ABSTRACT
The imperative of asking questions The turn of the millennium saw new thinking in design education.1 Alain Findeli set out three priorities for the design eld: ‘a discussion on the purpose of design’, ‘the reform of design education’, and, as ‘there can be no responsible design without a responsible designer . . . the development of an individualistic ethics’ (Findeli 2001, 13).2 Hugues C. Boekraad went a step further, questioning whether, given the lack of a general theory in design, it was possible to teach it:
How, then, do we begin to teach design when, at least on the face of it, there seems to be constant change and resistance to standardization? R. Buckminster Fuller, speaking at the presentation of a design for a new campus at Southern Illinois University, challenged an audience of invited guests, the dean, professors, and students by saying: ‘The place to study is not in a schoolroom’ (Buckminster Fuller 2010, 62) and ‘I have learned much; but I don’t know much; but what I have learned, I have learned by trial and error’ (p. 36). Both statements pose a challenge even for teachers today, as Fuller’s core idea is that formal education does not in itself guarantee the level of knowledge we need for later work.
