SOLUTION REPERTOIRE

In this paper, we argue that design ‘solutions’ such as iconic designs, archetypes and design patterns, ought to be recognized as crucial forms of design knowledge. There is an abundance of literature suggesting solutions play a crucial role in design cognition: they can act as a gateway to understand the design situation better, as a stepping-stone to novel ideas and as an illustration of good practices. Unfortunately, however, the question of what this means for our teaching and our curriculum design has received less attention. How should instructors and design programmers handle solution-oriented knowledge? To spark a more informed debate about teaching solution-oriented thinking, we introduce the notion of solution repertoire: “the competence of appreciating and handling solutions in one’s design discipline and to use them as an anchor point for design-relevant knowledge that goes beyond the anecdotal experience”. This paper sets the stage by introducing and defining solution repertoire and by examining the implications of way of thinking for our own curriculum.