Portfolio - Michael Boongaling (Boongie) - Portfolio - Page 20
While a student is introduced to tools to assist
them in the act of making, such as drafting
pens and 3D modeling softwares, one should
look towards the use of tools to assist them in
the act of managing too. Just as a designer has
their software stack for making (through tasks
such as drafting, modeling, and visualizing),
a designer should have a stack of tools for
managing within each of the following areas:
tasks, events, and notes. Tasks and events
can be understood as areas of action. While
tasks are actions that need to get done, events
are time-dependant actions that need to get
done within or by a particular period of
time. Notes, on the other hand, has an even
deeper complexity through the implication of
personal knowledge management and how one
might perceive their notes 昀椀tting into a larger
collection of knowledge. While it is important
to understand that these areas should be
addressed to more e昀케ciently and e昀昀ectively
manage the act of making within the practice
of architecture, it is equally important to
understand how these areas are supported by
the tools of choice by the designer.
THE MANAGING BEHIND THE MAKING
“Pencils down, time’s up!” Every architecture
student has felt the rush of adrenaline when the
昀椀nal deadline hits. Although students know the
consequences of “crunch time”, the conversation of
time management is a consistent problem that has
continues to seek a solution. The idea of managing
within the context of architectural academia is almost
taught by means of osmosis such that a student is
not formally instructed on principles of time and
project management; rather, a student experiences
this area through their own personal management
and how this could apply to architecture school.
While this might work for some, many 昀椀nd the
transition of life before and into architecture school
one that is beyond the comprehension of the college
experience found within any other discipline. For
some architecture students, an intervention is made
either through workshops or books from architecture
schools to address this issue. Relative to a textbook
assigned to students within their 昀椀rst semester at the
University of Memphis, Thorbjoern Mann proposes
within his book Time Management for Architects and
Designers that, “To my knowledge, most schools (at
least in architecture) do not address the issue of time
Digital systems for managing tasks and events come
in many di昀昀erent forms that can ultimately alter the
experience a user is seeking within the application.
Tasks can be captured simply through Google Tasks
or 昀椀nd deeper 昀椀elds of categorization such as projects
and priorities through Todoist. While one application
can integrate two di昀昀erent systems to merge the
areas of tasks and events (such as Google Tasks into
Google Calendar), other digital tools such as Aki昀氀ow
and Morgen allow for tasks and events to be managed
under one application. Ultimately, the leverage that
digital applications have when managing tasks and
events are found in their ability to integrate across
other applications and communicate
with multiple people.
Although people continue to 昀椀nd a昀케nity within
analog note-taking, there is a deeper understanding
through the simple act of note-taking within a
more complex system supported digitally. It is
because of this that digital note-taking systems can
leverage this complexity as a means of organizing
and understanding notes beyond the time of writing
them. A development within this space can be found
through a concept in the niche space of personal
knowledge management known as bidirectional
linking. While it is a development that was 昀椀rst
introduced as an analog system (known as the
Zettelkasten method) of connecting and linking notes
together, the sophistication that applications such as
Obsidian and Heptabase o昀昀er allow for a linking of
notes together as a means of repurposing the notes
for future retention if the need for recall is applicable
to the topic. Rather than utilize a notebook and
write linearly, systems like these allow for notes to
act spatially and connect unlike ideas together. The
complexity of these note-taking systems can deeply
enhance the management of a person’s collection of
knowledge through the allowance of space for ideas.
This can be more simply understood by a famous
quote by David Allen: “Your mind is for having ideas,
not holding them” (A Quote by David Allen).
management explicitly. Too many graduates embark
on their careers without ever having paid much
conscious and organized attention to this issue or how
to deal with it (other than complaining about how
time-consuming the work is)” (Mann, 7). It should
be known that whether a student has found the time
and ability to manage through means that are relative
and personal to them or whether a student learned
through direct intervention in time management
within architectural academia, it is clear that there
are always improvements to be made in allowing
students to work more e昀케ciently and e昀昀ectively
through the means of architectural productivity. As
individual topics, architecture and productivity are
popular among many because of the nature of their
individual niches. However, the synthesis of the two
is super昀椀cially explored as an understood problem
without a stable solution; it is taken on as a fact by
many within the 昀椀eld of architecture, both students
and practitioners alike, that there is too much work
and not enough time to conduct said work. While this
is true in many instances, one should look towards
tools to assist in making this workload a little less
stressful and a little more bearable.
Tools that support the three areas of managing
(tasks, events, and notes) can be subdivided
into two main categories: analog and digital.
Analog systems within these spaces most
often come in the form of a writing utensil and
paper that is further visualized in a manner
that conveys a tasklist, a calendar or agenda,
and a blank canvas for writing or creating
notes (such as lined, gridded, or dotted).
While analog systems allow the designer to be
unrestricted in their visualization onto paper,
it is through digital systems that allow for the
designer to integrate these areas together and
automate when necessary. Although there are
pros and cons to whether one might choose
analog or digital, it is important to know
that both forms exist and a hybridization
of work昀氀ows is up to the discretion and
preference of the designer. However, one
should understand the tools that exist now so
that each designer could apply them within
their personal work昀氀ow when managing their
making.
In a shotgun of information, one can quickly see the
many di昀昀erent avenues one might 昀椀nd within the
space of managing the act of making through the use
of systems that can support tasks, events, and notes.
It is worth mentioning that the approach of managing
goes beyond what is initially stated within this article;
applications such as twos allow for the integration
of all three areas together within one singular space,
software like notion goes beyond the boundary and
o昀昀ers endless possibilities of managing a space
tailored to the user, and areas like messaging and
communication open a completely new set of tools
that can be explored like email and instant messaging
applications. Ultimately, one should look to explore
both analog and digital tools to more e昀케ciently
manage the act of making and to more e昀昀ectively
create meaningful spaces for the built environment
within both academia and the profession alike.
Citations
Mann, Thobjoern. Time Management for
architects and designers: Challenges and
Remedies. New York, New York: W. W.
Norton, 2004.
“A Quote by David Allen.” Goodreads.
Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.
goodreads.com/quotes/348103-your-mindis-for-having-ideas-not-holding-them.
The Managing
Behind the
Making
A research article
written and
designed for crit94, a journal
edition by the
American Institute
of Architecture
Students investigated
how tools could
be leveraged for
architectural
practice and
pedagogy both in
analog and digital
forms. Although the
content researched
was the focal point
to the article,
the unified design
intent across the
whole journal sought
to display the
research in a way
that projected the
iterative nature
of architecture.
Because of this,
the design of
spreads used a
hybrid technique
of overlaying
digital text with
annotations,
pieces of trace
seen throughout
the profession of
architecture, and
graphics that were
directly engaged
with. The final
product resulted
in research that
was more intimately
engaged by the
researched through
their thoughts and
ideas of the topic.
Orange Mound
Immersive
Reality
Prototype
To assist professor
Marika Snider’ᥓ
research, a
prototype of an
immersive reality
exhibit was created
to visualize the
past and the present
of orange mound,
a historically
African American
neighborhood in
Memphis, Tennessee.
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