ABSTRACT
The rational building block matrix consists of a columnar listing of possible physical solutions for each rationalized subproblem (Fig. 9.1a). Each element in the matrix represents a building block. Visualizing different building block combinations stimulates ideas for a variety of interesting and innovative design alternatives (Fig. 9.1b). Simple arithmetic shows that a 3x3 matrix (three subproblems, each having three solutions) results in 27 possible building block combinations. A 5x5 matrix results in 3125 possible combinations. Steps 2 and 4 of the methodology are necessary to keep the number of combinations from becoming overwhelming. More importantly, by rationalizing the subproblems and subsolutions, the idea-stimulating process is kept sharply focused on the heart of the design problem.
