- How would you define tacit knowledge in the context of design? What can craftspeople, local communities and traditional building practices teach designers and architects that may not be captured in formal design education or technical documentation?
Tacit knowledge is the intelligence embedded in lived practice. It is knowledge that is absorbed through hands, memory, community and place rather than written into a manual. It is the understanding we acquire through experience, observation and practice, often without being able to articulate it fully. In design, it is the intelligence embedded in a craftsperson’s hands, a builder’s judgement or even a community’s understanding of the land, climate and materials they live with.
A craftsperson may know how a material behaves in different conditions or how much pressure a technique requires. A community may understand how a space should respond to seasonal changes, social interactions and everyday patterns of living. These insights are often accumulated over generations and cannot always be translated into drawings, specifications or technical manuals.
Formal design education gives us valuable analytical tools but working with people who possess this practical knowledge broadens our understanding of what design can achieve. It teaches us to look beyond the object or structure and understand the relationships between materials, people and place.
For me, the opportunity lies in bringing this knowledge into contemporary design practice. It goes beyond treating tradition as something to reproduce to recognising it as a living source of intelligence that can inform better and more contextual design decisions. For designers, this knowledge offers something formal education often cannot. Craftspeople and local communities understand material behaviour, climate, labour, maintenance, symbolism and social use at a level that drawings and specifications cannot fully capture.
- As design becomes increasingly globalised, how can architects and spatial designers create environments that feel rooted in their location rather than relying on a standardised international design vocabulary?
Globalisation has made design ideas, materials and technologies extremely accessible. That exchange is valuable but it also creates the possibility of spaces beginning to look and feel similar regardless of where they are located. The challenge is not to reject global influences but to interpret them through the character of a place.
Globalisation should not flatten regional identity. The opportunity lies in translating local intelligence into contemporary form through regional craft as a structural, spatial and experiential language. The first step is to treat location as a design brief. Before deciding on a visual language, we need to understand the site’s climate, light, materials, history, people and everyday rituals. A space feels rooted when its decisions emerge from those conditions rather than from a borrowed aesthetic.
A contextual design approach begins by understanding the site’s climate, geography, culture, materials and patterns of use. When a space responds to its climate, carries local material memory and supports the way people actually live or gather, it naturally feels specific rather than generic.
India offers an extraordinary range of regional knowledge from traditional building methods and craft practices to the use of courtyards, verandahs, local stone and climate-responsive planning. These reflect ways of responding to environmental and social conditions.
The goal is to reinterpret local intelligence for contemporary needs. When a design emerges from its context, its identity becomes intrinsic to the experience rather than something applied through surface treatments or decorative motifs.
- What role should local materials, craftsmanship and climate-responsive practices play at the concept stage of a project? How might they influence decisions about spatial planning, material selection, comfort and the experience of a place?
They should inform the project from the very beginning because the concept stage establishes the fundamental relationship between a building, its surroundings and the people who will use it. If local materials and climate considerations enter the process only after the design is established, their potential to influence the overall outcome is limited. They should be present from the very first conversation, not introduced later simply as a sustainability layer.
Understanding the local climate can shape orientation, openings, shading, ventilation and the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces. In suitable contexts, these decisions can improve comfort and reduce dependence on energy-intensive mechanical systems. Similarly, understanding the properties and availability of local materials can influence structural choices, finishes, construction methods and maintenance requirements.
Craftsmanship adds another dimension. Craftsmanship can determine detail, proportion and the degree of human warmth in an environment. This can give a space a distinctive identity while creating opportunities for regional skills to contribute meaningfully to the design.
There is also a sustainability consideration. Using existing structures, salvaging suitable materials and choosing durable components can help reduce waste and extend the useful life of a space. However, these decisions must be evaluated in context. Local sourcing or traditional materials are not automatically the most sustainable choice in every situation. The important principle is to make these considerations part of the design brief.
- How can designers collaborate meaningfully with craftspeople and local communities? What needs to change to ensure their knowledge informs the design process itself rather than being incorporated only as a decorative element towards the end?
Meaningful collaboration begins by involving craftspeople and local communities early enough for their knowledge to influence the design itself. They should not enter the process only when the drawings are complete and the team is looking for a particular finish, pattern or decorative feature.
Designers can begin by understanding how local practitioners work, their knowledge about techniques and what constraints they encounter. Workshops, material trials, site visits and the development of prototypes can help translate this knowledge into practical design decisions. These exchanges also allow designers to test their assumptions before they become fixed in the project. This requires time, humility and a willingness to let the process be shaped by expertise that does not always come from a formal studio.
The process requires a shift in mindset. Designers must be willing to listen, share authorship of ideas and recognise that expertise does not exist only within formal professional disciplines. Craftspeople and communities bring knowledge that can influence construction details, material choices, spatial solutions and the long-term maintenance of a place.
There must also be a practical commitment to fair compensation, realistic timelines and appropriate acknowledgement of contributions. Collaboration cannot be meaningful if local expertise is valued in principle but excluded by the project’s commercial or operational decisions.
Ultimately, the aim is to create a working relationship in which traditional knowledge can evolve, respond to contemporary requirements and contribute to a design’s function, identity and longevity.
- How can traditional techniques be adapted to contemporary requirements involving performance, precision, technology and scale? Where do you see the greatest opportunities for technology and traditional knowledge to complement each other?
Traditional techniques should not be preserved by keeping them frozen in time. They can be adapted through better material testing, digital fabrication, parametric design, improved joinery, modern safety standards and more precise execution. Technology can help scale craft intelligently without stripping it of its human intelligence.
The starting point is to understand the principle behind a traditional technique rather than reproduce its form without considering its original purpose. A material or construction method developed for a particular climate, for instance, may need to be adapted when used in a different environment or at a different scale. Performance, safety, durability, maintenance and relevant building requirements must all be considered.
Technology can support this process through digital modelling, environmental analysis, precise fabrication and prototyping. These tools can help test how a design performs, identify practical limitations and determine where a traditional method can be retained, modified or combined with contemporary systems.
There is also an opportunity to document craft knowledge and develop repeatable processes without eliminating the skill and judgement that make the craft valuable. The objective should be to support craftspeople, not replace their expertise with standardisation.
For me, the greatest opportunity lies in combining the sensitivity of traditional knowledge with the precision of contemporary tools. This can help create spaces that respond to their context, use resources thoughtfully and remain relevant over time.
