DIFFERENCE IN SIMILARITY - INTERPRETING THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROCESS

Depending on discipline, models of the design process tend to focus on one of three general concepts: representation, form, and structure. W e hypothesise that aspects of each concept will be found when studying designing from one particular discipline and that, in the case of arc hitecture, the three concepts can be combined to produce a general mod el of the architectural design process. To show this we have developed a 'difference in similarity' methodology-studying individual differen ces through general behavioural patterns-to carrying out a study of fi ve architects varying in experience from six to fifteen years. Our res ults support our hypothesis and also suggest that as designers gain bo th general and specific experience of architecture they are able to qu ickly generate a problem paradigm, or coherent grasp of a set of issue s in a particular design situation. We observe distinct patterns of re asoning in all designers and present a general model of the architectu ral design process.