies certain situational awareness.
This leaves little confidence in relying on preconceived ideas
which are a typical initial response to project requirements.
Conversely, by working in uncertain conditions solutions are
generated by interfacing directly through perception and action.
What is the position of your research in the current stream of

discussions on architectural education? What methods do you
use to contextualize these debates?
The research is situated in the context of current debates on
architectural education for the purpose of grounding itself in a
shared discomfort with the existing situation in academia. The
objective steps forward to developing an alternative response, by
referring to theory/practice dialectics as well as reflections and
experiences related to the issue of uncertainty and its impact on
creative practices. This method of work primarily consists of
reviewing respective literature which offers theoretical reflections
and empirical analysis, with additional reference to several
practices from the second half of the twentieth century, found
relevant for their immersion in the similar concern for education
appropriation. Secondary, it provides reflection on personal
experience as a student and practitioner, aiming to reinforce the
main argument oriented towards critical reassessment.
The main body of work comprises of three domains of
1
See Rodney Brooks: Intelligence Without Reason, Proceedings of 12th Int.
Joint Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, Sydney, Australia, pp. 569-595.
2See Donald Schn: The Reflective Pratitioneer. How Professionals Think in
Action, London 1983
5
architectural discipline - theory, practice, and education. Each of

them represents a separate chapter and gives its own
perspective on the issue of uncertainty, dependent on the aspect
it deals with. Chapter 1 demonstrates how the concept of
uncertainty is addressed in design theory, explaining how to
assume and utilize uncertainty to foster creative responses
before the outcome is known. Arguments of this chapter relate to
the uncertainty of design conception. Chapter2 shows how
uncertainty is approached in architectural discourse/practice.
Bringing together responses of diverse practices, it describes
how uncertainty is extended to the real world, affecting future
changes in use or program over the lifespan of the building.
Chapter 3 provides a critical approach to the conventional
establishment of educational institutions and the inadequacy of
their performance, in order to bring forward alternative
approaches and examine the effect of their initiatives. A final
section summarizes assumptions from all three domains,
attempting to merge all approaches to uncertainty, with a desire
to engender a new attitude towards learning by using uncertainty
in a continuous process. The conclusion aims to open up new
questions of how architectural education should be developed in
order to reconsider discipline organizations as well as to strive
for new discipline dynamics.
6
a)
Against Uncertainty
Most of the research in design and computation, within the

architectural domain, regards the benefit of uncertainty as
conceptual confusion. It is assumed to be essential that
imprecise and provisional ideas are to be expressed as
objectively and clearly as possible. Disregarding theories that
ambiguity, as one type of uncertainty, facilitates creativity by
enabling interpretations, up until now, research into computer
supported design communications have aimed to reduce
uncertainty and ambiguity as misleading and confusing
factors. New developments in science, cybernetic theory, and
digital technologies enquire the deployment of complex
systems and use probability in order to predict and control
patterns of behavior and change. Computational tools are
conceived to achieve a precise articulation of the designers
thoughts by eliminating imprecision and provisionality.
Calculating, counting, standardizing, and analyzing are
therefore performances that ensure clarity and precision.
Herbert Simon in The Sciences of the Artificial (1976) defines
design as a problem solving endeavor. He sees it purely as
an act of optimization, hence ignorant to any uncertainty or
indeterminacy.
Aspirations to rationalize the design process can be traced

back to the twentieth century modern movement of design
and architecture. Following the statements of De Stijl
protagonist Theo van Doesburg, and Le Corbusier soon after,
the modern spirit was to be devoid of any spontaneity and
speculation, relying primarily on objective methods of
creating a new object. Basing the design process on
objectivity and rationality meant implying scientific methods
upon it (Cross 2007).
Such desire to 'scientize' design reemerged in 1960s, in the

context of the application of novel computational methods
envisioned in order to solve environmental issues after the
World War II destruction. Reliance on technology and
mathematical logic was evident in the work of Christopher
Alexander who proposed a new design method called 'pattern
language' (Alexander 1964). The pattern denotes design
problems that typically occur in the environment and offers a
core solution to it. Alexander's notes describe a way of
representing design problems which allows an easier solution
7
by breaking more complex problems into smaller ones. It was

soon realized that patterns of real life are unpredictable
enough to be substituted by a limited range of patterns
proposed by such a theory, since they imply typical systems
of connections. Later in 1970s he rejected the notion of
'design methods' as the study was largely isolated from the
practice of design. 3
Analytical problem-solving preserves a static perspective on

the design process. Essentially, it assumes that the outcome
is already known before design process begins. Moreover, it
is seen as immutable and of invariable behavior over time.
This thesis argues against premature certainty, as design
processes naturally face uncertainty of what the object is
going to be and what the future requirements will look like.
Seeing those uncertainties as valuable features of creative
and innovative practice, it aims to promote educational
methods that acknowledge and exhaust it.
3 In an interview with Wendy Kohn from 2002, he admits that a method

of pattern language failed to yield desired solutions to problems of the
time.
<http://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/wendykohn/wendykohninte
rviewedited.htm>
8
b)
Obverse and reverse
In the context of living in a present with an unpredictable
future, uncertainty is of an ambiguous nature. Having both
positive and negative valence, it triggers diverse, often
diametrically opposed responses and approaches to it. The
threshold of tolerance exists along a certainty-uncertainty
marginal line. The reason behind this is that the notion of an
anthropology of uncertainty is mostly related to the culture
of risk - without uncertainty there would be no risk (Boholm
2003, p.167). As an interdependent relation, uncertainty is
connected with the chances of negative outcome or the
nature of the outcome itself. The risk, in this context, is
characterized as a "framing device which conceptually
translates uncertainty from being an open-ended field of
unpredicted possibilities into a bounded set of possible
consequences" (Boholm 2003, p.167). This stance helps to
clarify the meaning of uncertainty addressed in this paper. As
risk serves to narrow down a range of possibilities, so does
uncertainty, as a condition of learning, open-up space for a
diversity of responses which are still limited by selectively
permeable framework.
Attractiveness or aversion towards uncertainty is a matter of

perception, which gives it an extremely contextual meaning.
Developing tolerance towards uncertainty is a result of a
collective and individual perspective. It is mainly directed by
the situation we are experiencing at a given moment, mostly
influenced by our sense of control (Anderson 2008).
Perception of ourselves and projection of self on community
informs the way we perceive risk and uncertainty. The locus
of control (to refrain or push it to the limit) can either lead to a
productive risk-taking in some cases (i.e. in extreme sports
where risk can become a pleasurable and adventurous
experience or in the work of a passionate scientist, who being
led by the 'need to know', finds the risk worth taking) or to a
negative emotional reaction that inhibits an action when
individual threshold is reached (Anderson 2008). Many
institutional contexts are responsible for how risk and
uncertainty are framed and communicated (Boholm 2003).
Desire to know, often evident in scientific exploration, makes

the risk worth taking. Such intellectual curiosity is tightly
affiliated with the inability to predict, driving a researcher to
explore and experiment in unknown terrains. Uncertainty in
this case provides an opportunity for development and
growth, augmenting the horizon of understanding. Positive
9
attitude towards uncertain situations is assumed to be

essential for any discovery and innovative practice. Theresa
Anderson 4 associates it with informants' explorations within
the wider research tasks in which they are engaged. Her
research has shown that such uncertainty was embedded in
interpretation, by which informants made connections
between new ideas or information encountered and their pre-
existing knowledge. These assumptions were integral to the
shaping, expanding, refining, and restructuring of the
boundaries of their work.
However, Anderson noticed limitations in the human capacity

to deal with uncertainty. As not knowing motivates informants
to move forward, too much of "not knowing" indicates
undesirable uncertainty. This was often linked to obstacles in
communicating a message, overload of information, or risk
beyond the tolerable. It is described as part of a struggle and
a situation in which a person experiences anxiety and a lack
of confidence (Anderson 2008). Studies have further shown
that the presence of uncertainty can also repress the creative
process, causing a frustration from inability to cope with the
situation. It could force scholars to be reserved in their
adventurous attitude making them more controlled in keeping
a known and safe direction (Anderson 2008). Such a case
was particularly evident near the boundaries of the topics
which each informant was exploring and in relation to
information which was considered partially relevant. At such
boundaries of understanding, uncertainty is associated with
both frustrating and motivating valences.
Threshold between desirable and undesirable uncertainty

has proved to be uneasy to determine, making both faces of
uncertainty closely intertwined. As it remains in the domain of
social construct and as a subject to individual interpretations,
any endeavor to deal with it implies the development of
tolerance. A tolerance of uncertainty can manifest itself in a
one's willingness to stick with a situation in which he/she is
experiencing uncertainty. In the end, the holistic experience
4 In her two-year ethnographic exploration of scholarly researchers,

Anderson witnessed the value uncertainty provided to her informants,
where dealing with it in their work and everyday practice figured
prominently. The research provided her with empirical evidences of the
many faces of uncertainty present in the creative endeavor. Mainly
interested in productive contribution of dealing with and through
uncertainty in practice, she aimed to explore its role in human behavior-
from implications on individual behavior, drawing conclusions to the
wider impact on communities.
10
is the one that might constitute desirable uncertainty:
"In fact, it seems that desirable uncertainty appears to

emerge through the interplay between positive and negative
forms in our individual practices. Thus, working with and
through the uncertainties that we experience plays a critical
role in creative, innovative activity" (Anderson 2008, p.6).
11
c)
Pleasures of uncertainty
"() uncertainty is wondrous, and that certainty, were it to be What about the pleasure of an encounter with
real, would be moral death. If we were certain of the future, the unexpected in architectural design?
there could be no moral compulsion to do anything. We would
be free to indulge in every passion and pursue every egoism,
since all actions fall within the certainty that has been Design is a pursuit of the unknown. This
ordained, then the future is open to creativity, not merely mental journey into the undiscovered bears
human creativity but the creativity of all nature. It is open to
moments of hesitation, indecisiveness, and
possibility and, therefore, to a better world" (Wallerstein 1998,
uncertainty which are natural states of design
p. 322).
process. Immature understanding of design
The certainty addressed in this quotation, if transferred to
relies on the finality of a preconceived idea,
architectural domain, would refer to tradition, a protective belt
tending to give it an instant and precise
that keeps away every uncertainty. It offers security by
providing a limited range of typologies, meaning that certainty concretization. An early expressed sense of
of the outcome reduces (positive) discomfort with unknown confidence, satisfaction, and certainty
possibilities. The intention is not to discard the advantages constraints unpredicted and unexpected ideas
and values that tradition nurtures in architecture, but to argue from unfolding. By developing a capacity to
the value of uncertainty in extending the range of possible
tolerate uncertainty, manifested as a
final outcomes instead of relying on the premature certainty
suspension, a temporary absurdity, an
of a solution and its fixity.
ostensible illogic, and an open-endedness,
Moreover, knowledge makes the world more predictable, but
one learns to talk with his/her work, becoming
the price is that predictability sometimes seems less
receptive to its suggestions and able to follow
delicious, less exciting, and less poignant (Wilson et al.
2005). Wilson and his colleagues argue that predictable its undetermined turns. As Juhani Pallasmaa
events are far less enjoyable than unpredictable ones. evokes, loose initial thought turns the thinking
Unexpected, unexplained events trigger more intense process into "an act of waiting, listening,
emotional reactions than expected, explainable ones. They collaboration and dialogue"1. A state of
argue that uncertainty about the nature of positive events can
hesitation and curiosity driven by uncertainty
prolong the pleasure derived from it. Making sense of positive
leads to horizons never experienced before,
events is proved in social cognition to reduce the pleasure of
allowing unimagined ideas to spring up.
an encounter with the unexpected, yet we strive to
understand the causes and effects in order to make situations
more predictable. Desire for certitude is explained by Wilson
and his colleagues by the fact that uncertainty is usually
linked to anxiety, worry, frustration, and difficulty in adapting
to new situations. This emotional response is, according to
them, responsible for negative attitude towards uncertainty.
On the other hand, there is much evidence which links

uncertainty with curiosity - a need to know (Anderson 2008).
John Keats is quoted as saying that artistic achievement _____________________________________
happens when people are "capable of being in uncertainties, Juhani Pallasmaa: The Thinking Hand. Existential and
Embodied Wisdom in Architecture, 2009, West Sussex
mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and
p.111
12
reason" (John Keats, cited by Wilson et al. 2005, p. 6). These

beliefs are addressed in order to support already given
statement that working with and through uncertainty plays a
critical role in innovative and creative activity. Georgios A.
Panetsos contends that
"Uncertainty can often be disquieting or even paralyzing.

However, when accompanied by persistence and openness,
in the sense of relative freedom from pre-conceptions and
independence from currents of thought, it can even be
intellectually pleasurable." 5
5
A transcript of a talk given at the 15th Meeting of Heads of European
Schools of Architecture of the European Association for Architectural
Education, held in Chania, Crete, Greece, in September 2010. Available at:
<http://www.archisearch.gr/article/258/georgios-a--panetsos--on-
13
01
Uncertainty in Design Process
The argument of this section departs from the stance that

uncertainty is inherent to design activity since architects deal
with problems which are often unstructured or ill-defined.
Often described as 'wicked', these problems call for a
multifaceted, interpretative approach as a solution to the
problem cannot be identified as accurate, precise, or
undeniable. It suggests that personal perception of the
problem and idiosyncratic treatment are means to address
the uncertainty (indeterminacy) of the outcome.
There are various views on design process in architecture

(Figure 1). What is common for all systematizations is that
several phases of designing are evident. Those phases
include the identification of the problem, information
gathering and formulation of the program, and testing of
solutions and termination (choosing from alternatives). It is
argued here, since the outcome is unknown, that all of the
mentioned phases face uncertainty at some point. If the task
is to be approached constructively, investigation and detailed
analysis of the problem is a necessary first step. Some of
these sequences of design are often overseen in
conventional architectural education. Student design process
is, according to Thornely (1963), reduced to three phases:
accumulation of data, development of forms, and
presentation of solution (Figure 1). Such trajectory of work is
preserved in idealized, hermetic conditions, problematically
excluding uncertainty as an elemental feature of real-life
Figure 1: The different views of the design process
designing, which significantly impacts decision-making. The
interest and ambition of this paper is to readdress the above
mentioned procedures of design, to investigate the presence
of uncertainty in each while proposing methods of approach,
ending eventually with the suggestion to implement and
incorporate the missing phases of design into design studio 6.
The chapter named Uncertainty in Design Process analyzes
four moments of design when uncertainty is assumed to be
evident (#1 Identifying the problem, #2 Formulating the
program, #3 Testing solutions, #4 Termination) while trying to
uncertainty-ethics-and-architectural-curricula-.htm>
6Designing of architectural artefacts is considered to be the main purpose
of architectural education, which is the reason of giving the attention to a
design process over the other matters that constitute a curriculum.
14
propose possible methods which acknowledge and utilize it

as a structuring and guiding principle. Moments of uncertainty
are points in a design process with a significant capability of
influencing or changing the trajectory of the work and
development of the design solution.
15
1.1
Moment #1: Identifying the problem
1.1.1
Wicked problem
In order to argue about the intrinsic features of uncertainty in
design activity, it is necessary to dwell shortly on the nature
of problems which designers seek to solve or provide a
solution for. Previous study observations and even common
talks with designers appeared to be difficult to comprehend,
since the knowledge designers performed proved to be
uneasy to grasp (Cross 1982). Observers and listeners were
often puzzled by the fact that design knowledge itself seemed
to be invisible. Much of the research interest that exists has
been reasonably provoked over the past four or five decades
with the ambition to externalize the intrinsic cognitive
processes and abilities of design activity coming from the tacit
nature of design knowledge (Cross 1982, Schn 1983,
Lawson 2004, Dorst 2007). Assumptions have been drawn
from the exploration of its common manifestations, in regard
to the understanding the nature of design thinking and
reasoning. Conclusions have been summarized around the
agreement upon evidence of specific, designerly ways of
knowing (Cross 1982).
Such intriguing aspects of design behavior are found to be

performed due to the unstable nature of design problems,
often characterized as unstructured, open-ended, or wicked
(Rittel & Webber, cited in Cross 1982). Wicked implies that
there is no one solution to the problem, which means that the
process and the outcome are fairly uncertain. Moreover,
solutions to wicked problems are neither true nor false, but
rather good or bad, suggesting a need for a specific approach
in order to deal with such types of problems. Le Corbusier, in
his book Towards a New Architecture (1923), compels that
the problem of architecture lies in the fact that it did not define
its problem properly. Architects thus work with incomplete
information about partially specified designs, making
assumptions and provisional decisions which need to be
revisited and revised. As no determined, dominant,
undeniable, or accurate solution can be identified (Lawson
2004), it is the openness to interpretation that calls for
imagination and hence personal approach to conjecturing a
solution proposal (Cross 1982). When outcomes and
probabilities are fairly unknown, rational choice as a strategy
for decision making has a limited value (Boholm 2003).
16
1.1.2
Delight in the unknown
Some authors, as mentioned in the previous chapter, have

argued that unexpected and unexplained occurrences are
much more enjoyable and exciting than predictable and
explainable ones. Openness to the uncertainty of positive
events and the freedom from preconceptions has been
proven to be intellectually pleasurable. Moreover, positive
emotional responses to uncertainty and the ability to reside
in it without resignation provide better achievements in
creative practice. Cedric Price recognized uncertainty as a
valuable feature in design process. He suggested that, if
assumed from the beginning of design conception,
uncertainty can be a pleasurable and stimulating design
input.
"Indeed an overwhelming desire to 'get it right the first time'

in architecture and planning encourages the safe solution
and the dull practitioner" (Price 2003, p. 54).
The type of uncertainty Price was embracing here can be

identified as the one held by the client and uncertainty of the
outset of the project. The client is a user, so the user's choice
is the main indeterminate factor incorporated into design.
Price suggested that the healthy uncertainty, the one not
compromised by doubt, can be converted into a delight in the
unknown and used as a concept in design formulation,
addressed from the outset both by both a designer and
his/her client. The delight in the unknown, he found, is a
common attitude in many artefactual endeavors, especially in
scientific domain which is generated and sustained by
enthusiasm for discovery. To be well encouraged and
justified by the user, appreciation of uncertainty as a useful
element in design formulation has to be followed by the
acceptance of change and the value of 'rethink' during the life
of the resultant project (Price 2003).
Tim Ingold contributes this to argument with his essay On

Weaving a Basket (2000), where he questions the premise
that forms are specified in advance of the process of their
making. He holds the opinion that form rather issues from the
active engagement of material and practitioner through the
unfolding of the "field of forces" (Ingold 2000, p. 342). The
relevance of Ingold's arguments finds its place when these
primary generators serve only to open up the set of
possibilities, where resultant artifact rather evolves through
17
the work itself (Ingold 2000). Thus patterns (encoded

experiences) initially determine the direction of unfolding;
the notion of the field of forces is here important in regard to
a certain body of knowledge that exists only in the process of
making. Borrowing a phrase from Schn, competent
practitioners
"exhibit a kind of knowing-in-practice, most of which is tacit -

it occurs in process of doing, linked to forms of routine and
modalities to perform, ways of acting that possess a certain
behavioral automatism, rather than concrete type of
knowledge or skill" (Schn 1983, viii) 7.
Analyzing the process of designing, it has a back and forth

rather than a linear trajectory of developing the concept. The
first idea is just an initial impulse being changed by
consolidation of many requirements on the way, where the
architect's personal beliefs and understanding of human
existence in general - his inner world merges with the outer.
It is suggestible, therefore, that design activity is initialized by
the uncertainty of its very outset.
Design processes may be seen as a set of variables. Since

there is no definite and precise solution to a wicked problem,
each move determines the direction of action and produces
consequences. Unintentional changes may be redirected
through new moves, forming new appreciations. It is a
constant process of change and adaptation to a situation,
"reflective conversation with the situation" (Schn 1983,
p.79). One way of dealing with initial uncertainty is
constructing a frame for a given situation. It helps to narrow
down interests and to set preferences which direct and define
succeeding steps. It is assumed as a typical design behavior
performed in coping with unstructured problems. As Schn
(1983) describes it, the practitioner chooses several aspects
of decided importance to frame a problem, he/she shapes the
situation to fit the frame and he/she constructs a practice
situation to make the established frames operational.
Framing of the situation is individual. Every practitioner
imposes his/her own 'guiding principles' upon the set of
requirements by defining personal preferences which are
often a result of his/her experience. All of the seen, heard,
touched, smelt, and felt sensations and experiences are
being transferred into memories which are accumulated in a
reservoir of cases from which the designer draws his
7The concept of tacit knowing was developed by Micheal Polanyi in the

course of the 1950s, culminating in his 1958 work Personal Knowledge.
Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy.
18
assumptions and then approaches the task (Lawson 2004).

The following lines will present several ways of framing the
initial uncertainty and using it as a structuring principle in
formulating design program.
19
1.2
Moment #2: Formulating the Program
1.2.1
Reflection in/on action
Donald Schn conforms that problems of real-world practice

do not always seem to be well structured. Moreover, they are
better presented as indeterminate situations rather than
problems. Schn extracts several problematic situations
which are not solvable by mere application of technical
rationality. He names them indeterminate zones of practice
- problematic situations presented as uncertain, unique case
or situations of conflict among values (Schn 1987). Holding
that those situations require a non-generic attitude, he rather
goes on to propose an epistemology of practice which some
practitioners bring to situations of uncertainty, instability,
uniqueness, and value conflict (Schn 1983). Such a
constructivist paradigm acknowledges uncertainty through
the method based on "reflective conversation with materials
of the situation" (Schn 1987, p.36). Schn explains that
skilled practitioners deal with uncertainty through a
combination of knowing-in-action,reflection-in-action, and
reflection-on-action (Schn 1983). Through reflection-in-
action, a practitioner makes new sense of uncertain situations
by devising new methods of reasoning and by constructing
and testing new categories of framing and understanding
(Schn 1987). Design starts by facing, at least in some part,
the uncertainty of the situation. The designer responds by
constructing and proposing coherence of his/her own
appreciations of the situation. Subsequently, he/she
observes the consequences of his/her action, some of which
were unintended, which he/she then appreciates and
evaluates through analysis and criticism (Schn 1987). Such
a concept relies on John Dewey's definition of inquiry as the
transformation of indeterminate situations into determinate
ones (Dewey 1938).
Reflection-in-action might be acknowledged as one method

of dealing with the uncertainty of the design process, often
exposed in conflicting situations or appearing by surprise
triggered by unexpected occurrences. According to Schn,
jazz musicians display reflection-in-action in real-time by
listening to one another and responding by adjusting to the
unpredicted play of the other musician. In jazz, interpretation
is a method performed live. In spite of this fact, variables are
20
still controlled as the performance is organized around a

defined set of possibilities and determined musical figures.
Interpretation becomes an open-ended enterprise in which
uncertainty is assumed without being eliminated. The
relevance of this method is that new things find their place
through variation, combination, and recombination within a
given framework.
Although Schn evidently proposes a method to capitalize on

uncertainty, its scope remains effective only within the design
studio enterprise. The generic character of this epistemology
of professional practice attracted sharp criticisms for its
ignorance towards theoretical limitations and methodological
boundaries of such characterization of architectural
education. Helena Webster radically questioned how such a
stance actually differs from the quintessential nature of
human thinking, wondering whether a notion of reflection is
no more than just a metaphor for thinking (Webster 2008).
Nevertheless, the interest in Schn's methods acquires its

relevance when synthesized with other approaches, where it
should serve to generate an alternative proposal based on
the recombination of diverse methods (see the last chapter) 8.
A more holistic approach towards education for architects

supports Webster's argument that narrowing learning
process to a design studio tutorials oversees the complexities
of architectural learning which include other cognitive,
corporeal, and affective dimensions of learning in settings
outside the traditional design studio (Webster 2008).
8This subject will be discussed further in the last chapter of this thesis,
see pp.63-68
21
1.2.2
Chance
Making sense of an uncertain situation, as Schn has already

outlined, might ask for an alternative attitude towards dealing
with the unknown. 'Alternative' may consider an inversion of
perception. For example, the perception that architecture can
be discovered rather than made. This shift in understanding
might permit a chance to pervade and guide the process of
discovery.
Chance as a method and subject of study is familiar in many

disciplines. Dada, surrealism, abstract expressionism, and
active painting used many 'chance' techniques, such as
assemblage and automatism, to enrich and expand the limits
of their representations. Mistakes and lapsus linguae in
psychoanalysis are the main entrance for revealing the
unconscious. Aleatoric methods in performative arts, music,
and writing encourage play, improvisation, and interpretation,
allowing for a great degree of chance to shape the flow.
Situationists and other neo-avant-garde movements of the
1960s and 1970s merged the planned with the unpredictable
in their designs by welcoming social participation and
activism. Yet the architect and researcher Yeorya
Manolopoulou believes that architecture is the only discipline
that resists chance so persistently, despite the fact that
buildings are especially sensitive to contingency. She
advocates that architecture should extend the range of its
knowledge by concerning the study and practice of chance.
This would imply working modes that operate between the
defined and the indeterminate and between the acceptance
of the unpredictability of experience and the critical
assessment of the degree of control posed by the architect
(Manolopoulou, 2011). Three design modes, in her words,
are aware of the aspect of chance: observation, non-
reconciliation, and expansion, from which observation is
particularly interesting in regard to this research.
If architecture is to be discovered, an intense and creative

mode of observing is required by the beholder. Where, when,
and how long are equally important. The observation has to
be patient and attentive, open to various interpretations and
change. Particularly interesting for creative activity is the
observation of accidental formations, called chance images
which are made without human intention. According to
Manolopoulou, chance images are useful for architects
because of the possibility of multiple interpretations. They
22
require associational seeing and trigger emotional

responses. Observation in such manner, as she argues, is a
fundamental recondition for design because it synthesizes
the remembered, the observed and the proposed.
The tension between the figurative and the abstract that

chance images often provide might be useful for making
associations with the unknown and the accidental. The
creative interplay between processes of observation (when
the attentive gaze faces the ambiguity of the phenomena
observed) and process of design might prove resourceful for
generating multifaceted responses to design problems.
Several architects, among them Herzog & de Meuron and
Jrn Utzon practiced creative observation to get inspired.
Observation can thus be a useful method for reasoning and
constructing of a framework for the unknown or indeterminate
situation. By observing, a designer is able to make a new
understanding. Aldo Rossi, in his Scientific Autobiography
makes several remarks on the value of observation in the
process of architectural design, lining them to the categories
of memory and imagination as described by Manolopoulou:
"Perhaps the observation of things has remained my most

important formal education; for observation later becomes
transformed into memory. Now I seem to see all the things I
have observed arranged like tools in a neat row; they are
aligned as in a botanical chart, or a catalogue, or a dictionary.
But this catalogue lying somewhere between imagination and
memory, is not neutral; it always reappears in several objects
and constitutes their deformation, and in some way, their
evolution" (Rossi 1981, p. 23).
A designer makes sense of an unknown situation by

constructing a framework to focus and direct his/her work
further. As research in designerly ways of knowing has
shown, a matter of subjective perception and of personal way
of understanding turns out to be a crucial ability of
conceptualization. Patterns of reasoning are regarded as
products of accumulated experiences translated into
precedents, codes (Cross 1982), or schemata (Lawson
2004). These 'codes' are transferred to the repertory of cases
to serve in subsequent situations as 'guiding principles', or as
Rossi puts it, as "chart', 'catalogue', or 'dictionary', subtracted
to construct new sequences of action (Lawson 2004).
Practitioner draws from his repertoire of examples, images,
understandings, and actions... It includes sites he has seen,
buildings he has known, design problems he has
encountered, and solutions he has devised (Schn 1987, p.
23
66). His ability to deal with an uncertain situation depends on

the variety of repertoire he brings to frame or reframe it. In the
same sense, it is possible to assume that observation
generates images which, translated into memory, might serve
as the same codes or schemata from the repertory of cases
arranged, as Aldo Rossi depicted, in a chart, catalogue, or
dictionary. The architect and professor of architecture Juhani
Pallasmaa described it in this way:
"In fact a design task is an existential exploration in which the

architect's professional knowledge, life experiences, ethical
and aesthetic sensibilities, mind and body, eye and hand, as
well as his/her entire persona and existential wisdom
eventually merge" (Pallasmaa 2009, p. 109).
24
1.2.3
Matrix
The tradition of producing knowledge in architecture is related

to the production of images and the culture of representation.
The memory of the architect is visual, constituted of images
which play an important role in framing the problem and
inspiring the process. Those images, as seen before, are
accumulated in the internalized reservoir of knowledge and
experience. Thierry Lagrange was one of the professionals
wondering whether (and how) the 'ineffable' qualities of
design knowledge could be revealed and represented. He
pondered the possibility of a mental tool that would provide a
playful mechanism to deal with these images in unexpected
ways (Lagrange 2011). The matrix he proposed is seen as a
tool to open up the design process for unexpected
combinations of an architect's experience and knowledge.
Similar to mathematical matrices, content between brackets
is defined by rows and columns. If each matrix represents a
character, an interesting play may then be provoked if one
content is inserted into another matrix - given another
character. Positioning alternative data in a matrix is seen as
its fundamental property. Situating elements (words, images,
and projects) in such a formal construction introduces
analogous space which creates indistinctness. Indistinctness
as a void, emptiness, or lack allows itself to be loaded with
thoughts and to serve as an escape from the controlled and
conventional. Lagrange worked with the output of his own
experience to create and test matrices, which he divided into
three groups: architecture, photographs, and language
(Figure 2). By selecting elements out of these matrices and
reinterpreting them, creating new photos, video, and texts, he
sought to interpret the research question. The use of a matrix
as a tool for reflection aims to evoke new insights, helping to
clarify design processes and generate interesting Figure 2: Lagrange Matrix with key
architectural responses. works, collection of images and key
"Finding coincidences, seeking opportunities, being

confronted with sudden insights, all these daily events in a
design process, are situated and stimulated by this tool"
(Lagrange 2009, p. 4).
The matrix, once filled with research data, transforms into a

framework, a table with content, or even a master plan. For a
difficult research question, a more elaborated framework is
needed. This framework is drawn line by line, like an
architectural plan. The drawing becomes a mental framework
25
which posits elements of intellectual process in particular

elements of design process. The framework is more
structured than a mind map, more materialized than a
scheme, and more complex than a matrix (Figure 3).
A designer performs his/her expertise by interpreting,

adapting, and applying information stored in various
collection systems. It is not always clear how certain
elements influence creative development. Sometimes even
the designer is not aware of the quantity and relevance of the
data he/she possesses. Using matrices to situate, arrange,
and relate collected data and then to select and manipulate
within construction represents one way of formulating a
design program. A matrix transformed in an elaborated
framework seeks certain clarity of every detail and an
overview at the same time. This is, in fact, seen as important
in every design process - not to lose focus of the detail, at the
same time holding awareness of relations between one
another while grasping the whole. Lagrange suggests that, if
the matrices are to be used in design process they should be
playful. Manipulation and transformation of the content in
distinctive ways creates indistinctness which should lead to
unexpected experience and new, surprising insights all
followed by excitement.
Figure 3: Lagrange Elaborated matrix

26
1.3
Moment#3: Testing Solutions
When a design problem is stated, a great number of solutions

are opened. However, only one of these solutions will be the
final one. This implies that, by some means, a process of
variety reduction has to take place (Hillier et al. 1972). The
notion of conjectures introduced by Karl Popper is important
here as they do not derive from the data by induction, but are
a result of a designers cognitive capabilities responsible for
how a designer pre-structures and identifies the problem (a
subject of previous discussion). The view is shared with Hillier
and his colleagues that design process is seen through a
conjecture-analysis model rather than analysis-synthesis. As
a designer proceeds to collect problem data and data about
constraints (formulating the program), his/her conjectures
become sharper (Hillier et al. 1972). The purpose of analysis
is primarily to test conjectures which may occur earlier in the
design process which is not a case in an analysis-synthesis
model. Testing of solutions is possible when enough
information with which to prove the validity of the proposals
against is gathered. In education, this stage of design is
excluded as the student makes conjectures at an early stage
and, while working in isolated conditions problems are
structured in a vacuum, there is no need to gather additional
data and information against which to test them. The
conceptualization thus skips the testing phase, proceeding
directly to the final outcome which is mainly derived from the
imposition of personal preferences upon the project
requirements (Moment #2). A design process aware of
uncertainty, on the contrary, proposes that the conjecture and
refutation process operate in a form which will, except for the
gathering of relevant data and information, additionally allow
for a surprise to test a conjecture. Uncertainty can be used to
propose new problems and demands that did not previously
exist and thus can allow for a surprise to form new
appreciations. It can also be a factor in judgments about the
value of information encountered at various stages of the
project.
27
1.4
Moment#4: Termination
When a conjecture stands up to the test of more and more

specific problem data, both conjecturing and data gathering
are called for termination and in principle a solution is agreed
upon. Even though reflection-in-action, interpretation, and
framing tend to be open-ended processes, working through
uncertainty and transforming an indeterminate state into a
determinate implies the termination of the process. Schn
depicted the termination of the process in the example of an
Eskimo sculptor who, while examining the evolving shape of
carved reindeer bone suddenly exclaims, Ah, seal! when he
discovers what was uncertain and unknown from the
beginning (Schn 1987). The pursuit of meanings and
direction of intentions are finalized when a designer is
satisfied with the state of facts he/she has delivered.
Since architects make representations of buildings where the

abstract drawings have to be materialized into static
outcome, at one point a decision to terminate the process has
to be made. Termination in design studio enterprise is
achieved when students present their work evaluated in a
form of desk crit. The final solution is often an elaborated
initial idea with minor adjustments and modifications since the
testing of solutions and choosing among alternatives are non-
existent sequences in design due to a lack of conditions to
provide for such sequences. Initial outcomes are therefore
proposed without anticipation of their future performances
and changes, as the building, throughout its life, may still be
reinterpreted by its users. When the final product is put into
use, new uncertainties emerge which allow redefinition,
transformation, and reconstruction of its existing state.
This uncertainty of future use which is significant in opening

up various possibilities of use, some of which are
unpredictable and unimaginable, is ignored and
unappreciated with a lot of effort among practicing architects,
let alone that it is a very much unknown and unexplored
phenomena in conventional education. The challenge here is
to find ways to engage its importance in education, where it
would be acknowledged as a method which considers
buildings as time-dependent systems rather than once-and-
for-all products. The following chapter offers empirical
examples and discourse initiatives which strived to exhaust
uncertainty as a valuable factor in fostering innovative design.
28
29
Indeterminacy might be
to allow oneself to be surprised
the suspension of certainty
the capacity to listen
the capacity to react
the capacity to be available
the capacity to interpret
the capacity to try
the capacity to adapt
the capacity to be wrong and to do
something about it
Indeterminacy is a capacity.
Dimitri Messu, Exyzt
The role of life is to introduce indeterminacy
into matter
Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, 1907

30
02
Uncertainty of Future Use
Awareness of the uncertainty was primarily noticed in

architectural discourse through the agendas of the avant-
garde movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It was generally
manifested through the introduction of indeterminate
buildings. The concept of indeterminacy was enthusiastically
proposed as an answer to questions of uncertainty of change
during the existence of the building. Pronounced political and
economic flux, technological revolutions accompanied by
mental shifts, and desire for autonomy left legacy of the
modern movement rigid for the inconsistent state of change.
Acceptance of uncertainty meant keeping the architecture in
pace with the advanced practices that became aware of such
condition. The science was taken as a less certain affair with
Heisenberg's discovery of the uncertainty principle in 1927. It
disclosed that the structure of reality prevents us from
knowing certain types of information at the same time,
presenting fundamental limits to what we can know about the
behavior of even the smallest scales of nature. The most we
can hope for is to calculate probabilities of placement and
behavior. Karl Popper transferred this notion to a political
sphere, criticizing every fixity in delivering plans for future, the
strategy very often found in the history of political philosophy
(Sadler 2005).
Confining that architectural reasoning should not be bound to

the history of its antecedents anymore, a new thinking was
supposed to provide a freedom, whose validity was to be
ensured with a lexicon of new keywords, among which was
indeterminacy. According to Simon Sadler (2005), Richard
Llewelyn Davies and John Weeks were credited for bringing
the word "indeterminacy" into architectural discourse. They
applied the principle of "endless architecture" to their design
for Northwick Park Hospital with rudely finished ends in
anticipation of an addition (Sadler 2005).
Archigram, a neo-avant-garde movement formed in London

in 1961, similarly incorporated indeterminacy in its own
vocabulary. Although, the additive mode of indeterminacy
related to the infinitely extendable prefabricated structures
was out of the movements definition of the word. Followers
of the movement addressed uncertainty through
incompleteness, transformation, and possibility of control in
real-time. It was in the eighth issue of Archigram magazine
31
that they made a clear statement:
"Oxford Dictionary definition: INDETERMINACY: 'Not of fixed

extent or character, vague, left doubtful.' Archigram usage:
Of varying evaluation. Not one answer. Open-endedness"
(Sadler 2005, p. 91).
Certainty perceives living conditions as fixed and immutable.

If there are certain basics of living assumed, it meant a single
way of providing for them. Indeterminacy was understood and
accepted in a way that it initiated and cultivated
heterogeneity, joyful, and authentic styles of living. Its
meaning was deprived of any "ism" of codified method.
Instead, it designated a continual state of becoming,
contrasting modernism's dominant aesthetics of fixity.
Experimentation with indeterminacy, incompleteness, and

uncertainty of use and future change opened up the
possibility of various responses to the sociocultural context.
Introduction of users' choice as an indeterminate factor was
most directly addressed in the participatory design. This
methodology argued that the concept of uncertainty, if
retreated to the development phase of design, can become a
natural condition of architecture in the entirety of its being.
The following examples offer various concepts which utilized

uncertainty, in some cases referred to as indeterminacy, as a
means of delivering more vibrant and flexible architectural
solutions adaptable to change. For educational purposes and
special relevance to this research, they provide an insight into
approaches that acknowledged time as an extensively
neglected factor in design and as an important factor to
reconsider in the education of architects.
32
2.1
Control and Choice
Growing awareness of dynamic changes and transformations

slackened the adherence to architectural program,
considered to refer merely to a fixed moment in time, which
had put the tradition of sticking to this program into a vague
idealism. Commitment to a preconceived meant fixity of
architectural solution and of the intention that had brought it
into being had, after all, occurred to be an intention that was
nothing more than transient. "Designing was considered to be
an activity freed from preconceptions of form, style or morality
()" (Sadler 2005, p.177). In exchange, liberated from
pursuit of determined and perfect solution, the architect dared
to deal with ephemerality, tackling with aesthetics of
incompleteness and envisaging the architecture of 'endless
becoming'. Designing indeterminate buildings meant leaving
space for variety of possibilities of use and behavior, as a
result of awareness of uncertain demands that might occur in
the building's performance.
Neo-avant-garde movements of the 1960s and 1970s had

recognized those opportunities. Archigram, among them,
acknowledged the uncertainty of future situations by
proposing an 'open ends' state of existence resilient to a
desire for change (Sadler 2005). As Cook wrote in 1970,
architecture "can be much more related to the ambiguity of
life. It can be throw-away or additive; it can be ad-hoc; it can
be more allied to the personality and personal situation of
people who may have to use it" (as cited in Sadler 2005, p.
94). Archigram deployed design tactics to cope with
indeterminacy in a sense that even when its response was
imprecise or out of context, it still reached a critical mass
through "interrelated notions of extension, simultaneity,
relativity, libertarianism, expandability, organicism, and
cybernetics" (Sadler 2005, p. 93).
The Living City exhibition from 1963 was a statement of belief

that the built form was only half of the architectural
experience. The rest is a subject of perpetually provisional
and constant change. Living City avoided presenting
architecture as a dominant prescriber of the space.
"Architecture alone cannot achieve this feeling of 'place'. It
alone is not enough to give identity. It is the content and use
that are important (as cited in Sadler 2005, p. 72). Through
the text, image, sound, and light, common to most of the
avant-garde of the time, Living City tried to convey the
33
essential property of the built environment as being in a state

of continual becoming (eds Schaik & Macel 2005). Peter
Cook's Plug-in City was well incorporated in such a mutable
setting, serving as a megastructuraly manifested idea of
indeterminacy. Plug-in meant an easily assembled, easily
dismantled, self-building, and self-destroying system which
had a shape people wanted it to have. Archigram promoted
architecture as a dispersed service situation fulfilled only by
the active involvement of the user. The user was a factor
which created uncertainty to which architecture of service, as
a responsive cybernetic environment, could respond
reflexively (Sadler 2005). Architecture was promoted as an
event, a situation enlivened solely by the involvement of its
inhabitants. Such unpredictability of patterns was thought to
provide an urban experience more indeterminate both
physically and mentally.
Nevertheless, there is an issue paradoxically incarnated in

the idea of the uncertainty (referred to as indeterminacy) as
a structuring principle: How to represent indeterminate
architecture, formless itself, while in a state of constant
becoming? While avoiding to use indeterminacy as an
algorithm to generate aesthetics, those propagating the value
of uncertainty found it problematic to interrelate ethics and
aesthetics of indeterminacy, being aware of the latent Figure 4: Price Fun Palace
idealism residing within this relationship. This ambivalence
indubitably leads to a split in the approach: either to relinquish
any visual representation or, on the contrary, to capitalize on
the representational aspect.
Cedric Price, for example, an architect and educator from

whom Archigram drew much of its inspiration, deliberately
refused to release any representation of his Fun Palace
project, an architecture of fun devised in 1961 together with
Joan Littlewood (Figure 4). Fun Palace was a three
dimensional grid, enveloping rectangular support for diverse
improvisatory cultural situations. All the internal components
including escalators, connections, screens, and platforms
were mobile and transportable, allowing addition, subtraction,
and adjustment. Flexibility of the internal elements offered
diverse spatial variations and promoted various activities.
The whole complex, in the activity it supposed to enable, and
its structure celebrated indeterminacy by enabling meaningful Figure 5: Rogers and Foster - Reliance Controls building in
personal immediacy which was usually constrained by a Swindon 1967
limited range of traditional offers (Price 2003).
Yet another feature of architecture created upon uncertainty

is its temporality. Temporality of its functions implies
34
temporality of its existence. One of the several attempts to

embody a design for uncertainty was a competition entry
proposed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers for a Centre
Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1971. A homage to
Price/Archigram "service shed", Pompidou Center was
envisaged as both a Fun Palace and an Instant City - a
structure "indeterminate, superserviced, media-saturated,
pop, popular" (Sadler 2005, p.163). Acceptance of the
proposal was embraced with a thrill of having the biggest
monument of architecture of service, lasting only for a short
time due to the conceptual modifications that took place
throughout the construction phase. Should it be considered
unsurprising then that the concept of uncertainty might itself
face the uncertainty of its acceptance and validity? Up to that
point, Team 4's (Richard Rogers and Norman Foster) 1967
Reliance Controls building in Swindon (Figure 5) was the
most plausible manifestation of indeterminate, flexible
architecture. This 'service shed building was envisaged as
an impersonal, rectangular envelope and frame designed as
neutral as possible and assembled from prefabricated parts
that created a free interior plan allowing permutations of
interior modular elements.
Uncertainty of change in a broader context was absorbed

through architectural medium and interpreted as a
meaningful reference point of design and as a source for
theoretical reflection. Situational and performative
architectural and urban practices that inspired the 1960s and
1970s are currently being reconsidered and re-energized,
embracing social participation and activism, merging the
planned with the unpredictable through dynamic realization
of public events.
35
2.2
Non-plan
The concept of indeterminate buildings liberated architecture

from providing an exact and immutable response to specific
needs, allowing for the unpredictability of change to
determine its existence. Uncertainty was mainly exhausted
through incompleteness, temporality, and plug-in unplug on
demand; one half being architecture and the other half event.
Yet another perspective embraced uncertainty by allowing for
a partial transformability and deficy in floor plan as following
practices will evoke.
The ideology of self-expression and the originality of an

architect of the Modern Movement was soon abandoned,
leaving room for a revival of interest in communal systems.
Workshops, consultations, self-build concepts, or free layouts
were some of the methods developed in order to redress the
power disbalance between the architect and the user,
presenting the user as a reestablished link in the decision
making chain. Such a new paradigm opened up possibilities
to experiment with uncertainty, incompleteness, and
indeterminacy.
Taking part in the increasing concern for resident

participation, John Habraken was among those giving credit
to people as active collaborators in the making of
surrounding. When given 'support' as a framework, users
could actively operate within a sociocultural context. By
extension, such support allowed for changes in program and
use over the course of the time (Teerds et al. 2011). The idea
was introduced through a concept of levels which was a
guiding principle for dealing with the uncertainty of change.
The concept explains that there is a succession of
interventions on successive scales, meaning that the larger
scale provides the context for the lower level and so on, all
the way down to the inhabitant who furnishes his/her home.
Thus, an urban planner produces a framework in which
buildings will be released, although he/she is not significantly
concerned with the architectural expression of those
buildings. Similarly, an architect makes a context for an
interior designer, if not for an inhabitant. Now in the twenty
first century, we might notice that nothing has significantly
changed in the succession of responsibility from Habraken's
time until now, except in the smallest scale where part of the
authority is reclaimed by the user. Around fifty years after he
first introduced the concept, in current conditions of rapid
36
change where the future of the design project is uncertain,

John Habraken has restated his belief that:
(...) if you concentrate on your own level then you can also
be much more open towards unexpected changes, you can
improvise more. I've always thought that was really important
in education as well. With a large project, the way you
structure the architectural principles in such a way that you
can still use them to proceed in different directions is crucial.
That is also related to the attitude of the designer, who must
have a clear cut vision for the crux of the project. With this
you can head in different directions, and dealing with what
was not foreseen makes the profession even more exciting!
In short, as a designer you do not need to have a vision of
the end point; but you must find a way to state or erect the
things that you find important. How precisely that will be
combined in a particular situation is something that only
evolves during the course of the process (Teerds et al. 2011,
p. 11) 9.
Successive logic led to the introduction of support and infill as

two elements of the building, each different in the authority
ascribed to them. Support is communal, designed by
architect. It includes entrances, corridors, staircase, spaces
for meeting, as well as public spaces, inside and outside - the
realm of the architect's responsibility. Infill is left to the
inhabitants to arrange according to their own will. Seemingly
paradoxical, what Habraken proposed was a building without
floor plans. The idea sounded offensive from a professional
perspective, as the layout had been regarded as the essence
of an architectural project. Nevertheless, non-plan meant
everyone could decide upon: aesthetic, costs, the size of the
apartment, etc.
Separation of support and infill was actually one of the first

introductions of dimension of time into architectural thinking.
Change was the key aspect of grasping the essence of a
building. Acknowledging the dimension of the time in life of
the building opened up room to appreciate the uncertainty of
its use and existence.
When there is time there is indeterminacy. Indeterminacy

needs room to exist, whereas determinacy leads from one
9Teerds, H, Habraken, J & Havik, K 2011, 'Define and Let Go: An interview
with John Habraken', OASE Journal for Architecture, vol.85, pp. 8-16.
37
point to the next, in a straight line (Messu 2011, p. 118).
Lucien Kroll was the first to employ this idea of architecture

made of uncertainties, being a pioneer of the participation
movement of the 1970s. In his project for the Maison Mdical
student accommodation at the University of Louvain - La
MM, open process embraces new necessities and
decisions that are always provisional and incomplete. The
form evolves through time, being defined in a continuous
exchange with its surrounding (Figure 6). La MM is known
for its seemingly arbitrary disposition of columns. Varying
spans introduce versatility and allow for users' creativity in
appropriating the space. Kroll anticipated the diverse and
unpredictable needs of students through a combination of
durable, but versatile and cheap, demountable structures
(Galle & De Temmerman 2013). However, the range of
interventions could not be infinite and several precautions
Figure 6: Habraken La Meme (1970-72) Maison Mdical
were to be set in order to manage users' participation. A
student accommodation at the University of Louvain - La
catalogue of compatible components was set, construction
MM (Photo: Peter Blundell Jones)
modulation was set to 30cm grid, and technical services
positioned at accessible points. Such measurements enabled
numerous layout variations and, at the same time, control
over the process. One result which might have been
overseen was that participation enhanced appreciation and
attachment to the space, so that transformation was hindered
as users were often reluctant to dismantle their own work
(Galle & De Temmerman 2013).
A more recent practice shows how allowing for uncertainty of

change can be a lucrative play. Solid is an economically,
technically, functionally, and emotionally sustainable
typology of buildings devised in Netherlands. It is designed
as a constructed envelope that offers flexibility to the
buildings tenants on deciding size, configuration and use of
the space (Figure7). In a solid building, people can rent space
and fit it out for whatever purpose, of course, with respect to
their neighbours and to neighborhood relationships.
Sustainability assumes that a building is capable of having a
long life-span of two hundred years if two concepts are met:
accommodation capacity (being able to adapt to very different
uses that change over time) and preciousness (to be loved
Figure 7: Tony Fretton Architects: Solid (Photo: Peter
by its occupants and surrounding). Accommodation capacity
Cook)
is an individual value, whereas preciousness is a collective
one. A Solid, therefore, is a valued building that constantly
changes according to new uses and programs. It is a solid
response to dealing with the time factor and its inherent
uncertainty.
38
2.3
Fragile Potential
So far in this chapter, uncertainty has been addressed as a

natural and desirable condition of a building's existence,
noticed and appreciated only from the moment of putting an
edifice into use. Yet another approach nurtures a design
practice in which uncertainty and chance are natural
conditions of architecture throughout its development.
Baubotanik is a method of construction originated in
Germany that incorporates a plant ecosystem into the context
of architecture (Figure 8). Architectural aesthetics, by
inference, rests on the interference of ecosystemic matters.
Having plants as structural and technical support results in
built structures being tied to chance and change to the extent
that, in extreme cases, the entire existence of a structure Figure 8: Platform in de Steveraue
depends on them. The use of plants as a load-bearing system
directly questions the stability of the edifice which would be
permanently dependent on a sensitive and inconstant
context, such as that of an ecosystem (Schwertfeger 2011).
The concept exposes architect to the bio-dynamics and
uncontrollability of the natural growth process. Loss of full
control over the process leaves an architectural form
characterized by accidental processes, hope, and risk.
Natural growth of a botanic building means that a load-

bearing structure becomes thicker over time, thus providing
more stability. However, its rigidity decreases reciprocally
depending on the type of the plant. Besides this fact, growth
patterns of plants planted together may be inconsistent, as
plants may dry out or die due to incorrect or insufficient care.
Such uncertain patterns of growth and behavior presuppose
another kind of stability, turning it into processual variable
(Schwertfeger 2011).
The design of botanic buildings favors a process and

processual creation of stability rather than focusing on the
final result. To allow for a certain degree of control, temporary
support structures serve to follow the process and adjust to
changes. These structures support young and fragile plants
and are inserted into construction while elements overarch
and grow together until the plants are able to independently
provide stability. Once the plants become thicker and are able
to bear load, support can gradually be removed. Likewise,
parts of the structure could be reinserted where plants have
devitalized or die. In this sense, support structures serve as
'stabilizers of unpredictabilities'. Expectations and
39
requirements from the outset could thus be evaluated only

after the edifice has 'grown'. Progression of its formation
allows for reflection on every act upon the structure, whether
careless or careful, and enables the observation of the impact
of every decision made. The inability of technical
interventions to fully control the process implies the
acceptance of the precarious state of the architecture.
Although it might be technologically possible to predict growth

patterns by simulating specific growth conditions, even
including a technical manipulation of the entire plant growth,
the decision to adopt a precarious state over stability includes
the development of particular nurturing concepts. Dealing
with uncertainty in a building's development gives rise to such
nurturing practices that hardly exist in current architectural
discourse, except where it is perceived as a mere technical
matter.
How can a project be justified when its final outcome is

unknown? How can a process be explained without showing
what the final outcome is going to be when it is unknown what
exactly it is?
Certainly, it is a matter of trust and belief. In alternative

studies of public spaces, such as the one for Saint-Jean, a
small commune in France, indeterminacy turned out to be a
generator of many original situations. The action study took
form in a series of microactions, where each act and decision
taken influenced the occurrence of the next one. The
proposals were not finalized but were suspended and opened
for appropriation. Through a series of small events, the idea
was never to merely occupy a site but to reveal new uses
when the potential of the site was not recognized.
Unexpected developments would sometimes generate an
attitude that proactively encouraged the exploration of the
undertaken embraced with a pleasure of uncovering the next
stages. Indeterminacy proceeded from balances and
constant dialogues between local residents, project
managers, and political teams. It emerged in encounters and
negotiations, failures and successes. It disclosed that things
unfold rather than pop-up unexpectedly. Uncertainty of this
unfolding affirmed circumstance and coincidence. The void
objective of the final outcome allowed an architect to break
free. The openness resulted in an acceptance of uncertainty
and allowed for original situations to emerge. "Indeterminacy
is multifaceted. It favors diversity. Far from being a position,
it is a condition" (Messu 2011, p.120).
40
41
03
Uncertainty in Architectural Education?
Increasing awareness of the aspect of uncertainty in the

professional field has, according to Donald Schn 10, figured
from controversies of a profession's performance and its
place in society. Such crisis of confidence in the profession
resonated similarly in professional education (Schn 1987).
There is much concern expressed about the existing gaps
between prevailing conceptions of architectural knowledge
and expected competencies in the field. Apart from failing to
adequately introduce students to the future and the context in
which they will practice, architectural schools are struggling
to keep up with the changing character, complexity, in
stability, uncertainty, and changeability of the needs and
problems of society. These dynamics reverberate on
architectural domain, in one part, through proliferation of
novel materials and new modes of manufacturing and
construction, as well as through new software performing
novel modes of analysis. Besides all of the above mentioned,
schools are persistently reserved about taking part in, let
alone leading, the rising debates of our time.
Architectural education is a subject which provokes strong

opinions, though with a rather rare consensus. Nevertheless,
critical observers of the practice of education notice that
conventional architectural education is mostly ignorant to the
existence of the indeterminate zones of practice 11. An inert
and rather conservative attitude towards change leaves most
of schools of architecture incapable of teaching students to
make their own decisions under conditions of uncertainty.
Surprising obedience to the normative thinking of the current

educational system calls for a serious questioning of its
detached and conservative reflection on the processes to
which it relates symbiotically. Deployment of the new working
modes could only be achieved if traditions are inspected,
revisited, destabilized or even destroyed. In light of the
uncontended tone of discussions sentient in this paper, a few
examples of radical pedagogical experiments in architecture
will be examined in order to evoke and provoke dormant
10 See Donald Schn: The Reflective Pratitioneer. How Professionals Think
in Action, London 1983, p. Vvi.

11 Already addressed in the first chapter - Reflection in/on action. Those
are situations presented as uncertain, unique case or situations of conflict

among values.
42
restlessness and to activate an attitude necessary for

questioning the evident inertness and obsolescence of
current educational practices.
43
3.1
Normative
3.1.1
Your last chance to be creative
As stated in the beginning, this research voices the opinion
that current conventional education in architecture (apart This is a sentence I often heard from my
from a minority of unconventional attempts for radicalization) tutors during my studies of architecture. As a
is unreal, that is to say, abstract. It will be pointed out from
student full of enthusiasm and willingness to
two main aspects (partly discussed in two previous chapters)
break new ground, my naive, amorphous,
that the inert nature of traditional/conventional architectural
and narrow-minded understanding of the
curriculum remains alienated from the realities of the context
in which it operates. Alienated, since it is deprived of any world of architecture found itself stuck in the
influence of the uncertainty upon its course. disappointment of imagining a scary,

discomforting, brutal, rigid, constrained, and
The first aspect is the nature of design process. Ashraf
Salama (1995) has extensively elaborated the limits and unimaginative real world practice, an
shortcomings of the current situation in architectural inconceivable afterlife of education. Was it
education 12. Beinart (1981) 13 explained that the isolation of supposed to mean that real practice banned
knowledge from its application stems from the tradition of
and prohibited any creative and novel
Ecole Des Beaux-Arts, where separation of academic and
response to its strict domain of regularities
'atelier' learning left educational energy outside of the
and musts?
academic core. In a normative design studio, the main
instruction is provided within the design studio, where the Such an inexplicable, paradoxical idea of
theoretical material given in the lectures is applied and tested. parallel lives of architectural education and
A student is given a defined brief written by his/her design
practice left me with an uneasiness to
instructor. What is initially seen as problematic is that the
comply with their mutual contradiction. In a
information it contains are oversimplified and in most cases
are constituted according to the personal values and bid to objectify the conviction, I looked for
preferences of the tutor (Salama 1995). The context it supportive arguments gathered around
encapsulates is abstract and notably excludes many of the similar dissatisfaction, where I have
variables of real life conditions, such as the client or the user evidenced a growing discomfort among
of the project. More importantly, it consciously omits
researchers, theoreticians, practitioners,
sociological, economic, political, technological, as well as
and educators (even among related
environmental realities on which every design is in fact
practitioners such as civil engineers) with the
dependent (Weber 1994). For practicing architects, brief-
building and design proposals are parallel activities. current situation in design education and
Problems and solutions emerge together rather than practice of architecture. Many of the
emerging independently or one necessarily preceding the comments in regard to these arguments are
other - design in parallel with the brief, formulated and agreed reminiscent of my personal experience as a
with the client. In education, a student receives a brief and
student of architecture and thus of the
after it is finalized he/she delivers a proposal. By approaching
resulting discomfort with the context of
the task with superficial analysis, students leap into a virtual
learning, found to be of congruent critical
value among many other schools.
12
See Ashraf Salama: New Trends in Architectural Education: Designing
the Design Studio, North Carolina 1995
13Julian Beinart: Structure of the content of design, Architecture
Education Study, Consortium of East Coast School of Architecture 1981
44
design solution, developed from an initial concept barely

changed from the outset. These projects are often presented
as finished products ready to hit the market. The success is
evaluated by its capability to be 'sold at the issue of the show.
Students also complain about the pressure in some studios
to come up with a concept in the early stages of design rather
than letting one emerge from research or design
development. Any act of external criticism to focus on a
process is seen as an inhibitor of a students creativity.
Such design trajectory is straight, pointed in one direction,

and oriented beforehand as it is devoid of any obstacles
which are clearly nonexistent within the vacuum setting of the
isolated and abstract program it follows. In the 'virtual world',
a practitioner can suspend or control some impediments to
the situation which would not be possible in reality.
"Constraints that would prevent or inhibit experiment in the
built world are greatly reduced in the virtual world of the
drawing." (Schn 1987, p. 75). With no time to properly
investigate problem, complete emphasis is put on the
perfection of the concept and the final presentation rather
than on the methods and techniques which lead a project
(Weber 1994). This implies that design studio focuses on the
project rather than on the process, thus providing very limited
experience in the nature of design (Watson 1993). The only
correction of the project is made through a desk crit
intervention by the studio instructor which may often radically
alter the entirety of the student's design. Evaluation is
therefore made on the single perspective of a tutor which is
often dependent on his/her style and preference, or
eventually made in front of a closed architectural audience,
preserved from any external opinion or critique. Even Donald
Schn's reflection-in-action is elaborated within the limits of
the design studio, problematically reduced to a mode of
communication based on showing and telling and listening
and interpreting which have little to do with actual processes
of design. Such a mode of learning prevents free reasoning
and undisputed decision-making by the student
himself/herself, providing little chance for learning through
his/her own experience.
A conventional design studio favors individual endeavor over

a collective one. Isolated work on a project provides little
opportunity to learn from group work or from interaction of any
kind. Even though real projects are the result of collaborative
effort, studio work persistently encourages individualistic
expression, meliorating a ground for professional egoism,
often seen in the emulation and favoring of star architects.
45
Solitary contemplation is an uncommon way of tackling real-

life architectural phenomena, which problematizes even more
the alienated character of the current design studio practice.
The second aspect is the context of the design. Many of the

variables, often inconsistent in their nature, which shape and
influence design process are left behind or oversimplified
(Salama 1994). In a conventional design studio, students are
hardly aware of the reality of the client. This results in a
romantic image of the architect as an artist, ignorant to any
kind of social responsibility and thus confusing his/her role as
a service provider and of his/her professional effectiveness,
as he/she is devoid of any active involvement in the
economic, political, technological, and social context within
which buildings are usually built and dependent on (Kostof
1986). As a consequence, students have a naive perception
of the realities of real-world practice which causes confusion
once they step out of the idealized world of academia.
These comments aim to demonstrate that architecture

students, provided a normative education, lack knowledge of
the realities of practice. Apart from the fact that such
knowledge remains inapplicable to what it should serve, it
appears inadequate for dealing with inconsistency,
incompleteness, indeterminacy, and uncertainty of design
activity. As Schn argues, a generic or universal approach to
design falls short of acknowledging indeterminate zones of
practice, as he names them. Dealing with a unique case, a
practitioner cannot derive instrumental rule from his/her
existing knowledge to solve the situation, as it does not have
a precedent. In a similar situation of conflict among values,
where choosing the importance of one factor over another
may lead to the negligence of other values, unpredicted side
effects or risks can be caused or generated. Such conflicting
requirements, again, could not be reconciled through
analytical approach or any universal formula. Uncertainty,
inherent to the design conception and extended through the
use of the building, implies a unique approach to every
situation encountered, making any kind of generic knowledge
or verified pattern of problem-solving redundant. It implies
that some other modes of learning should be deployed in
order to generate a specific design attitude sympathetic to the
indeterminate and uncertain situations of practice which,
within a reasonable threshold of tolerance, can often bring an
enthusiasm and pleasure to working, as well as push the
limits of innovative and creative production.
46
3.1.2
Flattened Bologna
Discussion about higher education in Europe inevitably

attracts comments on the Bologna Process. Although its true
meaning has already been heavily criticized among students,
professors, staff, and technicians, it will be addressed here
briefly as it obliges universities to restructure their systems
according to new standards, largely agreed upon within a
global politico-economic context.
The Bologna Process, named after a city which hosted a

meeting of the education ministers of twenty-nine countries,
was initiated in 1999 with the signing of the Bologna
Declaration 14. The meeting launched a radical and still-
ongoing process of reforming Europes universities and
higher education institutions 15. It also aimed to ensure unified
fields of study with greater mobility for students, making it
easier to enroll in a bachelor's program and then to follow up
with a master's program in different countries, gaining
experience abroad. A major effort of the Bologna Process
was the creation of a generic curricula system that was
supposed to facilitate the process of mutual recognition.
After one and a half decade of its constitution, despite its

positive objective to unify educational systems and increase
exchange, Bologna still attracts many critics of its
inconsistency in real application. The arguments against are
mainly directed towards Bolognas abandonment of what
should be the central idea of higher education - the creation
of graduates equipped with critical thought as well as
scholarly and scientific rigor. Felix Grigat, a representative of
the German Association of University Professors and
Lecturers, argues that degrees are now more skills-oriented
rather than focusing on the development of critical thinking 16.
14Joint Declaration of the European Ministers of Education, Bologna, 19

June 1999. Available at: <http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-
Main_doc/990719BOLOGNA_DECLARATION.PDF>
15The Process intended to modernize Europe's university education
system and to reduce the traditional diversity of European universities by
unifying degrees, replacing them with the three years of Bachelor and
two years of Master, plus the Doctoral degree, and implementing the
modularization of teaching, standardized testing to increase inter-
compatibility between institutions.
16 He argued at a British Council conference in Wildbad Kreuth, near
Munich, on 3 May, which compared the German and UK higher education

systems.
47
New modes of internal structure organized around modules

and prescribed curriculum omit the acquisition of a kind of in-
depth knowledge indispensable to scholarship.
Modularization, intended to lead to standardization, breaks
the continuity and contextualization of learning by
segmenting it into chunks, creating particles of learning
material linked together through a system of iterative and
immediate testing. Each module strives for a distinct identity,
fragmenting the range of approaches which usually have no
common ground. An abundance of modules condensed in a
short period of acquisition often generates a pressure among
students to achieve results quickly and effectively, holding
their concentration on separate tasks without allowing them
to grasp the whole and make reasonable connections of
processed material. While the old system was defined by
Humboldts 17 thought that a student was to carry out his/her
own research (under the supervision of a professor), the
binding character of lectures of the Bologna Process is
biased towards a system comparable to a secondary
education 18.
Perhaps the biggest criticism is oriented towards the

longevity of studies, as students are able to complete their
studies earlier. The system promotes a more flexible
progression into postgraduate education by allowing students
to enter the labor market earlier with the chance to return to
a master studies program in order to gain more competence
on demand. Nevertheless, critics of the Bologna Reform
stress that the new curricula are compressed versions of
longer programs, so that there is not enough time for
assimilation, reflection, and a critical approach to learning,
which threatens the quality of the degree. Such
circumstances might recurrently reduce the employability of
new graduates when competing against graduates from the
previous system, which had a longer first cycle, or against
those who have obtained a master's degree 19.
Overall, the Bologna process not only encourages the
17Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767 1835), founder of the Humboldt

University, Berlin, Germany, divided education into three steps:
elementary schooling, and secondary schooling and university education.
See also: Wilhelm von Humboldt, in: Prospects: the quarterly review of
comparative education, vol. XXIII, no. 3/4, UNESCO: International Bureau
of Education Paris: 1993, pp. 613623.
18
See Tanjev Schultz: Die Bachelor-Blamage. Avalibale at:
<http://www.sueddeutsche.de/karriere/bologna-reform-die-bachelor-
blamage-1.463089>
19 Ibid.
48
standardization of knowledge by harmonizing the quality of

academic degrees and exam criteria through the creation of
a common credit system (the European Credits Transfer
System), but it risks the encouragement of a degradation of
expectations. This has a direct repercussion on the quality of
the content processed in the schools under the system, apart
from the fixity and uniformity which reduce chances for more
versatile and expanded learning opportunities.
To reverse the whole process appears to be too naive, but

we can try to find ways of developing solutions to alleviate its
failures.
49
3.2.1
School's out
A landmark of institutional critique was established with the

1968 students riots of the Unite Pedagogique No. 6 in Paris,
as a revolt against the pedagogy of the Beaux-Arts. It was an
outspoken accusation of the curricula, incapable of
addressing a contemporary context, where a greater
relevance of architectural education to the needs and social
concerns of the time was demanded. The 1969 burning of the
Yale school, allegedly by students, represented a similar
unrest.
Pedagogical experiments were crucial catalysts of change in

architectural discourse and practice of the postwar period.
Architectural radicalism of this era revealed discomfort and
anxiety caused by the disciplines unstable position amid
technological, socio-political, and cultural transformations of
the time. It represented a collective defiance against the
anchored authority of institutional and bureaucratic structures
(Colomina et al. 2012). Alternative visions of the discipline
were transcended through experimental pedagogical
initiatives, having an education as a generator of subversive
actions. Radical pedagogies challenged conventions at
various scales, operating as an active agent rather than the
solitary thinker of the processes they were concerned with
(Colomina et al. 2012). The most radical of initiatives was
formulated in a question: What would a school of architecture
look like if there was no curriculum?
If we are to challenge the current educational system we have

to, as Ivan Illich (1971) impatiently argues, engage in a
search for an institutional inversion. It initially implies the
rethinking of the relationship between the school and
education. Adding to this thought, the argument for a
necessity of change departs from Illich's definition of the
school as "the age-specific, teacher related process requiring
full-time attendance at an obligatory curriculum" 20, in order to
place contradictions to hierarchies and behaviors given by
this definition at a center of its interest. In the case of the
school of architecture, opinions are divided in terms of their
function. On one side, it is assumed that the school serves as
20
Ivan Illich in Deschooling Society argues against three main features
that define a school: age, teachers and pupils, and full-time attendance,
continuing to discuss about the phenomenology of public school as its
counterpoint.
50
a training ground for a real world application - a job, whereas

on the other side there is a belief that it should serve to foster
self-development. To maintain only one position seems
unfeasible when, in a recent history, we have experienced
both the de-industrialization and the collapse of the market,
which makes education for the job unsustainable. Moreover,
it has been assumed that 65% of newer generations will have
jobs that do not yet exist. 21
If it means that today most architecture graduates will not

even become architects, it suggests that, as students, we are
to be prepared to define our own vocation in society.
Nevertheless, this is of less interest here as the purpose is to
discuss and deal with capacities and capabilities of
architectural education today.
The past decade has been marked by several pedagogical

experiments which sought to deal with issues of the
encountered sociopolitical and economic situation. Illich's
concept of deschooling has never been more relevant to the
radical transitions in the meaning of school, given the largely
accommodated interrelation of digital tools and learning, as Figure 9: Visual medium used by The Public School
well as free access to information. Los Angeles (Photo: Julie Faith)
A good educational system should have three purposes: it

should provide all who want to learn with access to available
resources at any time in their lives; empower all who want to
share what they know to find those who want to learn it from
them; and, finally, furnish all who want to present an issue to
the public with the opportunity to make their challenge
known. (Illich 1971, p.75) 22
One of these deschooling alternatives which will be given a

place here is The Public School, a contemporary initiative
which is an educational strike prompted by the question of
relevance of the accredited academic curriculum. It began in
2007 in Los Angeles by defining itself as the school without
curriculum (Figure 9).
the public school is a school with no curriculum. it is not

accredited, it does not give out degrees, and it has no
affiliation with the public school system. it is a framework that
supports autodidactic activities, operating under the
21 Jim Caroll: 65% of the kids in preschool today will work in jobs or
careers that do not yet exist. Available at:

<http://www.jimcaroll.com/2008/05/65-of-the-kids-in-preschool-today-
will-work-in-jobs-or-careers-that-don't-yet-exist/#.UXQ8uMr05q4>
22Available
at:<http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Illich/Deschooling/intro.html>
51
assumption that everything is in everything. as an educational

model, the public school does not apply to a traditional set of
values related to success and failure. participation in the
public school requires a commitment to process. education is
discursive. participation turns the tables; it redistributes the
authority between teacher and student, expert and public. 23
The idea was to create an open online platform for

autodidacts around the world to exchange knowledge without
enrolling or paying and without accredited teachers. Anyone
interested can join, propose courses, and gather around
debates on topics extracted from real time and space,
addressing real concerns. The Public School is not affiliated
with any union, political party, or the state educational
system. It is a space for radical communal self-education.
Two of the initiatives have been directed towards
architecture, one in New York and another in Brussels, which
will be referenced here. They are unique within the network
of the Public School projects as they are founded in reference
to a specific discipline, striving to open it up to various public.
[Case study] The Public School for Architecture

Brussels 24 (the same project was originally conducted in
New York) is an experiment in open source education. It is a
self-organizing educational program where the curriculum
and schedule are proposed by the general public through the
schools website. A group of volunteers (The Public School
Committee) is responsible for reviewing proposals and
developing the classes. It is a school with no assessment, no
qualifications, and no professional validation. It has no
building and no infrastructure. It is an entirely dispersed
organization. As the title indicates, it is not a school of but
for architecture, a forum for learning that thinks about
architecture and discusses what it can be. Its purpose is to
offer topics and discussions beyond the limits of current
educational practices, providing a means for the general
public to get involved and participate in debates, and allowing
access to architectural culture otherwise typically out of
reach. As stated in its description of intentions, the schools
mission is to create a new public for architecture while making
architecture more permeable to the public. It is participants,
therefore, who define each event and evaluate the quality and
types of interactions. This also does not imply that the
outcome of any of the schools events is an indicator of
23 General description of the Public School: <http://www.psfa-

bxl.org/en/introduction>
24 Official web page: <www.psfa-bxl.org>
52
achievement.
The Public School (for architecture) as an educational model

responds to the issue of uncertainty by providing lectures and
topics which are extracted from ongoing situations and
circumstances, therefore addressing current problems and
occurrences of the wider context influencing architectural
domain. Apart from providing updated information and
experiences, it invites architects, designers, and students of
any built environment discipline to critically contextualize the
learning and teaching of their formal education against the
learning and teaching of their practice. Learning based on
interest rather than on obligation develops the ability to reflect
critically and constructively not only on ones own products,
but also ones own process of work. When thinking about the
formal manifestation of education upon uncertainty, the
Public School, as an open platform, is interesting for the
correspondence between the normative studio based
educational model and interactive, communal, and
collaborative learning opportunities. It is probably way too
radical to think that such un-institutionalized practice would
substitute or extrude the current institutionalized education,
but nevertheless, it is interesting to imagine a design studio
as a model for a collective education, which re-examines the
authority of the student and ithe nstructor, the architect and
the public, and architecture and other fields of knowledge.
The internet has caused an educational shift that should not

be ignored. Apart from making information more accessible,
it gives more possibilities to share, produce, exchange, and
distribute knowledge. Additionally, it contributes to the
redefinition of the hierarchical structures of the normative
education, where the vertical alignment of the student and the
mentor (mentor > student) can be substituted for a horizontal
and simultaneous communication (student >< mentor). The
detachment of information from the space caused many non-
site specific initiatives to spring up. Giving talks or teaching a
whole course remotely in real-time, beginning with wikipedia
pages, blogs, and podcasts, have now been broadly
accepted and practiced. One of the best-known and currently
used formats of an open-source educational platform is the
MOOC (Massive Online Open Course), in which courses are
open for an unlimited number of online participants.
Are these open-source models a good direction towards

democratizing education and meliorating critical thought?
Despite being criticized for lacking an academic standard,
those initiatives represent a great step towards breaking the
53
limits of normative educational constraints. If still embraced

with a partly reserved attitude, they might induce the creation
of some kind of transitional forms which connect the
modularized content provided by the Bologna Reform and the
effect the the internet has on knowledge distribution.
Considering that, in the future the learning might gradually

move out of schools, schools need to, instead of teaching,
redirect their interest towards producing knowledge.
Moreover, as we are approaching an era of a peer-to-peer
immediacy, knowledge is produced and shared instantly. It
might encourage architects to step out of their comfort zone
and thus add to the blurring of the disciplines limitations.
54
3.2.2
Learning live
The latest directive from the European Union 25 strives to

achieve more uniformity among European universities by
aligning study periods and by making mutual recognition of
diplomas easier between countries. This decision sparked
the latest gathering of UK students by the Architecture
Students Network (ASN), for the purpose of discussing the
future of architectural education. The weekend conference
provoked questions of the longevity of studies, but
discussions also lead to students wanting the inclusion of
practitioners attending the project crits, reviews, and tutorials.
They all agreed that a degree of reality would have to be a
part of the learning experience, where live projects would be
seen as a positive step in engaging with the real world.
If architecture students need to face uncertainty of the design

process and learn more about how to operate in the real
world, why not provide a route for their education outside the
university campus?
Design-build is a pedagogical alternative to the theoretical,

studio-based, and media-driven design process commonly
featured in design schools. At the same time, it is a critique
of the missing reality found in many hypothetical academic
studio projects as well as of the representational tools used
by students for the purpose of presenting such projects.
While the traditional design studio is free of the pressures,
distractions, and risks of the real world, the design-build
model exposes students to those factors in their process of
learning.
Grounded in the realities that may include the site, setting,

clients, schedules, budgets, and technical demands of
construction, design decision-making is made more informed
and responsive. Such training, it is assumed, will result in
more informed and responsive future architects. (Canizaro
2012, p. 21)
[Case study] Rural Studio is the best known example of a

hands-on educational alternative. It is a design-build
community-outreach program founded by Samuel Mockbee
25
Rory Stott. "RIBA and Arb Team Up to Reform UK Architecture
Education" 23 Sep 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed 23 Aug 2015.
<http://www.archdaily.com/430643/riba-and-arb-team-up-to-reform-uk-
architecture-education/>
55
and D.K. Ruth in 1993, as an off-campus design and build

program of the Auburn School of Architecture in Alabama.
Today, the studio takes third and fifth-year architecture
students into rural Alabama to design and construct modest,
innovative projects for poor people. Students, while working
in teams, engage with real-life clients and respond to their
needs while struggling to find funding and searching for
materials to experiment with. The trajectory of design
process, therefore, depends on many indeterminate factors
which, at any point, might influence the direction of work and
in some cases change the project completely.
In its commencement, Rural Studio offered a course of study

for second and fifth-year students. About fifteen second-year
students assisted the designing and building of the houses
while receiving instructions in the materials and methods of
architectural history. They developed a concept by
interviewing clients to determine their needs. They worked
out several solutions, had the client choose the most
appropriate one, and then began construction. Another fifteen
fifth-year students spent one entire academic year in the
studio, designing and building community projects. The
finishing works and detailing would be left to the next group,
but already built parts of the projects would remain unaltered.
Students learned to collaborate in teams, since most of them
are used to working individually. As one of the second year
students explained, "We do everything as a group and learn
to compromise. Sometimes we yell at each other, but we
learn to figure things out together." (Oppenheimer Dean &
Hursley 2002, p.3).
Live-project is a significant departure from the traditional

studio where there is usually little systematic development or
assessment of communication and interpersonal skills.
Practicing architects need to be able to communicate
concepts to different audiences, which is not common for
students who do not gain experience in presenting their work
to these different groups. Assessment processes in schools
do not encourage students to share and develop their ideas
with each other. Moreover, this phase in the development of
a project (or its termination) contains yet another moment of
uncertainty bound to the communication of ideas and the
ability to negotiate. The uncertainty embedded in
communication is an important factor of project genesis which
should certainly be an integral part of a learning scenario.
Pedagogically, a live project can be a latter part of

architectural education as a type of supported proto-
56
practice. This would imply reinventing the school not as an

established hierarchy, but instead as an orchestrated
network, one that not only includes instructors, but invites
expert consultants, different disciplines, and other
institutions. The school then embeds itself within a
community, while all the project work is set locally and
engages with real issues.
57
Merging Uncertainties
The purpose of proposing a curriculum for uncertainty lies in

its opportunity to inform both the features of practice and the
missing aspects of normative architectural education, as part
of an enriched educational experience. As the hypothesis
stands for a particular link between uncertainty and creativity,
the final intention is to propose a model of architectural
education which would engender a new attitude towards
learning by acknowledging uncertainty in a continuous
enterprise. The main three chapters of this paper addressed
three seams of architectural concern: the design process, the
building in use, and the normative curricula. It was assumed
that the first two aspects bear inherent uncertainty which, if
promoted and appreciated, leads to a more responsive and
flexible design and learning. The third aspect examined the
possibilities of providing a context for the application of the
former. In order to propose a novel model, a means should
be found to connect all three different scales of uncertainty in
a continuous scenario. Before doing that, it is necessary to
summarize their conditions the main concepts and ways
they operate, in order to look for relationships and possible
modifications.
Uncertainty in design process was addressed in the first Figure 10: Uncertainty in design process
chapter, departing from the stance that the design outcome
is unknown and therefore uncertain. A diagram in Figure 10
shows the process of design conception in which several
moments of uncertainty are traced and their effect on design
process examined. The structure begins with uncertainty (#1)
since a student/designer does not precisely know what
he/she wants, so he/she sets up the system to bring forward
the uncertain outcome. Uncertainty is inherent in the phase
of problem identification where the investigation and detailed
analysis of the problem are ways to frame it and narrow down
the range of possibilities. Uncertainty in the formulation of the
program (#2) is initially addressed by imposing a framework
(matrix and chance are given as examples of framing tools)
and further exhausted through the application of rules and
transformation (reflection-in-action). These are set of actions
undertaken within the framework used to create and promote
uncertainty and thus, the emergence of unexpected
outcomes. The process continues through activities of
construction and reconstruction (conjecture and refutation -
#3) until the designer is satisfied with a certain outcome (#4).
Uncertainty of future use relates to the life of the building

58
(Figure 11). Whereas for design conception, uncertainty

refers to the discovery of the unknown outcome, for the life of
a building it refers to unknown future change based on the
inconsistency of the environment and users needs. The
concept of indeterminate buildings described in the second
chapter is based on the similar framing of the situation, where
the building is able to redefine itself within a range of possible
states determined by the designer. Even though the designer
may not know the exact solution, uncertainty is allowed and
controlled within the framework. While the outcome in the
case of the design conception refers to the emergence of an
unexpected solution, for a building in use it designates a
variation within a set of possible solutions. The termination
phase in this case might not exist, unless the building is
demolished.
Uncertainty in architectural education, a third chapter,

inspected the position of the current educational structures in
the scope of the changing character and complexity,
instability, uncertainty, changeability of the context in which it
operates. It was evidenced that conventional architectural
education is mostly ignorant to the existence of indeterminate
zones of practice, situations presented as uncertain, unique
case or situations of conflict among values, for which generic
knowledge proved to be inapplicable. Those situations ask
for a constant adjustment and greater flexibility of knowledge
which normative educational models based on a tradition of
the past century are not able to provide. It might seem that
such a concept relates to the notion of life-long learning which
asks for a constant update, it nevertheless addressed a need
for an urgent restructuring of the conventional curriculum, in
terms of being more responsive to uncertain changes and to
the character of indeterminate zones of practice. Several
alternative initiatives (The Public School, MOOC and design-
build) were presented as examples of informal learning
Figure 11: Uncertainty of future use
situations which broke away from normative hierarchies.
These were interesting for making a correspondence
between the conventional studio based educational model
and interactive, communal, and collaborative learning
opportunities. Even if seen as way to radical, these
pedagogical experiments sparked a thought of creating a kind
of transitional educational form which connects a
modularized content formed by the Bologna Reform and the
internet has on the dissemination of knowledge.
All three scales of uncertainty address the processes that do

not touch each other nor overlap, and hence each of them
can function independently. While the uncertainty in design
59
process happens before the artifact is brought to reality,

uncertainty of future use occurs during its lifespan. Both of
them are methods which promote and utilize uncertainty in
design enterprise, whereas uncertainty in education focuses
on finding an appropriate setting to achieve learning in a state
of constant transformation. By analyzing their interrelations,
it is possible to appreciate potential associations and devise
an overarching concept of a curriculum for uncertainty.
In order to achieve designing and learning in a continuous

state of uncertainty, uncertainty during the life of a building
would have to be considered during the conception of the
design. Yet, is it possible to generate a design process which
creates uncertain outcome dealing, at the same time, with the
uncertainty of future change?
The diagram in Figure 12 shows the possibility of merging

these two uncertainties, so that the latter becomes
considered in design conception. Appreciation of uncertainty
as a useful element in design formulation has to be followed
by the acceptance of change and the value of 'rethink' during
the life of the resultant project, meaning that the uncertainty
of future use is acknowledged from the outset. Awareness of
the uncertainty of future change may thus become an input
of design process. In order to provide their complementarity,
the final outcome would have to be left uncertain, so that the
building could transform to create surprise and unexpected
outcomes each time the user wants it to. It would be able to
continually redefine itself, although within a range of possible
states previously defined by the designer. For this last phase
of design process, the designers responsibility would be to
set the framework for the range and determine the ways to
choose and control its differing states. However, the
boundaries of possibilities could be extended if the user is
able to change the rules about how the building transforms.
Using uncertainty in a continuous enterprise is proposed as Figure 12: Diagram of common concepts
a novel method of work in design studio, whose aim is to
catalyze a more innovative and individual approach to design,
as well as to foster critical thought and reflection on the
process. Design process is therefore developed as follows: it
is initialized by the uncertainty of the outcome, aiming to
convert an indeterminate situation into an indeterminate
solution. The designer analyses the wicked problem and
once it is identified, he/she responds by constructing and
proposing a coherence of his/her own appreciations of the
situation. It helps to narrow down interests and to set
preferences which direct and define succeeding steps.
60
Framing of the situation is individual. Every practitioner

imposes his/her own 'guiding principles' upon the set of
requirements by defining personal preferences which are
often the result of individual experience. Each move
determines the direction of action and produces
consequences. Unintentional changes may be redirected
through new moves, forming new appreciations. It is a
constant process of change and adaptation to uncertain
situations. Finally, consequences of these actions, some
unintended, are appreciated and evaluated through analysis
and criticism. The process of design conception is left open
by setting a framework for possible future changes, allowing
for continuous transformations and redefinitions.
All three mentioned scales of uncertainty are further merged

and incorporated in a novel curriculum for uncertainty.
Figure 13: Conceptual scheme for a curriculum for uncertainty

61
Curriculum for uncertainty (Figure 13) consists of

one fixed module a design project, which is the core unit
and a place of synthesis of all the subsidiary knowledge from
other courses. The projects are developed through the
application of the main concept of designing for uncertainty
(Figure 12), which utilizes both uncertainties (of design
conception and future use) as structuring principles.
Situations of uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and value
conflict are favored contexts for design application, for the
reason of fostering an innovative and non-generic approach
and provoking critical thought. One-to-one tutorials are
abolished, as students now get different opinions from
diverse multidisciplinary consultants, which helps them in
placing their own arguments and developing a project
through critical reflection. All the project work is set either
locally and engaged with real issues as a live project (see the
section 3.2.2.) or a design studio is made more public by
inviting discussions and debates on undertaken projects.
Typical studio work, combined with more interactive,
communal, and collaborative learning opportunities re-
examines the hierarchies and blurs disciplines boundaries.
Figure 14: An example of four quadrant
The second key concept is that the lecture courses which
architectural curriculum
support and complement the design project are organized
according to need, meaning that no lecture would start until
students demanded it, according to the stage of the project.
The number of interested students would form a temporary
module to pursue a specified common interest. As the main
and subsequent projects are progressing, lecture courses
spin off and increase in complexity. Integral theorys AQAL
diagram 26 offers the matrix for understanding how these
courses relate to each other and provide a complete and
coherent grounding in various subjects. An example of a four
quadrant architectural curriculum (Figure 14) is used to guide
the selection of subjects to be studied and to ensure a degree
of completeness and coherence. Topics extracted from real
time and space, addressing real concerns are also part of the
26 Integral theory weaves together the significant insights from all the
major human disciplines of knowledge, including the natural and social

sciences as well as the arts and humanities. Ken Wilber has published
over two dozen books and in the process has created integral theory. A
complete listing of Ken Wilbers work can be found in Appendix 2 of Brad
Reynolds book, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken
Wilber (2004). Most of this material can be found in Wilbers Collected
Works.
62
courses, organized around more inclusive debates. This

makes the curriculum more flexible in adding or subtracting
subjects, thus being constantly updated and embedded
within the wider context. The non-obligatory nature of the
courses contributes to a better understanding of their
relevance as students are more motivated to study them.
Learning based on interest rather than on obligation develops
the ability to reflect critically and constructively not only on
ones own products, but also ones own process of work.
Diverse interests on subjects as well as different observations
and interpretations of these interactions contribute to different
learning trajectories, which fosters a degree of self-
knowledge as the basis for self-development. The classes
are conducted in a physical environment where students
observe their social interactions dependent on the space,
later reflecting on their experience. To heighten their
situational awareness, physical settings for study and
discussions are constantly rearranged, ranging from
workshops, conferences, informal gatherings, public events,
online courses, etc. As important as these lecture courses are
the visits, experiential exercises, and participation in ongoing
debates.
If assumed as necessary, an introductory course with an

objective orientation would be organized to provide a basic
context for understanding the challenges in creating a
sustainable culture. It would address issues of evolution and
(human) ecology, cultural adaptations to climate, flow of
recourses, as well as introductions to the more subjective
realms of psychology and culture.
63
Conclusions
This research was induced by a personal discomfort with the

current situation in architectural education, which was the
reason for relating the research question to the emergencies
in architectural education today. By situating itself in the
context of current debates, the research questioned evident
inertness and obsolescence of the current education for
architects and its surprising obedience to normative thinking.
It went on to reflect on the major features which architectural
education is missing (which make it problematically irrelevant
for the time we live in), stepping forward to develop an
alternative response based on acknowledging uncertainty as
a constructive part of the educational experience. The aim
was to examine the productive dimension of uncertainty in its
pertinence to architectural education, placing the emphasis
on accommodating and tolerating, rather than reducing and
avoiding it. Assumptions led to creating a concept for a
curriculum for uncertainty, designed to promote an
awareness of and being in uncertainties as a central condition
of learning. The pedagogical purpose of having such a
curriculum is to infuse students with uncertainty as an
essential standing point and continuous motivation for
knowing and discovering where doubting, questioning,
proposing, and challenging are inherent attitudes towards
learning.
Development of the concept for a curriculum for uncertainty

started by deriving two types of uncertainty: the uncertainty
of the solution during the process of design and the
uncertainty of future change during the buildings existence.
The former was traced by deconstructing the design process
in the phases where the uncertainty is assumed as evident,
and means were found to address and exhaust it. The latter
was examined within architectural discourse and several
practices that used uncertainty as a conceptual tool. These
two scales of uncertainty are later merged to form a situation
of designing in a continuous state of uncertainty, for the
benefit of increasing an awareness of the process and getting
to a solution which allows for continuous transformations and
redefinitions. A concept is meant to be generally applied
across a range of different types of design projects which are
set to form a core unit of the curriculum. Design studio as a
central module thus utilizes uncertainty in design in a setting
that provides increased interaction and collaborative learning
opportunities. Subsidiary modules that support the main
64
module are organized according to need and relevance.
Regarding the contributions of such a curriculum to

architectural education, it is possible to say that its novelty
resides in the creation of a methodology that relates existing
theories and projects not related before. As architectural
profession is constantly being reinvented, architects
gradually self-proclaim their activities. A curriculum for
uncertainty strives to address these concerns by leaving its
structure open and adjustable to the issues on demand.
Nevertheless, this is only a conceptual proposal of what is

assumed to be a sustainable solution to the pointed issues in
educational domain. A further investigation is needed in order
to test the feasibility of the concept of a self-transforming
curriculum, as well as the empirical evaluation of the impact
of such design proposals for real world practice.
The most interesting developments in education may have

yet to take place. But in order to appreciate the learning
potential of such intangible educational initiatives we must
learn to unlearn first.
65
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Value of Uncertainty in Architectural Education

Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Pinkau

Dr.des. Rebekka Ladewig

September 02, 2015

Submitted to Anhalt University of Applied Sciences,

Master of Science in Design Research

September 02, 2015

2015 Aleksandra Lalatovi.

All Rights reserved

The author hereby grants to Anhalt University, Bauhaus

Herewith I declare that I have prepared this Master thesis

I have marked any quotations given in the thesis in their original

Submitted to the Department Of Architecture on September 2,

[Micro scale] Architectural design is an enterprise of bringing

This thesis strives to indicate alternative routes to the current

Thesis Advisor: Stephan Pinkau

Title: Professor of Architecture

I am deeply indebted to the following individuals and institutions

Stephan Pinkau, for providing me a great opportunity to attend

Rebekka Ladewig, for her immense help in critical assesment

My COOP Design Research colleagues, for their friendship,

DAAD scholarship, for the financial support without which my

My family, for their love and care. This thesis is dedicated to

Introduction [an interview with myself] 1-5

01 Uncertainty in Design Process 13-14

02 Uncertainty of Future Use 30-31

2.2 Non-plan concept of

03 Uncertainty in Architectural Education?

3.2.2 Learning Live case study 54-56

Merging Uncertainties 57-62

Figure 1: The different views of the design process

Your thesis project at COOP Design Research Master Program

It seems that there might exist a particular link between

You are suggesting a need to rethink the current position of the

How does architectural education accommodate these

Was the situation similar in your school that prompted you to

The question to be asked is: What is the major feature that

irrelevant for the time we live in?

How pervasive is the increasing reactionary attitude towards the

How would the perspective of your work contribute to alternative

Learning through uncertainty assumes special conditions in

Learning through uncertainty requires adequate settings to foster

What is the position of your research in the current stream of

architectural discipline - theory, practice, and education. Each of

Most of the research in design and computation, within the

Aspirations to rationalize the design process can be traced

Such desire to 'scientize' design reemerged in 1960s, in the

by breaking more complex problems into smaller ones. It was

Analytical problem-solving preserves a static perspective on

3 In an interview with Wendy Kohn from 2002, he admits that a method

Attractiveness or aversion towards uncertainty is a matter of

Desire to know, often evident in scientific exploration, makes

attitude towards uncertain situations is assumed to be

However, Anderson noticed limitations in the human capacity

Threshold between desirable and undesirable uncertainty

4 In her two-year ethnographic exploration of scholarly researchers,

is the one that might constitute desirable uncertainty:

"In fact, it seems that desirable uncertainty appears to