The Importance of Diagrams
We’re currently in schematic design on a new house and, being knee deep in conceptual thinking, we thought it’d be a good time to get some diagrams up on the BUILDblog. We find that diagramming is critical to the design process for several reasons:
1. FROM CHAOS TO CLARITY: The information gathering stage on most projects produces a substantial amount of data. City & state codes, covenants, site parameters, and all that other good stuff… it all adds up. Good diagrams turn chaos into clarity. And clear diagrams allow a client to get the gist of a project’s requirements without being dragged through the mind-numbing boredom of the City of [fill in the blank] Amendments to the International Building Code. Everybody wins.
On the image below, the first diagram boils-down all the site information into what matters most for the site planning. The second diagram describes the observations made on site by ourselves the clients. The third diagram takes all of that information and translates it into site strategies. Running along the column on the right is a narrative describing the most important attributes the design should acheive. This “Ordering Mechanisms” sheet is the go-to sheet for the basic DNA of the project parameters.
2. ROADMAP: As the process of design becomes more comprehensive, the amount of information can become overwhelming. The initial diagrams are always a good reference point –a good reminder of the most important aspects on a project. The diagrams act like a roadmap; at any point in the process, the “Ordering Mechanisms” sheet can be referenced to get back on the target path.
3. CLIENTS ARE NOT MIND-READERS: The process of design is intricate and multifaceted. Along the way, architects make a lot of decisions in their own heads; decisions that are probably to the benefit to the project, but the path of design still needs to be described and communicated to a client.
The diagrams below take the information from the “Ordering Mechanisms” series above and apply those parameters to physical volume, relationships of spaces and organization of functions. The diagrams describe advantages and disadvantages of each scheme; they also explain why some options have been eighty-sixed along the way. Just because a design idea seems obvious to the architect, doesn’t mean that it’s apparent to someone who hasn’t had their head in the building code all day. The diagram spells it all out.
4. CLIFF NOTES FOR ARCHITECTURE: We typically review diagrams (like the ones above) during design meetings with clients. It’s a lot of information to cover in a small amount of time and the physical prints provide a reminder of the discussion. Later, once the client(s) has had a drink or two after all that architectural jargon, the printed diagrams serve as good notes from the meeting. Clients can also absorb the data at a more leisurely pace.
5. PROMOTION: diagrams allow an architect to promote their method of thinking. It’s challenging to try and verbalize the process that an architectural project goes through, especially years after the project has been completed. Solid diagrams can be printed, exhibited, emailed and posted to blogs. Now more than ever, in the digital information age, diagrams have the ability to be infectious.
RESOURCES: If you like what you see, here’s a few sources we look to for smoking hot diagram techniques:
Books by Mutabor: Lingua Universalis & Lingua Grafica
Nicholas Felton and his annual reports
The New York Times graphics department
There’s also some previous BUILDblog posts that cover diagramming here and here.
Cheers from team BUILD and have an extraordinary weekend.
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By Janvin, February 4, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
First time poster and recent follower to your guys’ blog and it’s a fantastic resource you guys have here! I’m a new member of a young and talented design studio (www.architrixstudio.com) up here in Vancouver and we’ve done some interesting projects to date and are looking to design more interesting and possibly modern residences here, despite the challenging City of Vancouver building by-laws. Keep up the great work down there!
J.
By Nicholas Williams, February 5, 2011 @ 7:28 am
one of the BEST!! firms in the world for graphics and communicating the many different evolutions of a particular design is BIG (Bjark Ingels Group)….take a look at this lecture by him at TED in London (and he’s only like 35!)
http://www.ted.com/talks/bjarke_ingels_3_warp_speed_architecture_tales.html
every project on their website is a graphic adventure in its own!…they show you how they came to the final design and the many variations (or “lovechildren”)…very inspiring stuff. I think this is the way architects need to work, this way architects are more understood by regular folks and hiring an architect is not just some pie in the sky dream for most people.
By Nicholas Williams, February 5, 2011 @ 7:30 am
you can bet he’s got some professional animators working for his firm!!…and some supercomputers to render all those flythroughs.
By Gus, February 5, 2011 @ 9:36 am
Good looking presentation guys. I’d be very excited if that were my pad coming together.
By Samuel, February 5, 2011 @ 2:07 pm
I appreciate the rigor and rational approach. I feel like many times architects enter the realm of amateur philosophers or dreamy artists. The diagramming approach makes much more sense for buildings in this century. I imagine it adds to your initial workload, but must save much energy in the course of the overall project.
By Duncan Bates, February 7, 2011 @ 10:11 am
Great article guys. I had the good fortune of doing an internship with Bruce Mau Design where diagramming is part of the culture. Good diagrams are an art in and of themselves, creating a graphically compelling way to disseminate information is a very difficult challenge and architects tend to plug them full of too much information without consideration for legibility. These are great, keep up the good work
By Lee Calisti, February 15, 2011 @ 7:52 pm
This happens to be really timely for me. I teach architecture students and we were just discussing the importance of this concept. We can all learn from it, thanks.
By ForzaRP, August 25, 2011 @ 9:54 pm
This is absolutely excellent. You’ve given some amazing best practices here. There is another great series on how you can pay greater attention to your diagrams so that you can offer data more effectively. The good stuff is here – http://creately.com/blog/diagrams/5-ways-how-shapes-contribute-to-exceptional-diagramming/