Architectural Design

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Klein Dytham architecture: Billboard Building › Finding a process

› SHoP Architects PC: 290 Mulberry

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This diagrammatic approach is useful for defining and

reflecting upon the differences between the approaches of

individual architects; or at least, their perceived approaches.

However, it is impossible to use such diagrams to provide a

definitive record of the actual process followed. In any given

project, design decision-making is too rapid, complex and

messy to be so neatly defined or recorded.

Understanding the process of design

There are other ways beyond diagrams to describe the

process of design but these also have their own limitations.

More experiential descriptions include monographs, case

studies, theoretical works, architectural biographies and

interviews. These provide an insight into an individual’s

perception of their own process or that of the architect being

studied. It should be remembered that these accounts are

retrospective, subjective and, often by necessity, partial.

Despite the limitations of trying to define individual design

processes there is a value in only being able to report a

retrospective and partial version of events; we need any

account of a process to remain general. If the description

is too precise, it cannot be comprehended in a usable way

and reapplied elsewhere in an adapted form.

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