Guest Lecture for Archi 120: Architectural Diagrams

Guest Lecture for Archi 120: Architectural Diagrams from Grant Adams on Vimeo.

Guest lecture for Architecture 120 discussing architectural diagrams and diagrammatic methods.

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Lecture notes for Guest Lecture for Archi 120: Architectural Diagrams

ARCHITECTURAL DIAGRAMS

WHAT IS A DIAGRAM?

• Explain major design idea
• Simplify design into major decisions/moves
• Provide a clear, easy to understand view of the project

LEARNING TO DIAGRAM...

• Practice, Practice, Practice! Work first in sketchbook...
  • try:
    • adding color
    • adding cut out images
    • different medium (pencil, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, etc.)

ARCHITECTURAL DIAGRAM EXAMPLES

DIAGRAMMATIC TECHNIQUES

• Create strong graphic contrast to accentuate a strong physical contrast
• Image From: www.milimet.net
• Giambattista Nolli’s Plan of Rome (1748)

DIAGRAMMATIC TECHNIQUES

• Focus on differences within the design framework, accent those with the diagram (this can be done is model as well as drawing)
• Image From: www.milimet.net
• Library Competition - Office of Metropolitan Architecture (Rem Koolhaas)

DIAGRAMMATIC TECHNIQUES

• Use arrows/flowlines/etc. to accentuate movement/ views/etc. through the drawing
• Image From: www.milimet.net
• Floating Roof House - Takaharu & Yui Tezuka
• Sendi Mediatheque - Toyo Ito
• Pantheon

STUDENT DIAGRAMS

DIAGRAMMATIC TECHNIQUES

• Use colors to accentuate/ draw out specific pieces of the design
• Image From: www.milimet.net
• Thermal Systems Diagram
• Diurnal Cycle Diagram
• Elevations with and without collage
• SFO Flight Patterns
• Human Movement Patterns, SFO
• Human Movement Patterns, SFO
• Interconnectivity Diagram
• Interconnectivity Diagram
• Structural Diagrams
• View Diagram
• Site Diagram
• Thought Diagram

MAKING A VISUAL SURVEY

PATHWAYS

• Major and Minor routes of circulation through a city (any space)
• Often documented with lines or arrows
• Cabspotting

DISTRICTS

• Districts are the component neighborhoods that make up the city
• Sometimes they are distinct, sometimes difficult to distinguish from neighboring districts
• Denoted by shade or color

EDGES

• Occur at the termination of the district
• When two districts form at an edge, they form a seam
• Often represented by stitch lines (zig-zag, etc.)

LANDMARKS

• Prominent visual features of a city
• Often seen from great distances
• Help people to orient themselves within the city
• Often denoted by triangles, the bigger = the larger the landmark

NODES

• Nodes are centers of activity
• Different from a landmark by amount of activity/movement
• Represented by dots, the larger the dot (or cluster of dots) the bigger the node