Jurnal UMP Social Sciences and Technology Management
Vol. 3, Issue. 1,2015
The prior ship and posterity of the architectural idea and
concepts sources
(Essay on the Ideation Process of some of the Architects,
teaching at the Faculty of Architecture, Mashhad)
Atousa Ghannad,
MSc student of architecture, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
Pedram Baghani
MSc student of architecture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Abstract
The basic idea of design is a reflection, which is formed in designer’s mind when
facing with a design problem and is not obvious in many occasions. However, "what is the
prior ship and posterity of the architectural ideas' and concepts' sources?" is the one the
present study seeks answer to. In order to answer the mentioned question, a survey was
conducted in which data on the ideation process of some of the professors of the faculties of
architecture of Mashhad city, Iran, were collected through a questionnaire during two years
and the report of its results is presented in this paper. In the study data collection was
conducted through some questionnaires and also interviewing the architects. 101 faculties, 60
males and 41 females, were selected to form the statistical sample about the result of the
previous study. The data was analyzed according to the research hypotheses. The results
show a framework that can be used to identify the architectural ideas' and concepts' sources
priority that can bring a kind of knowledge and self-confidence for the students and novice
designers.
Keywords: Architectural design, the process of design ideation, design problem,
designer
Introduction
The basic idea of design is a reflection, which is formed in designer’s mind when facing with a
design problem and is not obvious in many occasions. However, the questions that "from
where the basic idea of architectural design is stemmed? What are the sources of architectural
ideation? And how much is each one’s share in it?"Are the ones that our previous study
answered to them. The question of this study is "what is the prior ship and posterity of the
architectural ideas' and concepts' sources". In order to answer the mentioned question, a
survey was conducted in which data on the ideation process of some of the professors of the
faculties of architecture of Mashhad city, Iran, were collected through a questionnaire during
two years and the report of its results is presented in this paper. In the study data collection
was conducted through some questionnaires and also interviewing the architects.
The design situations formed by the designer’s desire and the problem and the confrontation
of the designer with the design problem is the initiator of design process. Analyzing architects'
answers showed that each one has focused on one of the design elements more in facing with
the design problem and they find their primary idea from such an attention. So, the design
situation and its elements can be initially introduced as the main source of architects’
ideation. Initial analysis of the architects’ answers showed that the origin of all the ideas
provided by the architects can be followed in the design. Relying on research and related
literature review and conclusions extracted from the questionnaire, a new classification of "the
sources of development of ideas and Concepts" was achieved that published as "The
development Sources of Architectural Design Ideas (Essay on the Ideation Process of some of
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The prior ship and posterity of the architectural idea and concepts sources
the Architects, teaching at the Faculty of Architecture, Mashhad)". A deeper analysis of the
interviews, showed that different design elements were obtained dividing into factors related
to the design problem, factors related to design precedents, human factors and factors related
to design tools. Each of mentioned sources has a proportion in ideation of the studied
architects. Studying ideation process of the architects showed that they haven’t receives their
primary idea from the same source and hasn't taken the same approach in dealing with the
design problem. Such changes in ideation of an architect show the changeability of the
proportion of each source in generation primary idea for different projects. In the previous
research we had examined initial source of some architecture professors of Mashhad Faculties
of architecture using survey questionnaires. At the end in order to summarize the above
points and in order to represent a more appropriate classification in a tabular form we had
brought “sources of development of the architectural design ideas” as bellow (Figure1).
Sources of development of the architectural design ideas
Design problem
problem
Design
Design site
Subject
Design site
Design precedents
Design legislation and principles
Works’ forms
Works’ functionality
Works’ meaning and concepts
Nature
Tools
Available technological facilities
Using sketches, diagrams and Marquette’s
Design place quality
The type of design process
Human Factors
Designer
Designer’s experiences
Designer’s viewpoints and ideology
Architect’s special style
Academic power
Creativity and talent
Taste
Others
User’s viewpoints or opinions
Employer’s viewpoints or opinions
Planner and policy makers’ viewpoints
or opinions
Figure1: sources of development of the architectural design ideas
Studies have shown that all the architects have not received their primary ideas from the same
source and have not taken a consistent approach in dealing with the design problem. Such
changes in ideation of an architect, in different design situations, indicated the changeability
of proportion of the sources in generating the primary idea. So in the second phase aims to
evaluate the classified sources in the process of ideation of architects, in order to determine
each factor’s proportion in another survey questionnaire, with the same respondents.
The statistical population of this research includes 101 people who have occupied faculty post
in university in Mashhad city in Iran. After setting the number of population at 100 people as
minimum sample, 101 faculties, including 41 females, were selected to form the statistical
sample. Finally, 101 questionnaires were randomly distributed among the faculties and 50
accurate questionnaires have been analyzed.
Method, research hypothesis and measures
The study is conducted in a two years of research. In order to research we have studied the
ideation process of 100 architects (professors of architecture in Islamic Azad University of
Mashhad city and some other institutes of higher education). We should explain that the
process is done in two phases; in the first phase we have examined the results of other
researches. According to what was said, 100 information packets were collected during the
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Jurnal UMP Social Sciences and Technology Management
Vol. 3, Issue. 1,2015
study, each packet containing the documentation of answers to the questions in the
questionnaire and interviews. In the questionnaire all architects answered to seven main
questions. Then they were invited to explain the ideation process of themselves at the bottom
of questionnaire and explain what had been neglected about ideation sources. Then, the key
propositions were put together in order to extract common concepts within them.
Effective samples in this research are 101 universities faculties at architectural universities in
Mashhad city in Iran, including 60 males (58.8%) and 41 females (41.2%). Participants
completed a short demographic information form and a questionnaire about the sources of
development of the architectural design ideas. This questionnaire includes questions about
the Design problem (2 questions), Design precedents (5 questions), Human Factors (10
questions), Tools (4 questions). This questionnaire measures the proportion of sources of
development of the architectural design ideas using Likert's five-point rating scale.
In this research a survey was done to investigate architectural university faculties' viewpoints
in different architectural universities in Mashhad city in Iran to understand the proportion of
sources of development of the architectural design ideas.
Results and discussion
8%
Design problem
18%
44%
Human Factors
Design precedents
Tools
30%
Figure 2: The proportion of each factor in the development of the architectural design ideas
In this research Figure 2 indicates the frequency of responses to different choices. As seen in
Figure 2, the majority of the respondents (44%) selected "Design problem", and 30% "Human
Factors" and 18% of respondents "Design precedents" and only 8% chose "Tools" as the
sources of development of the architectural design ideas. It means that from the point of view
of the respondents, "Design problem" as equally essential for revising and refining ideas and
generating concepts. The factors related to "design problem" are divided into two general
groups of "design subject" and "site". "Site” takes into account just the features, such as
geometry, topography, etc. “design subject” includes all those things that always come to
design situation with the problem but aren’t considered in the definition of "site” (Nadimi and
Shariatrad, 2012: 9).
On the other figure (figure 3) the results of the respondents to the question about the Design
problem illustrated.
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The prior ship and posterity of the architectural idea and concepts sources
18%
44%
Human
Factors
52%
48%
Design
precedents
30%
Subject
8%
54
52
50
48
46
Design site
Design
problem
Tools
Figure 3: the frequency of responses to Design Problems' question.
As it can be seen from the Figure 3, there isn’t distinct variation between the answers about
the impressments of the two sections in architects' ideation. So we can consider both "Design
Site" and "Subject" as the main elements of "Design Problem" for choosing idea and concept
for different project. Some researchers believe that utilizing design precedents and patterns
especially in the initial phases of the design is so beneficial and increases the designer’s ability
in solving the design problem (Schon, 1983, p: 185, Gelemter & Payne, 1997; Ledewitz, 1985, p:
5). As a result of this research, from viewpoint of faculties, "Design Precedents" divided to 5
sections and "Precedents Works' Form" has the most significant role in the idea and concept
that choose for a specific project. And as it can be foreseen, the impact of "Design Principle" is
neglected (Figure4).
Design
problem
0
Tools
30%
Nature
Design
precedents
16%
10%
Precedents
Works’…
10
26%
20%
Precedents
Works’…
44%
28%
20
Human
Factors
Precedents
Works’…
18%
30
Design
legislatio…
8%
Figure 4: the frequency of responses to Design Precedents' question.
Figure 5 indicates the frequency of responses to different choices and the results of the
questionnaire about the use of categories named as "Tools" in the architects ideation process.
We notice that "Available technological facilities" is the main source to give architects enough
space to choose their ideas which most often because of lack of the building technology, many
ideas become neglected.
Human
Factors
Design
precedents
Tools
18%
12%
The type of
design
process
30%
44%
32%
Design
place
quality
18%
38%
Using
sketches,
diagrams…
8%
40
30
20
10
0
Available
technologic
al facilities
Design
problem
Figure 5: the frequency of responses to Tools' question.
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Tools
13%
16%
4%
Planner and
legislator
Design
precedents
0
17%
Employer
30%
44%
Human
Factors
40
30
20
10
User
18%
Design
problem
Designer
8%
Vol. 3, Issue. 1,2015
Figure 6: the frequency of responses to Human Factors' question.
Lawson believes that human factors influencing the ideation process include the designer, the
employer and the legislator. In the modern world we cannot ignore the role of planners in
creating different architectural and urban laws. Thus, instead of "legislator" we have used
"planners and legislators". From viewpoint of faculties, "Human "Factors" are the second
sources that all the architects insist on as a source of their ideas and concepts. What is
presented in a certain project shows the designers’ way in observation, understanding and
explaining that project and is based on his/her accepted values in life and his/her design
viewpoints (White, 2011, p: 46 - 38). The design problem doesn’t usually stem from employer’s
mind but from designer’s mind, and sometimes the designer faces an employer and in some
cases faces the employers Board. "Michael Whilford" emphasizes the importance of the role of
employers in the design process: “There is a great employer behind a great building that
spends his/her time and energy on understanding the ideas of designer (Lawson, 2005, P: 9998). So both "Designer" and "Employer" are the main source of the ideation.Based on the
results of the factor analysis; the proposed framework is presented in Table 1 with 4
dimensions and 15 factors in descending order. This model can be used to rethink about the
idea and concept sources of project. And especially it can help students in architecture design
workshops to know that from which point the design process should be started and from
where stems the basic design idea. References on inspiring nature of design expertise show
that most professionals access different types and amounts of knowledge during the process of
reinterpretation (Suwa and Tversky, 1997; Casakin and Goldschmidt, 1999; Kokotovich and
Purcell, 2000; Kavakli and Gero, 2001, 2002). It appears that these sources may not be as
helpful for novices as it is for expert designers in the development of new concepts
(Goldschmidt, 1991; Lawson, 1994; Goel, 1995; Suwa and Tversky, 1997; Verstijnem et al., 1998;
Casakin and Goldschmidt, 1999). This is probably so for several reasons. At least one
important reason is the dependence of designers on episodic knowledge rather than
theoretical knowledge to create design solutions (Visser, 1995; Lawson, 2004) but after all they
would be helpful for architectural student to practice the process of ideation.
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Table 1: descending order of measures for sources of development of the architectural design
ideas.
Dimension
Factors and variables
Design problem
- Subject
- Design site
Human Factors
- Designer
- Employer
- User
- Planner and legislators
Design precedents
- Precedents works' forms
- Nature
- Precedents works’ functionality
- Precedents works’ meaning and concepts
- Design legislation and principles
Tools
- Available technological facilities
- Using sketches, diagrams and Marquette’s
- Design place quality
- The type of design process
Conclusion
The study examines what the architectural universities faculties think about the sources of
development of the architectural design ideas. This research summarizes some of key findings
indicating a relationship of great significance between the "Design problem", "Human factors",
"Design precedents" and "Tools". The results of this study confirm previous researchers’
studies. Finally, Understanding the pros and cons of the process of designers’ ideation process
can bring a kind of knowledge and self-confidence for the students and novice designers.
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