Critical Thinking in Architecture

When people think of critical thinking, most automatically associate it with when they had to think critically in either an English or a writing class. Although we do think critically in English etc., we also think critically in many other disciplines. We think critically in science (creating hypotheses, analyzing data), in music (breaking down notes and key signature of music to determine tone, considering historical context when thinking about when songs were written etc.) and even in architecture. In architecture, we use critical thinking whenever we tackle a new project. We have to constantly think of the placement of required programmatic elements (spaces for designated activities e.g. living room, family room, restroom, outdoor space etc.) We cannot place these spaces randomly, we have to think about it and determine what ordering and circulation of spaces makes the most sense.