What was the first thing you did when you got out of school? Did you go over your notebooks, and your projects? — Do we usually do that as newly graduates? Do we go over what we learned in architecture school?
It does happen that one ends up being overwhelmed from everything and not wanting to know anything else, but then you start a new job and all of the sudden forget everything you learned from school? Well Mathew Frederick in his book, 101 things I learned in architecture school, reminds us of the most important things we learned and to keep in mind along the way.
Sense of place
“Architecture is the thoughtful making of space.” —Louis Kahn
Architecture begins with an idea.
Good design solutions are not merely physically interesting but are driven by underlying ideas.
A parti is the central idea or concept of a building.
A parti diagram can describe massing, entrance, spatial hierarchy, site relationship, core location, interior circulation, public/private zoning, solidity/transparency, and many other concerns. The proportion of attention given to each factor varies from project to project
Draw hierarchically
When drawing in any medium, never work at a “100% level of detail” from one end of the sheet toward the other, blank end of the sheet. Instead, start with the most general elements of the composition and work gradually toward the more specific aspects of it.
A good designer isn’t afraid to throw away a good idea.
Just because an interesting idea occurs to you doesn’t mean it belongs in the building you are designing.
A dynamic composition encourages the eye to explore
Dynamic compositions are almost always asymmetrical. They can suggest activity, excitement, fun, movement, fl ow, aggression, and conflict. Less successful examples can be jarring or disorienting.
What did YOU learn from architecture school?
