The document discusses various architectural concepts including analogies, metaphors, essences, and programmatic concepts. It provides examples of each concept type, such as Face House in Kyoto using an analogy of a face, and the Sydney Opera House using metaphors of a sailing ship, hat, or pencil sketch. Essences focus on distilling information down to the major aspects or "heart of the matter". Programmatic concepts look at stated requirements.

1. How To start
Architectural
Concepts
Aysheh AL-Shdaifat

2. Zoning
Design
Case study
Bubble
Diagrams
Program
Relationships
Solutions
Notions
Design Strategy
Initial zoning design
Development zoning
design
Concept
layer
Conceptual
Diagram
Aysheh ALShdaifat
Result of site analysis
Conclusion of case study

3. NEED
program
FORM and
SPACE
CONTEXT
site
Exterior form
Interior space
Solution
Zoning Design
Aysheh ALShdaifat

4. NEED
program
FORM and
SPACE
CONTEXT
site
Exterior form
Interior space
• Shape and Dimensions
• Roads and Access
• Surroundings and View
• Topography and Soil SITE
• Temperature
• Sun
• Wind CLIMATE
• Humidity
• Sand
• Height
• Forms
• Colours BUILDING
• Structure
• Technical
CONTEXT

5. NEED
program
FORM and
SPACE
CONTEXT
site
Exterior form
Interior space
Aysheh ALShdaifat
•Rhythem
•Unity
•Proportion
•Asymmetry
•Symmetry PRINCIPLES
•Balance
•Variety
• Shapes
• Volumes
• Size
• Scale
• Color
• Texture
• Material
ELEMENTS
FORM and
SPACE

6. NEED
program
FORM and
SPACE
CONTEXT
site
Exterior form
Interior space
Aysheh ALShdaifat
FUNCTIONS
• Gender
• Number
• Activities
• Socio-Cultural
• Areas
• Spaces
• Relationships
• Equipment
USER
• Vision
• Organization
• Budget
• Schedule
CLIENT
NEED

7. NEED
program
FORM and
SPACE
CONTEXT
site
Exterior form
Interior space
Solutions CONCEPT
Aysheh ALShdaifat

8. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Concept Generating
A simple definition of a concept suggests that concepts are ideas that
Integrate various elements into a whole, These elements can be ideas,
notions, thoughts, and observations.
A concept, on the other hand, implies appropriateness; it supports the
main intentions and goals of a project and respects each project’s unique
characteristics and restrictions.
• Analogies
• Metaphors
• Essences
• Programmatic concepts
• Ideals
5 Types of concepts
What are the significant
conditions affecting the
design of the building?
What are the general
directions the design
should take?

9. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Types of Concepts
• Analogies
looking at other things
• Metaphors
looking at abstractions
• Essences
looking beyond the
programmatic needs
• Programmatic concepts
looking at the stated
requirements
• Ideals
looking at universal values
Reference
Introduction to Architecture by James C. Snyder
Solution finding
Don't forget It's all about

10. Aysheh ALShdaifat
1. Analogies
a similarity between like features of two things, on which a
comparison may be based. Analogy is a cognitive process of
transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or
source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic
expression corresponding to such a process.
A comparison based on such similarity.
a. superficial analogy: to take the same shape of
something without any change. (direct)
b. structural analogy: to make a structure of building
from a shape or something.
c. holistic analogy: combination of both.
An analogy is more like a simile

11. Aysheh ALShdaifat
2. Metaphors
A metaphor is more like an allegory.
A metaphor is an implicit simile, while analogy is an explicit one.
Put differently, a metaphor is literally false, while an analogy is
literally true.
Metaphors need a bit more imagination to interpret, while
analogies are readily apparent.
Example of difference between metaphor and analogy
"My cat is affectionate" is an analogy. You can literally see the
cat shows behavior deemed affectionate. The comparison is
straightforward, between the cat's behavior and our idea of what
"affectionate" looks like.
"My cat is a rock" is a metaphor. You can see literally the cat
isn't a rock. The comparison isn't straight forward and asks us to
imagine more so what it means to for the cat to be a "rock".
"My cat is an affectionate rock" is both, an analogy and a
metaphor. "Affectionate" is apparent, while "rock" isn't.

12. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Metaphor or Analogy
Metaphors and analogies map from a source domain to a target domain.

13. Relationship between analogy and metaphor
Metaphor or Analogy
Reference:
J. Hey, j. Linsey, a. M. Agogino, k. L. WOOD, analogies and metaphors
in creative design, J. Engng ed. Vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 283 - 294, 2008.

14. The process of transformation of intangible or abstract aspects into physical
or visual image is known as the process of “Metaphoric Process”. The most
successful metaphoric process is probably Notre Dame du Haute - Ron
champ Chapel, built by Le Corbusier in France in 1955. The architectural
form of the chapel begins the idea of a ship, but the viewers could interpret it
in many different ways such as a crab, a hat or a bird.
Notre Dame du Haute -
Ron champ Chapel, by Le
Corbusier, France, 1955
Supplicating hands A sailing ship
Bird Hat
Metaphor Example Notre Dame

15. Metaphor Example The Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House, by Jorn Utzon, 1957 is another remarkable
example, which expresses extraordinary popular metaphors. The building is
characterized by its organic shape, and abstracted unadorned surface. In fact,
this building demonstrated how architecture can add and integrate to the
environment as well as extending its metaphorical architecture to future
generations.
The Sydney Opera House, by
Jorn Utzon, 1957
Painting by Brett
Sailing ship
Pencil sketch by Julie
Duell, 2007

16. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Metaphor Example The Milwaukee Art Museum
Another expressive example to metaphor in architecture is the Milwaukee Art Museum,
Wisconsin, designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. This sculptural building
featured a cathedral-like space, a vaulted glass ceiling, a moveable sunscreen with a wingspan
that unfolds and folds twice daily. The museum is rich with metaphors and was interpreted as
“ships and birds” that move up and down in the lakefront site.

17. Another impressive piece of architecture is the Bahia temple at New Delhi,
built by Fariborz Sahbathe in 1986. The structure of the building is made of
reinforced concrete shells, which metaphorically could be perceived as the
petals of a flower.
Metaphor Example Bahia temple at New Delhi
Baha’i Lotus Temple, built by Fariborz Sahba in New Delhi, India, 1986
Lotus Flower
Reference:
Metaphor: an Aspect of Postmodern Architecture,
Abdel-moniem El-Shorbagy, 2011
Aysheh ALShdaifat

18. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Analogy Example Face House
Face House in Kyoto, Japan by Kazumasa Yamashita.
Face House - the client is a graphic designer
‘The face was emphasized so that we couldn't see anything
else ‘’(Jencks, 1993,p.183(.
A joke applied to the very unjokey box-like form of the whole
Yamashita’s ‘I tried to find a solution by employing a simple
and economic box structure [reinforced concrete], adding
small but effective and functional accessories to the facade’

19. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Analogy (between Two building) james c.snyder
Until the rise of the modern movement in the first half of the twentieth century, it was
assumed by clients and architects alike that all the great architecture of the world had
already been built. The task of the architect was to figure out which previous building
was the appropriate model for the new building being designed. At one point the initial
assumption was that Gothic was the appropriate model for churches, colleges, and
universities; Greek Doric was the appropriate model for banks.
Some analogies seem to turn up more than others. A recent example is Diamond
and Meyers' use of both a village street and the Galleria as an analogy for the
design of a building for the University of Alberta in Edmonton that combines
a student union with married students’ housing. The apartments are located along
the interior street with a curved dome and delighting similar to the Galleria in
Milan.
In developing this project, the architects were concerned with the basic validity
and how to develop and carry out the analogy. An example of one refinement of
the original analogy is in the use of panel windows that open onto the street. The
architects noticed that the perspective view down the street in an early
version of the design did not match the vitality and colourfulness.
Reference
Introduction to Architecture by James C. Snyder

20. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Housing Union Building, Alberta 1969-1971 The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II,
designed in 1861 and built by
architect Giuseppe Mengoni
between 1865 and 1867

21. Aysheh ALShdaifat
A statement of the essence of something can also be the result of
discovering and identifying the roots of an issue.
Programming requires abstracting ( distilling( to the essence to
bring out only the major aspects of information.
3. Essences
Architects are taught to bring order out of chaos, to establish an order
of importance, to get to the heart of the matter.
Abstracting (distilling( to the essence must be an essential talent of
the programmer. There must be a filtering process that brings out
only the major aspects of information.
The major aspects

22. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Focus on the heart of the matter, one should distill the
information reduction down to the essence; however, there is
always the danger of oversimplification. In the search for
the problem (programming( and the search for the solution
(design(, both kinds of thinking have their place. The trick is
to decide when one should take precedence over the other.
‘One reason for limiting one thought, one fact per card, is to be
able to reduce the number of cards without losing something
important.’’
- Steve Parshall
There is need to amplify in order to view the whole problem,
but there is also need to abstract.
You amplify and then narrow down; you seek the
ramifications of the information gathered, and then turn
around to determine the bare implication. It’s a continual
process. You must be able to see the trees and the forest—
not both at once but consecutively, from two different points
of view.

23. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Essence Example Essence Skyscraper*
The major aspects
User
Activities
* Conceptual high-rise containing 11 landscapes wins eVolo Skyscraper Competition
Architects vision for a skyscraper containing swamps, mountains,
glaciers and a jungle.
Their aim was to bring the natural landscape into the everyday
lives of city dwellers, and create opportunities for adventure.
CLIENT
Vision
Need
CLIENT Vision:
Focos on the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural
world, the skyscraper and the community, and the skyscraper and
the city.

24. Aysheh ALShdaifat
"The main goal of this project is to position non-architectural
phenomena in an urban fabric," they said, "an inspiration rooted
in nature allowed to form a representation of external worlds in
the shape of a vertical structure."
"Away from everyday routines, in a dense city centre, a secret
garden that combines architecture and nature is born."
Essence Example Essence Skyscraper*

25. Aysheh ALShdaifat
The designers, collectively known as BOMP, proposed a towering
structure containing eleven different kinds of natural landscape,
from rivers and waterfalls to deserts, grasslands and caves.

26. Aysheh ALShdaifat

27. Aysheh ALShdaifat

28. Aysheh ALShdaifat
4. Programmatic concepts
Not all concept capture the essence of a project, nor do they all
symbolize (analogy, metaphor( the function of all the activities in a
building.
The difference between programmatic concepts and design
concepts.
Programmatic concepts refer to abstract ideas intended mainly as
functional solutions to clients’ performance problems
without regard to the physical response.
On the other hand, design concepts refer to concrete ideas
intended as physical solutions to clients’ architectural problems,
this being the physical response. The key to comprehension is that
programmatic concepts relate to performance problems and
design concepts relate to architectural problems.

29. Aysheh ALShdaifat
Develop abstract ideas that are functional solutions to problems.
A programmatic concept is a performance requirement related to
methods of solving a problem or satisfying a need.
Programmatic concepts answer questions that LEAD to design.
It’s important to search for and find the whole problem.
To accomplish this, the problem must be identified in terms of
Function, Form, Economy, and Time.
Programmatic concepts

30. There should be a minimum of four statements concerning the
four major considerations, components of the whole problem:
Function, Form, Economy, and Time.
Typically, they cover the functional program, the site, the
budget, and the implications of time. Rarely should there be
more than ten statements.
Programmatic concepts
Function
Since the emphasis must be placed on pedestrian movement
in the cadet zone and in the family housing/community
service centre, the master plan must provide for the
separation of pedestrian movement and vehicular traffic.
Military Academy, Master PlanProgrammatic concepts Exemple
Reference
Problem Seeking: An Architectural Programming Primer
by William M. Pena, Steven A. Parshall

31. Economy
Since the Academy will be a military showcase, the quality of
design and construction must be of a high level.
Form
Since the cadet zone must locate facilities within a 5-to-6-
minute walking distance, the master plan must respond with
the appropriate density.
Since the area is barren and austere, the master plan should
create green planted areas for the psychological effect.
Since the projected image of the academic campus must
reflect the military values of strength, order, and discipline,
the master plan should respond to this image.
Time
Since the Academy may grow even beyond the two planned
phases, the master plan must allow an open-ended
framework for expansion.

32. Aysheh ALShdaifat
In contrast to the previous categories of concepts, which
suggest that the architect look inside the problem or at a
similar problem to discover appropriate concepts, ideal
concepts are those that architects bring to the problem.
If architects bring the right concept to the project, they are
praised for their genius. If their choice is inappropriate, it
becomes a preconception and their basic competence is
questioned. Ideal concepts represent the highest aspirations
and goals of the architect.
5. Ideals

33. The Structure
of Vagueness
Soap Bubbles
Wool and water
Rubberand Lacquer
Aysheh ALshdaifat
Ideals concept Exemple

34. Soap Bubbles1
Otto Taking inspiration from nature and the Form finding processes found
there.
Frei Otto Experimenting with Soap Bubbles:
otto’s ways to use the least amount of materials and energy to enclose
spaces.
Frei Otto’s Experiment Models - Soap Film - 2011

35. Frei Otto developed a method using soap films to work out the shape and
form for tensile structures. The forms derived from soap films were
extremely efficient and lightweight.

36. Experiment Models - Soap Film
Soap bubble experiment for the
form-finding of minimal surfaces
Olympic Park of Munich 1968 - 1972
soap film will spread naturally
between them to offer the
smallest achievable surface area
Natural structures are optimized,
having maximum strength for
minimum materials

37. Conceptual Model
Olympic Park of Munich

38. Olympic Park of Munich

39. Olympic Park of Munich

40. Frei Otto and Bodo Rasch. Finding Form (1995): 69.
Otto wool’s system contains three steps:
•mapping all the targets of the system on a board.
•increasing the length of the wool thread by 8%
(The figure of 8% is generalized: this amount of
detouring need not be averaged down to a single
figure for the whole and can be differentiated
throughout the system) .
•dipping the whole system in water and merging
the holes.
2 Wool and water

42. Lars Spuybroek who is a full
Professor and the Ventulett Distinguished
Chair in Architectural Design at Georgia
Tech in Atlanta.
Since the early 1990s Lars Spuybroek has been researching
the relationship between architecture and media, and often
more specifically the relationship between architecture and
computing.
3 Rubber and Lacquer

43. NOX is a company that believes in art and
architecture as a combined element-They are against
minimalism, traditionalism and materialism. They
believe that buildings should be things of beauty.
NOX is the most important digital
architecture studio in Europe.

44. Lars claims that “All behavior is material, all structure is material”.
How to reach an optimal architecture from the scale of material to
structure and then the whole building?
If we use other loose, weak and flexible elements and materials in
Frei Otto’s system, would the result be the same?
Lars merged the two Otto's experiments in
One.

45. The rubber and lacquer behave
exactly like wool and water in a
similar arrangement .
Soft office Design processes.
2000

46. In NOX methodology ,
it is deliberately unclear what is
floor (action), column(construction)
and wall (perception).

50. The internal layout is derived from the technique
for lacquer, which, like a ‘Swiss cheese” with
innumerable bubbles, joins the horizontal with
the vertical by means of its filaments stretching
from floor to ceiling, thereby creating perfect
continuity. While the technique for lacquer
determines the distribution of the spaces, the
wet wool technique determines the building’s
roof. The various models then developed were
part of a complex process of modeling the form,
leading to the overall coherence of the whole.

56. End