Does ATCM kills creativity?

A month ago, a good colleague of mine asked this question. Architectural Technology and Construction Management is the name of education programme I have been studying for a year and a half.  And I have to admit I have never thought about that question. However, we agreed that yes, to some extent, ATCM kills creativity or at least it does not support it.

Let’s take for example construction detailing. The outcome teachers usually want to see is the exact replication of solution presented by National Building Research Institute (SBi – Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut). And do not get me wrong. Those guidelines set by SBi are great. Effective and proven solutions, so there is no harm in replicating them. However, if we are going to do the same again and again we cannot move forward. Some students may decide to go with SBi solution and some may want to try something else. Let them try it. Encourage them to continue the chosen path, even though the outcome might end up with flaws because sometimes, the outcome can also be flawless.

Creativity as a pursuit of the efficient solutions is getting more and more important and sought-after skill. It is one of the few things AI cannot do, yet. Many people can replicate detail they have seen somewhere, but only a few can create a good new one.

You may also argument that proven solutions are the foundation of the education. Then you should also admit, that in order to create a new solution, you have to study solutions that came before. Therefore, in the end, you will know both the proven solution and possibly the new creative one, or at least a direction that can work next time you encounter a similar problem.

And that is the way you want to teach new constructing architects. We need creative constructing architects. They should be able not just to do what we did in the past. They should also be able to create new things. Or cooperate with architects and be able to construct their ideas, and ideas of architects are not always in the SBi.

Therefore I encourage everyone to allow themselves and the others to be little more creative. Even at the cost of small failures during the process. The future will thank you.

Cheers