Monday, January 22, 2007

Excercise 01: Change Your View, Drive to Work

At the begining of this process I would like you to break away from the everyday. By snapping out of your typical day you will be better able to take in the design ideas to follow.

For the rest of the week take a different route to work.

It may take you longer, but it will be worth it.

Look around. Notice billboards, schools, neighborhoods, and roads. Imagine how the people who live around there are the same or different than you. Imagine their home life.

  • Compare the different routes in your mind. How are different parts of the city arranged? Find something you really like and identify the thing you most dislike.
  • Begin to undersatnd why you take your particular route. Think radically. How could other routes become more appealing?
  • Notice people. What are they doing? What are the wearing? Where are they going? Who are those people?
(I came across this idea while listening to Killer Innovations, a Podcast by Phil McKinney.)

1 comment:

Paul Cline, AIA said...

Well, I tried to take different routes to work. It turned out to be difficult. I'm always in a hurry and running late.

I did make it down three different main roads heading east to work.

On Sahara I found nearly the whole length from Hualapai to Arville was strip malls. As I got closer to Arville I found more walkers, bus stopers, and street life.

On Desert Inn I found a ton of undeveloped land. Most people walking weere school kids. Too many houses with driveways opening on to this major street.

On Flamingo its more comercializeed like Sahara but trending toward office buildings not retail. Flamingo gets me there fastest. Maybe the lights are better coordinated.