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200-Level Architecture, Intermediate Architectural Design
(Writing-Intensive)
DRAWING AS WRITING, WRITING AS DRAWING: AN APPROACH TO
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN THINKING
Every architect designs buildings, and my
feeling is that an architect needs to understand how he/she designs,
their method of design. This method is based on the individual's
thinking process. One's thinking process can be refined in school or
in practice. So I'm not teaching my students how to think but how to
apply their thinking. Writing is part of it. We express our thoughts
and ideas about architecture in two primary ways: verbally, through
speaking words, and visually, through building models, drawing
pictures, and writing words. -- Associate Professor Gordon Tyau
COURSE GOALS
Through varied projects, students learn and
apply the theories and principles of architectural design and the
building's relationship to the external environment. The
understanding of climatic, topographic, and human behavioral
factors helps students address the intricate network and effects
of good architectural design. The sequence of projects builds on
student learning and challenges them to extensive application of
their architectural design process. Writing is used to foster
thinking in developing and applying a design methodology. |
If writing is
recorded thought, then drawing, sketching, and doodling are also
recorded thought. It's designing.-- Student
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WRITING ACTIVITIES
1. THINKING ABOUT DESIGN
On the first day of class, the instructor
asks students to write an informal essay about how they think they
design (i.e. their own design methodology). Students are
encouraged to write about what they already know and what they
learned from previous courses.
PURPOSE:
The initial writing is a non-threatening,
easy method of finding the scope of students' knowledge about the
subject. The writing also gets students thinking about how they
think (metacognition), giving the instructor information about
where to begin teaching by drawing upon their prior knowledge.
Through this first assignment, the instructor communicates the
importance of using writing to think and learn. |
Gordon has a strange
way of teaching. He wants us to depend more on what we see, to
depend on our own common sense. He wants us to be thinking all the
time. . . . Sometimes I think of this class as thinking-intensive.
I think we're getting a lot more out of this class that no one can
see.--Student
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2. A SEQUENCE FOR THE
DESIGN PROCESS USING THE WRITING/DRAWING JOURNAL The primal shelter project is composed of a
series of assignments leading to the actual design and fabrication
of a structure that each student will live in comfortably, and
evaluate during a 24-hour period. From the beginning of the
course, writing becomes an initial element of the architectural
design process, particularly through journal writing and
sketching. The project depends on collaborative efforts and then
focuses on the individual's design process. Each student prepares
three information boards which contain written analyses and
drawings of a master site plan, the assembly of the primal shelter
(which includes a model), and an evaluation of the design and
live-in. |
I think the
primal shelter project was one of the best if not the best design
project I have had to date. It is the first project which dealt
with the lay of the land, the relationship between the building
and the environment, and the challenge of making the design a
full-scale reality. It was fun. We saw all aspects of the process
right down to discussing and arguing things out as a group. This
stuff is real life. --Student |
| PURPOSE:
The entire project gives students the
opportunity to not only deal directly with all the elements of
architectural design, but also the actual results of their
thinking process. Throughout the primal shelter project, students
are engaged in thinking, writing, drawing, and talking about their
architectural process.
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a. GATHERING INFORMATION ABOUT THE SITE
Students must first gather information about
the site before beginning the building design. In their
journals/sketchbooks, each student addresses the three factors
that affect architectural design in notation and/or sketches: what
activities must be accommodated? who is the designer? where is the
design located? The instructor emphasizes that the most
influential of the elements -- activity, designer, site --is the
site and the designer's understanding of the relationships between
the site and activities. |
I've had so many good
teachers say that the best way to learn is to hear it, see it,
then write it down. Writing gets the eye, ear, and hand working
together. Trying to involve as many of the senses helps students
to remember what they're learning. That's what Professor Tyau and
other instructors have been saying and doing. --Student |
| The next step is to
produce a topographic drawing and a model by working in teams
consisting of a surveyor, recorder, and rod man. Together they
survey and analyze the actual site (Hoomaluhia Park, Kāne‘ohe)
using surveying instruments. Back in the studio, students draw the
topographic map, then build a three-dimensional base model for
class reference.
Using the teams' base model and his own
notes, the instructor initiates discussion on site planning -- the
purposes and uses of topographic maps and models. The discussion
also includes analyzing the information in their journals
including landscape, climate, geography, and their
inter-relationships. |
When everyone's
talking about something, I'll say 'What do you mean by that?' The
person will draw, I'll draw, so we're using the same language. We
sit together and draw our ideas so that we're having a
conversation on a piece of paper.--Student |
| PURPOSE:
The writing -- notations and sketches -- are
crucial to thinking carefully before designing. By writing and
sketching in the journal, the students record their immediate
impressions and observations about the site and site-related
factors such as climate, geography, and landscape. Their
preliminary notations, which can be referred to throughout the
process, leads to the production of a topographic map and model.
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Professor Tyau says
we have to get the ideas out of our brain, down our arms, and onto
the piece of paper so we can at least save our ideas. Even if it
doesn't look good, it's on paper. Our minds will fail and forget
what we're thinking, so putting the ideas down on paper is
important. It's thinking and drawing.--Student |
| Information-gathering
is also facilitated through collaboration; for example,
topographic work in the real world is also accomplished by a
survey team. Class discussion about the use of topographic maps
and models becomes relevant and meaningful to the students because
they have visited and analyzed the site. |
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| b. PLANNING THE
SITE AND DESIGNING THE SHELTER
The first presentation board is an
individual's Master Site Plan Proposal of the class community of
primal shelters. Detailed drawings include the existing
topography, flora, zoning, an analysis of the site such as views,
climate, and noise, etc., and a plan of the shelters' arrangement.
Community design requirements are also written clearly for other
readers. When all boards are brought to class for the
"pin-up," the group discusses each master plan proposal
and selects one proposal to be implemented. |
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| A week later,
students submit the second phase of their primal shelter design
which includes the design expressed in model form and detailed
instructions of their design: a list of materials, approximate
cost, the plan, sections, and assembly drawings with written
explanations. During the "pin-up" session, each student
presents his/her design and together with the instructor, the rest
of the class discussed the design. The scale models are compared
to board illustrations. Students are permitted to revise their
plans moderately from the "pin-up" comments before the
purchase and pre-fabrication of the shelter.
PURPOSE:
Students learn how to incorporate
information about topography, landscape, climate, geography and
relate these site factors to the social interactions of the
community. They must think about the functional and aesthetic
qualities of their designs. The goal of combining illustrations,
models, and writing is to have students practice how to provide
visual information concisely and completely to interested clients.
This stage in the sequence of planning the
primal shelter community also promotes group learning. Students
must collaboratively select a community site and help one another
assess an individual's shelter. The master site plan is selected
more effectively by the student group because they have worked
together on the topographic model and site analysis, and have
discussed the importance of the formation of a functional and
pleasant community. |
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| c. KEEPING A
JOURNAL DURING THE "LIVE-IN"
For a week following the shelter design
presentation, students purchase their materials and prefabricate
as many parts as possible to facilitate site construction.
Students must erect their primal shelters within three hours,
unaided by their peers, and are then required to live in their
shelters for twenty-four hours.
Immediately after the construction of their
primal shelter, each student records in his/her journal
reflections on the actual building process as compared to his/her
original plans: what were differences between planning and
building? what were their expectations as they prepared their
designs? as they prefabricated sections of their shelter? as they
built the shelter? Throughout the day, each student records
comfort levels within their shelters, climatic data, and any other
landmark changes that affect their comfort. |
We've been keeping
journals since our first year as architect students. You get a lot
of ideas about design just walking around. It could be the
stupidest thing like a leaf falling to the ground, but even that
could be interesting in a design idea. Keeping a journal allows
you to flip back through it later and use some of the ideas to
apply to a different project. I have four journals! One for
architecture, one for the stuff I read which I copy down and write
my reactions; one for all my architecture notes; and another just
for anything I think of." --Student |
| During two
"open house" periods, students visit each other's
shelter. Student-visitors write in the student-designer's journal
his/her personal reactions to the living space comfort and
architectural design. The students return to their own primal
shelter and read one another's comments. Throughout the day and in
the evening, students continue to write in their own journals
their analyses and feelings about the experience. |
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| PURPOSE:
Keeping a journal is a valuable tool for
maintaining a record of one's intellectual and personal growth.
Students are encouraged to constantly return to their journals for
thoughts and ideas and to develop them. The journal promotes
writing/drawing to think and thinking about writing/drawing. The
practice of writing one's reactions and observations about his/her
peers' constructions invites personal reflection and community
dialogue. Keeping the journal also prepares students for the next
phase -- personal evaluation. (Although the use of journals is not
required by the school, the instructors' frequent encouragement
and reference to writing/drawing in the journal throughout the
four-year program helps students develop a life-long habit. Many
architecture instructors also model the usefulness of journals by
keeping journals themselves.)
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| d. EVALUATING THE
PROJECT
The day students return to the classroom
after their live-in experience at the campsite, they begin the
evaluation process of the primal shelter project. The instructor
asks each student to read from their journals "open
house" comments. He also reads from his notes for comparison.
Together they reconsider and relive phases of their design
process.
Students then prepare the third presentation
board which illustrates in writing and drawing an evaluation of
their primal shelter design and the "live-in"
experience. Ideas on revisions may be included if they had to do
the design again. The evaluation boards are brought to class for
the last "pin-up" and discussion session.
The instructor asks them to write at home an
evaluation of the project and its importance to them as
architecture students. A student writes about the project: |
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"I
felt that this shelter was a very good one, since it included the
actual fabrication of our designs, which is something we can't
expect to do with any of our other school projects. Fabrication
seemed to be the next step in the design process. Since it
incorporated the function-al aspect of the design, the very real
cost of materials, and the decisions which involved the
development of an efficient, and more importantly, buildable
design. The most difficult part of the
process for me was the transition from model to full-size
parameters. That was when I was forced to think about design in a
more realistic way, with real problems like the weight of the
structure, the cost of the materials, what type of framing to use,
and how to connect everything together.
I chose to use PVC piping for my
framing system, and since I had arched forms in my design, I had
to curve the PVC to those dimensions. I found this to be really
difficult because I had to form the PVC and I had no idea how hard
PVC was to bend! I think I got a full workout just bending those
pipes . . . ." |
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The evaluations are non-graded and read only
by the instructor. (However, in the next semester, his students
read the project evaluations on the first day of class after he
has explained the primal shelter project. Reading these past
evaluations arouses their curiosity and interest in the course,
and provides a preview of the first project.)
PURPOSE:
Asking students to evaluate their own
learning is a natural step in the learning process. The evaluation
discussion makes public their general concerns about the group
experience, but the individual writing forces the student to
analyze his/her own learning. Another goal of evaluation is to
encourage student and instructor revision. The display boards not
only give students an opportunity to review their schematic design
but also the opportunity to receive feedback regarding their
designs from the instructor and peers. The instructor can use
their written evaluations to modify the assignment for new
students. |
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Professor Gordon Tyau talks about his class (excerpt from an
interview):
The course goal is really to have the
students develop and recognize their own design methodology. We
give a series of exercises we call 'projects.' The project is
separated into phases so that each phase gives students experience
in addressing parts of the process, which then evolves into the
design methodology. Every architect designs buildings, and my
feeling is you need to understand how you design. I maintain that
if architects know how to do something, they get better at it.
That's the purpose of the course.
All of the design studios are different from
any other discipline or profession at the University because we're
teaching students how to put all their information together. The
method of design is based on the individual. One's method of
thinking is also given, but one can learn how to refine it in
school. So I'm not teaching somebody how to think, but how to
apply their thinking. Writing is part of it. We express ourselves
in architecture in many ways -- verbally, with the hand in writing
words, and by drawing pictures.
In order to understand my students, I used
to give them a project, quiz them, ask questions, give lectures,
and at the end of the semester, I began to understand them a
little better so I could help them develop their design
methodology -- then they moved on to another class! Now I have
students write an essay the first day of class on "how I
design." Most of them don't know how they design. The few
that do know how to design don't know what to put down on paper,
so I got a lot of rambling. But at least the writing forced them
to think about their design process.
I use writing to get the students loosened
up and thinking about how they think by trying to express just
that. The second way is much more structured in terms of learning
how to gather information correctly, determining what kind of
information is needed by asking the right questions, or even by
planning ahead where to go so they can ask the right questions.
Then I try to show them how to translate thinking to writing to
drawing -- the reality. That's what the primal shelter project is
all about. This is the only time they're going to get a thought to
the writing, drawing, designing, building stage and beyond, which
is the evaluation of the reality.
I have the students write evaluations about
the importance of the primal shelter project because I want to
know if I should give the project again. They write their
evaluations at home because I find that it's really hard in studio
to do much other than going around and evaluating their designs.
Students tend to socialize more in class ,and that's part of
learning.
I find that the students who put their
concepts into drawing rather than just talking about it end up
with better designs. When I draw on the board or when they do draw
for their team, everyone can see what they're talking about. |
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