System conception
" ...All these must be built with due reference to durability, convenience, and beauty. Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to the solid ground and materials wisely and liberally selected; convenience, when the arrangement of the apartments is faultless and presents no hindrance to use, and when each class of building is assigned to its suitable and appropriate exposure; and beauty, when the appearance of the work is pleasing and in good taste, and when its members are in due proportion according to correct principles of symmetry."
Vitruvus, On Architecture, , Volume 1, 1st century B.C.
Some artfully constructed texts, like ancient buildings, defy time and remind us even today of the essential principals of a successful creation. Everything is in the conception, in the patient and well-reflected application of good practices, in the careful implementation of preliminary tests needed to guarantee the success of an operation.
Thus,
The first move consists in staying still and carefully listening to a client's needs. This allows us to create a global diagram for validation, representing a simplified version of his objective and expectations. |
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The next step is the exhaustive analysis of all the constraints, followed by the division of the whole into as many parts as necessary. |
A sketch is a rapid way of explaining a configuration or a mechanism. In addition, it permits a good representation of a particular point when the vocabulary is missing. Finally, it is a starting point for the creation of technical drawings. |
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Since adjustments are necessary in order to optimize a system's design, we use numerical simulations to adapt the characteristics to the needs expressed. |
The design being the final step before any creation, we represent a mould as a computer-generated image for inspection before realizing it. |
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To better understand the mechanics of a system, it is useful to show an analyzed version. Illustrations are also very useful for the synthesis of the instructions. |
In an emerging field, tools must adapt to new problems brought to light by the preceding investigation. Thus, the imagined solutions can bring about new perspectives to research. |
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"The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child of practice and theory. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise of employment where manual work is done with any necessary material according to the design of a drawing. Theory, on the other hand, is the ability to demonstrate and explain the productions of dexterity on the principles of proportion. It follows, therefore, that architects who have aimed at acquiring manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a position of authority to correspond to their pains, while those who relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the shadow, not the substance. But those who have a thorough knowledge of both, like men armed at all points, have the sooner attained their object and carried authority with them."
Vitruvus, On Architecture, Volume 1, 1st century B.C.
