ABSTRACT

Conceptualization Time is synonymous with money in the environment industry, and even the most intuitively orientated designers have to limit the period of incubation and revert to consciously directed executive control. Indeed, the gestation process can be accelerated by purposive thought, provided it is able to appreciate the non-rational rules which govern non-conscious mentation. Before discussing how this can be achieved, it will be beneficial to look at the two processing styles, in common use in architecture and planning, which may be called:

Natural processing, and Logical processing

Few designers would admit to employing the first method, since it implies immaturity. Yet it is extremely common, and accounts for some of the gigantic mistakes which happen across the whole spectrum of people and nations. Natural thinking follows the uninhibited rules of the brain, that is, rules unhindered by reason. Thought freely follows the pattern of schemas and pathways laid down and maximized at a pre-rational stage of mental development. Altogether, natural processing seems to be under the direction of the limbic brain which has scant regard for logic. It is counter productive when disguised as neocortical logic.