Concept getting

1. Active concept getting 2. Passive concept getting

Why is active concept preferred? What allows us to arrive at concepts? How do we make concepts applicable?

TYPES OF CONCEPT GETTING

Concept getting is often that part of designing when the designer experiences his most intense frustrations and satisfactions. The anxiety is caused more on whether his approach and initial concepts are valid or not. The success of a project depends more on the correctness of the judgment the designer makes.

1. Active concept getting deliberate, conscious and methodical way of arriving at concepts. This involves understanding and predicting the concerns and problems before addressing it with concepts. (making concepts happen)

2. Passive concept getting the designer waits for the concerns or problems to come to his consciousness and waits for the concepts to bubble up. (allowing concepts to happen)
The designer usually develops his ideas with a combination of active and passive concept getting. How much of the two he uses depends on his personality, the design situation and what seems to produce the best result

Why active concept getting?

Although it is not a proven fact, there seems to be a trend towards the use of active concept getting. Maybe because of the following reasons:
1.
2. 3. 4. 5.

It is systematic, rational and methodical that is easier to understand and flexible to revisions compared to artistic and intuitive ones The proven success of scientific method in other fields has put pressure on the architecture profession to become more analytical Increased accountability demanded of the architectural profession and the individual designer has made planning techniques more systematic The amount of information that is relevant to planning and design has become too many to deal with in a subjective manner The growing use of computers and other mechanical devices has made the designer reduce his operations into methodical routines.

Catalyst for concept getting

How do we make ourselves arrive at concepts when generating them?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Thumbing through architectural books and magazines. Studying buildings that have addressed similar design problems. Recalling applicable concepts used in the past that have proven successful. Making a checklist of architectural concerns. Brainstorming the project with fellow designers. Reviewing a list of buzzwords meant to trigger concepts through metaphor and analogy. Drawing upon analogous and metaphoric associations found in nature, art, and other disciplines.

Developing concepts
Once we have a concept and it is still far off, how do we make it applicable to the concern or problem?
Some concepts are usually stated in synopsis or overview form. Other concepts are sourced or referenced from elements found in nature while others are taken from human expressions. (words or visual images) Since concepts at first are generated from intangible forms, they normally require considerable amount of development to turn it into physically or graphically applicable ideas. The designer must then translate concepts that are intangible to something that is expressible in plan or in form. This is called diagramming.