CASE STUDY PROGRAM

Case studies are used by architects to research and be the proof for their concept
design needed to justify their design choices. The research is done also to help with the
design process. The case study is mostly done to identify how one should feel in the
spaces designed and how it was achieved.
Pro tip (this is a lot of work, start now…. Do not put this off, this is not something you
can do in a night or several nights, your designs will suffer if you do. This should take
several weeks and much consideration because it is vital to your design. Divide and
conquer, chop up the workload and do it a little at a time. Do not come to me and ask for
more time for this assignment. You should have been working on this in class.

How to start…………………………………………………………….
Architects start with the occupancy type of the structure they are about to design and
look at various designs that achieve what the architect/engineer would like to achieve in
their design. What is the occupancy type you may ask? It is the function of the
space/room. Take a house for example there are various functions in a house there are
public areas (kitchen, living room, dining room, den, patio…etc.), private areas
(bathroom, bedroom, powder room…etc), circulation areas (paths of travel for people to
get from one space to another, hallways, foyers, bridges…. Etc.)
Pro tip (architects use a lot of words that are unfamiliar with the average person…. Start
looking them up and start understanding what these architectural features are. Find
pictures on the internet, the more you know, the easier it is to solve design problems.)

Example…………………………………………………………………….
What is a case study used for? It is used to help architects prove their concept
development through other works of architecture that are successful. So, if i never
designed an office space before, i’d look at several offices with desired outcomes i
would like for my design. Meaning if i want to figure out how to design an office space
to be “more productive”, I need to study designs that achieve such. If I want a design to
feel “welcoming or enjoyable” I would have to find designs that were successful in
creating this. So, you can see how initially prior to research deciding what outcomes of
the design you desire have to be decided. Among studying what works, finding out what
an apartment needs in particular a duplex house. A duplex house will need different
accommodations from an apartment above an existing garage but there may be
similarities.

Pro tip (good design captures feelings, all great works of art evoke emotion….
Architecture is no different. Think about all the spaces you’ve walked in that were well
designed and the feeling that automatically happens when you experienced walking into
a cathedral, museum, a fancy grand hotel, or a ballpark versus a grimy bowling alley.
Emotions are drawn up because we are emotional creatures, the most
successful architects know this and purposefully design for it.)
In this example I would sketch ideas using bubble diagrams and word associations as
seen on the how to think like an architect video in the week 3 folder. This is done to
document your initial process of your design prior to exploring.
So far in our example we’ve identified our apartment needs the following outcomes:

“welcoming”- so tenants actually like coming to home"

“enjoyable”- so tenants actually like living in the home environment."

Everything identified above in parenthesis is your concept

The above notes should be in your case study along with any peer reviewed data
backing up these claims and/or citing the case study

Citation Generator

MLA Guide

MLA Tutorial

Case Study Sample.............................

PUTTING TOGETHER A CASE STUDY

PART I -
Think of this first part as putting together a vision board for your design concept before
you actually start designing. You are gathering ideas and inspiration from various
projects that have been completed. The beauty about this is sometimes you come
across things you would have never thought of, sometimes you come up with ideas
from refining/changing the designs of others. Architects don't only have design to
consider, they have to consider the elements of weather, traffic, sun paths, seismic
activity, and many other things.....documenting it all (case study) is how architects do
the preliminary portion of the design process so nothing is forgotten.

SECTION A
THE ARCHITECTS
You've studied their works by reading about their projects, start with crediting them. If
you have troubles locating the architects and can only find their firm in the article, look
for their firm. Their firm will likely have that project on their website and list who worked
on it. If that isn't available, list the firm and credit the firm.
Read the three articles located at the bottom of this document and save all the pictures
from each article. You will need them to compare and contrast two works in your case
study

BACKGROUND HISTORY | CONCEPTS OF THE PROJECT

Give a little brief history of the design concepts of the projects you read about in the
first part of the case study

SITE ANALYSIS
Site location existing site and site with new structure/expansion. Show pictures of site
context.

Older Map Tutorial

SITE ADDRESS: 247 E. RANDOLF PL.
LONG BEACH CA 90807

Rubric
100-90 POINTS 89-80 POINTS 79-70 POINTS 69-60 POINTS 59-0
Student shows a Student shows a Student shows a Student shows a Student shows a
clear understanding clear understanding basic understanding vague little to no
of what is expected. of what is expected. of what is expected. understanding of understanding of
Writes clear and Writes clear and Writes sentences. what is expected. what is expected.
concise sentences. concise sentences. Spelling and Shows little interest Writes shows little
Spelling and Spelling and punctuation are in the assignment to no interest in
punctuation are punctuation are needing Spelling and the assignment
used. Letter vividly needing improvement. punctuation are Spelling and
describes to the improvement. Letter walks reader needing punctuation are
reader about their Letter vividly throughout their improvement. needing
entire day. describes to the day. Slides vaguely improvement.
reader about their walks reader Slides don’t walk
day throughout their readers throughout
day. their day.

Week 3 Case Study Assignment Lecture Video

Case Study Article 1
How to Think Like an Architect: The design process