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In order to rethink the foundation studies in design and architecture, it may be worth its while to look at how children build their cognitive foundation, both in modern societies and in indigenous communities because both these societies have very different contexts and thus provide very different conditions for the foundation building.

Foundation building for children consists of laying the first layer with sensory inputs and subsequently with words that represent various experiences. From these initial inputs, a  basic schema gets built to organize further inputs.  With each input further categories to organize the sensory inputs  also developed along with the cognitive structure

As they explore the world attitude, aptitude, abilities,  skills, habits, processes, and qualities like imagination, abstraction creativity, intelligence. The total system gets built by the time children reach around 5 to 7 years. More or less this is what then gets used in order to engage with life thereafter.

So, the foundation studies in design and architecture can learn a lot from this experience of children.

Reawakening the childlike qualities are very crucial to regain playfulness, creativity, and flexibility which is what any ‘creative’ profession would aim for.

It is important to understand what happens to children in both paradigms. One paradigm in which children are taught with readymade knowledge whereas the other paradigm in which children learn autonomously and create knowledge.

We will have will explore what are the conditions that enable autonomy, spontaneity, creativity, and real-world learning.