Take your design and abstract pure geometries and flows from it, then list nouns and verbs associated to those abstractions as they related to your design
Make diagrams of these abstractions and words, bubble diagrams
Then read and rewrite and design over

here's a doug graf (ohio state professor and life changer) diagram:



so yeah, as o.d.n. said break down your design into diagrams which show what the forms are doing. in doug's diagram above it shows a kahn design abstracted to a perimeter organization. it also describes a sort of 'pavilion generating machine' as the form goes from a bar to a square/object to a square enclosing a circle to the circle breaking free and back again ..

it's kind of dumb but 'formal' does not mean you put on a tux and go to the opera. 'formal' just refers to the forms (and therefore spaces) of a design. you can do formal diagrams of buildings, sculpture, paintings, football formations .. pretty much anything can be depicted graphically.

nice frac. and graf is a good one to check out if you can find some lectures by him. i read one somewhere, he has a nice way of breaking the complexities venturi writes of.

also be careful. spaces and volumes are two different things (corb vs. loos). their formal makeup is not necessarily based on the space or volume with which they contain. wright could be a good one to look at as far as 'spatial formal language' as he designed not only rooms and places, but the connections between them (often generously called thresholds). they are part of this formal language as well.

olaf also has a good point too. while architects are not usually versed well in the writing dept., it is a great tool, and gets you away from your desk for a bit. i used to write questions down, but i rarely answered them, so that may not be the best method. the act of writing (apart from typing) ideas and experiential qualities will help these volumes and spaces come together. oh and a beer will always help.