UC-AR Thesis Document no. AG 00.

v1

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN 8 FINALS

NB: May be issued ahead at the onset of the course

Pre-thesis Course Topics

I. Problem Identification and Comprehension

o Brief
It is best in this portion that a student must already have in his
possession key data regarding a selected site—site selection
caried ahead or after a targeted and experienced problem 1 is
defined.

o Problem Context
As in Urban Acupuncture, systemic problems may be resolved or
alleviated by architectural means from within another site. Other
acceptable ones aside from this are the site-within-site problem
context (e.g. residential developments), site-to-immediate
vicinity context (e.g. basic community facilities as subdivision
clubhouses, barangay-level health centres, barangay halls et c.).

o Development Extent and Scale

There are no set parameters yest for the determination of scale
as well as development extent. The level of complexity shall be
determined by both the Design 8 Adviser and the student, such
that it can be worthy to be considered for ascent to Design 9.
The adviser must finally decide whether a design problem meets
the yet anecdotal institutional standards of the Architectural
Thesis.

o Deliverables:

1. Problem Briefer (Usually the background of the Study)

2. Documentation of Systemic Problem – in any media form

expressed within the corpus of the study background.

1Problem - Prior to research, a student or researcher must identify a “Systemic Problem”. This means
problems and challenges that are experienced that are not necessarily architectural in nature. A
problem may be social, environmental, polity, et c. (Architecture Faculty, 2022).

1
 UC-AR Thesis Document no. AG 00.v1

II. Preliminary Problem Statement and Site Documentation

o Brief
A portion that exposes the first “working title” of the study’s pre-
thesis stage.

o Initial Resolution Ideas to Concept Development

Having identified a systemic problem, a student may analytically
begin developing solutions. Solutions may be referred to as the
problem is averted and the experience is made better or
convenient. For instance, an experiential systemic issue is Heat
within a given social space, in the likes of a communal space of
an auditorium; a resolute concept will be “introduction of active
and passive cooling systems”. The case gives the problem of
discomforts caused by heat; it also discourses the abstract
concept of passive and active cooling systems. The Abstract
Concept May be translated by any means into an Architectural
design Concept as: Tropical Feature Strategies: Evaporative
Cooling and Airconditioning.

o Deliverables

1. Working Title – also known as the problem statement or “thesis

statement”, that must express a notion and partial sense of
the following: objectives, concepts, methods of research.

2. Site Documentation Requirements – Each site and

architectural problem will have its own unique
circumstances. It is therefore proper that the Design 8 Adviser
must determine the applicability of the following
documentation requirements:

 Owner’s Authorization
 Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT or OCT)
 Zoning Certificate
 Declaration of Real Property and Lot Description
 Survey Lot Plan/ and Topographic Map for sloping lots
 Vicinity Map (within 200-meters for CBD and 2-km for other lots
 Land Use Map
 Master Plan (for projects within PUD’s, government center,
university Campus and the like)
 Site photos (with photo locator map)
 Neighbourhood Photos (with photo locator)
 Data for Justification of Project Needs: Resolutions, Survey,
CLUP, latest (in-text citations)
 Zoning Ordinance(s) (in-text citations)
 Others: Council Resolutions, Deed of Restrictions, et c.

2
 UC-AR Thesis Document no. AG 00.v1

III. Objectives Determination and Preliminary Methods Identification

(Congruent with Research Methods)

o Brief
Objectives are the elementary or component aspect of the main
problem statement. Each of the objectives are due for research
and analysis through the employment of certain methods of
architectural research. One may use the book by Linda Groat in
this context.

o Deliverables

1. Specific Objectives

2. Preliminary Research Framework in the IPOO2 form or

independent, intervening (or moderating), and dependent
variables form.

IV. Preliminary Architectural Programming

o Brief
According to leading experts in Architectural Programming from
the renowned firm HOK, Programming is equal to “problem
seeking” (Parshall & Peña, 2012). This shall be the comprehensive
data gathering procedure, in which the student shall all his best
exhaust all possible related information to the following:

a. T Systemic Problem
b. T Site
c. T Proponent (if applicable)
d. T Main Abstract or Programmatic
Concept
e. T&P3 All Other Design Influencing
Factors

Students are also encouraged to organise and categorise all

relevant collected data through the means established by
Architectural Programming authors i.e. Peña or Hershberger, or the
framework formats mentioned here.

o Deliverables
1. Architectural Programme Framework

2 IPOO – Input, Process, Output, & Outcome The first three attributed to the specific objectives, while
the latter is concerned with the main goal or main problem statement
3 T – Main Thesis; P – Architectural Programme

3
 UC-AR Thesis Document no. AG 00.v1

V. References

Architecture Faculty. (2022, November). The UC AR Thesis Manual.

Baguio: University of the Cordilleras.
Groat, L., & Wang, D. (2013). Architectural Research Methods. New
Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Parshall, S. A., & Peña, W. M. (2012). Problem Seeking: An Architectural
Programming Primer 5th Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John
Wiley & Sons.