Sabu Francis & Associates

Hmmm... you want the short answer or a long one?

The short answer:

Knowledge is information processed by humans and put together contextually. Its proper use is always beneficial to humankind. In architecture, it is important that one is knowledgeable in as many facets of life as possible because the domain of architecture is the meeting point at which all those facets come together. Hence one should possess sufficient width of knowledge.

Skills only give teeth to knowledge. skills are of lower value than knowledge. Skills are often non-contextual. That means, you would learn it exactly the same way irrespective of where it would eventually be applied. If any particular skill is only partially known then it becomes a blunt tooth. Hence, each skill should be learnt to sufficient depth or the skill should be left to someone else entirely.

It is not necessary that one need be skilled. But it is important that one is knowledgeable. Knowledge and skills are often confused because one man's knowledge is another man's skills. It depends on how well he relates his own life with it.

This is best illustrated by an example: I remember me driving nails into various pieces of wood, when I was just a kid excited by everything around me. Then my dad came along and gently explained that I had to take the thinner piece of wood and nail it to the thicker one. The otherway won't work. That was a skill that he had. To me, it was awesome knowledge.

Then he told me something more important: He showed me how to make something useful from that skill that I had acquired - a simple box. I had only some of the skills to be a carpenter when I was a kid but not the knowledge of what to do with it. And what I regarded as knowledge, was to my dad, just some more skills that one ought to have. My dad had even more knowledge on how to use the skills more fruitfully in his life

But before someone thinks that I am demeaning skills entirely; it is important that to cover the last mile in anything we do, one would need to have appropriate skills or get the last mile run by those who do have the skills if we don't possess them ourselves. History is replete with examples where people had the knowledge but not the wherewithall (skills) to take the knowledge to fruition

The long answer: Go through the various articles on skills and knowledge on this website :-)