STRUCTUREDoing it right, and how you’d know

United States Of America by Joao Santos from the Noun Project

Photo from Library of Congress Detroit Publishing Collection, Call Number LC-D4-3320

Photo from Library of Congress Detroit Publishing Collection, Call Number LC-D4-3320

DESIGN IS THE
RENDERING
OF INTENT
Jared Spool

Steelcase Corporate Development Center in Gaines Township, Michigan Photo by Wikipedia contributor “Trance88”
1989
$111,000,000

Steelcase Corporate Development Center in Gaines Township, Michigan Photo by Dan Klyn
2014
$7,500,000

With kind permission of John Auchter, Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, July 27, 2009

Christian Norberg-Shulz
PLACES
REPRESENT
ARCHITECTURE’S
SHARE IN
TRUTH

“ There needs to be a place…
one place: one complete thought
around music… “ Trent Reznor

A PLACE
MADE OF
INFORMATION

Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut – Ronchamp by Le Corbusier. Photo by Jopa Elleul
1955

“Sculptured House” by Charles Deaton, photo credit unknown, Wikimedia Commons
1963

“Sleeper” by Woody Allen © United Artists 1973A scene from the film “Sleeper” by Woody Allen © United Artists 1973

1963
“Sculptured House” by Charles Deaton, photos by user “digijeff” on Flickr
I WANTED THE SHAPE OF IT
TO SING AN UNENCUMBERED SONG

1962

1962
West elevation blueprint drawing of TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York City by Eero Saaranen
ALWAYS DESIGN A THING
BY CONSIDERING IT
IN ITS NEXT LARGER CONTEXT
Eliel Saaranen

Vintage postcard depicting the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York City by Eero Saaranen
1962

https://flic.kr/p/awoXAa https://flic.kr/p/awoXAa
19631962

1972
WHAT IS GOOD
STRUCTURE?Nakagin Capsule Tower by Kisho Kurokawa. Photograph by pictureTYO on Flickr

Nakagin Capsule Tower renderings from SciArcTokyo
TACTICS

Nakagin Capsule Tower renderings from SciArcTokyo
STRATEGY

Richard Saul Wurman Photograph by Melissa Mahoney
THERE IS NO
RIGHT WAY
Richard Saul Wurman

Richard Saul Wurman Photograph by Melissa Mahoney
Richard Saul Wurman

1894
Santler Dog Cart, the earliest British-made automobile. Photograph by Martin Godwin for The Guardian.

1899
Horsey Horseless, early American-made automobile. Illustration from TIME magazine online,
http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1657686,00.html

1397
Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto. Photo from California State University at Fullerton
http://nsm.fullerton.edu/usuzcpse/extensions/rokgallery/44-kinkakuji-temple-kyoto

607
Horyu Gakumonji in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

TOWARD
GOOD
STRUCTURE
St. Francis de Sales Church in Muskegon, Michigan by Marcel Breuer. Photo by Dan Klyn

MAPPED INTENTIONS
An “Elephant Path” from the back cover of Jan-Dirk van der Burg’s book Olifantenpaadjes
http://www.amazon.com/Desire-Lines-Olifantenpaadjes-Jan-Dirk-Burg/dp/908176070X

MAPPED INTENTIONS
Desire Lines in Detriot by Sweet Juniper
http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2009/06/streets-with-no-name.html

Alfred Korzybski
THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY,
BUT IF CORRECT, IT HAS A SIMILAR STRUCTURE
WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR ITS USEFULNESS

BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT

PERFORMANCE CONTINUUM

Service Acquire

EITHER / OR

YET

Acquire Service
Optimize Innovate
Now Future
Engagement Conversion

Service
TRUTH
INTENTION

Service Acquire

INTENT
STRUCTURE

Photo of Richard Saul Wurman for LOOK Magazine by Joel Baldwin
1971
Richard Saul Wurman
THE CLASSIC,
PERVASIVE
SEDUCTION TO
DESIGNERS HAS BEEN
TO FIND A SOLUTION
INSTEAD OF THE
TRUTH

MAPPED INTENTIONS

Photo of Zen Garden at the Richard and Hellen DeVos Japanese Garden by Dan Klyn
ARRANGE FOR MEANING

1989
From a special issue of Design Quarterly titled Hats, by Richard Saul Wurman

1989
From the first edition of Information Anxiety, by Richard Saul Wurman

CHANGE IN ARRANGEMENT
CHANGE IN MEANING

A captivating experience.
News brings the beautiful editorial layouts
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interactive and engaging stories, rich with
photo galleries, videos, and animation.
Content is optimized for both iPhone and
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using.
CHANGED ARRANGEMENT =
CHANGED EXPERIENCE

“The Structural Integrity of Meaning Across Contexts”
- Jorge Arango

1972
Analysis of all of the words on advertising billboard signs along the Las Vegas “strip” in 1969, in Learning From Las Vegas ,
Venturi, Scott Brown and Izenour, Published by MIT Press, Cambridge

STRUCTURE
INTENT
MEANING

DUMB MODELS
Promotional image of Derek Zoolander, played by Ben Stiller from the 2001 Paramount Pictures film Zoolander

2001

RHETORICAL > PICTORIAL

shopping shopping
quoting
rentals
quoting
requesting
customrentals
us
us
custom
HOBBS MODELS

150X/DAY
40HRS/MO
Photo by David Peter Simon

ENT
MEANING
STRUCTURE

MAP
ARRANGE
MODEL
Desk at The Glass House, by Philip Johnson in New Canaan, Connecticut USA. Photo by Dan Klyn

Steelcase Corporate Development Center in Gaines Township, Michigan Photo by Wikipedia contributor “Trance88”
1989

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kakeda/3956120566/in/photostream/
1989

Photo from Library of Congress Detroit Publishing Collection, Call Number LC-D4-3320
THANK
@undrstndng
http://understandinggroup.com