ARCHITECTURAL

THESIS
2018 - 19
ARCHITECTURAL BUILDING PROGRAMME & DESIGN RATIONALE
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• ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMMING BEGAN WHEN ARCHITECTURE BEGAN!!!
• ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMMING – research and decision making process that
identifies the “scope of work” to be designed
• In simpler words – “…Programme is what happens on or within a building, site or
a wider area…”
• Is there a difference between a “Project Brief” and a “Building Programme”???
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“…. A programme is
never neutral… The
first thing an architect
needs to do is to
dismantle that
programme and
redirect it….”
Bernard Tschumi, Architect
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• More the scale of the project is, more complex the building programme is
• May different techniques to think through these complexities
• The simplest way to define and further redefine an architectural building
programme is to understand “the project” by breaking it into “ELEMENTS”
• From a relatively simple starting point, we “UNPACK” the programme as we delve
deeper into the project and as we build more complex understanding of the
requirements
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ELEMENT LEVEL 1
Key Use - Stadium

ELEMENT LEVEL 2
Key Zones – Public & Private

ELEMENT LEVEL 3
Individual Spaces – Ticketing booth, aisles etc
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ELEMENT LEVEL 1 – Key Use
Gives the general understanding of
the building use
Encompasses and roughly sets out
the range of activities that take
place and the users you need to
consider
ELEMENT LEVEL 2 – Key Zones
Allows you to begin to understand
the general relationships and spatial
requirements of the building or the
site and develop an overall strategy
for proper fit
Consider the “drawcard element”
mostly aligned to Level 1 [field or
pitch], Front of House, Back of
House, Amenities, Entry, Exit etc
ELEMENT LEVEL 3 – Indi Spaces
Programme is finally broken down
into each individual space but with
the benefit of Level 2 – helps us to
understand interrelationships
Make sure to account for all
requirements and the needed
flexibilities
Rethinking of Level 2 will happen
here in terms of grouping and
distributing spaces
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• DESIGNING FOR THE PROGRAMME

Form Fit Flow Function Furnishing

After the process of ELEMENTING, begin thinking through what your design needs, wants or
could do to the programme through design….
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• DESIGNING FOR THE PROGRAMME
• Building programme should be considered very early on in the design process owing to
its complexity – DIAGRAMS must play a major role.
• Bubble Diagrams – to understand how zones or areas of different activities might relate or
overlap
• Cluster Diagrams – Relation of programmatic zones – adjacent or supporting space – efficiency
in building services
• Sectional Zone Diagrams – Vertical spaces and the movement between spaces
• 3D massing / Stacking Diagrams – understand the mass and volumes
• Cross Programming Diagrams
• Inversion Diagrams
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• BUILDING PROGRAMMING METRICS
• Types of spaces frequently used in the building type
• Space criteria [no of persons per Sft]
• Relationship of these spaces with functions
• Typical metrics like FSI, Plot Coverage and other restrictions to be followed
• Typical cost per Sft for the building type
• Typical site requirements for the project
• Technical, mechanical, electrical, security and other issues unique to the project type
• Approximate schedule for the chosen project
• Block models, site models, study models etc including contour analysis
• Risk mitigation and analysis
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DESIGN RATIONALE
• A design rationale is an explicit documentation of the reasons behind decisions
made when designing a system, project or a product
• “Design Rationale” documentation which shall include the following:
• The reasons behind a design decision
• The justification for it
• The other alternatives considered
• The tradeoffs evaluated
• The argumentation that led to the decision
DESIGN RATIONALE
A design rationale is the explicit listing of decisions
made during design process, and the reasons why
those decisions were made. Its primary goal is to
support designers by providing a means to record
and communicate the argumentation and reasoning
behind the design process – Refer to works of W R
Kunz and Horst Rittel on argumentation
DESIGN RATIONALE
• http://www.anamiljacki.com/wp-content/content/Article_Praxis8.pdf
• Rem Koolhaas and Bernard Tschumi
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Q??