DESIGN METHODOLOGY

Gabriel Bryan Licao

 DESIGN METHODOLOGY

The 1960s and 1970s saw a boom in

dissertations about design methodology.
[the theory or science of methods used
in the design process that considered
both how the design process works and
the methods used in that process]
increasing complexity of the design
process (the size and novelty of the
tasks, the range of available materials
and techniques)
 need to make design more scientific
(more systematic, less a matter of trial and
error)
It was hoped that the application of the
computer would allow complex design
tasks to be dealt with more effectively.
first British conference on design
methods in London in 1962 (Jones and
Thornley, 1963)
Design Method Movement
end by the conference on design policy,
also in London, in 1982 (Langdon et al.,
1984)
 Despite the many architectonic
studies on ideas about architecture,
design strategies and typology as a design
method, there is no current handbook for
design methodology.
In 1998 the Faculty of Architecture
organised a fresh conference on design
methods.
De Architectonische Interventie [The
Architectonic Intervention] was set up to
consider methods and techniques for
design studies and study by design.
 The results of this 2-year project were
presented at the international
conferenceResearch by Design in
Delft (Langenhuizen et al., 2001)

In a book on Ways to study and

research architectural, urban and
technical
design (De Jong and Van der Voordt,
2002).
 Rosemann (2001) a spatial plan is no
longer just a plan, but also a tool to
explore the potential of the site and a
means of communication and
negotiation between the parties
involved.
collective process undertaken by
collaborating specialists, in which tasks
are divided between design and
construction and between architect,
constructor, developer and other
participants.
 Donald Schon (1991)

Brian Lawson(1997)
 4 Different Generations of
Design Methodology

-The beginning of the 1960s

-The second half of the 1960s
to the mid 1970s
-Mid 1970s to 1980s
- The 1990s to the present day
 The beginning of the 1960s

attempted to find a systematic and

efficient approach to design tasks.
There was much confidence in the
possibilities offered by the computer,
and enthusiastic use was made of
insights gained from problem-solving
techniques, such as systems analysis
and operational research, developed in
the 1940s and 1950s.
 Christopher Alexander ((1963,
1964)

A. Quincy Jones

Charles Luckman (1967)

 Design tasks were broken down into
the finest detail to produce small sub-
problems.

synthesise the individual solutions into

an integrated whole.
 The second half of the
1960s to the mid 1970s
characterised by growing criticism of
the failures of the technological
approach
Attention was transferred to the
solution of social problems.
increasing interest in experimental
types of housing and forms of
communal housing (Cooper, 1971;
Meyer-
Diagoon houses by
Herman Herzberger

La Meme in Leuven by Lucien Kroll

 Mid 1970s to 1980s

During this period it seemed likely that

the design methods movement would
come to an untimely end.
Christopher Alexander, Pattern
language(1977)
a method of describing good design
practices within a field of expertise.
 Pattern 183

The design process does indeed correspond to

some extent with the cycle
Analysis synthesis evaluation, but that
every design process is unique and so
cannot be described in a standard way.
 Van Duin and Engel (1991)
distinguished two types of design
strategies
the rationalistic approach
(central feature of the rationalistic
view is the autonomy of architecture
and the designer.)
the postmodern approach
( much against the social ambitions of
modernism as against rationalistic no-
nonsense architecture.)
 The 1990s to the present day

In recent years there has been a

noticeable increase in the attention
paid to information processing systems
and design decision support systems
(Bax,
1995).
 According to Richard Foque (1982),
design involves working with messages
containing extremely complex
information, so it is important to know
how accurately, meaningfully and
effectively information is conveyed and
processed.
believed that the traditional conflict
between methodologies that he termed
artistic and scientific could be
resolved by the use of design and
design-directed methods which
combined both ways of working.
 Christopher de Hamel (1190)
the way that designers think
and work suggested that in
practice design does in fact
almost always involve a
combination of intuition and
an analytical and systematic
approach.
Mick Eekhout (1996)

Design
is an iterative process requiring
brains to do the thinking and hands
to do the
visualising, both sides being
stimulated by a mind to do the
dreaming
 An essential design tool nowadays is
computer-aided design (CAD).

Professor Nicholas Negropont

- He wrote already about the

possibilities of CAD in 1969 in his
book The architecture
machine.
Marshall McLuhan

-Understanding media
(1964)
-stating that the computer
would
produce changes in the
proportion, rhythm or
schemes of human relations,
and
changes in the way we think,
in which we articulate
language, in which we live.
 For a number of years now there has
been increasing use of for abnormal,
non-rectangular building geometries.

Frank Gehrys Guggenheim Museum

An important point to note here is that
design is less and less the individual
activity of a single designer and more
and more a process involving many
individuals (Heintz, 1999).
 Dr. Karel Jan Vollers

Twisted Facade

The complexity of the building task has meant

that designs are influenced not only by architects
but also by building technicians, contractors,
future residents, etc. Van Loon, in his 1998 thesis,
speaks of inter-organisational design, requiring an
open, transparent design process and specific
methods to take account of different aims and
priorities and to achieve the best possible