Project 1 - Transformation

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Pedagogy

The development process, the developed plan, transformation.

To develop: 1. to cause to grow gradually in some way; to cause to become grually fuller, larger, better, etc. 7 In music, to elaborate (a theme). 9. to show or work out by degrees; reveal; disclose. 12. in mathematics, to work outin detail or expand (a function or expression).

In the contractual terminology of the profession of architecture, the term refers to the process of evolution of a scheme, the design process that occurs after the schematic design phase and before the construction document phase. It is legally referred to as the design development phase. This phase does not involve the generation of the project’s fundamental idea or concept nor the initial response to program or site. These are aspects that are part of the earliest phases of the process.

There are a number of different ways to consider the development phase. One might be described as the theory of increasing linkages while another might be called the theory of increasing specificity.

1. The theory of increasing linkages assumes that the early design phase is exclusionary, that it removes from the design process consideration of many concerns and focuses on a very few, those that the designer considers to be the most critical. Thus as the design process advances, more and more considerations or forces are brought to play. If the initial concerns are primarily function then later concerns might be formal. If the initial concerns are largely formal, spatial, or compositional than later concerns might include tectonic, social, psychological, political and economic concerns. If the initial concerns are highly simplified, later concerns might incluce increasing levels of complexity and detail.

2. The theory of increasing specificity suggests that the designer maintains as many concerns as possible from the earliest moment in the design process. This might be described as an inclusionary process because it attempts to include all of the concerns throughout all of the phases. The development is then a process of transforming the design in successive levels of precision, each one more definitive than the last.

At this school the former is prefered. It may be seen by the way problems are structured in the design studio. Projects in the first semester are typically highly abstract, often having no program, orientation, site, client, budget, construction method or sense of materiality. As one moves through the design years, additional concerns are added. As the student takes courses in architectural history, structures and technology, these areas of knowledge are expected to become incorporate into the design studio and into the design process itself.

In this studio we will attempt to focus, not on the origination of the design itself, but on the successive steps. This means that it is critical to be able to come to grips with certain basic aspects of the project quickly.

Characteristics of the well deleloped plan.

There is a distinct and rather obvious difference between the sketch and the well developed plan. The well developed plan, highly developed plan and highly resolved plan mean essentially the same thing. The rationalized plan means something quite different. Plans of buildings can be identified as highly develope by a number of signature characterisctics. One of our objectives is to gain the skill of recognizing these characteristics.

Transformation of the well developed plan.

One characteristic of the design process is that as it progresses and various decisions about aspects of the project are made, components of the design tend to get "locked in" or "frozen". Sometimes these aspects have very real consequences to them. An example would the structure of a building on a fast track schedule where the frame has been designed, costed and contracted before the remainder of the building has been designed. Subsequent changes to the frame are extremely difficult and costly. At other times the aspects that are locked in are more a matter of the mental attitude. They simply represent desicision made but can, in fact, be changed quite readily.