CONCEPTUALIZATION

TECHNIQUES OF
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
Theory of Architecture 2

Ar. Fernando C. Pamintuan

 MANIPULATION
Conceptualization Techniques Of Architectural Design
 Manipulation is
defined as “skillful
handling or
operation; artful
management or
control.”

 The purpose of
manipulation in
graphic thinking is
the altering of
graphic images so as
to get a new look at
them and thereby
expand our thinking.
  While the
architectural design
process involves
decision-making
aimed at the
reduction of
ELABORATIO REDUCTI alternatives in
search of a final
N ON solution, it also
Opportunity- Design Decision- involves elaboration
seeking Process making aimed at expanding
the range of
possibilities.

 Most architects are

not content with
solving problems
with existing
knowledge; they
want to expand the
knowledge base at
the same time.
  Architects are
opportunity-
seekers as well as
problem-solvers.

ELABORATIO REDUCTI  The drawings that

N ON we are going to
Opportunity- Design Decision- see throughout
seeking making the topic of
Process Manipulation are
devoted to
elaboration in the
design process,
deviation from the
norm, expansion
of thinking, and
development of
imagination.
 We are just
beginning to
understand the
untapped
potential of our
imaginations.

 Intuition,
creativity, and
imagination have
traditionally
been considered
the skills
attributable to a
limited group of
people:
inventors,
artists, geniuses.
 Many researchers
of creativity feel
that most people
have the basic
capacity for
imagination but
that it remains
underdeveloped
or unused.

 “It is simple
enough to list
those ‘attributes
of creativity’
which are needed
by the designer
and to point out
the reasons for
their inclusion.”
 “But actual
development and
refinement of such
behavioral
characteristics is
difficult since society
makes it a relentless
battle, an often
thankless and rarely
positively reinforced
chore, to maintain
such behavior.

 The same society

which readily
accepts the creative
‘product’ will
chastise or deny the
creative ‘activity’
required for such
production because
of its non-typical
nature.”
 Making creative behavior
acceptable is the first
step in promoting
creativity in architectural
design, and this lesson in
manipulation tries to
provide more
information about
creative thinking.

 If we can get through

some of the mystery
surrounding the personal
approaches taken by
architects, specific
techniques can be
identified that make up a
body of trainable skills.
 We will be looking at three approaches to manipulation:
1. Open-ended images that suggest a number of different
perceptions or interpretations.
2. Transformation of images.
3. Structuring or ordering images.
 These approaches are aimed at re-centering visual
thinking.
 “Re-centering vision
is fundamentally an
experience in
unlearning.

 For most people,

breaking lazy,
category-hardened,
fear-inducing habits
of seeing is an
educational task of
considerable
magnitude.”

 To make full use of

these drawings for
graphic thinking, we
must be comfortable
with exploration that
is not tightly focused,
let the mind wander,
and be open to
unexpected results.
Manipulation
Drawing by  Terms like ambiguous,
collage, and multivalent
Alvar Aalto have been used to describe
works of art and architecture
that can be “read,”
interpreted, or appreciated
simultaneously on several
levels.
 These works are often said to
have several meanings.
 Design sketches often have
similar qualities of ambiguity,
allowing the designer to think
flexibly and in general terms.
 We refer to this as open-ended.
 Open-endedness can
be achieved with
transparency. Single
Interpretat
Overlap ion
 This approach is
based on the tradition
ping
of showing depth
location by
overlapping. Double
Interpretat
 Modern art introduced ion
mutual overlapping, Transpar
producing a ency
transparent effect
that allows two or
more figures to
occupy the same
place.
Sugge
stion
 In concept, developing
a transparency allows
the designer to
suspend decisions
about the exact
location of spaces or
the boundaries
between the spaces.

Drawing by
Lazar Markovich
Lissitzky
 Another approach to open-
endedness is the incomplete,
obscure sketch.

 By providing minimum information,

the sketches focus on the most
general issues while establishing
the essential character of the
architecture.

 The tentative feeling of the lines

helps give some sketches an added
sense of being temporary.

Drawing by
Hermann
Finsterlin
 Open-ended sketches often convey a
sense immediacy and the confidence of
the designer.

 Notice how few lines provide an impact.

 The white spaces help to pull the eye

back to the key parts of the drawing.

 To produce effective sketches, the

designer is required to work quickly and
in a relaxed manner; the sketches
should not become an end in
themselves but an enjoyable process.

Drawing by
Hermann
Finsterlin
Manipulation
  The purpose of open-
ended images is to
TRANSFORMATION invite changes in the
images.
S
 Transformations,
however, are specific
changes made in the
graphic images.
Topologi Ornamen
cal tal  The possibilities for
change in graphic
images are practically
unlimited, but we will
look at just a few basic
types of transformation.

Revers Distorti  They are topological

continuity, ornamental
al on grammar, reversals, and
distortion.
 Graphic transformations
can be very helpful to
creativity in design.

 The stages of creativity

have been described as
“Preparation,
Incubation, Illumination,
and Verification… the
period of incubation
frees the individual from
previous fixations,… he
is then able to see the
problem with new eyes
when he returns to it.”

 Transformations are
aimed at changing
perspective or
perception, making the
familiar seems strange.
 It is important to remember
that a period of preparation
must precede incubation.

 The designer prepares by

becoming immersed in the
problem, trying to understand
all the variables of need,
context, and form.

 Once the problem becomes

imbedded in his mind, he
attempts to overcome
preconceptions about the
possible solutions by changing
the existing graphic images.
Transformations
  In mathematics, the
term topology is defined
as “the study of those
properties of geometric
figures that remain
unchanged even when
under distortion, so long
as no surfaces are torn.”

 A practical example of
two objects topologically
similar but different in
appearance is the
Topological doughnut and the cup.
similarity
between a  The transformation from
doughnut to cup shows
doughnut how the same basic
and a cup surface relationships are
retained while the form
is pushed and pulled.
  A similar topological
continuity is important
to the manipulation of
Typical process of “gluing” spaces design images.
TOPOLOG together
Y  Many architectural
students mistake a
specific arrangement
of parts for a
topological or essential
relationship of parts.

 If the true topological

characteristics of a
diagram are identified,
many other
arrangements of the
parts can be explored.
 March and Steadman
pointed out the
potential of topological
continuity in
comparing three
houses by Frank Lloyd
Wright.

 “In them he uses a

range of ‘grammars,’
by which he meant,
above all, the
controlling geometric
unit which ordered the
plan and pervaded the
details…. Whilst they
may look different,
they are in fact
topologically
equivalent.
 If each functional
space is mapped
on to a point and if,
when to spaces
interconnect, a line
is drawn between
their
representative
points… equivalent
in plan,…”

 Therefore, one
topological
structure was open
to three very
different
expressions.