As a distillation of the architectural proposition, the diagram, model or concept sketch is a critical component in the design process of the architect. The process of making a diagram, drawing, model or ‘drawing forth’ a design helps to define a project and to clarify the conceptual idea or strategy. Through this activity the design intent for a given architectural project takes form through processes of iteration, substitution, abstraction, clarification leading to the articulation of an architectural proposition.
The efficacy of the architect’s ‘diagram’ as a tool in the design process leads to poetic thinking, and provides the link/relationship between theory and built form.
Of necessity the diagram, model or concept sketch, a visual form of communication, holds information intrinsic to the project; geographic, topographic and climatic site conditions, programmatic and historical and cultural context.
The material an architect draws on to inform this preliminary activity ranges from information drawn from observation, analyses and documentation of empirical data to cross disciplinary theories, intuitions and memories of previous experience. Together information and disciplinary knowledge provide a framework with which to explore the potential poetics of a project and its specific architectural proposition.
Abstract
Drawing Ideas :: Theoria/Praxis : Episteme/ Techne
A Study of The Architectural Design Proces : Diagram, Theory and Architectural Practice
Lea Lennon
M. Arch. Dissertation 2008
University of Queensland
Department of Architecture