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ARCH 239 – STRATEGIES OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

LECTURE NOTES

WEEK 1: Introduction

1. Course Description and Objectives

As the art and science of building, architecture has its own language. And as in any language, it

has its letters (primary design elements), its vocabulary (previous architectural works and

elements) and the grammar that brings them together (design principles and professional rules).

Once you learn these fundamental components, you can be able to understand and produce

architectural works.

The aim of this course is to introduce you with the principles and rules that the architect should

use in his/her profession. However, the course does not intend to you give prescriptive plans,

forms and examples, but aims to talk about some important considerations concerning design.

Accordingly, the course will talk about the basic essentials of architectural design, architectural

and structural elements, stages of architectural project development, and the architectural analysis

of different buildings types, such as residential, educational, cultural, commercial, and religious

buildings.

2. Architecture and Architectural Profession

Architecture is the art of shaping interior and exterior spaces, in a structural, functional and

aesthetic order. It could be basically defined as ‘the art and science of designing and constructing

buildings’. The word ‘architecture’ also means:

1. The product or result of architectural work: buildings, urban areas and landscapes.

2. A style or method of building characteristic of a people, place or time.

3. The profession of designing buildings and other habitable environments by architects.

4. The conscious act of forming things resulting in a unifying or coherent structure.1

In its most simple form, architecture is the design and organization of spaces, and in its most

common form, it is the design of buildings, their interiors and surrounding spaces. The architect

acts a designer, who can work in a wide range of scales, from a scale as large as the planning of a

city, up to a scale as small as the design of a chair. Today the subjects of architecture are

diversified and architecture is also specialized into different areas of expertise, such as city

planning, restoration, landscape architecture or interior architecture.

Architecture is a profession in which technical knowledge, management, and an understanding of

business are as important as design. Throughout the project (planning to occupancy), the architect

co-ordinates a design team. Structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers and other specialists,

are hired by the client or the architect, who must ensure that the work is co-ordinated to construct

the design.

There is both the design and the construction phase that the architect has to deal with and have a

command of. The architect hired by a client is responsible for creating a design concept that

1 Ching, F., Visual Dictionary of Architecture

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meets the requirements of that client and provides a facility suitable to the required use.

Architects typically put projects to tender on behalf of their clients, advise on the award of the

project to a general contractor, and review the progress of the work during construction. They

typically review or make the detail/application drawings, prepare and issue site instructions, and

control the project application.

All the pieces of built environment..houses, apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, factories,

offices, stadiums, sports areas, hotels, theatres, shopping centers, airports, bus terminals, or

mosques..are the works of architects. If we think about the influence of this physical environment

on people, it would be easier for us to understand the importance of the profession of

architecture. Architect is the artist and technician, who creates the inner and outer spaces in

which all humane and social functions take place.2

As famous thinker John Ruskin said: “Great nations write their autobiographies in three

manuscripts–the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one

of these can be understood unless we read the other two; but of the three, the only quite

trustworthy one is the last.”

Architecture is the record of the people who produced it and could be “read” as the history of

those people. It is a nonverbal way of communication and it is the quiet record of the people who

produced it. We can understand a culture’s history and literature from their architecture and

likewise if we want to understand the architecture of any period or culture (in the past or today),

we should understand the history and literature (deeds and the words) of that period. (p. 23)

2 Bolak, O., Bina Bilgisi.

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Source: Ching, F., Visual Dictionary of Architecture

3. Professional knowledge in architecture

As Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius has written, a good building must satisfy three main

qualities: firmitas, utilitas, venustas. Referring to firmness, functionality, and beauty, Vitruvius

denoted that a good building should be firm, useful, and beautiful and that the architect should

strive to fulfill each of these three qualities as well as possible.

Since ancient times, these basic elements of architecture (firmness, functionality and beauty)

have remained essentially unchanged. Accordingly, architectural products (or buildings) should

still be firm, which means that they should stand up firm and solid, and remain in good condition;

they should still be functional, which means that they should be useful and function well for the

people using them; and they should still be beautiful, which means that they should please the

senses of the people who view and use them.

Therefore, architecture should try to reach the optimum combination of firmitas, venustas and

utilitas; in other words, the firmness of structure, beauty of the form (and space), and the

functionality of the building.

Therefore, the ultimate test of architecture is made with the following questions:

1. Is the building functional? (Could it be used effectively and easily?)

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2. Is the building firm? (Is its structure firm enough to carry all the weights it should carry,

such as its own weight, its users’ weights, and the forces of the wind and the earthquake?

And, Are its materials durable enough to withstand many years of use?)

3. Is the building beautiful? (Does the building give visual delight to the user and the viewer;

is it aesthetic and pleasing?)

(Source: Ching, F., Architecture: form, space and order)

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(Source: Ching, F., Architecture: form, space and order)

Therefore, the architect has to have a full command of the form, function, and structure of the

building and besides these, he/she also has to consider other factors such as the site

characteristics, materials, lighting, heating and acoustic conditions, color and texture of buildings.

He/she should analyse the site of the project to determine the layout, orientation, approach,

views, relationship with the environment, and materials (as they would differentiate according to

the climate) of the building, and has to consider how light affects and travels within the building,

how the building is heated or ventilated, how it reacts to sounds (acoustics), what colors it should

have, and the textural sensations evoked by the materials used in it.3

On this basis there are basically three fundamental aspects that should be considered by the

architect, which are listed as follows:

1. Organization

Every building is made to meet a social need and every building is a composition of various

spaces serving various needs and activities. If the building serves these needs properly than we

can say that the building is organized to do its function well. For the building to be organized and

function well, the parts of the building (rooms, toilets, circulation elements etc.) should find their

correct places.

In order to be able to create architectural works for various different functions, an architect has to

study and inquire those functions thoroughly. An architect has to imagine him/herself living in

every space he/she has designed.

A hotel for example has to meet the need of functioning as a house for its customers for a certain

amount of time. According to its site, it can be a beach hotel, a city hotel, a mountain hotel etc.

But wherever it is, it should be planned to meet the basic needs of shelter, sanitation and nutrition

satisfactorly. Along side these, it should also meet its specific needs that arise from its speciality

(eg. A beach hotel should give special consideration to its relationship with the sea.)

3 Farelly, Mimarligin Temelleri, p. 8-11

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Then the architect’s first job is to convert the needed functions listed in the building program to a

well functioning and reasonable plan. On this basis, the first condition of a building to be a good

architectural work is that its organization (planning) is successful.

A typical house organization scheme, showing the organization of spaces

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A typical hotel layout, showing the organization of spaces (Source: Neufert)

2. Construction

Every building has to be built / constructed properly to be able to carry all the weights it should

carry (such as its own weight, its users’ weights, the forces of the wind and the earthquake) and

to be durable, functional, economic and beautiful. To be able to do that an architect has to have

knowledge of the construction process, the knowledge of statics and structures (structural

knowledge of reinforced concrete, wooden and steel systems), and knowledge of building

materials. Accordingly, the architect has to select the structural system of the building as

appropriate to the character of the building in the most logical way, choose the building materials

properly and use them appropriately in compliance to their character, and carefully obey the

appropriate constructional technique.

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For example, if we are constructing a building in a mountaneous area, which is rich with stone, it

would be proper to build the building out of the stone of the area. If we choose to build it with

reinforced concrete, to carry all the bricks, cement and steel to the area would be much more

expensive. Therefore stone (as the building material) would be the most economical solution for

that certain project. Besides, it would be the most proper solution in terms of its construction,

since a reinforced concrete buiding would have to be plastered and that plaster would be damaged

by the harsh weather of the mountaneous area.

Therefore, the second job of the architect is to detect the right structural system for the building,

which would be appropriate for the building’s functions (eg. large span width of framed systems,

such as reinforced concrete or steel frames, would be more suitable for buildings needing

uninterrupted spaces, such as airports, exhibiton ares, factories), to select the wright building

material for this system, and to build the building with this material by complying to its

constructional techniques and static calculations.

Stone houses built by the local stone in the mountain village Vieussan, France (left) and Houses

built by the local mudbrick, Sa’na, Yemen (right)

A Traditional Safranbolu house that has timber frame, Safranbolu, Turkey (left) and Seagram

Building by Mies van der Rohe that has a steel frame, New York, USA (right)

3. Aesthetics

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A building could be very well organized, planned and very well constructed. However, if it does

not visually and sensorily please us with its exterior and interior spaces and in terms of its

relationships with the environment, that building fails to be a good architectural work. Therefore

the third job of the architect is to design the building as a visually pleasing, beautiful piece of

architecture. This requires a refined aesthetic taste, which develops by education.

On this basis, the preliminary studies of an architectural project generally include the following

steps4:

1. The ‘need’, which brings out the function of the building, is detected. Its relationship

within the more general needs (such as sanitary needs) is examined and their organization

is roughly conceptualized.

2. The site of the project is studied according to its size, location, environmental

relationships, access, climate, landscape, wind direction etc. The shape of the building

plot, building’s orientation and the settlement gauge is roughly calculated.

3. A ‘concept’ (the initiating idea of the project) that would guide the design of the building

is formed (and maybe sketched).

4. A building program, which would list the needed functions, is formed. (A program is a

list of functions and their needed areas within the building)

5. The relationships of different spaces (rooms, sites, locations) are detected and expressed

with an organization scheme (this is also called as a bubble diagram).

6. The spaces (rooms, kitchens, restrooms etc.) that are listed in the program should be in

their proper size, shape and qualities to serve their functions. Therefore the listed spaces

are given their proper dimensions and this dimensioning is done by considering the

human scale, his/her ergonometric needs and the equipment he/she will use. The spaces

are also studied in terms of their areas, volume and air needs, illumination and heat

degrees, sun light intake, viewing position, acoustic conditions and security.

7. The structural system and building materials are determined.

8. The study for a preliminary project begins by organizing the inner and outer spaces

according to the organization scheme to create a functioning order. In this phase, the

vertical connection elements and the circulation should be shaped in order to create a

functional order within the building.

9. When the first preliminary project is finished, the area and volume calculations are made

and checked if they are suitable and functional.

4 Mutlu, A., Bina Bilgisi.

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A sample bubble diagram (or organization scheme)

(Source:http://www.homedesigndirectory.com.au/diy/home-design/bubble-diagram.shtml)

Leupen et. al., Design and Analysis, o1o Publishers, Rotterdam, 1997, p. 17-19.

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Concept sketch by Erich Mendelsohn, Einstein Tower, Potsdam, 1920.

Concept sketch by Alvar Aalto, Neue Vahr Apartment Building, Bremen, 1958-1962

In this process, each designer/architect has to find their own methods themselves for each and

every different design problem, since design problems do not have predetermined methods (as in

mathematical formulas or theorems) for their solutions. For this reason, architecture appears an

act of problem solving that requires creativity and a creative thinking process.

This process of creativity on the other hand is effected by the design vocabulary of the architect

(architectural works that are kept in the memory of the architect) and various design strategies,

which are developed in time as an outcome of hands-on design experience. In other words, how

much you know (design vocabulary – study of buildings) and how much you did (hands on

designing) affects your creativity.