Methods of Architectural Programming (Routledge Revivals)

Henry Sanoff

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781134890491
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

First published in 1977, this volume was intended as a sourcebook for designers and attempts to specify the ingredients necessary to develop a design program rather than postulate a model program for which no consensus exists. As such it filled a void in the existing literature which seldom covered programming with much depth and provides technical aids to guide designers. The author attempts to integrate the pioneering contributions from others in order to identify the substance of programming for designers and represents a culling of the strategies and techniques from the social, behavioural and management sciences — building on the developing efforts of other disciplines.

1
Preconditions to Programming

THE ROOTS OF PROGRAMMING

The architect’s concern about the built environment is primarily for the accommodation of people: the people who use it, build it, design it, pay for it, and are directly affected by it. Clearly, when we discuss the people, their behavior, and their purposes as they relate to the built environment, we are bound to engage in conflicts, which is the very stuff of design decisions. The successful resolution of conflicts is based on a clear understanding of people’s objectives and the methods of establishing priorities for making decisions; thus the recognition and understanding of people’s needs and people’s behavior is a prerequisite to the formulation of goals for a building program (and, moreover, a recognition that people are goal oriented and are trying to achieve some end). The architect, then, is the facilitator of the means by which the environment can flex and change to accommodate people’s desires. All people, too, are architects to some degree, since they are always involved in manipulating their own environment. This constant alteration and modification, sometimes referred to as homeostasis, is the continual and growing need for a balance between people and their environment. This is an iterative process, in that people alter their environment and are in turn influenced by the environmental change. The difficulty occurs when there is a state of disequilibrium between people and their surrounding environment. The consequences are usually dissatisfaction and corresponding malfunction.

It is a long-standing tradition that initial client contacts and program formulation, however defined, are the domain of the seasoned architect. This heritage is rooted in the need for collective bargaining techniques, including those characteristics of firmness and judgment, the principle ingredients of long-term experience. Although it is not within the province of this book to argue against tradition, it is fair game to question the effectiveness of “playing it by ear” methods in favor of goal-oriented, client-user-architect interactions. It has also been the experience of numerous professional designers that the initial phase of the design process is the key link to profit or loss, the area in which most of the ambiguity and contradiction in the profession lies. This part of the process has been veiled in mystery, unobservable, yet inextricably linked to success.

The last decade has been a period of marked awareness of the potential contributions from the management and social sciences to the design professions. If those relevant tools and techniques become part of the designer’s mode of operation, substantial changes in professional practice will be imminent. “It may well be that what we have hitherto understood as architecture, and what we are beginning to understand of technology, are incompatible disciplines. The architect who proposes to run with technology knows that he is in fast company, and that in order to keep up he may have to discard his whole cultural load, including the professional garments by which he is recognized as an architect. If, on the other hand, he decides not to do this, he may find that a technological culture has decided to go on without him.”¹ Technology is best defined by Donald Schon as “any tool or technique, any product or process, any physical equipment or method of doing or making, by which human capability is extended.”² The substance of this book, in part, is devoted to expanding the technological resources of the design profession.

This book is also about good sense–since that is the one endowment abundantly provided and assumed to be equitably divided. Good sense or reason is argued to be the same in all people, yet differences in opinion are not due to differences in intelligence but to the fact that we use different approaches and consider different things. Rene Descartes, a seventeenth-century philosopher, has stated that “those who walk slowly can, if they follow the right path, go much further than those who run rapidly in the wrong direction.”³

It is generally agreed that Rene Descartes is considered the first, most important philosopher of our times. If we add to this the common belief that philosophy points to the way to development in other fields, it is evident that we ascribe an importance to Descartes that is comparable to the beginnings of intellectual culture in ancient Greece. Descartes was not an advocate of reform in general but only reform of his own ideas. In fact, he often stated that his decision to abandon all his preconceived notions was not an example for all to follow. Descartes did, however, believe in a set of precepts, of which he argued, logic is composed. They can best be described as the rules of method and are as follows:

The first rule was never to accept anything as true unless I recognize it to be evidently such: that is, carefully to avoid precipitation and prejudgment, and to include nothing in my conclusions unless it presents itself so clearly and distinctly to my mind that there is no reason to doubt it.

The second was to divide each of the difficulties which I encountered into as many parts as possible, and as might be required for an easier solution.

The third was to think in an orderly fashion, beginning with the things which were simplest and easiest to understand, and gradually, and by degrees, reaching towards more complex knowledge, even treating as though ordered, materials which are not necessarily so.

The last was always to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I would be certain that nothing was omitted.⁴

Descartes believed that the conscious awareness of those few precepts premitted him to solve many problems that he had previously considered difficult. Those precepts were individual, yet direction-giving commitments, dealing with important issues. Whether we describe Descartes’ precepts as the roots of systems theory or systematic thinking, he clearly articulated, some 250 years ago, a decision-making process amenable to design thinking. When we attempt to integrate a more self-conscious approach to problem solving amid contemporary design concerns, we require a new technology to permit us to achieve an acceptable level of competence.

In the world of design today, there are increasingly more complex operations to be performed and a large body of information to be gathered. In order for the design professions to cope with new and unprecidented change, many modifications will be required in the nature and performance of design tasks. A self-evaluation is necessary with a resulting change in the “view of design.”

Our increasing recognition of the relatedness of architecture to its contextual environment, of the need to incorporate the user as a vital ingredient toward change, and of the multidisciplinary and multieffect of the built environment is the beginning of a rationale for more order in the organization and more organization in the process. Quite simply, we need to program–and that is a matter of good sense.

THE PROGRAM

The concept of programming can fit into the complex net of designing, with its myriad of inextricably linked processes. The program is the first sequence of phases, the results of which ultimately effect some type of physical change in the environment. This change can take the form of an addition to a new or recycled building, a plan for the use of interior or exterior space, or other environmental modifications that require systematic forethought prior to proceeding with action.

The sequence of phases of a design project, beginning with a program, includes preliminary design, production, construction, and postcompletion evaluation (see Figure 1). This morphology outlines the phases that a design project usually goes through and is initiated when there is agreement to take action on a problem. Although there may be many interpretations, elaborations, and variations, it is generally thought of as a sequence of phases, and sometimes it is referred to as the design process.

It is necessary to distinguish this phased sequence of activities from those discussed in this book. The basic ingredient for sorting conflicts and decision making is the problem-solving process, which has its roots in stimulating the development of a program. Obviously the hints suggested for successful problem solving are useful for other stages in project development, as well as the wide range of complex decisions people make daily; however, the discussion of problem solving as described in the following section is in relation to the effective development of the design program.

The flow diagram in Figure 1 clearly reveals the inextricable connection between the program and postcompletion evaluation as the two important phases that complete the project design cycle. Since the program phase is the primary source of input into the subsequent design phases, it can be hypothesized that the quality of the program has a direct impact on the quality of the designed product.

Figure 1
Phases of a design project.

Since the best interests of the design world evolve around quality to improve the condition of people, then knowledge about the development of the program can have a marked effect on the quality of the designed product.

A program is a communicable statement of intent. It is a prescription for a desired set of events influenced by local constraints, and it states a set of desired conditions and the methods for achieving those conditions.

The program is also a formal communication between designer and client in order to determine that the client’s needs and values are clearly stated and understood. It provides a method for decision making and a rationale for future decisions. It encourages greater client participation, as well as user feedback. The program also serves as a log, a memory, and a set of conditions that are amenable to postconstruction evaluation.

The program conveys current information on the progress of the project and its various stages of development. Frequently it is perceived as an organizing procedure for codifying and classifying numerous bits of project information, sometimes misused, often forgotten. In sum, it is an operating procedure for systematizing the design process. It provides an organizational structure for the design team and a clear, communicable set of conditions for review by those affected by its implementation.

The program is not new to the world of architecture. Actually, evidence indicates that is has been used for more than a century, since an architectural competition was held for building new courts of justice in London. Prior to that, courts were built and found to be inadequate from the start. As judicial business increased and the establishment of a professional organization, the legal society, occurred, a strong campaign was mounted for centralization of courts of law. With the establishment of a Commission of Works, plans were underway for the development of a book of instructions for competing architects as early as 1862. Although competitions for public buildings were presented as far back as 1819 (for a new general post office), submissions were deemed inadequate, and the work was given to an architect in the Office of Works. Generally, the outcome of competitions had proven to be unsatisfactory. With this vast background of competion results, clear precautions had to be taken to prevent the recurrence of such fiascos. The first step was the commissioners’ elaborate inquiry into what was...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• 1 Preconditions to Programming
• 2 Information Retrieval Methods
• 3 Methods of Transforming Design Information
• 4 Applications of Programs
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index