Programming, post-occupancy evaluation and the architect's financial success Learning decision - to take to the construction process. Much of the attention in design graphics has been focused on techniques for drawing our final building designs.
Context is defined in the dictionary as the "whole situation, background or
SITES AS ACTIVE NETWORKS
CONSEQUENCE TRIANGLE
Building elements not only affect each other, but also elements in context and users. Each of the three causes changes in the other two and is changed by the other two.
I t behooves us to not only know some- thing about the compositional charac-
The context includes all conditions, situations, forces and pressures that shaped the existing site before the construction of the building. The impacts that the building causes on its occupants can have environmental effects on attitudes, productivity, efficiency, self-esteem and well-being, employee turnover, learning levels, sales volume and other aspects of human behavior.
If we place these three protagonists at the corners of the triangle and draw lines representing the effects of each of them on all others and from each of them on themselves, we have shown the essential messages of the triangle of consequences. As for the effect of the building on itself, the climate system causes changes in the material and furniture due to the difference in temperature and humidity.
BEING THOROUGH
Rerouting drainage patterns so that water leaves our site in a different location can result in water damage. Solar reflection from our building can result in increased cooling loads in neighboring buildings or create traffic hazards for drivers near our site due to glare.
We must pay particular attention to the impacts of our location concepts on neighboring and surrounding properties. Inadvertent planning decisions based on incomplete site information can have negative consequences for our project's neighbors both during construction and after our project is completed and in use. All these and other situations are possible negative consequences of our projects on neighboring properties, which have legal consequences for our clients and ourselves.
There are also legal implications related to the thoroughness of contextual analysis and site design. If we hope to do a thorough contextual analysis, there are several things we need to remember about the data we have.
The issue of time must be applied to all our site information
The shadows cast by our structure can damage the neighbors landscape denying them access to the sun for solar collectors. Thorough site analysis and attention to detail when designing site usage are vital if we want to avoid negative situations and achieve positive ones.
Examples of this include deciding how many blocks outside our site to include in the analysis, whether to analyze what has created existing traffic patterns, whether to infer certain things about the neighborhood from what we see, and whether to conduct door-to-door interviews have to keep. This issue is not raised to provide an excuse for sloppy work, but to recognize that the "absolutely complete" contextual analysis does not exist and that under time pressure we must be somewhat selective about what we cover in our site research .
KINDS OF
INFORMATION
NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT Represents the immediate surroundings of the site for perhaps three to four blocks beyond the site boundary. CLIMATE Represents all relevant climatic conditions such as rainfall, snowfall, humidity and temperature changes during the months of the year.
IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN
Context, on the other hand, wants the spaces to migrate to different positions on the site in response to conditions outside the building. Our first attempts at optimal placement of functions or spaces on the site in response to contextual pressure can involve any of three approaches.
DlAG MlNG SITE
First, we need to have a reference drawing of the site to provide context for the specific site information we wish to record. There are two quite different stances we can take on recording site information over these reference drawings.
PROCESS
ISSUE IDENTIFICATION
We should think about the nature of the project, its needs, require-
This allows us to see the ebb and flow of the forces of place in concert rather than in isolation. It also allows us to feel the composition of the forces on the spot in a way that approaches reality.
COLLECTING THE DATA
Neighborhood Context
These include architectural patterns, relationships between solid and void, important buildings, sensitive situations, street lighting and the condition of buildings. The municipal planning department should be consulted regarding the existence and requirements of any special neighborhood classifications, such as "historic district." Sun and shadow patterns at different times of the year include documentation of areas and heights of buildings and landscaping, and shadow patterns at typical times of day (9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m.) during the summer and winter solstices and possibly at the equinoxes.
Size and Zoning
Zoning for our land and neighborhood can be learned from the municipal planning department or from local printers who have the area maps in the archive. The sun's azimuth (horizontal angle) and elevation (vertical angle) can be gathered from Architectural Graphic Standards, other standard references, or the local weather bureau.
Legal
If we need a more accurate record of the contours of the site, we need to carry out a formal topographical survey. In addition, we should look for larger and smaller drainage collectors in the valleys on site.
The composite or integrated approach attempts to state all the site data on
The separated or segregated approach records the site information separately
The sizes of the The reference drawings about which our dia- reference drawings depend on the complex- grams the terrain issues can occur in several of the diagrams we will make shapes and at various scales. The diagrammatic shapes placed next to the reference drawings can represent physical things, properties or states of physical.
Contextual Analysis for a New Office Building, Tallahassee, Florida
Neighborhood Context
Size and Zoning
Legal
Natural Physical Features
Man-made Features
Circulation
Utilities
Sensory
Human and Cultural
Climate
REFINEMENT AND SIMPLIFICATION If we are collecting and diagramming the
When we simplify a diagram, we are and often convey unintended messages to subtract any elements, pointers that are misleading. They obfuscate shapes, folds or relationships that get across the essence of the message by confusing the transfer of meaning between the production of visual noise. Our goal in simplification is to reduce the diagram to the minimum graphic information that still communicates the message.
This reduction helps ensure that we have a diagram that is more likely to communicate the desired information and less likely to be misinterpreted.
Simply put, graphic emphasis involves making sure that the essence of what
If we have started using a particular color to code the key points in our diagrams, we should not create confusion by moving the use of the color around from meaning to meaning. The essence of pattern is consistency, and once we have trained the eye to look for a color or tone to signal the essence of the chart's meaning, it becomes extremely confusing and annoying to have that pattern change arbitrarily. It is of value to graphically code the site factors that we feel are of particular importance or that may have significant shaping implications in design.
TITLE OF DIACRAM FAMILY
ORGANIZING THE DIAGRAMS
Redefining our information labels can often be a rich source of new insights into the site's problems and how best to address them in design. QUANTITATIVE-QUALITATIVE As designers, we often want to separate site information into 'hard data'. These are the 'givens' of the project from the perspective of the location and are not open to interpretation or conjecture.
Our knowledge of the location and this simulation of potential influences can prompt us to organize the contextual data in a hierarchical manner.
CONTWTUAL ANALY4I%
Site drainage patterns are controlled by or dependent on the site contours, as well as views from the site when the site has significant elevations. We find in this technique that some website information occurs in tandem in a series of related and interdependent diagrams while other website information has no obvious relationships and can be presented independently. We may find it beneficial to quickly try each of these organizational approaches to see which seems to best suit our project situation.
We can discover significant overlap and similarities in the site fact displays that the different approaches show us.
Each of the ways of organizing site information provides us with different
INTERPRETING THE DIAGRAMS
In a sense, the density of diagrams provides a preliminary indication of "where the action is" in a place. Density probably represents our depth of involvement with issues and our sense of the relative importance of facts about a place. We tend to spend more time dealing with the rich and potentially relevant information about the site and not too much time on questions that we don't think have much promise as the main form contributors.
At this level of interpretation, we must be alert to the fact that some areas of page information simply have more subheadings even though they may be relatively unimportant as an influence on form.
A very fruitful exercise, once the dia- grams are complete and organized, is
If our interpretation of the grids of the diagram can help us establish the beacons towards which we will work our concepts, it will have served as a key point in our progress towards the final design. The most common level of interpretation we engage in is that of individual sets of facts and site diagrams within a subject category (Climate, Legal, etc.). A summary of the site's information along with our perceptions of the actual site tells us whether the site is demanding or not.
In the interest of economy, we can locate our large opposite sized building near the edge of the site where there are utilities and parking. This can often be used for outdoor activities.
WHEN TO USE
CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Under the pressure of time we should always choose thoroughness over
OTHER CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS FORMS
In both these approaches the photo- graphs serve as graphic referents, and
Where the long elevation of a set of buildings is important, multiple photos can be combined to capture the entire elevation as a whole (similar to the approach used for the view wheel).
MODELS
MOVIES
Movies are especially appropriate for presenting kinesthetic aspects of our
TRANSPARENT OVERLAYS
INTERIOR SPACE ANALYSIS
Floor plan of the space in relation to other adjacent and nearby spaces, including those above and below our space. Capacity of the ventilation and heating and cooling system to provide what is needed for the new use of space. Locations, generators, schedules and intensities of any significant sounds near our space (indoor or outdoor sounds).
Locations, generators, schedules and intensities of any odor problems in the area surrounding our space (indoor or outdoor sources).
