Form follows concept : generation of architectural concepts

Abstract

"The Greek words 'idea' and 'eidos ', virtually synonymous, and etymologically linked with Latin words .'forma 'and 'vision', may originally have meant 'visible form'. "In all things not generated by chance, the form must be the end of any generation" which implies that the agent of this generation already has in itself some analogy or resemblance with this form and thus the likeness of a house pre-exists in the mind of the builder. And this may be called the idea of the house, since the builder intended to build his house like the form conceived in his mind " The notion of 'pre-exist house in mind' is synonymous with the modern use of the term 'concept of the house'. The term 'concept' was distinguished from the ambiguous term 'idea', perhaps partly because ideas suggest images, a visual form. To have a concept of anything is to be able to distinguish it from other things, or be able in some way to think or reason about it without images. To have an "idea of a house" is to have a visual correspondence resembling to the end generation of form, while to have a 'concept' of a house is to have collective referential characteristics which make a "concept house" and not necessarily a visual idea. A Concept can be expressed in the form of text, a mental image, as a symbol or merely a gesture. The analogy or resemblance in this case does not necessarily imply a visual image but it could only be a conceptual meaning. Today architectural practice inevitably embraces the importance of concepts in projects and assimilates concepts and ideas outside architecture to expand the discipline of architecture. Louis Kahn claims that architecture starts with concept. In order to understand the meaning of 'concept in architecture' this dissertation studies the system of 'concepts' in language where the term was originated to give a more comprehensive understanding of 'concept in architecture'. The dissertation also studies various methodologies of how concepts in architecture are generated together with various well know creative techniques such as brainstorming, lateral thinking, TRIZ and conceptual synthesis. Having studied these creative techniques and design methodologies, this dissertation proposes a graphical way of observing movement patterns in creative thinking as a tool for architects and designers to reflect on their design approaches rather than thinking only about the design problem to be solved. This proposed tool gives control and guidance to architects to generate concepts and ideas in architecture.