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9.4 Summary

This chapter focused on the role of the architect, particularly his/her role in reducing ambiguity. The main finding is that the architect is not a generalist but a specialist in resolving ambiguity, focusing creativity, and simplifying complexity. The architect must understand the types of ambiguity: fuzziness, uncertainty, and missing, conflicting, or incorrect information.

The architect is responsible for producing certain deliverables, which are central to the role of reducing ambiguity and serving as a bridge between corporate functions and the design environment.

To highlight this role, we examined where it fits within the context of a product development process. Although many PDPs appear different, they share underlying features. Architects must be able to discern which segments of a PDP are centrally linked to their role, actions, and outcomes, just as the architect must become skilled in interpreting new product development initiatives.

Box 9.4 Case Study: Civil Architecture and System Architecture

By Steve Imrich, Architect and Principal at Cambridge Seven Associates With thanks to Allan Donnelly

The term “architect” arises from civil architecture, but what do the two fields share?

When one compares civil architecture with system architecture, one realizes that there is an interpretive-interactive-performance aspect of building design that makes civil architecture different than many other forms of industrial or product design. More than many other kinds of products, buildings inherit complex cultural and symbolic qualities that affect space planning, material quality, and user experience. Ideally, the “special problems” of a building inform the “design.” Certain devices like helicopters, sailboats, and computers (among many others) are good examples of the success in resolving “special problems” and how the concept, design, and engineering may introduce an elegance, simplicity, and beauty that transcend a style for these products. Because buildings can only be seen and experienced as part of their site, the “special problems” of a building always relate to a wider context of time, culture, existing infrastructure, human behavior, local environment, and re-interpreted use. Because buildings are not normally mocked-up beforehand there is a large element of risk in determining the success of a design … something that is generally associated with the arts.

In contrast to a conventional product development process, we have used the following “design process with attitude” to draw attention to the most important emergent properties that will determine the architecture’s success and longevity.

Context . . . The context within which a building exists draws from adjacent existing buildings, cultural norms and associations about the built environment, environmental conditions, and the history and motivations of the organizations and people that the building is designed to serve.
Content . . . The content of a building includes both its programmatic requirements and its functional performance. Content describes the purpose the building is meant to serve and the elements through which that purpose is realized.
Concept . . . The concept for a building project is the departure point for organization and experience. The concept is the unifying idea by which all design decisions are evaluated (Figure 9.9).
Circuitry . . . The connective tissue between functional components in a building. Circuitry, when done well, provides more than a path to get from point A to B but also creates interest and anticipation for how boundaries, thresholds, and edges of spaces are dynamically and progressively revealed.
Character . . . As with people, the character of a building can yield long-lasting appeal, short-lived fascination, or very little response at all. The possibility for a building to connect with nature, its site, and a sense of life beyond the aggregations of its materials speaks of it character. Over time, positive associations with the building’s use and its visual presence become the substance that lies beyond the façade and the patterns that we all use to evaluate the qualities of our environment.
Magic . . . Magic is a largely intangible quality that is defined primarily by the user’s experience with a building. Buildings that exhibit magic can have widespread attraction and life beyond the owner’s and designer’s intent. When working well, the magic of a place fosters an inherent delight and joyful appreciation for experiencing the unexpected. Buildings that exhibit the best qualities of magic often become the most iconic and memorable structures in our designed world (Figure 9.10).

I’d like to focus on two elements, the concept and the magic.

What gets added to a design to make it beyond practical is a challenge that architects deal with every day. A concept is an idea that follows the whole project, yet it is more than a one-liner. The idea has substance, depth, richness, subtlety, and clarity. The idea has to have substance; it is not a coating or a camouflage or a metaphor. The concept has to encompass both the structure of the building and its skin. Concept generation is successful when it integrates and balances the nature of the content and the nature of the context. To this end, architects do deep research to identify this “nature.” Concept is the departure point. It is never clean.

Due to the complex nature of building projects, it is helpful in the design process to keep oneself anchored to a bigger, simpler idea. A strong concept provides the framework for the integration of performance and form. The architecture of a building should rationalize the experience of the user. A clear concept coupled with excellent execution will make the idea understandable to the user without any outside information.

Magic is very important in architecture. It is the emergence of elegance and character at the building level, the sleight of hand. Magic is a quality that may be difficult to define, but when something is magical, the quality is immediately recognizable. Magic happens when a building engages and delights [so as to leave an indelible image in a person’s memory]. Magic is the unusual circumstance that becomes normalized in good architecture. Magic is that moment of surprise that leaves a person in wonder and awe. Eladio Dieste said, “Surprise, as all art and architecture, helps us contemplate. Life wears out our ability for surprise. Surprise is the beginning of a true vision of the world.” Architecture exudes a magical quality when its formal elements and functional characteristics combine to create an emotional, timeless, and unanticipated experience.

The performance of a ballerina and that of a gymnast have characteristics in common involving athleticism, dynamic patterning, and nuance of expression, yet one of the activities is considered more in the realm of “art” while the other is more in tune with “athletic expertise.” In magical “architecture,” we experience the intrigue of artistic expression with functional achievement in a fully integrated way, which imparts a simple and seemingly effortless elegance that elevates our spirit beyond common expectations (Figure 9.11).

A village of houses with cone-shaped roofs built from bricks. — Figure 9.9 Concept in civil architecture. The “Concept” is the departure point for integration of performance and form. (Source: (a) Funkyfood London-Paul Williams/Alamy (b) Francisco Javier Gil/Fotolia)

Pipes in an industrial setting with three large pipes opening to the left.

The Sydney Australia opera house lit for the evening. — Figure 9.10 Magic in civil architecture. Qualities of “Magic” allow structures to become memorable and iconic to a culture. (Source: (a) Wim Wiskerke/Alamy (b) EvanTravels/Fotolia)

Surf pounds a rocky beach, with a large suspension bridge in the background. — Figure 9.10 Magic in civil architecture. Qualities of “Magic” allow structures to become memorable and iconic to a culture. (Source: (a) Wim Wiskerke/Alamy (b) EvanTravels/Fotolia)

Two photographs depict people in motion. The left photo has a dancer, with pointing feet and arms, flies through the air. The right photo has a gymnast leap into the air with a scissor kick and out flung arms. — Figure 9.11 An architect’s opportunity and responsibility is to overlay performance and poetry and to understand how those ingredients interact. (Source: (a) Cheese78/Fotolia (b) Gerard Rancinan, Jean Guichard/Sygma/Corbis)

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9.4 Summary