History of diagramming in architecture

History and Evolution of Diagramming:
Analysing Architecture through Diagrams
“Working diagrammatically should not be confused
with simply working with diagrams”
“The procedures on architectural design, appears
to have shifted from drawing to the diagram, over
the second half of the twentieth century”
“Diagrams in the 20th century are no
longer pure geometry or structure, but rather
contained all the meanings that underline its essence”
Analytical Diagramming and Architectural Representation
ISA, Masters Digital architecture, 2019-2020

A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
C. Formal and Spatial Relationships:
D. Configuration/Parti/Concept:
E. Perceptual Conditions
F. Tectonics
G. Details
Analysing Architecture through Diagrams:

A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
F. Tectonics
G. Details
A.3. Personal, social and public
A.2. Servant vs. Served Space
A.1. Circulation Space (Ambulatory) vs.
Programmed Space (Dwelling)

Coop Housing at River Spreefeld / Carpaneto
Architekten + Fatkoehl Architekten +
BARarchitekten, 2013
Diagram used to indicate the larger context of
the design.
Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth Texas,
Louis Kahn, 1972
Architect’s Original drawing
Diagram: Analysis of the architects work done to
represent main and service space split.
Analytical Diagramming & Architectural Representation
MODA architects, Canada, Bel-aire
single family residence – 2019
world architecture festival finalist
Diagram used to indicate a process
of design and design decisions.

1970
14th century
Renaissance
Architecture
Backlash to Modernism
– Post Modern
Architecture
Its mission: to harness its location’s
unique potential to create a socially
just, economically stable, and
environmentally responsible urban
building block.
Berlin Wall fell
Communism
Completely modern in it's revivalist
detail and lack of ornament, the hints
of Roman architecture include the
grand arches and vaults.
1900s
Modern
architecture
1989
1945
Second world war
ended
1960
Severe Shortage of
housing
Perhaps one of the most dynamic
aspects of blurring the individual
programs of utility, circulation and
gallery together is how this new
typology facilitates the distribution of
various programmatic requirements
over multiple datums..

B.5. Geometry
A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
F. Tectonics
G. Details
B.1. Circulation
B.2. Structural
B.4. Proportioning Systems
B.3. Ordering System: Grid

C.1. Alignment
C.5. Position
C.6. Scale
A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
F. Tectonics
G. Details
C.7. Solid to void/Figure-
Ground
C.2. Axiality
C.3. Boundary
C.8. Symmetry
C.4. Hierarchy
C.7. Solid to void/Figure-
Ground

A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
F. Tectonics
G. Details
Elevation, Bianchi Residence by Mario Botta,
from Precedents in Architecture
Parti, Bianchi Residence by Mario Botta,
from Precedents in Architecture
Plan, Liangzhu, Culture Museum by David
Chipperfield from Precedents in Architecture
Parti, Liangzhu, Culture Museum by David
Chipperfield from Precedents in Architecture

A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
F. Tectonics
G. Details
E.4. Surface characteristics (color, texture,
etc.)
E.2. Light interaction
E.3. Sequence
E.5. View framing
E.1. Enclosure and volume definition

A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
F. Tectonics
G. Details
Building exterior assembly diagrams
LA Unified School District, Sustainable School
Building Design, 2012

A. Spatial Zones:
B. Systems:
F. Tectonics
G. Details
Column and Cornice Details

Villa Savoy – Le Corbusier,
Poissy, France, 1929.

Villa Savoy – Le Corbusier,
Le Corbusier made before and after its completion

By 1926, Corbusier had devised his Five Points of Architecture, which he viewed as a universal system that
could be applied to any architectural site. The system demanded pilotis (slender columns) to raise the
building off the ground and allow air to circulate beneath; roof terraces, to bring nature into an urban
setting; a free plan that allowed interior space to be distributed at will; a free façade whose smooth plane
could be used for formal experimentation; and ribbon windows, which let in light but also reinforced the
planarity of the wall.
“The house should be a machine for living in”

Formal and Spatial
Relationships:
Hierarchy
Formal and Spatial
Relationships:
Solid to Void
Formal and Spatial
Relationships:
Symmetry
Configuration/
Parti/Concept:
Configuration/
Parti/Concept:
Source: Clark, R. H.; Pause, M., Precedents in Architecture,
Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1985. p.56-57

Perceptual Conditions:
Light
Systems: StructuresSystems : Geometry Systems : Circulation Proportioning Systems
Source: Clark, R. H.; Pause, M., Precedents in Architecture,
Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1985. p.56-57

Seattle Public Library, Rem Koolhaas
Seattle, USA, 2004.

A. Spatial Zones:
A.3. Personal, social
and publicA.2. Servant vs. Served
Space
A.1. Circulation Space
(Ambulatory) vs. Programmed
Space (Dwelling)

Perceptual Conditions E.2. Light interaction E.1. Enclosure and volume definition

REM Koolhaas for Seattle Public Library uses:
Diagram as a information
Sections as infographics
Photomontages
Collages
Layers of Information
Statistical and numeric data
Le Corbusier for Villa Savoy uses:
Diagram as process
Diagram as language
Sections as relationships
Sketches as factors of design
Drawings as visuals

• http://www.cccarchitecture.org/analyzing-architecture-through-diagrams
• https://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/architecture/articles/2019/february/04/le-corbusiers-grand-designs-
villa-savoye/
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291355754_THE_DIAGRAM_PROCESS_METHOD_THE_DESI
GN_OF_ARCHITECTURAL_FORM_BY_PETER_EISENMAN_AND_REM_KOOLHAAS
• https://www.archdaily.com/11651/seattle-central-library-oma-lmn/572187c5e58ece53e100000d-
seattle-central-library-oma-lmn-books?next_project=no
• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-
ap/a/corbusier-savoye

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