ABSTRACT
Modular Programming is a methodology for programming large scale urban design projects such as Planned Residential Developments. It is a pragmatic, professionally useful problem solving model designed to package, manipulate and display information for intelligent decision making by designers, clients, users and other participants. The method000gy utilizes a simple conceptual formulation which expands upon designer’s frequent use of “paper blocks” and rules of thumb for programming exercizes. The central concept is the Module, an internally consistent set of data and relationships which can be abstracted from the larger problem environment. Modules are then combined into “basic program mixes” to be ( 1 ) tested against threhholds for supplying “external” program provisions through the use of a computer calculator program and ( 2 ) related to the specific site and its context through a technique of graphic display. The resulting information is displayed as the basis for final program construction. The significance of Modular Programming lies in (1) forcing the definition of spatial and a spatial relationships early in the programming process, (2) providing a framework for using complex data and relationships, ( 3 ) displaying information for various trade-offs from which designers and others may choose and ( 4 ) providing a conceptual and methodological connection between analytical work and physical design. This paper presents and evaluates an application of the method for a specific residential problem.
