Instruments of architecture and design knowledge

The Architectural Instruments project addresses fundamental issues of architectural composition and perception, whilst exploring the significance – and opportunities – of the representational instruments of the architectural discipline.

The aim is to reach a deeper understanding of characteristic issues of architectural form-giving and particularly the ways in which formal concepts may be envisioned and shared.

Consequently, an emphasis is placed on the ways in which architectural knowledge is communicated via non-verbal means: the act (and craft) of imaging, which is arguably a characteristic feature of architectural enquiry in the fields of architectural practice, theory, research and education.

In this context various ‘instrumental’ approaches are studied in depth.

A prominent role is played by the drawing, which is examined in a historic perspective as well as in contemporary design culture. In relation to the drawing various other means of graphic notation are taken into consideration, including schemes, diagrams, symbols, codes and legends.

Another important instrument architecture is traditionally the (scale) model.

In recent years the architectural study initiatives have gained new impulses by the evolvement of new – physical as well as digital – modelling techniques. The tangible, ‘built’ model has been given a new lease of life through the introduction of innovative, computer-based modelling techniques.

Drawings and models play a meaningful role in education-based designedly study initiatives. These include precedent-based analytical modelling projects, as well as explorative exercises aimed at the evolvement of new forms of architectural ornamentation, making active use of the computer-aided manufacturing facilities of the faculty’s CAM-lab.

 

Research Summary - Jack Breen

Variations in Architectural Composition
A case-based exploration of the formal attributes of architectural design

The aim of this explorative study is to (re)interpret characteristic formal issues in architectural design on the level of composition and perception.

To reach a more objective understanding and appreciation of aesthetic considerations in architecture, there is a need to evolve conceptual and analytical instruments, which may facilitate and stimulate the methodical investigation of architectural form.

The focus of this study is the compositional organisation and perceptual manifestation of the architectural object, whereby a concerted attempt is made to elucidate recurrent expressive design themes, which designers address when determining a built artefact’s appearance, and their effects.

The central objective is the furthering of knowledge and insights concerning which elementary formal attributes may be recognised as determining properties of aesthetic paradigms in architecture and to develop and test representational approaches for the benefit of imaginative architectural research.

The outcomes and findings are documented and evaluated on interrelated levels: in a series of thematic essays (addressing phenomenological aspects of design composition and perception); in an integral formal study line (identifying characteristic compositional issues and domains of architectural form giving); in a series of specific case-based study cycles (intended to develop and test the hypothetical positions of the research) and in a thematic reconnaissance of shifting compositional paradigms within a specific time frame, on the basis of a precedent-based document analysis.  

 

Research Summary - Martijn Stellingwerff

Virtual Context - Investigating the characteristics and opportunities of digital visualisation media for situated approaches to architectural design in an urban environment

DUP Science, Delft University Press, Delft, 2005
ISBN 90-407-2574-8

This doctoral research initiative addressed the issues of Design within a Virtual Context. Central to this study were the innovative potentials and instrumental opportunities of computer based visualisation techniques and their capacities for the generation of interactive model perspectives in urban and architectural designing. The design representation system which was developed allowed for an adaptable work environment, affording an array of design ‘views’, from which the designer could choose freely, depending upon the phase and focus of the design project as well as personal preferences. Insights from this study were used to fine-tune a range of visual support instruments and explore working methods of design in the context of architectural research, education and practice.