Students will complete a written program analysis of the stated programming needs for the capstone project. Components must include:
client profile (minimum 250 words)
personal design philosophy statement (minimum 250 words)
brand analysis (minimum 500 words)
design priorities and hierarchy of client needs
development of the design problem being addressed in the design project (minimum 250 words)
A typed program accounting for all required spaces in the project
programming analysis (diagrammatic language)
Assignment will be peer reviewed and instructor reviewed, with revisions due in Week 12 and in the final program brief. A minimum of 1250 words.
Assignment Specifics
Week 10 / OCT 28
Client Profile (250 words)
The client profile should include:
Description of the client and their company. The product and services they are providing.
Identification of their competitors. Identify similarities and differences.
Identify their target market. Use market statistics to the location as well as who their market is. (e.g. economic and age marketing information and define specific to your client – women age 20 to 40, high to middle income status)
Design Philosophy Statement (250 words)
A design philosophy statement can take the form of a concept statement. The following definitions are provided to clarify the creation and purpose of the philosophy statement.
Ideation (Regnel 2007)
A design concept aims to conceive a response to solve a design problem in a very particular way. Projects, however, are made up of not one, but many problems or different scope and level of importance , and the solution to each of these problems requires the use of appropriate strategies. Each on of these ideas or strategies is a concept. There in fact can be dozens of strategies for a single project.
In order to work with concepts, then, you have to be able to understand their hierarchy. There are big concepts and little ones. It’s the big concepts that we are most concerned with here, although the smaller ones are important to resolve design issues at more detailed levels. Most important, those smaller concepts are subordinate to the big ones in such a way that, in the end, the finished product reads as one cohesive whole.
As straightforward as this may appeal, many young designers struggle with written concept statements. Let’s examine four of the most common problems.
Problem 1: Statements that regurgitate the project goals from the program
Problem 2: Statements that state the obvious
Problem 3: Statements that use many adjectives with really saying much
Problem 4: Statements that are lengthy descriptions of ever single feature of the project.
The best concepts statements share the following three attributes:
Design concepts speak more about the design solution than the design problem.
Design concepts statements are selective.
Design concepts statements are economical.
Conceptualization (Aspelund 2006)
A design concept is an abstract vision that needs to become tangible.
Once you identify your design problem, you are ready to examine methods for conceptualizing your ideas to come up with a solution. You examine the nature of the design concept and how using intuition and metaphor helps you create a coherent presentation. This requires you to develop a thought structure that uses known elemental images to explain the unknown and unseen.
In presenting a concept, we must be aware of the language, vocabulary, and voice we are using and who our audience it. A reference that is very clear to you may go straight over your audience’s heads. Things you find stirring or interesting may not have the same effect on others.
Concept and Parti (Ching 1998)
A concept is a mental idea or image capable of generating and guiding the development of a design. We use the term parti when referring to the concept or primary organizing idea for an architectural design. Drawing a concept or parti out in diagrammatic form enables a designer to quickly and efficiently investigate the overall nature and organization of a scheme. Instead of concentrating on how the design might appear, the concept diagram focuses on the key structural and relational features of an idea.
A concept diagram should be:
Inclusive: capable of addressing the multiple issues of a design problem
Visually descriptive: powerful enough to guide the development of an idea
Adaptable: flexible enough to accept change
Sustainable: able to endure manipulations and transformations during the design process without a loss of identity.
References
Abercrombie, Stanley. 1990. A philosophy of interior design. New York: Harper & Row.
Aspelund, K. (2006). The design process. New York: Fairchild.
Ching, F. D. K., & Juroszek, S. P. (1998). Design drawing. New York: John Wiley.
Rengel, R. J. (2007). Shaping interior space. New York: Fairchild
Assignment
in-class: Students complete draft of client profile and design philosophy statement. Peer review occurs during week 11.
Week 11 / NOV 4
Reading
Chapters 9 & 10
Brand Analysis (500 words)
Client brand analysis should include:
Define the brand through clients mission and vision;
Include conceptual images that identify brand;
Include a breakdown of the client logo that identifies its connection to the brand. If there is no logo, create the logo design incorporating elements of the brand.
Design Priorities and Client Needs
The component of the program analysis should include:
A hierarchical list of design/philosophical priorities that will be used in evaluating the design response;
Identify the top five design/philosophical priorities. (e.g. establishing strong connections to nature, creating clear boundaries between public and private spaces, or creating blurred boundaries between public and private spaces)
Include a list of spaces from most important to least.
A hierarchical list of functional client needs that must be met to accomplish the design response.
Identify the top five hierarchal needs. (e.g. guest rooms must have immediate access to community spaces, classroom spaces required northern light, treatment rooms must have separate entrances for the patient and the physician.)
Include a list of spaces from most important to least.
Typed Program
The typed program is an accounting of all required spaces in the project. The program shall include:
Required spaces (grouped according to function, location, and adjacency requirements), quantities, and estimated sq. ft. needs
Load type, Load factor and Occupancy Load for each space
See provided program spreadsheet.
Assignment
in-class: Students begin work on brand analysis, priorities, needs, and typed program.
out-of-class: Students complete work on brand analysis, priorities, needs, and typed program. Students peer-review client profile, philosophy statement, brand analysis, and needs outside of class.
Week 12 / NOV 11
Relationship Diagrams
Minimum of 3 diagrams required. A relationship diagram identifies key relationships between programmatic spaces and relationships between the program and an idealized site. Your relationship diagrams should:
include major program spaces or zones;
indicate relationships between the program spaces (immediate adjacency, convenient, minor, etc.);
indicate relationships between the program spaces and the environment (acoustic privacy, natural light, entry, etc.);
use color to identify similar program spaces across all diagrams.
