With so much around us to observe how might we break out of the routines we are all in to really see what the inspiration this observation can hold? I try and stay fresh by asking "why" and then "why" again.
Again, credit goes to IDEO's Jane Fulton Suri for making me think about this.
Take any simple example of people and place. How do people and the built environment interact with each other in the simplest places? Why does it work the way it does? Why really?
Innovation and change comes from seeing what is, and then creating new ways it could be.
So why is the key pad on the outside entrance to our building placed just far enough away from the door that I have to stretch to zip my key card over it fast, then reach to yank to door open before the sensor expires? Why is that? I am NOT an architect, in fact, am far from it, but I ask myself that question every morning when I spill my juice trying to balance and juggle my bag and key card.
If someone walked it, lived it, observed it, then built it I wouldn't be asking "why" and "why" again.
Oh that's too funny. I have the same experience with those swipe door keys, but I never once thought that anyone else had the same problem. Or wondered if it could be different. Hmm.
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