Diagramming the Big Idea - Jeffrey Balmer, Michael Swisher

Diagramming the Big Idea

Methods for Architectural Composition
Buch | Softcover
308 Seiten
2019 | 2nd edition
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-138-54990-6 (ISBN)
57,35 inkl. MwSt
In the second edition of Diagramming the Big Idea, Jeffrey Balmer and Michael T. Swisher illustrate how you can create and use diagrams to clarify your understanding of both particular projects and organizing principles and ideas.
Becoming an architect is a daunting task. Beyond the acquisition of new skills and procedures, beginning designers face an entirely unfamiliar mode of knowledge: design thinking.

In Diagramming the Big Idea, Jeffrey Balmer and Michael T. Swisher introduce the fundamentals of design thinking by illustrating how architects make and use diagrams to clarify their understanding of both specific architectural projects and universal principles of form and order. With accessible, step-by-step procedures that interweave diagrams, drawings and virtual models, the authors demonstrate how to compose clear and revealing diagrams.

Design thinking defines a method for engaging the world through observation and analysis. Beyond problem solving, design is a search for possibilities. Mastering design thinking begins with learning the fundamentals of visual composition. It embraces the ability to synthesize deductive and imaginative reasoning, combining both shrewd scrutiny and fevered speculation.

Design diagrams make visible the abstractions that order the built environment. Premised upon the Beaux-Arts notion of the architectural parti, Balmer and Swisher adopt the ‘Big Idea’ as a foil and as a suitcase to organize fundamentals of architectural composition. The goal of this book is to make explicit to students what they are learning, why they are learning it and how to internalize such lessons toward their lifelong development as designers.

Jeffrey Balmer and Michael T. Swisher are associate professors of architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Part I: Setting the Stage

1. Introduction

Read me first!

Why read this book?

What is architecture?

Organization, order, composition

Utility, function, purpose

Measure & matter

Design & method

Strategies & tactics

The structure of the narrative

The sequence of the chapters

The role of precedents

The point of departure

Glossary of terms



Details 1 - Order & Measure
From the divine to the secular


Demonstration 1.1
Organizational figures


Demonstration 1.2
The courtyard schema


Demonstration 1.3
Courtyards as objects


Demonstration 1.4
Additional courtyard schemata



2. Sorting through ideas

Diagrams as method

Diagram types

Diagramming & design education

Learning diagrammatic form

Gestalt sub–categories

The diagram & visual order

Our purpose

Glossary of terms



Details 2 Indigenous diagrams


Demonstration 2.1 Diagrams & contexts


Demonstration 2.2 Plan as diagram



3. Order First

On order

On measure

Dividing the square

Rules of engagement

Positive & negative space

Order & the orthogonal

Glossary of terms



Details 3 - Order, Orientation, Orthogonal The gridded city


Demonstration 3.1 Gestalt defined


Demonstration 3.2 Gestalt readings of basic form



Part II: The First Project Set

4. Design & drawing fundamentals

On drawing

Relevance to design

Deriving order in drawing

Exercises in relational geometry

Defined & implied space

Analyzing the composition

Three variant compositions

Observing contrast, repetition, alignment & proximity

The variations considered

General observations

Motif, pattern & theme

Defined fields

Sorting through results

Implied fields

Adding fields

Combining fields

Summary

Glossary of terms



Details 4 - The Courtyard Figure–ground & solid–void


Demonstration 4.1.1 Figures & field in variation


Demonstration 4.1.2 Variation & elaborations


Demonstration 4.1.3 Variation & elaborations


Demonstration 4.2 Further variations


Demonstration 4.3 Contrast, repetition, alignment & proximity



The second project set

5. Building on proportion

Object on a field

A figure in the relational field

Looking at the groups

Selecting & analyzing an aggregate composition

Adding to the quadrants

Two elements

Refining the figures

Observing the new figures

Observing the new group

Glossary of terms



Details 5 - Figures & Fields Objects & space


Demonstration 5.1 Regulating lines dividing space


Demonstration 5.2 Figures & their construction


Demonstration 5.3 Field, grain & path



6. Conventionos in Design

Drawing in the third dimension

Adding fields & overhead planes

Turning the grid

Reading the section

A final model

Glossary of terms



Details 6 - Axis & Path Lines, planes & volumes



Part III: The third project set

7. Starting in three dimensions

Design on a grid

The site

Three figures

Spatial models

Volume, form & space: an example

Visualizing connection with constructed axes

The gestural nexus

Spatial hierarchy: field grain & path

Clarifying plan elements

The new grid

Strategy set

Tactical definitions & variations

A final remark

Glossary of terms



Details 7 - Spatial Systems Frames, planes & cells


Demonstration 7.1 Axial volumes


Demonstration 7.2 Additional composition models



8. Models & diagrams

More complex approaches to strategies

Strategy definitions

Tactical themes & variations

Tactics expanded – procedure & results

Three–dimensional diagrams

Combined diagram models

Planning the final model

Fragments models

The final model

Conclusion

Glossary of terms



Details 8 - Treshold & Boundary Containment & connection


Demonstration 8.1 Axial volumes


Demonstration 8.2.1 Alternate tactical diagrams


Demonstration 8.2.2 Additional hybrid tactical diagrams


Demonstration 8.3 Demonstration model


Demonstration 8.4 Demonstration drawings


Demonstration 8.5.1 Assembly images


Demonstration 8.5.2 Alternate model #1


Demonstration 8.5.3 Alternate model #2



Part IV: Precedents

9. Precedent diagrams in two dimensions

Introduction

Two concepts

Two expressions

Two dimensions

Two projects

House with Three Courts

The Danteum

Glossary of terms



Details 9 - What an Architect Sees Margaret Esherick house



10. Precedent diagrams in three dimensionos

Introduction

Representing the third dimension

Phillips Exeter Academy Library

Unity Temple

Diagram as generator

Glossary of terms



Details 10 - The Language of ColorColor as a subject
Glossary of color terms

Part V: Resources



Master glossary of terms
Index

Erscheinungsdatum
Verlagsort London
Sprache englisch
Maße 210 x 280 mm
Gewicht 1156 g
Themenwelt Kunst / Musik / Theater Design / Innenarchitektur / Mode
Mathematik / Informatik Informatik Grafik / Design
Naturwissenschaften Geowissenschaften Geografie / Kartografie
Technik Architektur
ISBN-10 1-138-54990-8 / 1138549908
ISBN-13 978-1-138-54990-6 / 9781138549906
Zustand Neuware
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