“101 things I learned from architecture school”

 Architecture begins with an idea.

Good design solutions are not merely physically interesting but are driven by underlying ideas. An idea is a specific mental structure by which we organize, understand, and give meaning to external experiences and information. Without underlying ideas informing their buildings, architects are merely space planners. Space planning with decoration applied to “dress it up” is not architecture; architecture resides in the DNA of a building, in an embedded sensibility that infuses its whole.

In architecture, the designs are not merely for aesthetics. Behind every design, there should be a specific idea. This specific idea shall define the design and stet it apart from space planning. The idea therefore should be something that gives it purpose. For instance, if one is to design a window, the window should be in context to its purpose. The window should then be designed according to what idea it should be, like it can be a window that is specifically designed to give a great view of the ocean.

Citing another example, the EPA New England Regional Laboratory Building was designed based on the idea that it is environmental building.

 

          It has columns of natural light which allows the use of daylight dimmers.

          It has skylight which magnifies and directs daylight deep into the building.

          The windows were set higher to allow more natural light deeper into the building.

 

Draw hierarchically

When drawing in any medium, never work at a “100% level of detail” from one end of the sheet toward the other, blank end of the sheet. Instead, start with the most general elements of the composition and work gradually toward the more specific aspects of it. Begin by laying out the entire sheet. Use light guide lines, geometric alignments, visual gut-checks, and other methods to cross-check the proportions, relationships, and placement of the elements you are drawing. When you achieve some success at this schematic level, move to the next level of detail. If you find yourself focusing on details in a specific area of the drawing, indulge briefly, then move to other area of the drawing. Evaluate your success continually, making local adjustments in the context of the entire sheet.

          In drawing, the process should be to start from the basic or the main concept of the design. From the basic concept, one then goes on to the details in a gradual way, making sure that each additional detail added to the main design complements and is in proportion with the entire concept or the main idea. This way, one can be assured that he is progressing properly and correctly. If one starts from the basic then moves on to one detail to the next, he can then evaluate each level of his progress. At the same time, his corrections will be more organized and he will not deviate from the original idea or concept of the design.

 

Cool drawing titles for schematic design

Use a light-colored marker with a big chisel point to form lowercase architectural letters; then trace around the resulting shapes with a thin black pen.

In making schematic designs, one must use first a marker with light color and has a big chisel point. This is in making lowercase letters. Then with a thin black pen, one now traces the shape around the letters written with the light colored marker. This process is definitely the best way of forming letters for schematic designs because it eliminates unevenness and irregularity in the letters.

 

A good designer isn’t afraid to throw away a good idea.

Just because an interesting idea occurs to you doesn’t mean it belongs in the building you are designing. Subject every idea, brainstorm, random musing, and helpful suggestion to careful, critical consideration. Your goal as a designer should be to create an integrated whole, not to incorporate all the best features in your building whether or not they work together.

Even though one has the best ideas on mind, it is important for the architect to be able to choose only what is best and discard what will not work for the given building. Part of the job of a good designer is to make everything work together for a specific project and this includes “editing” or removing of thing that are not necessary even though they are good ideas in general. Lastly, a good designer should also know when his design had enough details or design.

One example is Zaha’s Olympics Aquatic Center which was slammed by the House of Commons as overdesigned and overpriced.

 

 

A dynamic composition encourages the eye to explore.

Dynamic compositions are almost always asymmetrical. They can suggest activity, excitement, fun, movement, flow, aggression, and conflict. Less successful examples can be jarring or disorienting.

 

There is a certain imbalance in dynamic compositions because once accomplished they always suggest movement. The dynamic composition shows movement not just in the form of action or activity. The movement may also be in the form of emotional movement, such as feeling of aggression or having conflicting emotions.  

 

 

Overdesign

At the outset of the design process, make your spaces about 10 percent larger than they need to be to meet the assigned program. During the design process, additional spatial requirements will arise- for mechanical rooms, structural columns, storage, circulation space, wall thicknesses, and a hundred other things not anticipated when the building program was created.

          The point of overdesigning is not to design a larger building than is necessary but ti design one that is ultimately the right size. In the unlikely event the extra space turns out to be unnecessary, you will find it easier to shrink an overlarge building than to create more space where it doesn’t already exist.

          When starting a design process it is true that it is important to make the spaces 10% larger because additional designs or inputs will be later on added to the design. The process includes adding the other requirements of the design so the process of having additional 10% space is quite helpful in allowing space for these additions. It is also very practical, as the author pointed, to have more space even when you will eventually not make use of it than to find yourself having not enough room for the detail and thereby unable to complete the design.

Architects are late bloomers.

Most architects do not hit their professional stride until around age 50 !

          There is perhaps no other profession that requires one to integrate such a broad range of knowledge into something so specific and concrete. An architect must be knowledgeable in history, art, must create a building that meets regulatory codes, keeps out the weather, withstands earthquakes, has functioning elevators and mechanical systems, and meets the complex functional and emotional needs of its users. Learning to integrate so many concerns into a cohesive product takes a long time, with lots of trial and error along the way.

          If you’re going to be in the field of architecture, be in it for the long haul. It’s worth it.

          This is true. The field of architecture is generally for people who have aged quite well. The best architects today and in the past generations are those who were able to successfully incorporate the things he has learned in life to his own designs. What makes the architect different from other designers is this ability. Therefore architecture is also a long process for the architect. He must be able to age well and this includes learning from life process and then drawing out whatever he has learned, the specific learning, for the specific design.