Advice to Incoming Architecture Students

In this longer post I'll be defining concept, diagram, parti, and precedent.

We'll start with a precedent, It is probably the easiest to explain.  A precedent is a building, instrument, film, car, or object.  Really a precedent is and thing from which you derive ideas.  I have used books, films, buildings, cars, theories from other professions, and organs among other things.  As an example We'll look at Alvar Aalto's Library Seinajoki.

 He clearly draws from an open book and incorporates it into his building.  You can see it really well in plan but it is less in a photo.  Many more people add precedent into their building in a more subtle way.

Next we'll move on to diagram.  I feel that its hard to separate from parti.  A diagram is a clear way to explain one aspect of a building in a visual way.  The normal things a diagram would show are things like sustainable systems, circulation (vertical and horizontal), programatic divisions, structure, public vs. private, and ordering principles (axis, rhythm, datum, hierarchy, etc).   Below is a set of diagrams done by Morphosis to show aspects of the San Fransisco Federal Building.  Later I'll show a parti that they did of it.

The diagram can also be used to demonstrate how the building was formed.  Like here: BIG - - 8HOUSE
In these series of diagrams BIG shows us why the apartments they made were shaped like they were. Some of the diagrams break the program into strips and insert them in the building.  Some reference outside landmarks.  Some ever reshape the building to acknowledge these references.  Regardless of what you are diagramming, you diagram needs to follow a few rules.
1- Simplify it - your diagram needs to communicate the idea well, if it's convoluted then its going to be hard for someone to understand.  If you have too many lines then get rid of some.  Reduce it, and for good measure, reduce it down again.
2- Use your tools - I've seen some people's diagrams go down the drain because they are forcing themselves to use tools that they aren't able to adequately utilize.  Hand drawings are just as valid as computer generated ones.  Stick to your medium.
3- Maintain a format - what I mean by this is: if your client is doing more trying to figure out what angle your diagram is from or discern the diagrams in section from the ones in plan, you have failed. They need to focus on the information and they can't do that if they are confused or frustrated.

The way a diagram is different from a parti is that while a diagram communicates one aspect of a building, the parti coherently shows all of them working together but distills it into a really concise drawing.  It is the essence of the building, the inseparable qualities of the building.  Sometimes it is a formal condition (how the building is shaped).  Other times it is a structure or organizational strategy.  It too needs to be simple.  When I say simple I mean concise and with impact.  There is a difference between a simplistic parti and a simple one. Simplistic implies that the idea is wanting, or lacking depth.  Simple just implies that the idea, complex as it may be, is easy to understand. To the right is a parti of the San Francisco Federal Building.  As you can see there is the formal idea and you can start to see the workings of tectonics and structure.  There is some idea of a hierarchical space in the center.  All of this is clearly communicated.  It has been reduced down to its essence.  This is our goal as architects.  Before the building has been formed in CAD or you've touched your lead to bristol you should be able to draw this.  It is the drawing that you could make for your friend or boss on a napkin at a business lunch. I feel the need to say that parti is not always seen as a section.  There are plan parti, elevation parti, and parti models.  It is just the first step in the actual design.

Finally, we come to the concept.  I've been putting it off because this is the hardest to describe.  A concept can be anything.  It is a premise that you use for a design. In good architecture, a concept is necessitous.  You should be able to condense it into a sentence, "My concept is: Theater becomes the film." but you should be able to expound on it vigorously.  "The program is divided into action and stagnant spaces like the picture and the frame of the film strip..." If your concept is, "My building is a cloud." You must ask yourself "What is it to be a cloud?  What building type, what structure type personifies a cloud?"  Then you must apply your answer to your building.  In this way your concept manifests... incarnates itself into a building.  Some concepts are simply formal, I find these the most superficial.  Some people go for them anyway.  The really deep and intellectually intriguing building have concepts that influence every aspect of them.

The concept is hard to put into context.  It is derived, on one hand, from the givens.  The context, program, demographic, location, media, and I think most importantly our understandings of these subjects.  From our understandings we formulate an attitude, a mentality, and that broods into a concept.  Contrarily, the concept feeds back into our preconceptions of context, program, and media.  It would dictate that we add or delete parts of our program.  Perhaps we would favor one site over another because of its "opportunities".  We start to see our medium in a new light, new uses are invented or reinvented.  The process involving a concept is very cyclic, and it is important to get that when designing with a concept.

Concept is the mold that shapes the jello of our objects.