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Introduction: What is design?

A short presentation about it’s essentials.

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Contents•Design problems

•Design methodology

•Basic design cycle.

•How to start designing

•Some pictures

•The assignment for this afternoon

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Design problems

• Formulating the problem is the problem.

• Design problems are complex and large.

• It is not possible to determine the evaluation criteria.

• There are no algorithms.

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Design methodology

“Design methodology, then, is the study of the principles, practices and procedures of design in a rather broad and general sense. Its central concern is how designing both is and might be conducted. This concern therefore includes the study of how designers work and think; The establishment of appropriate structures for the design process; The development and application of new design methods, techniques, and procedures; And reflection on the nature and extent of design knowledge and its application to design problems.”

Nigel cross, developments in design methodology

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Design methodology

Research techniques:

• Introspection

• Case studies

• (Computer)models

• Protocol analysis

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Basic design cycleFunction

Analysis

Criteria

Synthesis

Preliminary design

Simulation

Expectations

Evaluation

choice

Approved design

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How to start designing

• Examine the assignment

• Think of a concept

• Look at the situation

• Find the right shape

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• Examine the assignment

- Program of demands and wishes of the client

- Functionality: relations between spaces (bubble-diagram)

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• Think of a concept

Associations are very important in

designing:Symbolic aspects lead in the end to a logical product description, but while designing they help you to think creatively.

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• Look at the situation

The surroundings of the building to be, are very important. The building relates to its context. Paths, sightlines, nodes, landmarks, facades or shapes of other buildings may influence the design.

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• Find the right shape

This part is mostly associated with what architects do. It is important to find a shape, to find the geometry that suits the functional, situational and concept demands.

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•Some pictures

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•Some pictures

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The assignment for this afternoon

Exercise 1.

The brief.

Analyse a functional brief for a building design. Make a space-surface-relations-diagram.

Material: functional brief for house design (our case material).

Learning goals: Functional briefs in architecture. Analysis activity. Diagramming.

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Exercise 2.Preliminary design.

Make a preliminary design for the analysed brief.

Learning goals:

•Synthesis in architecture.•Incomplete information handling.•Spatial organisational nature of preliminary designs.

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Exercise 3.Collaborative design.

The participants will now sit together and make an improved design, whereas the Design Systems people will observe and make notes and comments later on.

Learning goals:Collaborative work in architectural design.Conflicting goals identification and resolution.Implicit goals and changing goals in a design process.Evaluation criteria in architecture.Argumentation in architectural design.

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Conclusions…what is architectural design?

Please state what you have experienced today…

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Thank you for your attention and effort.

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Evaluation session 1

• What information did you lack?• What knowledge did you have to derive by reasoning (e.g. size

garage)?• Which demands of the assignment are most important?• Which demands are not important?• What is the proportion between thinking and doing?• Did you make a distinction between making the relations and getting

the dimensions right?• What would you like to change to the assignment?• Do you feel you understand the assignment now after the analysis?• How do you derive relations between rooms that are not stated in the

assignment?• ...

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Evaluation session 2

• How did the site influence the design?• Could you fit the analysis easily in the location?• How does the work relate to the functional analysis in the previous

assignment?• Did you introduce additional criteria?• Are you satisfied with the design?• Did you additional spaces or objects?• Did you use esthetical criteria for evaluation?• What is the role of sketching?• Do you have a good spatial idea of your design?• Did you think of more specific aspects (materials…) or building

aspects (piping above each other, construction...)• ...

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Evaluation session 3

• ...