Freedom and constraint in architectural design work

What is it about?

This paper attempts to clarify the concepts of freedom and constraint through a study of architectural design work, an activity that its practitioners represent as a constraining space, though they in fact manage to find new solutions within. The study aims at both factual and theoretical results: factual in that the difficulties of exercising this profession seem to be due less to constraints than the excessive degree of responsability and near impracticability of the studies they induce; theoretical because certain facts suggest that a fundamental revision of the negative relation generally understood to obtain between freedom and constraint is in order.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The article draw attention to examples in which freedom and constraint are not opposite, for example: prohibitions are not as constraining as prescriptions, and certain absorption strategies can open a path to freedom while following a given constraint 'to the letter'.