ABSTRACT
Designers were free to vary the proportions, column design, orders, and, to a limited extent, the materials and size. Architectural design encompasses a freer and more explicitly creative arena for these special buildings, which by contemporary convention are expected to be unique and not to conform overtly to a recognized type. Donald Schon has performed a number of studies that follow designers as they puzzle through design problems. He has determined that building types are a critical shorthand in the thinking of almost all architects, whether they call them that or not. In contemporary practice, the universe of all buildings can be first divided into two site categories, which can be labeled joined or freestanding. Freestanding buildings are those buildings that occupy their lots so that there is unbuilt space surrounding them on all sides. A joined building is one that is built to a property line with the intention of having another building on the adjoining lot.
