choose a building
and imagine that you are its
architect/designer and that you are writing the text of a short oral presentation (about 3
minutes in length) that you will make to your patron/client to outline the design challenges
inherent in the program and to explain in detail how your proposal addresses them. You
should imagine that you will be making your presentation with drawings of the plan and
section and a model of the building on display. In particular you should focus on what
architectural decisions you made during the design process and why. Here are some
suggestions of topics that you might consider addressing (note that there might be others as
they will vary according to the building): function, response to site, form, materials,
constructional techniques, precedents, style, and expression. Think about who the
patron/client is, and what decisions might have already been taken (by the patron or
someone else) before you received the commission. Consider to what extent your design
follows precedents (or deliberately deviates from them) and the reasons why. Focus on the
questions that would be of interest to someone of the same period / culture trying to
understand why you designed it in the way that you did. This is an opportunity to think about
what issues were uppermost in the mind of the original architect. Do not write in an “oldfashioned” language but in clear and expressive modern English using your own words. You
may use the first person if you wish. Quotations should not be used and citations should
therefore not be needed; an appropriate bibliography, however, should be appended.
Building i choose:
Paul Rudolph,
Art and Architecture Building, New Haven
