The detail as the mediator: Notes from a "joint" venture between architecture and early education

When the detail becomes the mediator in the overall design process, many things may contribute to its objective refinement at all stages of development. The detail can present itself as an unbiased vehicle in the design-build process. Its resolution precipitates a creative dialogue that results in several new forms of sketching, scale modeling, and design-building on site, all of which become vehicles to the articulation and construction of an idea. In the collaborative process, all participants have an opportunity to engage the project through the evolution of the detail. An immediate architectural grammar is thereby established that facilitates the design process. This means of design development ignites group interaction and involvement that offers a sense of group authorship in the final built work. © 1998 ACSA, Inc.