Insight as Problem-Solving in Architectural Designs:A Case Study

Problem statement: 

In the agreed-upon model of Wallas (1926), The Art of Thought, the third stage is illumination, which has remained a problem for design thinking. Without the ability to understand problem solving and illumination now, design thinking cannot be understood. Due to the instantaneity of this illumination and the nature of general illumination, it is impossible to provide a proper understanding of it.Many different methods have been developed to negate the designer’s direct confrontation with the problem and refer it to previous instructions. This means that a direct understanding of the design situation is not possible. However, there is evidence that suggests a direct understanding of the design problem. The questions of the present study are as follows: Is it possible to have a direct understanding of the design situation? If so, what is the mechanism? What does it have to do with productive thinking? What effect could it have on architectural education?

The present study aims to examine the immediate and direct understanding of the design problem through practical observations of architectural design.

The present study is qualitative. To collect the data, the thinking aloud technique was used. This technique has long been used in the study of thinking. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were carried out with architectural design students. The data were analyzed using a modified version of Goldschmidt’s (1991) method. In addition, library sources were used.

The present study introduces a three-stage model of insight. The designer first notices the inherent gaps in the design problem. These gaps have signs of structural connections within them, and understanding these connections leads to the restructuration of the design problem. These stages can be linked in a sequential cycle. The insight model shows that the designer can directly understand the above steps.