Design Process

All processes will begin with research leading to an “architectural” concept that guides the layout of the space with relationship to the program. After completion of this, and only after, may theme or metaphor be used to articulate the space.

Concept Development Process:
Concept: A plan or intention; a conception

1. Do research on building type – including floor plan analysis of successful examples.
2. Develop client profile based on the brief and including the criteria for design success – what absolutely must be accomplished in the new design for the client if it is to be successful.
3. Develop programming diagrams – adjacency matrix, bubble diagram, and zoning diagram. Zoning diagrams are to be zoned on some progressive criteria – security, public to private, natural to artificial light.
4. Look at bubble and zoning diagram in relationship to the base floor plan for the space being designed for.
5. Develop a concept in relationship to the results of programming and the floor plan. Students look at these things together and evolve a concept, e.g. centralized scheme, radial scheme, assymetrical balance. There’s an intuitive leep, yes, but then there’s a relationship between programming and concept development. A minimum of three concepts should be developed – these should be critiqued to arrive at a single synthesis of the best ideas in each of the three.
6. At this stage the use of architectural precedents could also be usefully employed. Further, the pattern language should be used in every case to ensure the students think about the interactions of space and events (and meaning). The seven principles of Universal Design could also be used in a meaningful way to guide the development of a responsive design.
7. Develop multiple schematic designs, more or less to scale, in softline form.
8. Build physical models of important aspects of the spaces with furniture. This will give the students a sense of 3D reality. In the near future Sketchup will be used from the concept development stage to develop a sense of the 3D feel as well.
9. Only once the design has been evolved in this way should CAD – a design documentation tool – be used.

The Importance of Design Studio Instruction : Tom Mitchell's Design Blog

Friday, January 26, 2007

The Importance of Design Studio Instruction

Traditionally the design studio has played an important role in the development of generations of designers – in architecture, interior design, product design, and other fields. Students would spend long hours in the studio setting which became a home away from home for many. Comfortable chairs, cots, and refrigerators are regular features of design studios. In such settings, students worked in a “guild like” way under the direction of an instructor (“master”) who conveyed his or her experience in a practical way. Design students learned by doing – and they often gained as much through interaction between students as their projects evolved as they did from their instructor.The value of this form of education was highlighted after the move to computer-aided designing. Whereas before students worked in a collaborative way through physical models and sketches – evolving a design – when CAD began being used as a design tool the design development process was often “shut down.” Students arrived at designs individually, in their heads, and jumped straight to the design documentation phase. The result? Designs devoid of richness and development. Such designs, further, often reflected a lack of an understanding of the process of interaction and use. In other words, with CAD as a design tool you get nothing of quality, precisely.From this experience – shared in many design fields – the importance of collaboration, making the design process explicit, evolving design through a series of visualization techniques, and testing it through prototypes before commiting to design documentation is clearly demonstrated. Further, this experience suggests that other fields that may not yet have a studio culture, such as Human Computer Interaction Design, might benefit from adopting the studio approach as the method of attaining the richest, most responsive results. Even immaterial experience can be embedded in forms that act as catalysts to interaction. The design studio – viewed this way – is an essential context for the future of all forms of design, not simply a relic of history.
Posted by Tom Mitchell's Design Blog