Abstract
The scope of this research aims not only to define and explore the strengths and limitations of humans' "sixth sense" intuition, but also to discover how it can be improved in design thinking and better understood during the maturation of a design student. Intuition is aligned with, among other things, automatic, tacit and unconscious processing, implicit memory, and procedural knowledge. Broadbent (1973) argued in Design in Architecture that there were seven avenues to approach any particular problem, to include deduction, induction, algorithm, ratio, analogy, metaphor, and chance. But perchance, there might be another that is often overlooked; that is intuition. In Educating Intuition, Hogarth (2001) tackles a fascinating topic that has until now garnered little scientific attention; that is intuition. This study conducts a survey of the design pedagogy, in particular the problem solving methods taught to undergraduate architecture and interior design students. It is hypothesized that the problem solving method of intuition is not addressed. Observations as to why intuition is not addressed as a design problem solving method are provided in order to assist faculty in developing opportunities for such to occur.