From The Spoon To The City:
This approach encapsulates the belief in the universal application of design frameworks across all scales and scopes of design.
In my experience as a residential landscape architect, having seen numerous projects from conception to construction, I realized this ideal could also be flipped on its head; One could utilize the theories and processes used to design vast landscape experiences to an individual listening room.
For myself, the overlap of these two methodologies can be boiled down to one word: Intention. This is what separates the boys from the men, Pinocchio to Picasso, a haphazard line to a Richard Serra masterpiece. Intention is what can define “good” design, successful work and a product that will truly speak to the essence of the space or person within the space.
Why design intentionally
One would think in a professional setting where clients pay high hourly rates for a refined product, this process would be a given. In a general sense, it is pervasive in every design office. Teams follow a creative but structured process of site/product inventory and analysis, client persona/budget considerations and internal goals and objective setting which begins to breathe life into the story of the design. Over time, a shared vision can emerge that when understood by the designer, client and the product, can create powerful, lasting beauty.
However, all too often, this directionality and message is lost in the extended process of creation. I have seen this occur in landscape design projects where structural elements, paths, plant material are indiscriminately placed to address surface level issues without consideration to the true, foundational intent.
When this occurs and compounds, the design can end up in a situation where weeks, months, years down the road, it is deemed unsuccessful: for some reason things feel out of place or context, does not function to your needs or is simply aesthetically discordant.
To design intentionally
In short, if your spoon, listening space or 100 acre public park followed some thought process, critical thinking and objective seeking for a desired outcome, the baseline criteria has likely been met. Upon completion, one should be able to trace what you are seeing and feeling back to that pervading message established at the conceptual phase.
To do this, there are 3 fundamental questions that I find form 90% of the vision regardless of the spoon, city or anything in between.
Who is/are the existing user(s) like?
What does the existing space or product represent?
What is an abstract idea that speaks to the essence of yourself/the place/product?
The answers to these questions may evolve over time, but at any point the doctrine of your design should be an amalgamation of these ideas. Although only a starting point, that may look quite different on the context of your work, this critical thinking at the onset of your process can serve as a North Star in being more intentional in your design endeavors.
Where design can fall short is when people do not take the time or care to consider what they are making/drawing/producing. I am familiar with the result of this lack of thinking because I was a victim of it the first 2.5-3 years of education. Today, when I look at any object or place, these are the parameters I perceive and judge to determine the merit of the work. So whether it is the spoon, your listening room or the city, take some time to consider the true intention of your work.
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