creativity and design in the world of deadlines

One of the most difficult things I've encountered whilst designing buildings at the concept stage remains in requests for information that is inappropriate for the stage of concept development. To use an analogy in language, it's like asking for you to write down your sentences and publish the paragraphs before you've finished thinking the sentence. Asking for premature concept resolution

These requests frequently come from within the organization, and occassionally come from the client. In one circumstance, a client asked for an isometric massing model of a design scheme that was far from being resolved - in fact it had hardly begun the process of translation from sketch to hard-line. The point is that this can create a problem having to solidify concepts that have not been sufficiently resolved - and this is due to the nature of concept design work, and the necessity to spend time working out certain relevant elements of the design. It can be frustrating when, caught in the middle of the process, you are asked to provide information about something that you would like to spend more time working out properly.

The best way to avoid getting too frustrated with having to stop and start mid-though is, when given a stop-start deadline / presentation, focus less on the final product, and not be too attached to the process of discovery - firm up something that will suffice for the purposes of the deadline and move on. An interim presentation or deadline gives one a chance to re-focus their thoughts and also helps keep an eye on the final product by bringing the eye into the present to firm up what one has.