Concept Sourcebook A Vocabulary Of Architectural Forms ~UPD~
Halima Leisch
These books describe the process and techniques of visualizing architectural predesign and design information in the dual sense of converting that information into graphic images and of seeing or understanding the information better. The central thesis is that our ability to draw needs, requirements, and early design concepts is just as important as our ability to draw final building design solutions and that, in fact, our diagramming skills profoundly influence the quality of our building designs.
Architecture students seem to graduate with a relatively small vocabulary of architectural forms for responding to project needs. This is not because the forms are unavailable but because students have had little experience and because current methods for acquiring them are very inefficient. As a result, some professional designers handle different projects with similar building forms that have become comfortable and familiar. This book presents a theory of concepts and concept formation based on a vocabulary for five categories of design: Functional Grouping and Zoning, Architectural Space, Circulation and the Building Form, Response to Context, and Building Envelope. As a whole, they are meant as a catalyst for project concept formation. 1975. Paper, 9" x 7", 200 pages. $24.95
Most architects have a love-hate relationship with architectural concepts. However, it is widely (and rightly) believed that a good architecture concept guarantees a solid final design. Different types of architecture concepts can exist in a single design project. It all comes down to finding the most appropriate ones that will actually work.
The site and the design brief are usually the best sources for architectural concepts. Run an extensive site analysis to understand the climate, culture, history or even the vegetation around the site. Read the design brief over and over to comprehend the significance of the design on the micro and macro scale.
You can also develop countless types of architectural concepts by addressing your own interest and philosophies. These design philosophies influence architects with a set of values that would be relied upon through every stage of design. However, a design philosophy does not solidify a concept, it can only do so with analysis, design processes and other relevant design solutions. Whatever you come up with must be justifiable as a design solution.
Similar to metaphors, biomimicry is one of the familiar types of architecture concepts that is inspired by nature. Here, it is not copying the forms or elements directly, but understanding the features by studying nature.
The Bird Nest Stadium in Beijing is a well-known example of biomimetic architecture.
A "Parti" according to Webster is "the basic general scheme of an architectural design." (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1981) There is little debate over the importance of a scheme or concept in architectural design and functionally any term could be used. However, parti with its unique architectural association presents the opportunity to have a term for a concept with a specific architectural meaning. The goal of this paper is to describe parti's historic meaning, note some of its contemporary meanings and synonyms, and then propose a definition.
"Composition" and parti (Van Zanten 1977) were associated terms that evolved and became prominent in the vocabulary of the professors of the Ecole in the second half of the nineteenth century. "Composition," addressed a building as a three-dimensional entity and concerned the presentation or detailing of the architectural ideas. Parti addressed the generation of the ideas themselves and was the basic scheme and fundamental solution of the building's functional program. These ideas were choices "from prendre parti, to make a choice, take a stand." (Van Zanten 1977,115)
I began with the goal of learning what a parti was. The result has been a renewed interest in the nature and use of concepts in design and design education. I have presented a definition for parti that acknowledges both its historic and contemporary meanings. In one sense, any term could be assigned this definition. Parti's value lies in its unique architectural association. However, regardless of whether you are comfortable with repainting an old lady, the definition and representation of the essential architectural concept is a powerful tool in design and design education.
If the forms of architecture were experienced, narrated, and designed through processes of physiological empathy, then Wölfflin and his followers also accounted for the manner in which a range of human physiological factors might be projected into architectural aesthetic experiences. In his first writings on empathy, Wölfflin discussed the way that formal symmetries and tensions within architecture recall physical normality, differentiation, and disfigurement of the human body.9 The empathy one feels and that enables one to sense and appreciate architectural form extends from the gravitational forces acting on both buildings and human beings to the corporeal makeup of individual human bodies. For example, Wölfflin argued that slender people tend to prefer buildings with slender proportions, while stocky people are drawn to buildings with greater mass.
Renaissance art emerged as a distinct style in northern Italy from around 1420, in parallel with developments which occurred in philosophy, literature, music, and science. It took as its foundation the art of Classical antiquity, but was also influenced by the art of Northern Europe and contemporary scientific knowledge. Renaissance artists painted a wide variety of themes. Religious altarpieces, fresco cycles, and small works for private devotion were very popular. Painters in both Italy and northern Europe frequently turned to Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend (1260), a highly influential sourcebook for the lives of saints that had already had a strong influence on Medieval artists. Interest in classical antiquity and Renaissance humanism also resulted in many Mythological and history paintings. Decorative ornament, often used in painted architectural elements, was especially influenced by classical Roman motifs.
Ancient Greek architecture was produced by the Greek-speaking people whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Anatolia and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD. Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalized characteristics, both of structure and decoration. The formal vocabulary of ancient Greek architecture, in particular the division of architectural style into three defined orders: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order, and the Corinthian Order, was to have a profound effect on the Western architecture of later periods.
In short, the parti is the overall and comprehensive schema, idea, or concept giving order, meaning, and rationale to a building. It provides a horizontal thrust that connects program, site, experience, form, space, and tectonics together in such a way that, if very well done, it also points to a vertical dimension: philosophy and spirituality. The parti may start from a particular architectural concept interpreting a specific dimension of architecture (context, precedent, composition, materiality, program, etc.). However, in order to become a parti, it needs to become holistic and cross-dimensional, bringing all aspects of a design within its domain.
Making Architecture Through Being Human is a reference book that presents 51 concepts, notions, ideas and actions that are fundamental to human thinking and how we interpret the environment around us. The book focuses on the application of these ideas by architectural designers to produce meaningful spaces that make sense to people. Each idea is isolated for clarity in the manner of a dictionary with short and concise definitions, examples and illustrations. They are organized in five sections of increasing complexity or changing focus. While many of the entries might be familiar to the reader, they are presented here as instances of a larger system of human thinking rather than simply graphic or formal principles. The cognitive approach to these design ideas allows a designer to understand the greater context and application when aligned with their own purpose or intentions.
Philip D. Plowright is Professor of Architectural Design and Theory at Lawrence Technological University, USA. He is an academic researcher, theorist and licenced architect with degrees in studio art, architecture and cognitive linguistics. His interest focuses on developing clarity around foundational knowledge in the applied design disciplines for use in teaching and production environments. His previous book, Revealing Architectural Design (Routledge 2014), addressed the larger thinking frameworks that structure architectural design methods while his research monograph, Qualitative Embodiment in English Architectural Discourse (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha 2017), looked at latent meaning found between people and environments based on conceptual metaphors and embodied knowledge.
"Making Architecture Through Being Human is a Rosetta Stone of sorts. It explains crucial architectural ideas, concepts, and terminology in an uncomplicated and easy to understand way but this is no mere sourcebook of specifications and standards, nor is it a collection of arcane axioms claiming to convey architectural literacy. The book is the concise, illustrated explanation of terms and ideas that will serve to build a robust foundation for a lifetime of architectural discourse and practice." - John Marshall, Associate Professor and Founding Director, MDes Integrative Design, University of Michigan, USA
Architecture: Form, Space, and Order, Fourth Edition is the classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architectural design, updated with new information on emerging trends and recent developments. This bestselling visual reference helps both students and professionals understand the vocabulary of architectural design by examining how space and form are ordered in the environment. Taking a critical look at the evolution of spaces, Architecture distills complex concepts of design into a clear focus that inspires, bringing difficult abstractions to life. The book is illustrated throughout to demonstrate the concepts presented, and show the relationships between fundamental elements of architecture through the ages and across cultures.
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