An Eye for Detail: Observation-based Writing

A logical continuation of engaging with an object and learning ways to write clear, attentive descriptive text is doing something similar with a space. The process makes use of the knowledge the students already have from the studio and acknowledges the significant gaps, but positions itself as a first step from a layperson’s interaction with space to a design professional’s. This is, once again, a process of slowing down to observe a familiar space in closer detail, beginning to ask questions about the way it is experienced because of the various built environment elements that it brings together. The entry point is that of user experience, broadened to be cognisant of variety. 

A descriptive text that focuses on space entails a variety of choices that writers often don’t consider actively, and many come back to being anchored in a concern for the reader: what do they need to know and be shown, in what sequence, through what combination of captioned photographs and text? How can the reader be guided through a process of seeing that is framed by the components of the text?