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The right story at the right time

Towards a tacit knowledge resource for (student) designers

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Abstract

In response to the lack of systematic study of architectural practice, the Building Stories methodology propounds storytelling as a vehicle for studying active cases, i.e., projects that are in the process of being designed and built. The story format provides a dense, compact way to deal with and communicate the complex reality of a real-world project, while respecting the interrelated nature of events, people and circumstances that shape its conception. With an eye to establishing a valuable knowledge resource of and for the profession, the paper explores how stories can be stored, organized and accessed so as to turn the growing story repository into a convenient instrument for students, educators and practitioners.

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Notes

  1. For an overview and comparison of such systems, see Heylighen and Neuckermans (2001).

  2. As will be pointed out further in the paper, Archie and PRECEDENTS make use of stories too, be it of a different nature than in the building stories approach.

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Acknowledgements

Ann Heylighen is a postdoctoral Fellow of the Fund of Scientific Research (FWO) Flanders. This paper was drafted mainly during her stay in the Design Practice Group at UC Berkeley in 2002 and made possible by a grant from the FWO Flanders which is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, College of Environmental Design, University of California, 232 Wurster Hall, MC # 1800, Berkeley, CA, 94720-1800, USA

    W. Mike Martin & Humberto Cavallin

  2. Department of Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, Dept. ASRO, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Ann Heylighen

Authors
  1. W. Mike Martin
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  2. Ann Heylighen
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  3. Humberto Cavallin
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Correspondence to W. Mike Martin.

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Martin, W.M., Heylighen, A. & Cavallin, H. The right story at the right time. AI & Soc 19, 34–47 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-004-0300-7

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