In this day and age of blazing online information exchange, why would the U of T Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design team up with the Design Exchange to produce a series of face-to-face moderated debates? The answer was stated quite simply by Daniels Dean Richard Sommer. “There are so many incredible public talks, thinkers, and designers, yet waning interest and support for them due to a preference of the online space. We wanted to create an engagement that couldn’t be found online.”

And so they have done. Their series of debates is titled FORA. The Daniels/DX FORA are focused on new ideas, design practices, designers, and researchers who are working at the intersection of Architecture, Media, Science, Politics, and Urbanism in numerous international arenas. The first of the two FORA was titled “The Ends of Design” and featured presentations and vigorous debate by architect Bruce Kuwabara and designer Bruce Mau.

Kuwabara is a founding partner of KPMB Architects and the design architect of numerous Toronto landmarks including the TIFF Bell Lightbox and the Gardiner Museum. What were the beginnings of his incredibly successful career? “I started building aquariums as a child,” says Kuwabara. “When the power went out, it would be my challenge to find a way to keep the system functioning.” In his own words, sound design means first considering how a solution will work, whether it will work well, and then finally how it will look and feel. Sound function comes before aesthetic, but neither one lives without the other.

During his presentation, Kuwabara touched on the various principles behind his design. He stressed on the importance of mutual accommodation - how does a design maintain its own identity while preserving the identities of surrounding elements? He explained the “space between” - every function that lies between the primary function of a design. And he used architecture to describe why designs need to be hybrid. “Architecture needs an infusion of thinking and ideas upon a cultural platform. It can’t stand on its own.” An example of his own hybrid design? The TIFF Bell Lightbox - both a private sector development and a cultural centre. Last but not least, Kuwabara’s thrill? “The fusion of design and aesthetics. And seeing a design truly complete. A design is only complete when real people take the stage and breathe life into it.”

Bruce Mau set the stage with his very humble beginnings as well. “I couldn’t get into art school, and then when I finally did, I couldn’t graduate. I learned that 99% of the world’s population has no university education and thought – wow, I’ve just shared an experience with 99% of the world!”

Bruce Mau is the founder and creative director of Bruce Mau Design. He is a leading visionary, innovator, designer, and author, and is committed to creative, healthy, ecological, and economic design. Armed with 25 years of experience in design innovation, Bruce Mau has made the simple but deep-rooted commitment to connect his life and work to education and human development.

Mau discussed the importance of both intelligence and beauty. “You need to design both smart and sexy. You can’t just do one.” He discussed his experiences with Frank Gehry, a mentor, and touched on some of the current work they are engaged in together. Last but not least, Bruce Mau got into the social thinking that he is so known for. What are his goals as a design thinker? “Solving economical, social, and environmental problems through design. To take action using design. And to design inclusively, not exclusively. Why not leverage the existing global network of action driven designers?”

Dean Sommer moderated the debate between the Bruces, and a vigorous one it was. His questions stemmed from the theme of the FORA. If design is a means to an end, what is the end? What are the goals of our work as designers? What are the boundaries of our fields?

One specific question that Sommer asked resulted in a very enthused Kuwabara and Mau. What is the difference between ideation and craft? Kuwabara stressed on the importance of innovating something new in a world where so many things have already been defined. He shared the Buddhist metaphor of waves past versus waves forming to convey his image of integrated thinking. “What really is the difference between innovation and mastery? We’ll always be developing our craft and changing our knowledge base.”

Mau felt similarly. “Ideation IS craft. I’m still working on something I started 27 years ago.” He explained that a designer can obtain mastery over the years, but can never master everything. What can one master? Values, actions, and ways of thinking. Mau also emphasized that design is an allocation of resources – just like anything else – and that another way to distinguish between ideation and craft is to maintain a distinction between the financial beneficiaries of a design and its ultimate users.

The night following the Daniels/DX FORA was another “massive” one (pun fully intended) for Bruce Mau. This year’s Design Exchange Black and White Fundraising Gala was dedicated to honouring Mau’s accomplishments and featured the unveiling of a retrospective of his works titled 25 Years of Big Thinking.

The opportunity to speak to Mau was both humbling and inspiring. When asked what his advice would be for young designers aspiring to be big thinkers like himself, his thoughts were extremely grounded and down to earth. “The relationship a designer’s excitement has to the problem at hand is inversely proportional. The greater and more challenging the problem, the greater the thrill. Don’t be afraid of big problems.” He candidly shared that his path through the design world involved challenging himself to always think big. “Design the system, not the object. Always.”

When asked about his project Massive Change, Mau expressed that this was one of his favourite initiatives. “Design has incredible influence. It is one of the world’s most powerful forces. We need to harness this force and wrap our heads around what is happening to the world through design.”

And last but not least, what about mobile design? What are Bruce Mau’s thoughts on Research In Motion? “Well, you should understand quite well what Massive Change is,” exclaimed Bruce. “That’s exactly what you designers at RIM are bringing to the world.”

The weekend’s emphasis on global scale social thinking was bound to inspire any design mind. We indeed should be confronting problems of success, not failure. And yes it’s true that the power to affect change has been distributed to individual citizens. The words of Mau and Kuwabara will stay with many budding designers for years to come. As Kuwabara very fittingly concluded his piece at the FORA, “The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenalin but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.” [Glenn Gould]