Learning from Failure in the Design Process: Experimenting with Materials

Learning from Failure in the Design Process shows you that design work builds on lessons learned from failures to help you relax your fear of making mistakes, so that you're not paralysed when faced with a task outside of your comfort zone.

Working hands-on with building materials, such as concrete, sheet metal and fabric, you will understand behaviours, processes, methods of assembly, and ways to evaluate your failures to achieve positive results. Through material and assembly strategies of stretching, casting, carving, and stacking this book uncovers the issues, problems, and failures confronted in student material experiments and examines built projects that addressed these issues with innovative and intelligent strategies.

Highlighting numerous professional practice case studies with over 250 colour images, this book will be ideal for students interested in materials and methods, and students of architecture in design studios.

Lisa Huang is practicing architect and an assistant professor at the University of Florida School of Architecture. She spent close to a decade working at Office dA in Boston. Lisa has been recognized as with honors of the 2016 American Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)/American Institute of Architects Students (AIAS) New Faculty Teaching Award and the 2017 Building Technology Educator Society (BTES) Emerging Faculty Award.