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How can I learn about design process building and iteration?

KingsMake

Ok, so I am a self taught industrial designer and looking to one day pursue a masters in architecture. My designs go through hundreds of iterations both on paper and in CAD for the development of design and utility. I want to start creating an architecture portfolio for admissions to M.arch II programs, but there are so many amazing buildings and I want to know the design processies used to design them. Basic example -why does The Walt Disney Concert Hall look good? I know it looks amazing, but I don't understand how Gehry came to the conclusion that these exact bends and twists will look good? What constraints was he using? I have the same question regarding many great and complex buildings. 

Im not necessary looking for an answer as to how Gehry designed the concert hall, but what resources can I use to study architectural methods. I think that by studying the logic behind these buildings, one can really learn better intuition and enhance their creativity. 

 
Jul 14, 21 10:08 pm
JLC-1

you should definitely look at gehry's process, it's a movie  Sketches of Frank Gehry



Jul 14, 21 11:47 pm  · 
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Self-taught industrial designer ... how and what did you teach yourself?

Jul 15, 21 12:20 am  · 
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KingsMake

These are some of my design. Software like Rhino and V-Ray and some intuition for design. I can sort of explain how I iterated to these designs, but I want to see how famous architects came up with their work. 

Jul 15, 21 12:57 am  · 
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Non Sequitur

No tea pot?

Jul 15, 21 7:55 am  · 
1  · 

"intuition" and rendering software makes you an industrial designer? Who are your clients?

Jul 15, 21 9:05 am  · 
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Witty Banter

Does it really matter? How does this information help answer OP's question?

Jul 15, 21 9:24 am  · 
6  · 

The OP made a claim. I'd like to know how that claim is justified and if there is any transferable knowledge and experience other than Rhino.

Jul 15, 21 11:45 am  · 
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Careful Miles. You're going to set a precedent and soon you'll have to justify the claims you make here. Then we'll all have to justify our claims. Total chaos will ensue.

Jul 15, 21 11:55 am  · 
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apkouv

Miles, are you upset that the OP has advanced their career in industrial design further than you?

Jul 15, 21 12:13 pm  · 
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Witty Banter

What does it matter that they "made a claim." They are obviously describing their design background, not trying to sell us services as an industrial designer or claiming authority on the subject. Maybe they're an amateur/hobbyist. It really seems like you're just going out of your way to belittle someone.

Jul 15, 21 12:37 pm  · 
5  · 

apkouv -  you insignificant munter. Let's see the progress of your career and work.

COWARD

Jul 15, 21 1:20 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

Apk wakes from his cave. we are not worthy.

Jul 15, 21 1:35 pm  · 
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I still think Apk and Jay are the same person. If not then Jay has a long lost clone.

Jul 15, 21 1:51 pm  · 
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Witty - I think Miles may be trying to determine how much experience the OP has and what their aptitude is. I mean if the OP has clients then they may know what they're doing.

That or Miles is just being a snarky old man.  

Could be both. ;)

Jul 15, 21 1:53 pm  · 
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If the OP said he was a self-taught architect some people here would have a very different response.

Jul 15, 21 2:02 pm  · 
1  · 

I usually default to "Miles is just being a snarky old man" until proven otherwise.

Jul 15, 21 2:06 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

Maybe self-taught in the situation = high school design student and the concept of working for paying clients is not something the OP has ever considered.

Jul 15, 21 2:22 pm  · 
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@Miles, the OP posted their website on one of their earlier threads here. You can go find it and their resume if you really want to see who some of their clients are.

Jul 15, 21 4:03 pm  · 
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Miles - If the OP said they where a self taught architect they would get told they aren't an architect.  Rick would probably post a several page essay about the licensing paths and requirements. 

 If the OP said they where a self taught designer and had a portfolio of good work then I think things would go much better.

Jul 15, 21 4:44 pm  · 
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aidenkashi.com. The folding drone is a clever concept that could use further development.

Jul 15, 21 4:52 pm  · 
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Jay1122

LMAO, look at you guys.

Chad, I think you and that piece of turd on the ground are the same person. If not, you probably have a clone.

Jul 15, 21 5:02 pm  · 
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Look at what Jay? You're the one with the hate boner for Miles.

Jul 15, 21 5:08 pm  · 
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Jay1122

Hell no, I don't have a hate boner for Miles. He just talks like that. Why would I be mad at some random internet forum poster. Are you a teenager?

Jul 15, 21 5:23 pm  · 
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rcz1001

Children, knock it off and hug each other. The OP asked some questions but instead of answering it, we get a scroll of bullshit that has nothing to do with answering the questions by the OP.

I know I didn't answer all of the OPs questions. I answered the fundamental part of design process and iteration via some reference but there is a lot more and the subject gets deeper but I didn't want to over load the OP with too much in one sitting plus some of you should be better at answering some of these other questions the OP had in his original post.

Jul 15, 21 5:28 pm  · 
1  · 

rcz - careful. You're starting to look a bit conceded.

Jul 15, 21 5:47 pm  · 
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rcz1001

I just want folks to try to tone down on this banter stuff and try to provide responses that are more helpful to the OP. Some tangents can be ok but the cockfighting.... I think the OP can be pleased to do without.

Jul 15, 21 6:17 pm  · 
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Jay - I'd look at your post history. You've shown an unhealthy dislike for Miles. So much I think you created the apkouv account.

Jul 15, 21 6:20 pm  · 
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rcz1001

Battle of the Dickheads Part Deux. 

Deja Vu! 

I remember this about a year ago during Battle of the Dickheads Part Un.

Jul 16, 21 12:58 am  · 
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rcz1001

PS: I didn't say who the dickheads are. I'm not a dickhead. I'm a DICK.

Jul 16, 21 1:02 am  · 
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rcz1001

Jay1122 and apkouv, 

Let me be clear. Every time you sign into your account(s), archinect has a database which will log your IP address. We know how easy it is to establish and use two different accounts on the same computer. Just use Chrome and use another browser such as Opera or Firefox. The problem is when you sign in, you're external IP address is seen unless you use a proxyserver. Another thing is, we can pierce all that with client-side scripts that gets your MAC address and then pass that on to archinect. It just has to be carefully done to safely work around your browser's security sandbox. Even if you try to use high anonymous proxy servers or VPNs, your actual MAC address isn't going to be something you can easily change. Even if you have more than one NIC, over time, for even the slightly moments of getting lazy and slack, it is possible as even part of connecting and signing into a website that your MAC address be sent but even if you use one NIC's (and its associated MAC address) with one browser and the other with the other browser, if you slip up even once, both NICs will be in the logs with each account. Two computers will almost never have the same MAC address. The problem is even if you use the same NIC (USB Wifi module for example), you will most likely be connecting on the same network with your computer(s) and the external IP address be the same. 

This means, if we can see a pattern of either the same MACs and the same IP address, it will be very likely to be the same person. Even if it were two different individuals, they would be very close to each other like in the same office or house. When both parties use the same arguments and even talking alike, even with a little linguistic analysis, we can likely arrive at a higher probability of the persons on both accounts being the same. Why would two people in the same office think and speak/write alike? One needs not go as far as having MAC address to make an argument. Additionally, there is also the logging of time and date you are signed in and when you log out. This all can be used to establish an argument to prove or disprove a person. The suspiciously close timing of logging in and logging out from the same IP address (especially with IPv6 but can be done with IPv4) and linguistic analysis... one can make arguments one way or another.

Jul 16, 21 2:40 am  · 
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rcz1001

The question you one or two, have you already given evidence that proves or disproves you are the same individual.

Jul 16, 21 2:43 am  · 
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rcz1001

Enough has been said here on Jay1122 and apkouv on this thread.... I hope.

Jul 16, 21 2:50 am  · 
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Jay1122

who cares. Chad is just mad. Throwing random craps all over trying to smear me because I hurt his arrogant little feeling a while back. I replied to miles maybe 3-5 times through out the whole history. You can check if you want. But I cant remember how many times I hurt arrogant Chad. Too many.

Jul 16, 21 1:33 pm  · 
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Jay - you haven't hurt me or my feelings one bit. How could you? What you have done is anger me with how you treat other people that you THINK are beneath you. You're a cowardly, arrogant,   little brat that likes to blame his shortcomings and failures on others. Your comments on this site have done nothing to dissuade me of my impression of you.

I'm done with you.  Bye. 

Jul 16, 21 2:20 pm  · 
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Jay1122

Look at how mad you sound. even pulled out the bold text trick. Man, such a teenager mindset, yet at the same time, the arrogance in you forces you to keep up the professional persona that you want to present yourself with in the forum.

Jul 16, 21 2:59 pm  · 
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Nope. I just know that you can't remember what you read and write here. Thought I'd make it easier for you to comprehend.

Keep trying little troll.  

Jul 16, 21 3:47 pm  · 
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rcz1001

Jay1122, don 't confuse annoyed with mad. Actually the word mad has more in relation to psychosis and insanity than necessarily anger.

Jul 16, 21 4:33 pm  · 
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rcz1001

Regarding "who cares", thank you for your admission. I'm on the fence about whether I care or not. I can psycho/linguistically analyze your posts and responses and reach a conclusion. I'm confident from what I read that there is a significant probability that you and apkouv are the same individual. You're "who cares" is basically an admission that you and apkouv are the same considering your response to what I said. It's basically saying "who cares if we are the same individual" but you think you are cunning by stopping at the word 'cares' and moving on to another sentence. You did exactly what every arrogant troll has ever done in history of communication. It's with the unspoken thought of "who cares... what are you going to do about it.". Don't need to. You confirmed it to everyone. Thank you for your admission. Personally, I do not care about your squabbles with Chad or Miles and vise versa. I do care that you take these squabbles to a War of the Dickheads Coliseum thread and allow for more mature discussions to occur on threads that might be more relavent to the topic at head. Yes, I have been guilty of squabbling over stuff not related to the topic at hand. Yeah, I'm a DICK.... after all. On the other hand, it would be better for the forum to not have as much squabbles infiltrating all the threads. I don't care if you don't like Miles or Miles don't like you or you don't like Chad or Chad don't like you or if you dislike or hate me and I don't care enough about you to hate you. Although, I can be annoyed by any and all of you but hatred is not something I often have against others.

Jul 16, 21 4:54 pm  · 
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Jay1122

Whatever dude. BTW, you are truly one of a kind. 99.9% of time I just skip over your text wall. And I assume everyone else too. Not sure if you know that. But keep it up my man.

Jul 16, 21 5:07 pm  · 
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rcz1001

I can make skyscrapers with words.

Jul 16, 21 5:13 pm  · 
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archiwutm8

First and foremost you have a design/client brief. It's a lot of research to figure out what you need and the contexr of it.


Just join competitions and start from there.

Jul 15, 21 5:46 am  · 
1  · 
randomised

maybe have a look at some of these free online architecture courses:


I think this one is what you’re after:


“The Architectural Imagination


Learn fundamental principles of architecture — as an academic subject or a professional career — by studying some of history’s most important buildings.”


https://www.edx.org/learn/architecture


It starts today! Good luck

Jul 15, 21 9:57 am  · 
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There's a MasterClass for that: Frank Gehry Teaches Design and Architecture



/thread

Jul 15, 21 12:12 pm  · 
1  · 
Jay1122

You want to know how to create those designs? Don't worry, any decent accredited architecture school will teach you the processes and current methodologies. You can create them easily with your Rhino and V-ray. I think students nowadays do better designs than many starchitects. But design is just design, paper architecture. You need starchitect status and your slave team to make it a reality.

One thing I have to point out is the "time". Gehry got the starchitect status not because his projects have that specific god chosen bend and twist. It was because he was doing those bend and twists deconstuctivism stuff while other people are doing neoclassical boxes. Avant Garde is the key term. The "time" absolutely matters. Doing those parametric form making buildings today will not get you any where significantly other than waste client's money. Just look at the recent Prizker winner's work.

Jul 15, 21 1:04 pm  · 
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It's important to note that 99% of architecture is about providing what your client wants. As such you're going to need a client willing to spend the money to build a high end design that pushes the boundaries.

Jul 15, 21 1:24 pm  · 
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Jay1122

I read from an article with this paraphrased statement somewhere saying that a lot of the starchitects were doing their own weird designs way before they were famous. Waiting for the career to kick off by doing boring stuff and then start experimenting or wait for a super client to approach you first is unlikely to happen. Architects have to be selfish to a degree. Of course, look at how deep the client's pocket is first. 

You may think it is duh obvious, but I worked with the kind that lost all the drive, that even if the client have unlimited deep pocket, the design will probably still be boring boxes with gold covered toilets.

Jul 15, 21 2:10 pm  · 
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randomised

If you do the boring stuff because that’s what the client asks for, you will only get clients that want you to do the boring stuff...

Jul 15, 21 4:17 pm  · 
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tduds

A quote I often return to, I believe it's attributed to Picasso, is: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” Just to say, it's important to understand the boring aspects in order to successfully execute the "weird" designs.

Jul 15, 21 4:28 pm  · 
1  · 

You have to strike a balance. Some clients will appreciate seeing the ground breaking designs - even if they can't afford to build it. Other clients will be angry that you didn't do the boring design they asked for. So much so you could be fired. 

I've found it beneficial to do as Jay references.  Client asks for a 'boring' design.  Make them a good design the meets their  boring requirements.  Then on your own time do a 'ground breaking' design to show them.  If the client has the money and your design is good it will get built.  

 As I stated above, it all depends on the client.

Jul 15, 21 4:40 pm  · 
1  · 
randomised

No it all depends on the architecture, you get the clients you design towards (fingers crossed!)

Jul 15, 21 5:00 pm  · 
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Kind of. If your clients are only asking for boring and you keep showing them ground breaking then you're not going have many clients, or possibly a job.

I've seen  around a dozen instances were architects did great designs that were not what the client wanted.  They all were fired from the projects.    

Jul 15, 21 5:04 pm  · 
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rcz1001

Clients ultimately controls the project because they control the funding. Chad is right about real world. You can design whatever you want but you aren't practicing architecture.... just art at that point. While there are opportunities for the design professional to propose additional ideas but you must be showing what your client's vision but you can show other options as well but you must LISTEN to your client just as much as you TALK or SHOW ideas to expand your clients vision because that is what you are going to be telling your client from the get go even before you sign on. You are not an employee but an independent business. You will listen to your client's needs and concerns but you will also show options that they might not have thought about. You are not a drafting service. You have to convey that. 

Chad's statement, striking a balance is absolutely spot on. That is part of the value you present to the client as a service not just some "Yes sir, will do sir" drafting puppet of the client. I've seen clients like what Chad said. Most clients don't have the budget for the kinds of stuff Frank Gehry designs. They want a more 'down to earth' realistic solution that is realistic in their financial resources. I've worked with clients with varying budgets and most of my clients aren't going to be the kind that can outspend Donald Trump without breaking a sweat. 

My clients are real people not these gold-painted plastic con artists that have too much of the world's wealth in their pocket because of the illegal conduct they get away with. My clients and Chad's clients are very much in the same ballpark as my potential clientele pool. There are some that are more "well to do" than others but not a whole bunch of multimillionaire or multi-billionaires. The clients I like to provide services would have some wealth like judges, lawyers, doctors, well to do local business people, and so forth. I prefer clients that value good design, sustainability, and not the kind that tries to skirt around legal requirements because those kinds of individuals are a liability. 

If my client can only afford to spend ~$500K maybe with 50% contingency on top of that. I would be looking to design a solution that is realistically buildable at around $350K to $550K with but we can upscale the design here and there to the $450K to $675K price point but that's being the zone I need to be attentive to the design solutions I provide my client not throw at them a design that would cost $5 Million. Like, really? They'd be pissed because they feel they are wasting their money on someone that is proposing unrealistic solutions because they don't have that kind of money. 

Chad is absolutely spot-on as a professional in striking a balance.

Jul 15, 21 6:13 pm  · 
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randomised

It’s like doing only toilet partition walls in the office because the client, your boss, asks you to do those...you’ll be pigeonholed as an architect in both situations

Jul 16, 21 2:37 am  · 
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rcz1001

You can choose to take such a project or don't. That's up to you. Unless you are wealthy or have some investment partners willing to invest (gamble) money on your vision and you are going to make the end product (the building) from concept all the way through construction and even be in charge over construction, you are stuck fulfilling someone else's dreams. This is where architecture of buildings differs from software development. In software development, I make the product from concept in my mind all the way to production/publishing the product whether directly or via platforms for facilitating sales. Architecture process in a culmination of work by developers, architects/designers, engineers, and builders. It is not the same as making a book or a video game or software application where the whole enterprise is vertically integrated within the same organization throughout all stages from a concept to a product sold to a customer. Real (as in real estate) development is a horizontalized enterprise where multiple organizations are involved in making an idea into a tangible product... much more so than a more vertical enterprise.

Jul 16, 21 3:01 am  · 
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Rando - I haven't read Rick's responses so if you're replying to him I apologize. That being stated, I'm having a hard time following your logic. Are you saying that if you design what the client asks for you'll be pigeonholed? That doesn't make sense to me. Obviously you need to produce creative, functional designs regardless if the project is boring or ground breaking. We do need to listen to what our clients want though. Like I said above, I'm a big fan of producing an 'out of the box' design idea on my own time when the client wants 'boring'.

Jul 16, 21 9:43 am  · 
1  · 
randomised

You need to listen to your clients but if you only get a certain type of clients you’re listening a bit too well and have lost your own voice in all of it...or something

Jul 17, 21 1:05 am  · 
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rcz1001

https://www.masterclass.com/ar...

https://fontanarchitecture.com...

There are several write up and opinions but this does represent the formal phases of architectural services. It's basically the same for building designers/residential design. 

I also may integrate landscape design throughout the same phases to when I do also building design.

Another example describing the process: 

https://kgarch.com/how-does-th...

Jul 15, 21 4:56 pm  · 
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rcz1001

There are also books that you can purchase that will help you see the kinds of stuff prepared during the different phases. It should be noted that when you work with existing or historic buildings, there may be more work involved in the pre-design stage than it would be wore designing a new building. This should get you started and you should have more questions and more specific questions but ultimately, some of them should be answered in architecture school and some through working for an architect.

Jul 15, 21 5:06 pm  · 
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KingsMake, after looking at your website my advice is to get into a good ID program and study human factors, material properties, manufacturing tech, brand development, design and problem solving strategies, and so on - all of which can be applied to everything including architecture. 

Jul 15, 21 5:09 pm  · 
3  · 
rcz1001

"My designs go through hundreds of iterations both on paper and in CAD for the development of design and utility"

It's that way in architecture. For portfolio purposes, you won't have to show every iteration. You may present an abstraction of your design process with illustrative samples of your process. Yes, design is iterative.

What the design process should communicate overall is how you arrive at the arrangement of function areas and spatial volume, textures, juxtapositioning of opposites to establish pattern and dynamics to the experience of the space. All while arriving at a design that is functional to the needs of the client. Real projects have real-world budgets where you need to be mindful of as a professional. It doesn't necessarily cost a lot more to design something that looks good and is functional to designing a boring yet still maybe functional box but a good design can have more lasting value. 

The word "good" is by definition subjective. Therefore, it is subjective to what you are measuring "good" vs "bad". That's a matter of values. It may be different for me than it is for the client or Miles or whoever. It's different for each of us but there are various schools of thoughts with sets of values that are taught. 

Jul 15, 21 5:43 pm  · 
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batting1000

OP-You have some really nice products. Check out Emilio Ambasz. Very unsung hero, who has done it all. What you have and what we do, is static for the most part. What blows me away is industrial engineering: architecture w/ moving parts, chemicals here, heat there, trim that plate, and so on. When I watch HOW IT'S MADE, i take notes.

Jul 16, 21 1:09 am  · 
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