Architecture schools use the framework of the design process for students to experience the thinking of an architect – communicating the narrative of their design from concept to refinement. The process seems simple, but there are hidden complexities of experimentation, problem-solving and critique that blur the process and perception of architecture schools into a mysterious uncertainty. Social Theorist Donald Schon stated, “One of the things that really bugs me about architectural education is that a lot of things are really implicit, remain under the surface and are not talked about.” Further, Architect Rivka Oxman stated there is “a neglect of attention to thinking in design as a legitimate pedagogical content.”

Though uncertainty seems intimidating when the building outcome is expected, it can also be viewed as an opportunity to explore the physical and playful actions of design thinking that strengthen the process and the building design. Arguably, architecture school teaches the performance of design thinking. The Learning Anatomy: A Performative School of Architectural Bodies seeks to demonstrate how the physical body and its movement can be a learning tool to perform design thinking and how the interaction with these learning tools can craft an alternative architecture school to experience the design process collaboratively.

Performative Drawing Tools
A series of drawing tools interpret Nikolaus Gansterer’s poetic texts of performing the artistic process with interdisciplinary actions of choreography, drawing and writing. They are accessory-scaled, worn on various body parts (from head to toe) that evoke the learning experience of performing the design process. Materials of cardboard, paper, threads and found trinkets were used, and their properties were challenged.

Constructing with Character
The collection of these drawing tools explores the term ‘Architectural Body’ as a costume embodiment of an architecture student’s learning identity. It is developed by the learning experiences and memories of the design process, resonating from the drawing tools. Sculptural and technological explorations of the human body by artists Rebecca Horn and Lucy McRae inform characters of science fiction and fantasy that inspire students to push their learning identity beyond the physical and gender limitations of their bodies. Making an Architectural Body draws parallels between architecture design and costume design, with steps of conceptual sketches, model-making, construction, and documentation. From this, the character costumes are developed – Spectre, Noughts and Crosses, and Multi-Fool Eyes, who personify the stages of the design process. Student performers were interviewed to express their feelings while wearing the costumes.