Typology and Design Method

Author(s): Alan Colquhoun

Source: Perspecta , 1969, Vol. 12 (1969), pp. 71-74
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1566960

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Alan Colquhoun
Alan Colquhoun is an architect in practice in
London. He has been a tutor at the AA School,
London; as well as teaching at Princeton and
Cambridge Universities. At present he is a
Visiting Professor at Cornell. This article first
appeared in Arena, June 1967.
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Typology and Design Method
During the last few years a great deal of of natural science, but continued to be based
attention has been given to the problem of on tradition and the idea of the final form of
design methodology, and to the process of the work as a fixed ideal.
design as a branch of the wider process
of problem solving. But this distinction ignores the extent to
which artifacts have not only a "use" value in
Many people believe, not without reason, that the crudest sense, but also an "exchange"
the intuitive methods of design traditionally value.
used by architects are incapable of dealing
with the complexity of the problems to be The craftsman had an image of the object in
solved, and that without sharper tools of his mind's eye when starting to make it.
analysis and classification, the designer tends Whether this object was a cult image (say a
to fall back on previous examples for the sculpture) or a kitchen utensil, it was an
solution of new problems - on type solutions. object of cultural exchange, and it formed
One of the designers and educators who has part of a system of communications within
been consistently preoccupied by this society. Its "message" value was embodied
problem is Tomas Maldonado. At a recent precisely in the image of the final form which
seminar at Princeton University, Maldonado the craftsman held in his mind's eye as he was
admitted that, in cases where it was not making it and to which his artifact
possible to classify every observable activity corresponded as nearly as possible. In spite
in an architectural programme, it might be of the development of the scientific method
necessary to use a typology of architectural we must still attribute such social or iconic
forms in order to arrive at a solution. But he values to the products of technology, and
added that these forms were like a cancer in recognise that they play an essential role in
the body of the solution, and that as our the generation and development of the
techniques of classification become more physical tools of our environment. It is easy to
systematic it should be possible to eliminate see that the class of artifacts which continue
them altogether. to be made according to the traditional
methods (for example paintings or musical
Now it is my belief that beneath the apparent compositions) have a predominantly iconic
objectivity of these ideas there lies an purpose, but such a purpose is not so often
aesthetic doctrine. It will be the purpose of recognised in the creation of the environment
this paper to show this to be the case, and, as a whole. This fact is concealed from us
further, to try and show that it is untenable because the intentions of the design process
without considerable modification. are "hidden" in the overt details of
performance specification.
One of the most frequent arguments used
against typological procedures in architecture The idolization of "primitive" man, and the
has been that they are a vestige of an age of fundamentalist attitude which this generated
craft. It is held that the use of models by has discouraged the acceptance of such
craftsmen became less necessary as the iconic values. There has been a tendency
development of scientific techniques enabled since the eighteenth century to look on the
man to discover the general laws underlying age of primitive man as a sort of golden age
the technical solutions of the pre-industrial in which man lived close to nature. For many
age. years, for instance, the primitive hut or one of
its derivatives has been taken as the starting
The vicissitudes of the words "art" and point for architectural evolution, and has been
"science" certainly indicate that there is a the subject of first-year design programmes,
valid distinction to be drawn between artifacts and it would not be an exaggeration to say
that are the result of the application of the that frequently a direct line of descent is
laws of natural science and those which are presumed to exist from the noble savage,
the result of mimesis' and intuition. Before through the utilitarian crafts to modern
the rise of modern science, tradition, habit science and technology. The whole edifice of
and imitation were the methods by which all art, certainly since the end of the mediaeval
artifacts were made, whether these were period, is often thought to be corrupt and
mainly utilitarian or mainly religious. The unnatural, and based on some sophisticated
word "art" was used to describe the skill "horror vacui" or the need to aggrandize a
necessary to produce all such artifacts. With ruling class. In so far as it is based on the
the development of modern science, the wordidea of the noble savage, this notion is quite
"art" was progressively restricted to the case baseless. The cosmological systems of
of artifacts which did not depend on the laws primitive man were very intellectual and very
artificial. To take only kinship systems, the
'The word is used here to mean the imitation of a tradition following quotation from Claude Levi-Strauss
and not in the Aristotelian sense of the imitation of nature.
will make the point clear: "Certainly", he
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says, "the biological family is present and The relation of this notion to Spencerian
persists in human society. But what gives to evolutionary theory is very striking. According
kinship its character as a social fact is not to this theory the purpose of prolonging life
what it must conserve of nature; it is the and the species must be attributed to the
essential step by which it separates itself process as a whole, but at no particular
from nature. A system of kinship does not moment in the process is it possible to see
consist of objective blood ties; it exists only this purpose as a conscious one. The process
in the consciousness of men; it is an arbitrary is therefore teleological. In the same way, the
system of representations, not the biotechnical determinism of the modern
spontaneous development of a situation of movement was teleological, because it saw
fact."2 the aesthetic of architectural form as
something which was achieved without the
There seems to be a close parallel between conscious interference of the designer, but
such systems and the way modern man still something which none the less was
approaches the world, and what was true of postulated as his ultimate purpose.
primitive man in all the ramifications of his
practical and emotional life - namely, the It is clear that this doctrine contradicts any
need to represent the phenomenal world in theory which would give priority to an
such a way that it becomes a coherent and intentional iconic form, and it attempts to
logical system - persists in our own absorb the process by which man tries to
organisations, and more particularly in our make a representation of the world of
attitude towards the man-made objects of our phenomena back into a process of
environment. unconscious evolution. To what extent has it
been successful, and to what extent can it be
An example of the way this applies to shown to be possible?
contemporary man is in the creation of what
are called socio-spatial schemata. Our sense It seems evident, in the first place, that the
of place and relationship in, say, an urban theory begs the whole question of the iconic
environment, or in a building, are not significance of forms. Those in the field of
dependent on any objective fact that is design who were - and are - preaching
measurable; they are phenomenal. The pure technology and so-called objective
purpose of the aesthetic organisation of our design method as a sufficient and necessary
environment is to capitalise on this subjectivemeans of producing environmental devices,
schematization, and make it socially persistently attribute iconic power to the
available. The resulting organisation does notcreations of technology, which they worship
correspond in a one-to-one relationship with to a degree inconceivable to a scientist. I
the objective facts, but is an artificial said earlier that it was in the power of all
construct which represents these facts in a artifacts to become icons, no matter whether
socially recognisable way. or not they were specifically created for this
purpose. Perhaps I might mention certain
It follows that the representational systems objects of the nineteenth-century world of
which are developed are, in a real sense, technology which had power of this kind -
independent of the quantifiable facts of the steamships and locomotives, to give only two
environment. examples. Even though these objects were
made ostensibly with utilitarian purposes in
No system of representation, no meta- mind, they quickly became gestalt entities,
language, however, is totally independent of which were difficult to disassemble in the
the facts which constitute the objective world. mind's eye into their component parts. The
The modern movement in architecture was an same is true of later technical devices such as
attempt to modify the representational cars and aeroplanes.
systems which had been inherited from the
pre-industrial past, and which no longer The fact that these objects have been imbued
seemed operable within the context of a with aesthetic unity and have become carriers
rapidly changing technology. One of the main of so much meaning indicates that a process
doctrines at the root of this transformation of selection and isolation has taken place
was based essentially on a return to nature, which is quite redundant from the point of
deriving from the romantic movement, but view of their particular functions. We must
changed from a desire to imitate the surface therefore look upon the aesthetic and iconic
of natural forms or to operate at a craft level, qualities of artifacts as being due, not so
to a belief in the ability of science to reveal much to an inherent property, but to a sort of
the essence of nature's mode of operation. availability or redundancy in them in relation
to human feeling.
Underlying this doctrine was an implied belief
in biotechnical determinism. And it is from The literature of modern architecture is full of
this theory that the current belief in the statements which indicate that after all the
supreme importance of scientific methods of new operational needs have been satisfied,
analysis and classification is derived. The there is still a wide area of choice in the final
essence of the functionalist doctrine of the configuration. I would like to quote two
modern movement was not that beauty of designers who have used mathematical
order or meaning was unnecessary, but that methods it to arrive at architectural solutions.
could no longer be found in the deliberate The first is Yona Friedmann, who uses these
search for final forms. The path by which the methods to arrive at a hierarchy of
artifact affected the observer aesthetically organisation in the programme. In a recent
was seen as short-circuiting the process of lecture, in which he was describing methods
formalization. Form was merely the result ofofa computing the relative positions of
logical process by which the operational functions with a three-dimensional city grid,
needs and the operational techniques were Friedmann acknowledged that the designer is
brought together. Ultimately these would fusealways, after computation, faced with a choice
in a kind of biological extension of life, and of alternatives, all of which are equally good
function and technology would become totally from an operational point of view.
transparent. The theory of Buckminster Fuller
is an extreme example of this doctrine. My second example is Yannis Xenakis, who,
in designing the Philips Pavilion while he was
2Claude Levi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology, Basic Books, in the office of Le Corbusier, used
New York 1963.
mathematical procedures to determine the
form of the enclosing structure. Xenakis says

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that calculation provided the characteristic as our classification techniques were unable arrangement. Where the designer decides to
form of the structure, but that after this, logic to establish all the parameters of a problem, be governed by operational factors, he tend
no longer operated, and the compositional it might be necessary to use a typology of to work in terms of a thoroughly nineteenth-
arrangement had to be decided on the basis forms to fill the gap. From the examples of the century rationalism, for example in the case
of intuition.' statements made by modern designers it of the office buildings of Mies and SOM,
would seem that it is indeed never possible where pragmatic planning and cost
From these statements it would appear that a to state all the parameters of a problem. Trulyconsiderations converge on a received neo-
purely teleological doctrine of technico- quantifiable criteria always leave a choice forclassic aesthetic to create simple cubes,
aesthetic forms is not tenable. At whatever the designer to make. In modern architectural regular frames and cores.
stage in the design process it may occur, it theory this choice has been generally
seems that the designer is always faced with conceived of as based on intuition working inIt is interesting that in most of the avant-gar
making voluntary decisions, and that the a cultural vacuum. In mentioning typology, projects where form determinants are held t
configurations which he arrives at must be theMaldonado is suggesting something quite be purely technical or operational, rationalis
result of an intention, and not merely the new, and something which has been rejectedand cost are discarded for forms of a fantastic
result of a deterministic process. The again and again by modern theorists. He is or expressionist kind. Frequently, as in the
following statement of Le Corbusier tends to suggesting that the area of pure intuition must case of "Archigram", forms are borrowed
reinforce this point of view. "My intellect", hebe based on a knowledge of past solutions tofrom other disciplines, such as space
says, "does not accept the adoption of the related problems, and that creation is a engineering or pop art. Valid as these
modules of Vignola in the matter of building. process of adapting forms derived either from iconographic procedures may be - and
I claim that harmony exists between the past needs or on past aesthetic ideologies to before dismissing them one would have to
objects one is dealing with. The chapel at the need of the present. Although he regards investigate them in relation to the work of
Ronchamp perhaps shows that architecture this as a provisional solution - "a cancer in Le Corbusier and the Russian constructivists
is not an affair of columns but an affair of the body of the solution" - he none the less who borrowed the forms of ships and
plastic events. Plastic events are not recognises that this is the actual procedure engineering structures - they can hardly be
regulated by scholastic or academic which designers follow. compatible with a doctrine of determinism, if
formulae, they are free and innumerable." we are to regard this as a modus operandi,
I suggest that this is true, and moreover that rather than a remote and utopian ideal.
Although this statement is a defense of the it is true in all fields of design and not only
new architecture against the academic that of architecture. I have referred to the The exclusion by modern architectural theory
imitation of past forms and the determinism it argument that the more rigorously the of typologies, and its belief in the freedom of
denies is academic rather than scientific, it general physical or mathematical laws are the intuition, can at any rate be partially
none the less stresses the release that follows applied to the solution of design problems, explained by the general theory of expression
from functional considerations, rather than the less it is necessary to have a mental which was current at the turn of the century.
their power of determining the solution. picture of the final form. But, although we This thory can be seen most clearly in the
may postulate an ideal state in which these work and theories of certain painters -
One of the most uninhibited statements of this laws correspond exactly to the objective notably Kandinsky, both in his paintings and
kind comes from Moholy-Nagy. In his world, in fact this is not the case. Laws are in his book Point and Line to Plane, which
description of the design course at the not found in nature. They are constructs of outlines the theory on which his paintings are
Institute of Design in Chicago, he makes the the human mind; they are models which are based. Expressionist theory rejected all
following defense of the free operation of valid so long as events do not prove them to historical manifestations of art, just as modern
intuition. "The training", he says, "is directed be wrong. Not only this. Technology is architectural theory rejected all historical
frequently faced with different problems forms of architecture. To it these
towards imagination and inventiveness, a
which are not logically consistent. All the manifestations were an ossification of
basic condition for the ever-changing
technical and cultural attitudes whose raison
industrial scene, for technology in flux. The problems of aircraft configuration, for
last step in this technique is the emphasis on example, could not be solved unless there d'6tre had ceased to exist. The theory was
integration through the conscious search for was give-and-take in the application of based on the belief that shapes have
relationships. The intuitive working methods physical laws. The position of the power unit physiognomic or expressive interest which
of genius give a clue to this process. The is a variable, so is the configuration of the communicates itself to us directly. This view
unique ability of the genius can be wings and tailplane. The position of one may has been subjected to a great deal of
approximated by everybody if one of its affect the shape of the other. The application criticism, and one of its most convincing
essential features be apprehended: the flash- of general laws is a necessary ingredient of refutations occurs in E. H. Gombrich's book
like act of connecting elements not obviously the form. But it is not a sufficient one for Meditations on a Hobby Horse. Gombrich
belonging together. If the same methodology determining the actual configuration. And in a demonstrates that an arrangement of forms
were used generally in all fields we could world of pure technology this area of free such as is found in a painting by Kandinsky or
have the key to the age - seeing everything choice is invariably dealt with by adapting by Paul Klee is in fact very low in content,
previous solutions. unless we attribute to these forms some
in relationship."'4
system of conventional meanings not inherent
in the forms themselves. His thesis is that
We can now begin to build up a picture of the In the world of architecture this problem
general body of doctrine embedded in the becomes more critical because here the physiognomic forms are ambiguous, though
modern movement. It consists of a tension of general laws of physics and the empiricalcertainly not without expressive value, and
two apparently contradictory ideas - facts are even less capable of fixing a finalthat they can only be interpreted within a
biotechnical determinism on the one hand, configuration than is so in the case of an particular cultural milieu.i
and free expression on the other. What seems airplane or a bridge. Recourse to some kind of
to have happened is that, in the act of giving a typological model is more likely to be One of the ways he illustrates this is by
new validity to the demands of function as an necessary. It may be argued that, in spite of reference to the supposed affective qualities
extension of nature's mode of operation, it the fact that there is an area of free choice of colours. Gombrich points out, in the now
has left a vacuum where previously there was beyond that of operation, this freedom lies infamous example of traffic signals, that we are
a body of traditional values. The whole field the details (where, for instance, personal dealing with a conventional and not a
of aesthetics, with its ideological foundations "taste" ought legitimately to operate). This physiognomic meaning; and maintains that it
and its belief in ideal beauty, has been swept could probably be shown to be true of such would be equally logical to reverse the
aside. All that is left in its place is permissive technically complex objects as airplanes, meaning system, so that red indicated action
expression, the total freedom of the genius where the topological relationships are largely and forward movement, and green inaction,
which, if we but knew it, resides in us all. determined by the application of physical quietness and caution.'
What appears on the surface as a hard, laws. But it does not necessarily apply to
rational discipline of design, turns out rather architecture. Here, on the contrary, because Expressionist theory probably had a very
paradoxically to be a mystical belief in the of the comparatively simple environmental strong influence on the modern movement in
intuitional process. pressures that operate on buildings, the architecture. Its application to architecture
topological relationships are seldom would be even more obvious than to painting,
I would like now to turn back to the statement rigorously determined. In the case of the because of the absence, in architecture, of
by Maldonado which I mentioned at the Philips Pavilion, for example, it was not only
beginning of this paper. He said that so long acoustic requirements which established the SThese principles are similar to those formulated for sign
basic configuration, but also the need for a systems in general by F. de Saussure, see Course in General
Linguistics, F. de Saussure, The Philosophical Library, Inc.
3"La Poeme Electronique de Le Corbusier", from Le Collection building which would convey a certain New York 1959.
Force Vivre, Editions du Minuit, Jean Petit.
impression of vertigo and fantasy. It is in the
'It is interesting that, since his book came out, the Chinese
4L. Moholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, Paul Theobald and details of plan or equipment that natural lawshave, for ideological reasons, reversed the meanings of their
Company, Chicago. become stringent, and not in the general
traffic signals.

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any forms with overt iconic meanings. that such a convention makes possible.7 It
Architecture has always, with music, been follows that a plastic system of representation
considered an abstract art, so that the theory such as architecture has to presuppose the
of physiognomic forms could be applied to it existence of a given system. No more than in
without having to overcome the hurdle of the case of language can the problem of form
direct representation and anecdote as in be reduced to some kind of essence outside
painting. the system itself, of which the form is merely
a reflection. In both cases it is necessary to
But if the objections to expressionist theory postulate a conventional, arbitrary system
are valid, then they apply to architecture as embodied in solution/problem complexes.
much as to painting. If, as Gombrich suggests,
forms by themselves are relatively empty of My purpose in stressing this fact is not to
meaning, it follows that the forms which we advocate the reversion to an architecture
intuit will, in the unconscious mind, tend to which accepts tradition unthinkingly. This
attract to themselves certain associations of would imply that there was a fixed and
meaning. This could mean not only that we immutable relation between forms and
are not free from the forms of the past, and meanings, which it has been one of the chief
from the availability of these forms as purposes in this paper to refute. The
characteristic of our age is change, and it is
typological models, but that, if we assume we
are free, we have lost control over a very precisely because this is so that it is
active sector of our imagination, and of ournecessary to investigate the part which the
power to communicate with others. It would modifications of the stereotype play in
seem that we ought to accept a value system relation to problems which are without
which takes account of the forms and precedent in any received tradition. The
solutions of the past, if we are to retain process of change must involve a dialectical
control over concepts which will obtrude relationship between those parts of the
themselves into the creative process, whether
system that are resistant to change (because
we are aware of it or not. they are conventional) but changeable
(because they are arbitrary); and those parts
There does seem, in fact, to be a close of the system which depend on natural laws
relationship between the pure functionalist or which progressively come to light under the
teleological theory that I have described, and pressure of technological evolution.
expressionism, as defined by Gombrich. By Underlying both there are undoubtedly
certain psycho-physical constants; but these
insisting on the use of analytical and inductive
methods of design, functionalism leaves a are always mediated both by the existent
vacuum in the form-making process. This it language on the one hand and by
fills with its own reductionist aesthetic -the technological developments on the other.
the aesthetic that claims that "intuition", with
no historical dimension, can arrive I have tried to show that a reductionist theory
spontaneously at forms which are the according to which the problem/solution
equivalent of fundamental operations. This process can be reduced to some sort of
procedure postulates a kind of onomatopoeic essence is untenable. One might postulate
relationship between forms and their content. that the process of change is carried out, not
In the case of a biotechnico/determinist by a process of reduction, but rather by a
theory the content is the set of relevant process of exclusion, and it would seem that
functions - functions which themselves the history of the modern movement in all the
represent a reduction of all the socially arts lends support to this idea. If we consider
meaningful operations within a building - painting and music we can see that, in the
and it is assumed that the functional complexwork of Kandinsky and Schbnberg, traditional
is translated into forms whose iconographical formal devices were not completely
significance is nothing more than the rational abandoned, but were transformed and given
structure of the functional complex itself. Thea new emphasis by the exclusion of
existent facts of the objective situation in ideologically repulsive iconic elements. In the
functionalism are the equivalent of the case of Kandinsky it is the representational
existent facts of the subjective element which is excluded; in the case of
(physiognomic) situation in expressionism. Sch6nberg
In it is the system of triads based on
both cases the resulting forms are assumedthe harmonic series.
to obey natural laws, in the one case physical,
and in the other psychological. The value of what I have called the process of
exclusion is to enable us to see the
But traditionally, in the world of art, the potentiality of forms as if for the first time,
existent natural facts, whether objective or and with naivety. This is the justification for
the radical change in the iconic system of
subjective, are less significant than the values
which we attribute to these facts, or the representation, and it is a process which we
system of representation which embodies have to adopt if we are to keep and renew our
these values. As in language, the meaningsawareness of the values which can be carried
attributed to elements which constitute the by forms. The bare bones of our culture - a
system cannot be derived solely from the culture with its own characteristic technology
elements themselves. In a given cross section - must become visible to us. For this to
of history it is never possible to reduce a sign happen, a certain scientific detachment
system to one in which all the elements can be towards our problems is essential, and with it
shown to be the result of natural forces. the application of the mathematical tools
proper to our culture. But these tools are
It is true that the analogy between a system unable to give us a ready-made solution to
such as architecture and language is not our problems. They only provide the
exact, because in the case of architecture framework, the context within which we
there are natural (technical and expressive) operate.
facts which are not present in language. But
these facts are not sufficient to explain the 7"when semiology becomes organised as a science, the
entire meaning system, which depends less question will arise whether or not it properly includes modes
on the intrinsic nature of the signs than on of expression based on completely natural signs .... In fact,
every means of expression used in society is based, in
convention, and the series of expectations principle, on collective behaviour.... Polite formulae, for
instance, though imbued with a certain natural expressiveness
(as in the case of a Chinese who greets his Emperor by
bowing down to the ground nine times) are none the less fixed
by rule; it is this rule and not the intrinsic value of the gesture
that obliges one to use them." F. de Saussure, op. cit.

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