This becomes part of the architect’s developing design process. [An architectural concept] ‘should be something that overrides all scales. An architectural concept would need to be so clear that it runs through all scales and once that’s communicated and understood, any problem on site, at any scale, should be able to be solved.’
Judith Losing, East Most architects would describe a mixture of both but value either inspiration or method more than the other. Every architect follows their own design process, which has been informed by their education and experience, and which adapts to respond to the different kinds of design problems that they encounter. Some architects choose to portray design either as the product of a gradual, rational and methodical series of moves or as a sudden moment of inspiration. The variation in the perception of design activity would seem to stem from the fact that some architects believe the moment of design is provoked by activity and some by reflection. The debate about how and when design happens is symptomatic of the fact that there is no single accepted design process for architects to follow.