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THE

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PROCESS OF

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DESIGN

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FOR COMMUNITIES I. NATURE OF BUILDING IN GENERAL

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WITH AN II. ESSENTIAL DATA NEEDED IN PLANNING AND

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U N D E R S TA N D I N G O F DESIGNING OF BUILDINGS
S I TE D E V E LO PME NT III. NATURE OF THE DATA, AND THEIR EFFECTS UPON

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DESIGN
AND PLANNING

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PREPARED BY:

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Kathleen Kaye Menorias

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Hazel May Estrella

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Stephen Mark Dalisay
 THE
PROCESS OF
DESIGN FOR
COMMUNITIES
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In many ways, understanding the site is the

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most important decision when developing a

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community. Thoughtful site decisions are

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crucial in designing a community.

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An approach to site development is to provide

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the proposed improvements efficiently. This

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approach is built on an extensive

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understanding of the community.

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A
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NATURE
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All buildings have an impact on the sustainability of their immediate surroundings and the
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global environment. In both the design and construction process of a building there is a
OF THE
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series of choices to be made, each of which can result in a negative or positive contribution
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BUILDING to sustainability either immediately or in the longer term use of the building.
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 A building site is the closest environment to any proposed building plan; it forms the immediate
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atmosphere for the occupants of such a building and it is expected to satisfy the desires of the
proposed occupants as well as satisfying the environment that will host it.
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 Designing with nature begins with an intimate understanding of place. With active sensitivity to
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the nuances of place, we can inhabit without destroying it, be it a plain, undulating or steeply
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terrain, the landform is to be carried along in the design concept. A careful design plan and
construction technique will see to less damage to the topographical structure of the building site.
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 Understanding place helps determine design practices such as solar orientation of a building on
the site, designing with existing topography pattern and finally the preservation of the natural
environment, whether the design site is a building in the inner city or in a more natural setting,
connecting with nature brings the designed environment back to life. Effective design helps inform
us of our place within nature.
NATURE
OF THE

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BUILDING

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Buildings that are designed to exceed basic

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Building Regulation requirements can deliver

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significant benefits to communities, because

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they:

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Save on running costs through efficiency measures and use of

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renewable energy sources.

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Maximize local economic impact during construction, by

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sourcing materials and labour locally.

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Reduce the negative environmental impact of construction,

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through minimum site disturbance and waste.

Promote best practice to other local developers who may be

building in the community.
ESSENTIAL DATA NEEDED
IN PLANNING AND DESIGNING
feasibility study

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OF BUILDINGS

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 involves researching the physical and legal condition of the land or property being

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considered for development in order to identify constraints, risks and opportunities,

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ESTABLISHING THE NEED and to obtain a more detailed understanding of the nature and characteristics of the

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The most important question on any project is property in question. Typical investigations will include:

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 structural surveys of existing, site topography and etc.
whether a building is needed at all. Building is

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an expensive and disruptive undertaking.The concept design

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client's needs may be able to met by different

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 Input from other members of the team will be required on cost, safety, buildability,
solutions which may be less expensive and less

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programme, health and safety and so on, as well as consultation with third parties
risky.

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such as the local planning authority. Specialist input may be needed as the concept
develops and and so the design team may grow..

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ESTABLISHING THE NEED FOR A BUILDING INVOLVES:

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detailed design

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Identifying and describing the business need that

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 should provide sufficient information for applications for statutory approvals, such
might result in the requirement for building works.

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as building regulations approval, and may include an application for detailed

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planning permission if this has not already been done. This is likely to require a
Establishing whether there is a business case for process of consultation and negotiation with the local authority and other

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setting up a 'project' to investigate the possibility of stakeholders and third parties.
undertaking building works
Establishing the client's requirements should focus on the functions they need
Preparing a strategic brief that describes the overall to perform rather than leaping to conclusions by looking at possible solutions.
project requirements and significant constraints,
focussing on what the project needs to achieve
rather than prescribing potential solutions.
 1) RESEARCH THE PROJECT TYPE
A SIX-STEP PROCESSON ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMMING

•This step is necessary if the programmer is working on a project type for the first time.

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2) ESTABLISH GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

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•Working with the committee, the programmer solicits and suggests broad goal statements that will guide the remainder of the

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programming process.

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3) GATHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

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•Based upon the goals, the categories of relevant information can be determined and researched.

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4) IDENTIFY STRATEGIES

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•Programmatic strategies suggest a way to accomplish the goals given what one now knows about the opportunities and constraints. A
familiar example of a programmatic strategy is the relationship or "bubble" diagram.

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5) DETERMINE QUANTITATIVE REQUIREMENTS

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•In this step, one must reconcile the available budget with the amount of improvements desired within the project time frame.

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6) SUMMARIZE THE PROGRAM
•All of the pertinent information included above can be documented for the owner, committee members, and the design team as well.
 THE NATURE OF

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THE DATA

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AND THEIR EFFECTS UPON DESIGN

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WHAT IS DATA?

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Rob Kitchin provides a useful starting point –

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“data are commonly understood to be the raw

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material produced by abstracting the world into

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categories, measures and other representational

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forms - numbers, characters, symbols, images,

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sounds, electromagnetic waves, bits - that
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constitute the building blocks from which
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information and knowledge are created” (Kitchin

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2014).

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WHERE DOES DATA COME FROM?
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From an epistemological perspective, data is

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regarded as the detection of “putative fact

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regarding some difference or lack of uniformity

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within some context” (Floridi 2017).

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NATURE OF DATA
A R C H I T E C T U R A L D E S I G N 7
 3 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF DATA DRIVEN DESIGN

1. DATA 2. EMPATHY 3. VISION

Data on its own is fairly useless. In It’s no surprise that the ability to empathize — to When we think about data in terms of design and
order to create meaningful product step outside of yourself and see the world as other innovation we should think of data as something that
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experiences you need to analyze data people do — is a core to designing a meaningful helps guide our decisions of what to do next, but at the
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to turn raw data into meaningful product. same time, we shouldn’t let data decide for us. First,
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information and insights designers You need to have a vision for what you are trying to do.
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can use. Vision is achievable. It’s built up over time through

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experience: by making decisions, by making mistakes

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and by learning along the way. Use data to validate and

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help you navigate your vision.

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It’s important to understand that a data is generated

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by and about people, not machines. Data should

represent the traces of human behavior. Thus, seek
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human stories to give meaning to data:

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Find data to understand what people say, do, think

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and feel. Figure out what important for them. Get

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emotional reasons for why people do or don’t things.

Understand your users’ motivations and pain points.
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CONCLUSIONS THE EFFECTS UPON DESIGN

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 Data will help you in formulating a hypothesis

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about a problem and how to solve it.

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The current state and future directions of  To inform design in a meaningful way, we need to

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big data technologies in building design.

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connect the dots between data and design

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The survey shows that the range of improvements to use data to identify your specific

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applications covers the entire spectrum users’ desires, problems and needs.

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of activities throughout the design

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process, from pre-design to building Finding Balance is Key to Good Design

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operation. The greatest progress and

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The danger in any product design environment is

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number of examples today exist in those when designers rely on one part of a strategy too

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activities that are traditionally understood

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heavily and end up optimizing for the wrong thing.
as data-driven, such as energy analysis As in all things in the real world, there needs to be

or structural design. Yet, it is precisely
those activities that rely not on data but
on intuition or tacit expert knowledge that
have space for more interesting and
disruptive opportunities to use big data.
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a balance. Good product design comes from
finding the right balance between data, empathy,
and vision.