Concept Structural Framework Source of Concepts

A concept can be developed from any domain of

An abstract idea used to order the elements need developed
knowledge such as physical, psychological,
of an architectural design project. Central social, biological, cultural, literary, technical,
Unity Sketch historical, or philosophical knowledge domain.
Idea used elements such as
originality and vividness
to evaluatif the idea
Set out the major organization of Type something
But much of that source material
needs to be mapped to inside
The source of
knowledge called as an
will not be directly accessible by
the proposal first, and then determine architectural syntax or tools.
knowledge in order to be used. analogy or a metaphor,
is used to guide the
Ex. Poe reconstructed the
how to make the elements fit. development of his
design proposal.

classic poem
However, it is possible to take ideas from
‘The Raven’ (1845)
Historical Background outside of architectural syntax and use them
to organize a proposal if those ideas have a
degree of relevance to the situation.
Developed over several centuries and
He provided a clear and While the description of the
owes much to the idea that architecture accessible illustration of the poem’s creation is overly
framework behind a simplified and the cognitive means there is a correlation
conceptbased approach to explorations are compressed to between the design response
and what is actually happening
René Descartes (1596–1650) design. what was selected
in the situation to which that
Basic response is applied, rather
Christian Wolff (1679–1754) than something made up.
The entire structure of the
proposal is developed from the
For Poe, the first step in considering To achieve quality, brevity was
central effect, and each choice
should more and more clearly
the design of the poem was to critical to convey the effect of the Domain to domain transfer
consider its ‘extent’ or length. composition.
represent that conceptual

Develop the Alexander Gottlieb position.

philosophical structure
Baumgarten (1714-1762) The transfer of knowledge
The key to successful transfer is the
ability to reduce the conceptual
between domains can be an position to a series of principles that
What matters is how the elements and their incredible source of are domain independent and have
innovation and richness for
relationships engage each other to support an architectural designer.
relevance to the situation.

Introduced the architectural a larger, predetermined whole.

Gabriel-Germain theory of character based on
But it would be difficult
It can be a major source of
Boffrand (1667–1754) emotive effect in poetry and
theatre The differences between how Poe
irrelevance and shallowness
when the transfer is done
The reduction can be done
using either first principles
described his thinking process in badly. transfer or, if the
The poetic process can Result
conceptualization is complex,
designing a poem and the
be transferred to a more an analogical transfer using
possible use in an architectural
generic structure to be structure-mapping.
design process is the closeness
used in architecture
of poetic syntax to its source
character was so important Jacques-François material. A guide to
to architectural design
Blondel (1705–1774) relationships
between
As in the other frameworks, process focused on architectural objects.
concept moves through exploratory and
evaluative thinking constantly and in multiple Not all concept-based positions require
Étienne-Louis Boullée Claude-Nicolas parallel threads. the transfer of principles across domains.
(1728–1799) Ledoux (1736–1806)
Generated the possibilities
Ultimately, regardless of the source of the idea, the designer
is looking for organizational principles that can work on
proposals acted as an educational multiple scales, since the design proposal will be in
concerned with only poetic tool using expression driven by
expression and pictorial social content, broadcasting the
Analysed for their potential architectural syntax.

effect. role of the building’s owner as a

symbol.
Strengthen the elements Concept-based methods of architectural design are still
how architecture must be composed and how it expresses itself still persistent as an aspect of focused on making decisions driven by relationships
architectural theory and method from the eighteenth century to the present between elements rather than overlaying images and
Reinforce overall coherence
symbols.

Variations of Conceptual Source Applied Methods

One way to develop a design concept The core sequence of concept-based methods is as follows:

Can be very strong as it can uncover HYPOTHESIS/REFINE MAPPING/PROPOSE MOMENTS ARRANGE ELEMENTS/PROPOSAL
significant ideas which are not
Questioning apparent at first.
Explore the situation Begin to map potential relationships, moments, and Using the moments developed by the hypothesis
Also a way to ensure a degree of anchors among the priorities found in the hypothesis and testing against the judgement criteria, reinforce
relevance between the concept and Develop a question, position, or and the content of the architectural proposal. ( If the the priorities of the conceptual position.
hypothesis can be expressed directly in
the proposal idea which has a high degree of
architectural syntax ) Constantly check proposal arrangements and
relevance
selections against the judgement criteria developed
If the concept refined from the initial Develop a list of attributes and relationships among
The design process would be iterative, Translate the central position into from the hypothesis.
question did not result in strong benefits objects in the source frame of the analogy. ( If the
with many variations of programme
for the design proposal, then the
composition investigated before the final an hypothesis (concept). hypothesis cannot be expressed directly in
architectural designer would return to the architectural syntax) Abandon anything that does not meet the principles
proposal was confirmed and, ultimately,
questioning and select another position found in the judgement criteria.
from which to develop the project.
the concept assessed as strong. Identify the source domain for the
hypothesis. Create a transfer frame by examining the attributes and
relationships in the source frames. Align all aspects of the proposal towards the same
While questioning a design situation
goal (coherence).
Develop a set of judgement Pull those aspects of the source frame forward while
can set up a process challenging
normative internal knowledge, it can criteria in order to maintain focus reducing the relationships, objects, and attributes to Loop between developing moments and arranging
also access external knowledge by an and coherence in the design principles. elements that support the larger-scale intentions. All
analogy.
As the example, the landscape process. decisions are temporary until they are reinforced by
Create a series of moments and priorities. other decisions and elements. Everything must align
analogies allowed the designers to
consider contour lines as a way of
with the priorities of the conceptual position.
describing building elevation, a very
non-normative but innovative way of Methods using concept depend on a The hypothesis is developed through
The situation can be defined in Concept-based methods are not
architectural terms as the building confined to architectural syntax so the
developing a façade. valid starting hypothesis, since it an exploratory investigation of the
occupation, the performance, or the hypothesis might also be defined in
drives the arrangement of the parts. situation.
client intentions. socio-cultural or technical terms.

As a tool, contour lines

The contours, conceptually
maintained coherence for Contour lines required
the designers because variation of surface to be
horizontal, were then rotated Architecture addressing Architecture, landscape, and Political activism and
back into a vertical position and
their use would not allow maintained, otherwise
sliced into floorplates in order to nature’s serenity (example 1) shopping (example 2) architecture (example 3)
the elevations to be the lines could not
create terraces based on
brought back into flat describe anything.
standard floor-to-floor heights HYPOTHESIS : At this stage, serenity was not yet a hypothesis; it HYPOTHESIS : The evaluative phase during the early stages of HYPOTHESIS : After the initial exploratory and evaluative thinking
plane.
was only a broad conceptual interest. Serenity was still too generic to the design proposal created a series of interesting connections phases that selected Occupy as a site for an architectural
have a source domain or identify specific relationships or through highlighting. intervention, a design concept had to be developed.
The extruded pieces were to be The term terrace was applications for architectural use.
considered as a series of used in place of MAPPING/PROPOSE MOMENTS : Occupy Wall Street became
originally contours on the REFINE : The developed hypothesis could then be considered MAPPING/PROPOSE MOMENTS : Shopping became a major
habitable flat areas carved from balcony to reinforce both an analogy and a situation for the project. As an analogy, it
façade now became understood directly in architectural syntax using environmental and experiential aspect of the project through the evaluative part of the
the building’s face rather than the idea that the was used to map the relationships and priorities of the movement
as the strata of stacked plates. factors. There was no attempt to consider architecture as nature, so hypothesis phase. While landscape is not normally considered in
as appendages stuck onto the elevation was a into an architectural response that used this information as its
surface. landscape. there was no application of an analogy. this way, the concept was evocative in its possibilities.
decision-making structure.
MAPPING/PROPOSE MOMENTS : Each of the selected natural
events was considered as a reduction in order to determine the ARRANGE ELEMENTS : The judgement criteria developed from ARRANGE ELEMENTS : Once the major mapping was completed
Source domains do not need to be as immediately usable in a principal relationships’ tolerances and variations. the concept were combined with the site research and and material systems identified, the project needed refinement to
identification of landscape principles. address particular occupations and site conditions.
physical way, but they do need to be mappable to aspects of
ARRANGE ELEMENTS : To this point, the conceptual position had
the design situation in such a way that they add quality to the developed discrete moments with only tentative relationship to the
relationships. PROPOSAL : The final proposal responded to the needs of the
site context and the architectural programme. PROPOSAL : The final proposal produced three types of
Occupy movement ‘through broadcast and shelter’. The proposal
pavilions, each tuned to the nuance of a location and the activity
PROPOSAL : As the moments became associated with particular stressed adaptability and temporary shelter while becoming an
of the tourist, supporting a deeper understanding of the
locations in the context and relevant programmatic pieces, the final alternative image of the power structure it opposed – the
surrounding context than would normally be available.
proposal began to take shape. skyscraper as symbol of corporate hegemony

The more distant the source domain to

The ultimate goal is to have the
architecture, the more tenuous the source domain dissolve into the
connections and the more necessary it is to architectural response,
The strength is also the danger.
have a strong mapping of relevance explored transferring only those aspects One of the strengths of concept-based
Concept operates by producing an
The selection of the concept and the
through reduction. that enrich the proposal. methods is the ability quickly to mapping of content are both based on
overlying set of priorities that are used
communicate a core set of priorities to the skill, sensitivity, and experience of
to select and arrange elements within
which the proposal responds. the architectural designer.
the body of the proposal.