At the end of Design 7...

                                                            

When a problem is properly stated, in our epoch, it inevitably finds its solution.

– Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 1923

If programming is problem seeking, the design is problem solving.

- William Pena, Problem Seeking, 1973

Deep Planning is architecture at its least autonomous; the information at its basis must be gleaned from other fields of expertise, the goal is not a design proposal but the visualization of a development policy.

– UNStudio, UNFold, 2002

Pre-Design can be very briefly defined as the setting of project parameters. What are the parameters and pieces of information that should influence the development of a project? Pre-Design seeks to uncover these facts and factors, slowly giving them form and meaning in the making of architecture.

One component of pre-design can be defined as site analysis and selection. Site analysis will include many things, such as climate-related analyses, zoning considerations, and socio-cultural value to the constituents involved.  It is not enough to simply select a site, the site must be understood on historical, environmental, and spatial-formal levels. It must be researched in terms viability to the proposed program. Programming, another component of pre-design, is as much about the relationship of one space to another as it is about the square footage. Programming should research time and user based programming scenarios, not just singular, linear relationships. Programming includes the identification and design of the necessary circulation, and the possibility for hybrid uses of space that change daily or annually.

The relationship between all these factors is not to be understood as linear. Many of you will begin with a site, others with program, and others with something altogether different. Pre-design is ultimately about generating and investigating alternatives based on the analysis. Alternatives should be described in a comparative and evaluative way, so that it is easy to understand strengths and weaknesses of each alternative. Alternate sites should be evaluated for viability, and alternate program.

Pre-design: the ability to prepare a comprehensive program for an architectural project, such as preparing an assessment of client and user needs, an inventory of space and equipment requirements, an analysis of site conditions (including existing buildings), a review of the relevant laws and standards and assessment of their implications for the project, and a definition of site selection and design assessment criteria.

– NAAB Pre-design Criteria, 2010

Requirements

At the end of Design 7, you should have a set of diagrams, clearly labeled according to the topics listed below, that are part of your final presentation and booklet. They must clearly articulate the following:

- Site analysis: Climate, location, natural and man-made systems, historical development, zoning parameters, and the socio-economic and political forces that influenced them.

- Project constituents: Identify user groups, their interactions, and their desired programs. Create a matrix (or similar type) of user relationship diagram that can begin to show alternatives for programming.

- Programming: Initial diagrams will show alternative spatial relationships between functions, while more developed programs will specifically define scale and proportion of these program pieces.

- Precedent: show analysis (not just scanned images) that describe how you extracted critical research information from your precedents.

For each topic above, collect pertinent data and spatial information, and use it to generate alternatives comparatively evaluate each. As part of the comparative evaluation, list the pros and cons of each alternative as related to your established criteria. Data or references used to quantify the analysis must be cited. If you are sizing a theater according to guidelines in Graphic Standards, cite it. If you are addressing a certain group in a population based on census data, cite that source.

Important: Simply regurgitating images from google maps or climate data websites will not meet the requirements of site analysis, in the same way that a simple list of program square footage with boxes of area is not enough to satisfy programming requirements. Pre-design drawings, diagrams, and models synthesize data collected and alternatives tested into your own graphic language.

The images included in a powerpoint file at the following location are examples of documentation that would satisfy the Pre-Design requirement: http://iris.nyit.edu/~maltwick/THESIS/predesign.ppt. Your professor will refine the above list of requirements with you to synchronize it with the requirements of the studio.