Decrypting of the process of Architectural Design : By Ar. Purvi Kakkad

Decryption process of Architectural Design 

‘For starters of architectural design process, learning how to design is a deeply intimate affair. It requires you to reconsider how you think and unlearns all that you have taken for granted throughout your life’.

As a Professor in architecture School , in architectural education much of the time has revolved around answering the intimate question ‘how to design’. On their first project, students feel like a lost child being asked to find their way back home; They keep looking around for signs indicating that they are on the right track. Each project is  a new lesson on the elusive subject known as the ‘design process’.  To explain what I have learned from my experience, I would like to briefly relate it to the art of storytelling:

While describing the process of writing fairy tales, George McDonald argued that there is a set of laws by which a new world begins to exist. According to him this is the armature of creation, well formulated structure that lent credibility to the imagined worlds. These laws, he proclaimed, were determined by the creator to bring harmony and proportion in the creations.

British Architect & Writer Simon Unwin claimed that the laws of creation were not limited to stories only  but were prevalent in all manifestations of creation – even in architecture. He defined these laws as a guidelines of the design process. It is also self-defined parameters that enabled architects from time immemorial to make decisions that would otherwise seem arbitrary and whimsical. 

In architecture , these laws of creation are camouflaged under the absolute term of ‘design principles’. In my experience, understanding what these principles are, how to define them for yourself, and what it means to design, leads you to uncover your distinct design process. So here is a glimpse of all that I have discovered and learned on my journey to uncover ‘design process’.

   

Architectural Design Process: To Begin with

 “Simulation is a method of integration” 

My study of these principles has been largely imitative, inspired by countless architects and their works. Simulation is a two-step process that requires you to analyze the design decisions made originally and incorporate them within a new context. Many would say that there is no greater learning in architecture than to interpret another work of architecture and imitate it. Interestingly, with each project I studied, the architects that I admire and attempt to imitate varies.     

Architectural Design Process: Drawing, A Form of Thinking

“To draw oneself, to trace the lines, handle the volumes, organize the surface… all this means first to look, and then to observe and finally perhaps to discover.” 

According to me drawing is a form of critical thinking – what you draw is what you interpret. Most of the time, students have no idea what that meant for. For them drawing had always been a mere representational tool. They understand this only after they start attempting to communicate architectural ideas through drawing sketches.  I firmly believe that architectural ideas cannot exist only in words. Not only is drawing an integral tool in designing and thinking, but it also assists in observing and understanding architecture. It acts as a cognitive tool that translates raw data from your experience of architecture into a deeper understanding. 

 

Human Experience

“Architecture frames the lives and activities, possessions, and beliefs of people. And as people occupy, inhabit, use, perform in the space of buildings, the various kinds of architectural space relate to them and affect them in different ways.” 

The first principle in architecture is human experience which is central to every aspect of design. In their first year, students approach the subject from purely visual perspective; their design process prioritized the visual experience of the occupant over their needs and comfort. This yielded a photogenic building that hardly served its purpose of framing lives. With passing years when they grow as an architect, they understand about the distinct ways in which architecture molds human experience through its sensory nature.

Context

 “Has the ground some fault or special virtue, or several? In any and every case the character of the site is the beginning of the building that aspires to architecture.” 

The relevance of responding to the context in the design of buildings is the second principle to be explored. This goes far beyond the physical and the geographical – the cultural, political, and social context are equally relevant and often ignored aspects that need to be taken into consideration. As an architect, important learning is the reminder that you can’t work in a vacuum & context creates deep impact design of buildings.

Tectonics

“A brick knows what it wants to be.” 

Tectonic thinking was a hard concept for students to grasp. According to them the role of materials and construction techniques in the design process is highly irrelevant. But, this law of creation is as old as the idea of architecture – tectonic thinking is to understand the method and material of construction have an impact on the geometry and concept of the building. 

Designer should pay attention to the ‘nature of making’ and employing it as a creative tool. This can drastically alter the chronology of design process, material of the building impacts much more than just the visual aspect of the final design.

 The Element of Time

“Architecture exists, like cinema, in the dimension of time and movement” 

To design for a single moment of a single day is to design poorly. Time, as an architectural dimension, is frequently overlooked in the design process. many have often been caught in the act of designing a space without considering the varying amount of natural light it would receive throughout the year. 

Identity & Architecture

“Designers can’t run away from the Nordic tradition. Because it is difficult to run away from yourself.”  

Identity in architecture is a by-product of contextual design and it is inculcated from diverse decisions that we take both knowingly and unknowingly, which also brings the self-awareness.

Sverre Fehn’s Nordic Pavilion in Venice introduced this broader definition of architectural identity. The design of the Pavilion explores Nordic tradition through his personal experiences.

In Conclusion:

“The design will be a reflection of Designer.”

The architectural design process will be different from project to project, and from designer to designer. Each architectural designer will have their own approach, and will develop a design in a diverse set of ways. As the design process is carried out over and again, it will become more natural, and more clear. The design process will be based on designer’s own views, ideas and inspirations. Although designer will draw ideas from other designs, factors and influences, ultimately, the design will be a reflection of designer, and the skills designer develop over time.

 

By, 

Ar. Purvi Kakkad

(Professor, TSAP)