Promoting Conditions for Productive Accident

I contend that architectural design students who are repeatedly and productively exposed to accident during their design processes are, as a result, enabled to find value in their own work, and in general become able over time to make sense of unfamiliar and complex situations. In this paper, I examine the components of productive accident and the studio conditions which must be in place in order to help students to find value in accidents when they occur. I address work in which students (convinced of the value of productive accident) deliberately seek out and promote conditions encouraging the occurrence of such accidents. This paper considers attributes and instances of productive accident as understood in two courses I teach at the university level. As observed in student work drawn from both courses, I discuss the specific contributions of media, material, and time limitations and the productive territory of shifts in media which students engage in pursuit of productive accident.

Volume Editors
David Covo & Gabriel Mérigo Basurto

ISBN
0-935502-57-2