Language of Space and Form

Generative Terms for Architecture

James F. Eckler

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780470618448
• eBook ISBN: 9781118105344
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture Design

A unique graphical guide for using architectural terminology to jump-start the design process

This design studio companion presents architectural terms with special emphasis on using these terms to generate design ideas. It highlights the architectural thinking behind the terminology and helps readers gain a thorough understanding of space and form. Featuring double-page spreads with over 190 illustrated entries, the book fully explores, analyzes, and cross-references key elements and techniques used in architecture and interior design. Each entry first defines the common meaning of the term, then goes on to discuss in detail its generative possibilities. Scenarios involving the use of a design principle, or the way it might be experienced, further aid students in developing strategies for their own design.

In addition, Language of Space and Form:

• Divides entries into five categories for quick access to concepts, including process and generation, organization and ordering, operation and experience, objects and assemblies, and representation and communication
  
  

• Addresses studio practice from the ground up, encouraging readers to develop creativity and critical thinking as they develop a design process
  
  

• Offers supplemental online learning resources, including exercises that correspond to the book
  
  

A must-have reference for professionals and students in architecture and interior design, Language of Space and Form is destined to become a classic introduction to design thinking.

Student: Cari Williams—Critic: James Eckler—Institution: Marywood University

Chapter 1

Terms of Process and Generation

Abstract

To represent a subject in a way that is not pictorial or responsible for documenting its actual existence

Abstraction: An interpretation of a subject based upon a study of particular characteristics

Generative Possibilities in Non-Figural Representation

The drawing was an abstraction of a real subject—in this case, the plan of a building. It didn’t look like the building; it didn’t seem to conform to the image of the building at all. Instead, it revealed how the designer was thinking about the structure. The intention behind its composition seemed to be to study organization or spatial relationships. Abstraction was used to document a process of thought that ultimately led to a new design. Even though a casual observer might not be able to understand it entirely, it was a useful tool for the designer, a tool used to understand the old and to create the new.

The origin of the word abstract is the Latin abstractus, which means “to draw away.” To make something abstract is to represent it in a nonliteral way: to deviate from the actual. Everything that designers produce, from conception to the development of a design, is a form of abstraction. Drawings, models, and diagrams reduce a reality into a representation, and therefore an abstraction.

How can design benefit from representation that moves away from actuality? Since each stage of a design process is an investigation that tests possibilities of space and form against a generating idea, abstraction is a means for defining the scope of the study. For instance, abstraction might be used to focus the study on one particular idea, composition, or set of relationships; it may be used to spotlight typology, configuration, or function, or to define a language for representing any of the above. It is a method that has the potential to exclude superfluous information so that the subject of study is not diluted in the information that is gained. As a method, it is able to frame a process of thought in a way that facilitates iteration. It is a way of simplifying complex information sets, or focusing a study on information of particular relevance.

Through abstraction, a designer might be able to recognize possibilities that were previously not considered. Those discoveries drive subsequent investigations, which is the foundation of an iterative design process. When a representation is not abstract—that is, when it is figural—capturing the reality of the subject becomes a goal unto itself. That finality has the potential to limit discovery and undermine the iterative process.

Figure 1-1. In this analytical mapping the student uses abstract graphic language to indicate relationships between elements of a composition. Components of the subject of analysis are reduced to orthogonal figures (an act of abstraction) in order to more easily identify relative position, alignment, overlap, and other instances of compositional relationship. Student: Taylor Orsini—Critic: John Maze—Institution: University of Florida

Figure 1-2. This is a presentation of information gathered through research. The information is composed in a way that reflects its role in the design it is to generate. In this case, information about form and material are abstracted into a method of assembly specific to the topic of research. This frames a point of departure for further design investigations. Student: Bart Bajda—Critic: Matthew Mindrup—Institution: Marywood University

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Additive

A strategy of making characterized by accumulation

Generative Possibilities in Accumulation

Figure 1-3. This shows how one might build up a component through an additive way of making. The single component is actually an assembly of much smaller parts. The opening to the right of the assembly is achieved by altering the size and configuration of elements rather than cutting away at the component.

Faced with a challenging and complex integration of spaces, each holding a different event, the student decided to employ an additive strategy for making. She did this in order to definitively articulate each space without changing the tectonic language that she had established earlier in the design. She continued to accumulate elements that defined each space and the joints between them until the density of components became confusing. Spaces began to lose their distinction, and the assembly of parts began to lose its rationale. At that point she began a subtractive process to edit the design. Her goal was to discover that perfect moment when the accumulation of components allowed each space to be distinct but still an integral part of the larger spatial composition.

Figure 1-4. Additive making can be a strategy for assembly. Crafting intricate joints between many elements can provide opportunities for the design of the spaces they contain. It might be a way of affecting the space by filter light or providing access. It might also be a way of communicating relationships between parts through physical connection. Student: Dan Mojsa—Critic: Reagan King—Institution: Marywood University

Addition is a simple process that allows a designer to quickly iterate a design through intuitive decision making. As more and more objects accumulate, it becomes possible for progressively more ideas to be generated. This strategy for iteration fosters discovery; however, using it, the designer may become preoccupied with the forms that define a space, rather than the space itself. In that instance additive making is gratuitous and possibly a distraction from the primary design objective. It shifts the focus of the design process away from making spaces and toward a preoccupation with craft and objects.

Figure 1-5. Additive making can also be a strategy for the configuration of space. Different materials can foster control over inhabitants’ perceptions; the intricate assembly of elements can foster precise control over the configuration of spaces they contain. Student: John Levi Weigand—Critic: John Maze—Institution: University of Florida

In what ways might this, as a method, propel a design into another level of resolution, or begin the next iterative step? As a preliminary design technique, it could be employed to discern variations in spatial composition as described in the narrative. Or it could be used to develop a tectonic language for the communication of spatial information that can be employed in future iterations of a design. In addition to this strategy for making through accumulation, it can also describe a strategy for making at a smaller scale. Individual components or elements to be layered or built up can be developed through additive techniques. This contrasts with the subtractive carving of large pieces to create individual components. The additive and the subtractive speak to the difference between the tectonic and stereotomic methods for crafting.

See also Subtractive.

Figure 1-6. Additive assembly furthers control over the play of light in space. These techniques of assembly also establish a hierarchy through the size and configuration of elements. They help communicate a scale through the relative proportion of elements to the spaces they contain. They also communicate organizational logic by indicating direction, a relationship to other elements, and patterning. Student: Liu Liu—Critic: James Eckler—Institution: University of Cincinnati

Analysis

The process of separating a complex subject into constituent parts so that each part can be studied independently

Generative Possibilities in Investigation and Inquiry

An architect has just received a project about which he is very excited. A couple who purchased an older, historic house has asked him to design an addition that preserves the character of the original structure.

Before design can begin, an extensive study of the existing conditions has to take place. The architect begins by analyzing the site, breaking it up into several categories of study: dimension and topography, existing site features, adjacent buildings, and public access. The addition will have to respond to the existing spatial composition of the house, so he analyzes circulation, program, and degrees of privacy. The new addition also has to respond efficiently to the environment, so he analyzes it in relations to daylight, solar orientation, and climate. All of these studies enable him to conceive of a design strategy through synthesis. The product of that synthesis is a single diagram that incorporates the information gained from each individual study into a spatial composition. He uses that diagram to develop the first set of process drawings and models.

Figure 1-7. Components of a precedent building are analyzed to discover the ways in which they are related through both formal and spatial connections. In this analysis, the building is reduced to a set of interrelated systems. Student: Elizabeth Sydnor—Critic: Milagros Zingoni—Institution: Arizona State University

Analysis is a type of abstraction in which a designer is able to isolate pieces of information from a more complex set of issues. Those isolated parts can then be more effectively studied. The primary goal of analysis is to generate information of something particular. How is the process of analysis generative? How does it generate information? How does it generate design?

Documentation is often confused with analysis. One might note the direction of the wind across a site; that is documentation. But studying the impact that wind might have on a design is analysis. Similarly, mapping the program in a building is not in itself an analysis because there is no study or generation of knowledg...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: On the Role of Words in the Design Process
• Chapter 1: Terms of Process and Generation
• Chapter 2: Terms of Organization and Ordering
• Chapter 3: Terms of Operation and Experience
• Chapter 4: Terms of Objects and Assemblies
• Chapter 5: Terms of Representation and Communication
• Bibiography
• Index