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what is a concept?

Ok so its kind of a common question i believe, but i need some references to read about it, i've searched the web/library to find a book which's main issue is what concept or party is, how it emerges,etc. i wonder if someone on forum can help me about it. i need a book or paper or something that can share some knowledge.

 
May 28, 15 2:39 pm
kickrocks

Google-fu

May 28, 15 2:45 pm  · 
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@kicklocks thanks but thats not what i need.

May 28, 15 2:52 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

school sure is hard these days.

May 28, 15 3:11 pm  · 
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Wilma Buttfit

The real question is what is a degree and how is it earned??!?? (introducing the quaterrobang)

May 28, 15 3:18 pm  · 
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toosaturated

Are you asking for a definition or what makes a good concept vs a bad one? And by "party" do you mean "parti"?

May 28, 15 3:24 pm  · 
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we have a Proverb in persian which says "the criminal assums that everyone are like himself"

 

May 28, 15 3:30 pm  · 
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@JLC-1 thanks alot, it really helped.

@ toosaturated : i need some literature that explains its nature, its emergance in designers mind, its role in design process etc.

May 28, 15 3:33 pm  · 
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x-jla

There is a fantastic book that will give you all the answers you need...Its called "From concept to Party" by Mike Litoris.

May 28, 15 3:34 pm  · 
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w4000

ahh, the concept of having a concept... mindbottled.

May 28, 15 3:36 pm  · 
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drums please, Fab?

Also that great proverb by Mike Litorus: 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush'.

May 28, 15 3:38 pm  · 
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nice quotations. /clap,

May 28, 15 3:51 pm  · 
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x intern

There is a place located on most legitimate places of learning which holds large stacks of paper bound in groups.  Inside these stacks the answers you seek await. 

May 28, 15 3:58 pm  · 
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i have done the search bright guys, if your brain was working regularly you might have thought that you havn't seen any specefic referance about it, so maybe its quite rare to find, excluding some old books of 70s. now i dont need these retarded replies, if you cant help dont waste your time here.

May 28, 15 4:07 pm  · 
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x-jla

Man, I spend so much time ranting in support of licensure upon graduation, but threads like this really make me rethink my position...

May 28, 15 4:14 pm  · 
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x intern

These are archispeak words thrown at students to confuse you and create panic.  You go too deep down the architectural theory rabbit hole you'll find yourself worshiping Lebbeus Woods

Define the words and work from the idea not the words.

May 28, 15 4:24 pm  · 
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dude let me tell you something, the first man who told me about the present literature about concept was my own professor, he told me anything he knew, cuz it wasnt about "do the labor", but rather reading something so to learn... now if your harder than my own teacher i suggest you to drink a glass of water.

May 28, 15 4:24 pm  · 
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-------

See Precedents in Architecture: Analytic Diagrams, Formative Ideas, and Partis by Clark and Pause.

May 28, 15 4:55 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

This is brilliant.

May 28, 15 4:58 pm  · 
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Wilma Buttfit

What is is?

May 28, 15 5:01 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

^ the OP's professor's of-course.

May 28, 15 5:08 pm  · 
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geezertect

Man, I spend so much time ranting in support of licensure upon graduation, but threads like this really make me rethink my position...

The OP needs to learn the concept of decipherable grammar first.

May 28, 15 6:57 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

in Farsi there are NO "concepts"! just shuffling and illusions and bad memory. in western philosophy,starting with the greeks, 300 spartans is all it took because Platonic thinking trumped shuffling and illusions and bad memory.....more seriously, start with Greek philosophy,mainly Plato,some Aristotle then jump all the way to Immanual Kant......don't get me wrong, I really do love Persians,but by western definitions thinking straight does not apply. its very much surreal logic sometimes - which is cool, but singlin out a phrase like concept is tough if that is not the inherent nature of the cultural thought process.

May 28, 15 7:09 pm  · 
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Impossible to answer the question without a long detailed study of philosophy and metaphysics including Campbell (My Big Toe), Emoto (messages from water) and Wolff (the wave structure of matter) as well as historical precedents from Aristotle to Kant.

As such I could tell you but you wouldn't understand, so change majors now. Dentistry might work for you, or maybe proctology.

May 28, 15 7:17 pm  · 
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x-jla

^ by Kant, are you refering to Harry Kant?

May 28, 15 8:20 pm  · 
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Sorry, I meant Cant. 

You know, Cant I. Lever.

May 28, 15 8:37 pm  · 
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ArchNyen

Concept + party = "Pick the blue pill !!!"

May 28, 15 8:57 pm  · 
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Wilma Buttfit

Professor Candace B. Furreal would know the answer to this.

May 28, 15 9:09 pm  · 
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@jw468 : thanks, it really was the kind of thing i was looking for.

@fineprint of fantasies: very nice article, thanks.

@olaf: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_philosophy this should be enough for you, srsly i thought kinds like you were extincted. Or nvm go watch 300.

May 29, 15 3:43 am  · 
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awaiting_deletion

AO I know...I was Joking clearly, as noted, don't get your panties all in a bunch...read carefully.

can you do better than wikipedia?  did you google it and then link it for me?

May 29, 15 5:45 am  · 
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@olaf: forgive me cuz i didnt read your commend to the end as i'd got some hateful comments here, but ye i can do better than that :)).

May 29, 15 7:35 am  · 
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Non Sequitur

hateful comments? please... this thread is a gold mine.

May 29, 15 8:05 am  · 
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awaiting_deletion

no worries. now back to concept.....i mean ypu could forego greek philosophy and maybe dig into the list you linked. concept hy all meams will come first via philosophy and as fineprint of fantasies notes look at the root of the word....so start with English or maybe Farsi, which i would be more interested in the latter.

May 29, 15 9:01 am  · 
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Professor Fineprint should open his own online architectural school. He's certainly got enough bullshit to fill a campus.

Really, this could be a gold mine. Think about all those stupid kids paying 50k a year when they could be doing this online from home and getting the same result. 

May 29, 15 9:16 am  · 
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thanks Olaf,. i think i would start reading some Plato as it seems like i'm going to have some spare time in the weeks to come. I've done some search on contemporary books and papers which seem to give little information on the issue, so it looks the right point to start with.

May 29, 15 10:34 am  · 
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ao.jaz,

Architectural concepts (concepts as used throughout this post) are not exactly a science. Therefore, it is more an art and best you think concept as a framework of ideas synthesized creatively to address the 'design problem' that is... the spatial and functional needs, the relationship of space and function. Understanding the 'who' that will be occupying or using the space and their needs. This is the heart of any good concept when you understand people and how they use the building. 

Sure design is more than merely solving a function but there is sometimes that need to capture a spirit of a 'narrative' - an expression of this sensual experience that you want people to have when they experience the place. Like in a marine based museum, you'll be expressing a theme that gives people an sort of experience and immerses the senses as if they are for example on a ship or dock or something of the sort at the same time they are in a museum.

A home can be very much telling of the original client and yet be experienced and read fairly universal without being perhaps too idiosyncratic of the client. 

In part you look at the genius loci (the spiritual genius of location) and you also look to the spirit of space and celebrate the ordinary moments within a space. You use the tools of duality like highs and lows, light and dark, large and mall, etc. to define the spaces and enhance the experience of space. These are part of our visual and sensual tools we employ to make spaces and synthesize the arrangement of spaces that works together. 

This is an art which you will learn over time and become better at it as you go.

Concept is a framework of your ideas synthesized as a whole under a singular core theme. In any particular spatial area, you don't want to mesh two or more unrelated themes and the ideas of those themes if possible. Otherwise it is akin to a double narrative that makes things confusing. Just as it can in writing, it would be visually. Narrative coherence (visually and written) makes the story understandable so it would make the building readable. Especially for any given space. 

Concept is a framework of ideas that has been systematically organize in a meaningful manner. This framework consist of a spatial-thematic layer and a spatial-function layer.Not only do you establish a relationship between each spatial-thematic area but also a spatial-function layer and the relationship between the layers and each space and the relationship to narrative theme and function.

Since you are starting, keep the narrative of each space or cluster of spatial units under a single narrative theme and don't over complicate it. Overtime you can explore to more complex multi-narrative experience in a artfully coherent manner of architectural form.

There is no simple theory but I hope it gives you some food for thought that you can explore in your work. Don't overthink it.

May 29, 15 1:03 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

when i read stuff in school i would always read the references and then go get the book referenced.....this eventually led me back to the source of the entire discussion.......due to the internet's over saturation of information and disinformation its easy to not find a good starting point to make assumed simple term easily explainable.....i mean if i stopped you in the street and asked what is concept, could you give me a succinct and clear answer?

May 29, 15 6:25 pm  · 
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Olaf,

Exactly. If you ask 10 architects/designers this question, you'll likely get 15+ answers in return. So yes, goes back to my first sentence in my previous sentence. It isn't a science, there is no such thing as a scientifically correct answer. Its an art and architectural concept is not something we can specifically answer with an absolute and my previous post is not intended to be an absolute but more a testimony of my perspective.

May 29, 15 10:20 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

what about 'open concept' ?  (HGTV reference)

did anyone cringe?

May 30, 15 7:00 am  · 
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