THEORY 123

MODULE 01

TITLE: ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPTS

RATIONALE 1

 To unravel the various methods designer in response to the design situation presented in the program
 To know the means of translating the non-physical problem statement into the physical building
product

A. INTRODUCTION

Traditionally, architectural concepts have been de designers way of responding to the design stua on
presented in the program. They have been considered as a means of translating the non-physical problem
statement into the physical building product.

Every project has prime organizers, central themes critical issues, problem essences or basic framework. They
all cost within the designers perceptions Fast, the designer must establish what they are, and then create
concepts out of them on ta response to them, and then finally dealing with the architecturally.

The designer's concepts are also referred to as DIG IDEA, BASIC FRAMEWORK or PRIMARY ORGANIZER
Generally speaking, concepts have the following properties

1.0 They may be process de product oriented.

2.0 You may place at any stage in the design process

3.0 They may occur at any scale. (measurement, proportion)

4.0 They may be generated from several sources

5.0 They may be bilerarch.cat in nature.

6.0 They may possess intrinsic problem.

Designers are constancy presented with project situations from programmers or clients, who in turn, require a
building to satisfy their outlined needs. We think of the building design to consist of only none over-all
concept. Although it may start with a single direction, it can actually be composed of many concepts.

The designer must first divide the project situation into manageable parts, deal with them individually and
then synthesize them into one whole simultaneous building. The following are categories under which the
issues of concerns of the building may be listed and addressed:

 FUNCTION (Occupancy) – zoning grouping

 SPACE – volume, area building for some activities
 GEOGRAPHY – shape form of BLDG
 CONTEXT – Site, climate, topography
 ENCLOSURE – “SHELL” of the BLDG (walls, floors, ceilings)
 SYSTEMS – mechanical, electrical, acoustic treatments
 ECONOMIC FACTORS – Initial cost VS. Maintenance Cost
 HUMAN FACTORS – Psychology, behavior, culture

 ARTISTIC - Freedom SCIENTIFIC - Confined, steps are very specific

 CONSCIOUS SUBCONSCIOUS - Quite aware
 RATIONAL -Reasonable IRRATIONAL -
 SEQUENTIAL - Pattern, series , steps NON-SEQUENTIAL - Random
arragements
 EVALUATE AS YOU GO EVALUATE WHEN YOU’RE DONE
 KNOWNS UNKNOWNS
 INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY, COMMUNAL
 PERSONAL UNIVERSAL
 VERBAL - verbal VISUAL - Physical
 NEEDS - Immediate WANTS -“LUHO”
 ORDERED RANDOM
 STRACTURED UNSTRUCTURED
 OBJECTIVE SUBJECTIVE
 ONE ANSWER MULTIPLE SOLUTIONS
 CREATIVE COMMON PLACE
 YOUR NEEDS CLIENT’S NEEDS
 SPECIFIC GENERAL
 MAN NATURE
 CRITICAL ISSUES MINOR ISSUES
 COMPLEXITY SIMPLICITY - MINIMALIST
 WHOLE PARTS
 PATTERNED PROCESS - Step by step RANDOM PROCESS
 PRECONCEPTIONS RESPONSE TO FACTS
 INDETERMINATE MECHANISTIC
 DESIGN FOR “NOW” - view at the preset DESIGN FOR “FUTURE”
Time

INDETERMINATE -> DETERMINE – UNPREDICTABLE, VARIABLE

MECHANISTIC -> MECHANISM - PREDICTABLE
MODULE 02
Architectural Design Processes and methodologies

Rationale:
To be familiar with the steps in solving design problem To know the importance of organization and
methodology in the design Process

A. STAGES IN DESIGNING

1. DESIGN ANALYSIS
 Design involves problem-solving and problem-solving production
 Creativity requires a positive attitude demands
 Do not dismiss ideas too quickly, whether it's your own or other's Articulate.
Listen. Add ideas to them.

2. TENTATIVE SOLUTIONS
 Brainstorming is a group process in which several people, for a given amount of
time, gather together and discuss a particular problem
 Contribute positive thoughts to the discussion and strive to solution.
 Keep an open mind and practice patience.

3. CRITICISM
 Have faith and confidence in yourself.
 Say what you feel and question what you don't understand. Speak out when you
need to disagree with something.
 Let your thoughts be known.
 Constructive criticism that is thrown at you can be helpful. If your design is criticized
by others we may find that they are applying further objectives or different priorities
from our own.
 The problem constantly changes, thus the information and the objectives tend to
increase with it. Our knowledge of the problem increases as we attempt to make
solution after solution.
 Tenacity is another important attitude-put effort in what you think or do. Stick to
your idea, have goals and work toward them with conviction.
 Constructive criticism tends to be positive and usually elicits a better human
response from the person receiving it.

4. OPERATIONAL PROCESS
 Conceptual Design is normally a more appropriate term to use in lieu of “Sketch”
Moreover, it is more reasonable to use the term Operational Design instead of
working drawing".
 The conceptual arrangement is basically a statement of intent for the guidance
of structural and service engineering consultants needed in obtaining
information from various manufacturers and suppliers involved in the work.
 The Operational Design normally brings numerous modifications to the original
concept, since the Operational Design tends to reveal problems that have been
considered during the early stages. Usually the Conceptual Design is modified
for practical reasons.
 The more complex the project becomes, the greater number of specialists will be
required, thus a greater need for an agreed Conceptual Design.
 The Operational stage may be described as "work done by the Architect and
specialists in the investigation of their own areas of work but within the frame
work of the basic concept.”
5. GEOMTRIC - more on visual  visual effects
 This refers to the detailed visual interrelationships between all parts of the
building as the operational stage develops.
 The visual objectives must be kept in mind at all stages, but because of the
inherent difficulties of the design team, there is a need to consider engineering
decisions in geometric forms.
 There is a need for a closer integration of objectives.
 The Design Process is a synthesis of many objectives and everyone involved
contributes to the total design.
B. METHODLOGY - sequence, order, steps, series
1. To identify the problem, solve it through analysis and evaluate the solution, there should be
Organization. This helps you save time, make better use of your time and lets you know what
you do with your time
2. Methodology or the “systematic method of problem solving builds” upon the concept by
helping to make the best use of design tools acquired in CREATIVITY.
3. Methodology involves the systematic breakdown of a body of knowledge into workable parts.
4. When faced with a complex, multi-faceted problem, a methodical person will solve the problem
methodically (in steps ), or dissect and attack the problem in a logical order.

C. DESIGN METHODS AND DESIGN TOOLS

 People involved in design are said to be creative and "unconfined in thought". But still, they
need to employ a methodical way of solving design problems.
 IMAGINEERING means letting your imagination soar, and then engineering it back to reality;
thus, achieving balance.
 The organization of a problem, from its discovery to its solution, can spell the difference
between success and failure.
 Challenges that are undertaken may be complex at first. It is worthwhile to investigate all
aspects in order to know their actual scope and goals.
 The Problem-solving method benefits include:
a. It forces you to identify the real problem.
b. It compels you to record your findings in an organized fashion.
c. It provides an efficient mechanism to thoroughly think through your problem before
beginning to produce a physical setting.
 The Design Method is a vehicle you use to get a project from its beginning to its end
destination.

D. A DESIGN PARADIGM

1. Pre-statement This is the statement that the designer will have to resolve. It may be your
initial contact with the Client to know what he requires or thinks should be done.
2. Problem statement: Determine the problem first, gather data or information before starting
the true problem in a more detailed account.
3. Information: This is the stage where you uncover all the details that relate to your problem. Do
exhaustive research by reading, observing, scrutinizing. Record vital information from the
following:

 Literature
 Experienced Persons
 Observation

4. Analysis:
This is the think stage, so the total solution is not yet conceptualized here. Thin k about the
solution in parts ( methodically ). Which you can later arrange into the order that you think is
the best. The approach must be done in stages.

From the information that has been gathered, pull out all items that are related and form them
into a group to form the partial solution. Look for commonalities or items that seem similar,
then compose a unifying statement that includes these Individual problem statements.
Continue this process until you have formulated a solution to every aspect of your problem.

Look for commonalities among the partial solutions and form the combined solutions. These
are verbal descriptions of the final decision you have made for a major aspect of your problem.

5. Synthesis
This is the conceptualization of your project's solution in a graphical manner. Visual materials
can be made here to show the final product. Layout spaces, select furnishings, finishes and
construction materials.

6. Evaluation
A This may take at different times after the project is completed, after the project has been in
use for a while or before the actual construction.
THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2 : ARCHITECTURAL ISMS
The lam suffix can be used to express the following concepts

 doctrine or philosophy (eg. pacifism, olympism)

 theory developed by an individual (eg. Marxism)
 political movement (e.g. feminism)
 artistic movement (e.g. cubism)
 action, processor practice (e.g. voyeurism)
 characteristic, quality or origin (e.g. heroism)
 state or condition (eg. pauperism)
 excess or disease (e.g. botulism)
 prejudice or bias (e.g. racism)
 characteristic speech patterns (eg. Yogism, Bushism)
 religion or belief system (e.g. Mormonism).

Many isms are defined as an act or practice by some, while also being defined as the doctrine
or philosophy behind the act or practice by others. Examples include activism, altruism,
despotism, elitism, optimism, sexism and terrorism

ISMS

 The chief characteristics of 20th century architecture are its plurality

 Some critics have erroneously suggested that there has been a single evolutionary
Modem Movement in architecture as such.
 Indeed there has been many modern movements
 The main revolution in architecture began with the new master problems that emerged
as long as the 1780s when a vast amount of monumental symbolistic building began &
when new problems of a specifically public architectural character were met by the
architects of the period.

It was not until the 1880s that a desire for a truly modem style emerged & even then it was by
no means articulate, although in some ways it prefaced the whole of the work of the early
10th century

By the tum of the century, architects sensible to the changes that were going on in society,
science, technology & psychology, were struggling with the problem of identification, of
architectural ideals & the increasingly importants notion of providing architecture appropriate
to it time.

The Art Nouveau did not successfully produce the necessary transition from the stylistic
Revivalism of the 19th century into the new world of the 20th century,

it did, however, provide a bridge via Expressionism between the individualism of the Art
Nouveau designers & the collective work of the architects who were associated with the
international Modernism movement of the late 1920s.

RENAISSANCE
 Inventionism
 Humanism
 idealism
 Mannerism
 Pletism
  Regional Classicism Absolutism
 Anglican Empiricism
 Rococo
 Palladianism
 Georgian Urbanism

EARLY MODERN
 Neoclassicism
 Exoticism
 Sublimism
 Structural Rationalism
 Materialism
 Medievalism
 Victorianism
 Monumental Urbanism
 Anti-Urbanism
 Decorative Industrialism
 Imperialism

MODERNISM
 Eclecticism
 Constructivism
 Manumentalism
 Usonianism
 National Romanticism
 Purism
 Fin De Sieclism
 Rationalism
 Radicalism
 Functionalism
 Futurism
 Skyscraperism
 Neoplasticism
 Totalitarianism
 Bauhaus
 Corporatism
 International Modernism
 Utilitaranism
 Organicism
 Brutalism
 Expressionism

BEYOND MODERNISM
 Structuralism
 Regionalism
 Metabolism
 Post-Metabolism
 Postmodernism
 Technoism
 Neo-Rationalism
 Deconstructivism
 Ecoism
  Metarationalism

 MANNERISM
Refers to the manipulation of styles or forms achieved by the learned juxtaposition of
elements for the exclusive aim of achieving originality or affect

“Te Palace"
by Giulo Romano - MANTOVA -ITALY.
The upper part of the arch is not at the same level of the other parts. It's the symbol of
mannerism, an artistical current that wanted to leave the perfection expressed in the
classicism.

 ECLECTICISM
It is usually applied to any building that incorporates a mixture of the historical styles.

The Palace of Beloselskie Belozerskye

Constructed for the princes Beloselskiye-Belozerskiye. Since 1884 it belonged to the grand
prince Sergei Alexandrovich.

 STRUCTURALISM
Iron construction that was initiated by Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace that brought
about a trend in architecture. Numerous exhibition halls, locomotive sheds & other large-scale
"engineering" types of structure followed.

Crystal Palace by Sir Joseph Paxton built for the Great Exhibition of 1851-1854 in London

 MONUMENTALISM
This was based on a general notion that (from Adolf Loos) "the form of an object should
last & that implicitly there are some forms which have eternal validity

Chicago Tribune Tower Designed by Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells.
Construction of the building was completed in 1925.
 Notable German pioneers of modern architecture:

 Kart Friedrich Schinkel

 Peter Behrens (Turbine Shop, AEG Factory, Berlin)
 Mies van der Rohe Le Corbusier
 Tony Gamier
 Auguste Perret

The AEG Factory, Berlin

Other European countries

 Glasgow: Charles Rennie Mackintosh

 Finland: Eliel Saarinen. Lara Sonck. Gallen-Kallela
 Britain: Richard Norman Shaw, Charles Voysey
 Spain: Antoni Gaudi
 Germany: Paul Bonatz, Albert Speer

Art Nouveau Buildings in Riga, Latvia

  EXPRESSIONISM
This term is used to describe the work of those architects who prefigured the International &
Functionalist Period of the Modern Movement

Einstein Tower, Potsdam by Erich Mendelsohn

 FUTURISM
The Futurist Architecture Manifesto proclaimed that Futurist Architecture is the architecture
of calculation, of audacity & simplicity, the architecture of reinforced concrete, of iron, of
glass.& all those subst tes for wood, stone & brick which make possible maximum elasticity &
lightness"

 NEOPLASTICISM
This term relates to the theory of pure plastic art which had a pronounced influence on Dutch
architects. It consisted in the exclusive use of the right angle in a horizontal position, & the use
of the 3 primary colors contrasted with or incorporating in various canvasses the 3 non colors:
white, black & gray.

Schroder House in Utrecht by Get Rietveld

L'Ecole de Beaux Arts (Paris)

The style tumed to Gothic revival due to its brevily, idealism, heroism, and picturesque ness
Verticality was the trend Example Eiffel Tower

A commercial building by Robert Adam along Piccadily, London

 DE STUL
Founded by Van Doesburg a paint Job J. P. Oud, one of the principal aims of the movement is
to construct without any usion without any decoration broke away from naturalem and
historicam and by appealing to abstraction as the means of expressing universal synthesis of
modern times. Compared to Gropius, Doesburg was a radicalist.

Rietveld-Schröderhuis (outside Utrecht) the only house in the world that confes in all aspects
of its construction to the 1920s artistic movement known as De St The Style), even to the
finest datal Bult by Gerrit Rietveld. It has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site for the
embodiment of one of the most influendal architectural movements of the enth century, and
one of the Netherlands most lasting contributions to world cubure.

 BAUHAUS
This is a school of art & design founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. Its second head was
Hannes Meyer (1927) followed later by Mies van der Rohe

The Bauhaus (illerally building house) was the nerve center of artistic experiment during the
1920s & it became internationally known through its publications & exhibitions & also through
the work of its architect heads who were in the front Ine of the European avant garde. The
influence of the Bauhaus design methods can be seen numerous consumer products from bot
fumiture & hanging gote bron to the black block lowercase leting to be found on whibition
posters the world over

Bauhaus Building in Dessau by Walter Gropius

  CIAM & INTERNATIONAL MODERNISM
(Congress Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne). This organization was set up by LE
CORBUSIER & SEIGHFRIED GIEDION. VILLA SAVOYE in Poissy, Paris.

THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE

“Ready-made style” important from the U.S.

Palisades Concrete Pier House

Park Avenue, New York

  TEAM X
Formed by a rebellious group of young Turks who contested the principles of modem
architecture for the same reasons CIAM had attacked the past

Joan Joseph Bakema (Holland) unite the personal freedom with the total environment
Shadrach Wood (US from cell house to mas housing which results in desolation

Aldo van Eyck (Holland) architects cracks or crevices made a flat surface of everything
The design of UC Berkeley Wurster Hall
Uses sunshading, daylighting and environmentally sensitive structural systems. Joe Esherick
was on the team that designed the building in 1966

 ORGANICISM
This is used as a description of architecture that sympathizes with its environment which i
shown in the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright & the Prairie School. It is the very antithesis of
the geometrical organized facadism of those architects who believe that architecture should
intrude on the environment in the Classic, Neo Classic & Gothic sense.

Followers of organicism:
 Claude Bragdon (US)
 Henry Russell Hitchcock (US)
 Hugo Haring (Germany) Hans Scharoun (Germany)
 Bruce Goff (Britain) Paolo Solert (Italy)
 Herb Greene

Kaufmann House (Falling water) - Frank Lloyd Wright use by Herb Greene
  UTILITARIANISM
I sought for economic solution for low value sites as well an alternative cheap forms of
construction in timber, brick & metal. Low cost housing was referred to as utilitarian
architecture,

In Britain, this was called PREFAB. The idea was to fabricate these units in factories & brought
to the situs ready-built for immediate assembly. The effect of this eventually was to create an
atmosphere in which system building could take over the role of individually designed
dwellings.

 THE NEW BRUTALISM

in 1954, the term the New Brutalism was first applied to a group of young British architects
center around Peter & Alison Smithson, & was marked by a fascination with raw expression of
materials, forms & functions There is a deliberate exposure of the structure, materials &
services with extraordinary clarity.

La Tourette Monastery, Lyon, France by Le Corbusier, 1953-1957

  METABOLISM
This term was first applied to architecture at the World Design Conference. Tokyo, 1980 This
concern with the problems of cities such Tokyo.

Among its advocates were:

 Klyonori Kikutake
 Fumihiko Mai
 Masato Otaka Kishio Kurokawa
 Kenzo Tange

Nakagin Capsule Tower Tokyo, Japan by Kishe Kurokaw, 1972

POST METABOLISM

Its use implies an attempt to summarize some of the very divergent currents that
characterized the Japanese architectural scene Post Metabolism interest in explaining such
things as the nature of the house in the city and se concerned with intricate design on small
sites & polemical (arguable) schemes.

POST-MODERNISM

This is an alternative to Modem Movement ideas like revivals of pattern book principles of the
19th century, a new interest in vernacular forms adapted to modem needs, a much more strict
interpretation of the theatrical element in Modem Movement architecture proper, a distinctly
confused revival of Wright's organic views, and return to the low-rise high-density
developments of the interwar period.

Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
Germany by James Stirling, 1977-84

Vanna Venturi House, Chestnut Hill

Philadelphia by Robert Venturi, 1964

ISOLATIONISM

It is conceived independently from its immediate or historical context. It stands on its own.
  Neighborhood houses in Dali reflect traditional Chinese urban architecture

CONTEXTUALISM

Architecture should be apprehended in its total setting. The knowledge of history, the world,
or science makes the total experience far richer.

 As a philosophic concept, contextualism, in adopted to provide an effective way to

transcend the meanings that are embedded in the context of historical architectural
characterstics

 As a design means, contextualism is used as a method to bring about sympathetic

creations that blend into their surroundings instead of destroying them

The Peart Farm

by Arch. Mañosa

DECONSTRUCTIVISM

It is the abstraction of Modernism to the extra and mainly worked on the principle of
exaggeration of familiar motifs. It is also known as the new modernism,

 Forerunners: Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry Richard Meier, Ram Koolhaas

Walt Disney Concert Hall

TECHNOISM

This describes how architects tried to bridge the gap between fantasy images and the ra
possibilities that new technology offered.

US Pavillion (Geodesic Dome), Expo 67. Montreal,

Canada by Buckminster Fuller

ECOISM

It merges the interest of sustainability environmental consciousness, green, natural and

organic approaches to evolve a design solution from these requirements and from the
characteristics of the she is neighborhood context, and the local micro-climate and
topography.

 ‘Respect’ this is the keyword in practicing green/ ecological architecture because our
current system of building lacks respect for the natural environment as well as for
individual people and society as a whole.

 Personalites; Ken Yeang. Rerto Plano, S Noman Foster, Toyota

ELEPHANT & CASTLE ECO TOWERS