CREATIVE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - REFERENCE VERSUS PRECEDENCE

Sophisticated computational technologies enable the development of sup port systems for architectural design that are meant to facilitate acc ess to design knowledge. Systems of precedence knowledge are in good c urrency at present as they are expected to enhance creativity in the e arly conceptual phases of the design process by interacting with given design contexts. This paper presents the view that this is a false ex pectation: the use of precedents is counterproductive with respect to design creativity. It is proposed that creativity can be promoted by a rchitectural and other exemplars, but that they are most instrumental when partial and more ambiguous and manipulable than holistic exemplar s such as precedents. It is claimed that open-ended computational syst ems of references have the potential to enhance creative designing, an d they can do so regardless of the particular culture or micro-culture within which a designer operates.