d

D i a g r a m m i n g using

line to think and convey

understanding

d

d

Some thoughts on the diagram…

d

Some thoughts on the diagram…

“First I think, then I draw my think” Amanda K. Coomaraswamy (1877 – 1947)

“Diagrams, in whatever visual form they take, represent a threshold moment in the creation of successful architecture” Alan Phillips

d

Some thoughts on the diagram…• “Any building should be described by three or four

lines” Stefan Behnish

• The diagram, as part of the process of design, is inherent to Modernism

• Purpose of the diagram?

d

More thoughts on the diagram…

• “ In general, diagrams and sketches explain and highlight a design quite well…”

• “Like caricatures, they will focus on the general idea… describe a design concept…”

Stephen Behnish

d

d

“A diagram is something between a concept and a plan… a visualisation of a plan” Toyo Ito

Sendai Mediatique,

Japan

d

d

Diagrams expressing clear ideas with simple pencil strokes.

Mies van der Rohe: “tense, elegant and serence… prelude to impeccable architecture”

Le Corbusier: “categorical, strong and forceful, speak of the universality of his works”

Alvar Aalto: “lyrical, organic, fluid, put forward the emotion of his spaces”

Louis Kahn: Adler House, Philadelphia

d

d

John Miller (John Miller + Partners)

• Primary & secondary parts of a building

• Figure ground theory

• Genesis of building through concept rather than through the diagram

• Diagram can be used to explain a building, but is not necessarily a tool in its development

dFumihiko Maki, Maki and Associates

“I always evaluate and consider that the best diagram is one that is simple because the power lies in its suggestiveness for broader interpretation”

New campus for republic Polytechnic in Singapore – educational system: PBL (problem based learning)

d

d

John Ronan architect

• Generated diagrams clarify project intentions, and are “reductive, isolating essential project issues… short hand”

• Interpreted diagrams “suggest a new way of thinking about a project… transformative”

d

d

d

d

d

aro 2 .0 8 . 2 0 0 6 d i a g r a m m i n g

Combination of technologies, techniques

d

1. The Architectural review, January 2006, pages 28 - 82

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