Fehmi Dogan

Conceptual Diagrams: Representing Ideas in Design

Studies in cognition [1],[2] have investigated the role of external visual representations in different domains in supporting reasoning, problem solving, and communication. These studies often are confined to domains that pose relatively well-defined problems [3], such as geometry [4] and physics [2], with fewer studies in domains where the problems are ill-defined [3], such as meteorology [5] and architecture [6].

Configurational meaning and conceptual shifts in design

Configuration is defined as the entailment of a set of co-present relationships embedded in a design, such that we can read a logic into the way in which the design is put together. We discuss conceptual shifts during design with particular emphasis on the designers understanding of what kind of configuration the particular design is. The design for the Unitarian Church offers an historical example of such shifts, authorised by Kahns own post-rationalisation of the design process. We subsequently construct a formal computational experiment where the generation, description and re-conceptualisation of designs is rendered entirely discursive. The experiment serves to clarify the nature of conceptual shifts in actual design, and the reasons why a reading of such shifts cannot be based on discursive evidence only but necessarily requires us to engage presentational forms of symbolisation as well. Our examples demonstrate how a conceptual shift within a particular design can lead to the discovery of a new potential design world. In the historical case, the conceptualisation of a new design world remains implicit and inadequately specified. But the theoretical experiment allows us to make explicit how geometrically similar configurations that arise from the application of one set of generative rules may possess systematic but entirely unanticipated perceptual properties, subsequently incorporated in new generative rules.

Interaction of Programming and Design: The First Unitarian Congregation of Rochester and Louis I. Kahn

Abstract This essay investigates the relationship between programming and design. It exposes and criticizes those views that characterize programming and design as separate and their relationship as linear. Instead, we propose that the relationship is interactive and that the clarification of programmatic and design issues goes hand in hand. During this interactive process both client and architect take significant responsibilities. The design process of the First Unitarian Church of Louis Kahn is an illustrative example. Investigation of the clients reports, of Kahns and the clients letters, and of Kahns design proposals exposes the clients contribution and the interaction between programming and design. Our study suggests that clients have the potential to play crucial roles in design and deserve credit.