ABSTRACT
This paper proposes a notational language of diagrammatic elements which can provide the designer with a communication tool that permits him to visualize basic design ideas in a consistent manor at a high level of abstraction. The primitive elements of this language represent a set of ideas that, in various combinations, have been found to recurrently make up the basic entities of various problems in environmental design.
For the purposes of this paper we will consider the design process to consist of two major (but not necessarily distinct) phases: the analytic phase and the synthetic phase. The analytic phase begins with a definition of the problem and expands into a search of pertinent literature and existing solutions to similar problems. The intent of this phase is to produce what the architectural profession calls the “program,” a delineation of the objectives or requirements of the final design solution. The medium of expression in the analytic phase is, for the most part, the designer’s vernacular and thus is essentially verbal. The synthetic phase of the design process hopefully will produce a working drawing and/or scale model description of an acceptable solution to the design problem. These working drawings are commonly preceded by several stages of “preliminary” drawings of varying degrees of completion which are, in turn, preceded by many stages of “sketches.” The medium of expression in the synthetic phase is, for the most part, scale drawings of varying degrees of crudeness and thus is essentially visual.
