ARCH 239 STRATEGIES OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND ANALYSIS LECTURE NOTES WEEK 1: Introduction 1.

. Course Description and Objectives As the art and science of building, architecture has its own language. And as in any language, it has its letters (primary design elements), its vocabulary (previous architectural works and elements) and the grammar that brings them together (design principles and professional rules). Once you learn these fundamental components, you can be able to understand and produce architectural works. The aim of this course is to introduce you with the principles and rules that the architect should use in his/her profession. However, the course does not intend to you give prescriptive plans, forms and examples, but aims to talk about some important considerations concerning design. Accordingly, the course will talk about the basic essentials of architectural design, architectural and structural elements, stages of architectural project development, and the architectural analysis of different buildings types, such as residential, educational, cultural, commercial, and religious buildings. 2. Architecture and Architectural Profession Architecture is the art of shaping interior and exterior spaces, in a structural, functional and aesthetic order. It could be basically defined as the art and science of designing and constructing buildings. The word architecture also means: 1. 2. 3. 4. The product or result of architectural work: buildings, urban areas and landscapes. A style or method of building characteristic of a people, place or time. The profession of designing buildings and other habitable environments by architects. The conscious act of forming things resulting in a unifying or coherent structure.1

In its most simple form, architecture is the design and organization of spaces, and in its most common form, it is the design of buildings, their interiors and surrounding spaces. The architect acts a designer, who can work in a wide range of scales, from a scale as large as the planning of a city, up to a scale as small as the design of a chair. Today the subjects of architecture are diversified and architecture is also specialized into different areas of expertise, such as city planning, restoration, landscape architecture or interior architecture. Architecture is a profession in which technical knowledge, management, and an understanding of business are as important as design. Throughout the project (planning to occupancy), the architect co-ordinates a design team. Structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers and other specialists, are hired by the client or the architect, who must ensure that the work is co-ordinated to construct the design. There is both the design and the construction phase that the architect has to deal with and have a command of. The architect hired by a client is responsible for creating a design concept that
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Ching, F., Visual Dictionary of Architecture

meets the requirements of that client and provides a facility suitable to the required use. Architects typically put projects to tender on behalf of their clients, advise on the award of the project to a general contractor, and review the progress of the work during construction. They typically review or make the detail/application drawings, prepare and issue site instructions, and control the project application. All the pieces of built environment..houses, apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, factories, offices, stadiums, sports areas, hotels, theatres, shopping centers, airports, bus terminals, or mosques..are the works of architects. If we think about the influence of this physical environment on people, it would be easier for us to understand the importance of the profession of architecture. Architect is the artist and technician, who creates the inner and outer spaces in which all humane and social functions take place.2 As famous thinker John Ruskin said: Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscriptsthe book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these can be understood unless we read the other two; but of the three, the only quite trustworthy one is the last. Architecture is the record of the people who produced it and could be read as the history of those people. It is a nonverbal way of communication and it is the quiet record of the people who produced it. We can understand a cultures history and literature from their architecture and likewise if we want to understand the architecture of any period or culture (in the past or today), we should understand the history and literature (deeds and the words) of that period. (p. 23)

Bolak, O., Bina Bilgisi.

Source: Ching, F., Visual Dictionary of Architecture

3. Professional knowledge in architecture As Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius has written, a good building must satisfy three main qualities: firmitas, utilitas, venustas. Referring to firmness, functionality, and beauty, Vitruvius denoted that a good building should be firm, useful, and beautiful and that the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three qualities as well as possible. Since ancient times, these basic elements of architecture (firmness, functionality and beauty) have remained essentially unchanged. Accordingly, architectural products (or buildings) should still be firm, which means that they should stand up firm and solid, and remain in good condition; they should still be functional, which means that they should be useful and function well for the people using them; and they should still be beautiful, which means that they should please the senses of the people who view and use them. Therefore, architecture should try to reach the optimum combination of firmitas, venustas and utilitas; in other words, the firmness of structure, beauty of the form (and space), and the functionality of the building. Therefore, the ultimate test of architecture is made with the following questions: 1. Is the building functional? (Could it be used effectively and easily?)
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2. Is the building firm? (Is its structure firm enough to carry all the weights it should carry, such as its own weight, its users weights, and the forces of the wind and the earthquake? And, Are its materials durable enough to withstand many years of use?) 3. Is the building beautiful? (Does the building give visual delight to the user and the viewer; is it aesthetic and pleasing?)

(Source: Ching, F., Architecture: form, space and order)

(Source: Ching, F., Architecture: form, space and order)

Therefore, the architect has to have a full command of the form, function, and structure of the building and besides these, he/she also has to consider other factors such as the site characteristics, materials, lighting, heating and acoustic conditions, color and texture of buildings. He/she should analyse the site of the project to determine the layout, orientation, approach, views, relationship with the environment, and materials (as they would differentiate according to the climate) of the building, and has to consider how light affects and travels within the building, how the building is heated or ventilated, how it reacts to sounds (acoustics), what colors it should have, and the textural sensations evoked by the materials used in it.3 On this basis there are basically three fundamental aspects that should be considered by the architect, which are listed as follows: 1. Organization Every building is made to meet a social need and every building is a composition of various spaces serving various needs and activities. If the building serves these needs properly than we can say that the building is organized to do its function well. For the building to be organized and function well, the parts of the building (rooms, toilets, circulation elements etc.) should find their correct places. In order to be able to create architectural works for various different functions, an architect has to study and inquire those functions thoroughly. An architect has to imagine him/herself living in every space he/she has designed. A hotel for example has to meet the need of functioning as a house for its customers for a certain amount of time. According to its site, it can be a beach hotel, a city hotel, a mountain hotel etc. But wherever it is, it should be planned to meet the basic needs of shelter, sanitation and nutrition satisfactorly. Along side these, it should also meet its specific needs that arise from its speciality (eg. A beach hotel should give special consideration to its relationship with the sea.)

Farelly, Mimarligin Temelleri, p. 8-11

Then the architects first job is to convert the needed functions listed in the building program to a well functioning and reasonable plan. On this basis, the first condition of a building to be a good architectural work is that its organization (planning) is successful.

A typical house organization scheme, showing the organization of spaces

A typical hotel layout, showing the organization of spaces (Source: Neufert) 2. Construction Every building has to be built / constructed properly to be able to carry all the weights it should carry (such as its own weight, its users weights, the forces of the wind and the earthquake) and to be durable, functional, economic and beautiful. To be able to do that an architect has to have knowledge of the construction process, the knowledge of statics and structures (structural knowledge of reinforced concrete, wooden and steel systems), and knowledge of building materials. Accordingly, the architect has to select the structural system of the building as appropriate to the character of the building in the most logical way, choose the building materials properly and use them appropriately in compliance to their character, and carefully obey the appropriate constructional technique.
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For example, if we are constructing a building in a mountaneous area, which is rich with stone, it would be proper to build the building out of the stone of the area. If we choose to build it with reinforced concrete, to carry all the bricks, cement and steel to the area would be much more expensive. Therefore stone (as the building material) would be the most economical solution for that certain project. Besides, it would be the most proper solution in terms of its construction, since a reinforced concrete buiding would have to be plastered and that plaster would be damaged by the harsh weather of the mountaneous area. Therefore, the second job of the architect is to detect the right structural system for the building, which would be appropriate for the buildings functions (eg. large span width of framed systems, such as reinforced concrete or steel frames, would be more suitable for buildings needing uninterrupted spaces, such as airports, exhibiton ares, factories), to select the wright building material for this system, and to build the building with this material by complying to its constructional techniques and static calculations.

Stone houses built by the local stone in the mountain village Vieussan, France (left) and Houses built by the local mudbrick, Sana, Yemen (right)

A Traditional Safranbolu house that has timber frame, Safranbolu, Turkey (left) and Seagram Building by Mies van der Rohe that has a steel frame, New York, USA (right) 3. Aesthetics
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A building could be very well organized, planned and very well constructed. However, if it does not visually and sensorily please us with its exterior and interior spaces and in terms of its relationships with the environment, that building fails to be a good architectural work. Therefore the third job of the architect is to design the building as a visually pleasing, beautiful piece of architecture. This requires a refined aesthetic taste, which develops by education. On this basis, the preliminary studies of an architectural project generally include the following steps4: 1. The need, which brings out the function of the building, is detected. Its relationship within the more general needs (such as sanitary needs) is examined and their organization is roughly conceptualized. 2. The site of the project is studied according to its size, location, environmental relationships, access, climate, landscape, wind direction etc. The shape of the building plot, buildings orientation and the settlement gauge is roughly calculated. 3. A concept (the initiating idea of the project) that would guide the design of the building is formed (and maybe sketched). 4. A building program, which would list the needed functions, is formed. (A program is a list of functions and their needed areas within the building) 5. The relationships of different spaces (rooms, sites, locations) are detected and expressed with an organization scheme (this is also called as a bubble diagram). 6. The spaces (rooms, kitchens, restrooms etc.) that are listed in the program should be in their proper size, shape and qualities to serve their functions. Therefore the listed spaces are given their proper dimensions and this dimensioning is done by considering the human scale, his/her ergonometric needs and the equipment he/she will use. The spaces are also studied in terms of their areas, volume and air needs, illumination and heat degrees, sun light intake, viewing position, acoustic conditions and security. 7. The structural system and building materials are determined. 8. The study for a preliminary project begins by organizing the inner and outer spaces according to the organization scheme to create a functioning order. In this phase, the vertical connection elements and the circulation should be shaped in order to create a functional order within the building. 9. When the first preliminary project is finished, the area and volume calculations are made and checked if they are suitable and functional.

Mutlu, A., Bina Bilgisi.

A sample bubble diagram (or organization scheme) (Source:http://www.homedesigndirectory.com.au/diy/home-design/bubble-diagram.shtml)

Leupen et. al., Design and Analysis, o1o Publishers, Rotterdam, 1997, p. 17-19.

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Concept sketch by Erich Mendelsohn, Einstein Tower, Potsdam, 1920.

Concept sketch by Alvar Aalto, Neue Vahr Apartment Building, Bremen, 1958-1962 In this process, each designer/architect has to find their own methods themselves for each and every different design problem, since design problems do not have predetermined methods (as in mathematical formulas or theorems) for their solutions. For this reason, architecture appears an act of problem solving that requires creativity and a creative thinking process. This process of creativity on the other hand is effected by the design vocabulary of the architect (architectural works that are kept in the memory of the architect) and various design strategies, which are developed in time as an outcome of hands-on design experience. In other words, how much you know (design vocabulary study of buildings) and how much you did (hands on designing) affects your creativity.

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