ABSTRACT
Design is transformational in that is sublime, immediate, unmediated, and emotive. As a form of inquiry, design deals with specific solutions to specific challenges. The problem-space of design consists of known determinates that are surrounded by uncertain ambiguity and bounded by a line outside of which is distracting noise. Design operates in the areas of ambiguity. The role of programming is previewed here as the architectural means of identifying the problem space and distilling out the unique essence of the project. Because design challenges are so complex, they are treated as wicked problems and are thus similar to how problems of dynamic complexity are approached. The role of architectural intention is explored as the guiding proposition which then becomes the aspirational target of design. The second half of the chapter uses Frank Lloyd Wright’s second house for the Jacobs family, the Solar Hemicycle, as an extended case study.
