First published in a Dutch edition in 1974, this book was written in Dutch by four members of the Design Methods Group of the Department of Architecture at the University of Eindhoven after several years of experience in teaching the method they developed and describe in the book. Since 1975 N. J. Habrakenhas been Head of the Department of Architecture at MIT. The other three authors are still teaching at Eindhoven. In an Introduction prepared for the English edition, Habraken writes that "It was hoped .. .that the design of supports would help solve some of the problems traditionally associated with the design of masshousing ... . It is not possible to evaluate the design of a support by examining the dwelling unit plan since there is no such predetermined plan. The support building must be judged in a different way. There is a PROBLEM OF EVALUATION when the support has to be judged on its potential for accommodating dwelling unit plans, which satisfy the individual requirements of different users, throughout its life span.&nbsp;To solve this problem a systematic way must be found to test the support by generating a series of representative possible floor plans and judging those by a set of general criteria. The method presented in this book provides tools to cope with the problem of evaluation . .. .The process of evaluation must test what is possible with in a given structure (e.g. the possible final floorplans) against what is generally desirable (e.g .specificaily stated standards). The method basically offers a series of operations that give, in increasingly complex situations, such comparisons. Given the width of a bay, what meaningful combinations of spaces or functions can be accommodated? In certain locations within a structure what kinds of activities are possible? Or conversely, given certain necessary relationships between&nbsp;functions, what bay width offers an optimum solution within certain technical and financial constraints? In what specific areas of a structure can certain desirable activities be located? The result of each separate operation within the method is always what is called a series of VARIATIONS, a number of possible solutions that give us the information we need to make decisions and proceed in the design process. In order to make the resultant variations comparable with others, that result from other operations, they must be generated in a systematic way. This means that the way we annotate the variations and the way that the system of annotation is arrived at must be formalized in order to avoid ambiguity."The first four chapters are devoted to a step-by-step description of the method, while later chapters show examples of possible applications and provide some explanation of the theoretical background. The contents are organized in such a way that the relationship between practical applications and theoretical background is made explicit. The book is profusely illustrated with plans and photographs of rooms and buildings. It is being distributed by The MIT Press for the MIT Laboratory of Architecture and Planning.

Variations: The Systematic Design of Supports

Arts & Photography

Habraken, N.J.

Thijssen, A.P.

Boekholt, J. Th.

Dinjens, P. J. M.

Architecture

The MIT Press

The influential Dutch architect's long-awaited manifesto on the everyday environment as the first and best ground for establishing the significance and coherence of architecture.
According to N. J. Habraken, intimate and unceasing interaction between people and the forms they inhabit uniquely defines built environment. The Structure of the Ordinary, the culmination of decades of environmental observation and design research, is a recognition and analysis of everyday environment as the wellspring of urban design and formal architecture. The author's central argument is that built environment is universally organized by the Orders of Form, Place, and Understanding. These three fundamental, interwoven principles correspond roughly to physical, biological, and social domains.
Historically, "ordinary" environment was the background against which architects built the "extraordinary." Drawing upon extensive examples from archaeological and contemporary sites worldwide, the author illustrates profound recent shifts in the structure of everyday environment. One effect of these transformations, Habraken argues, has been the loss of implicit common understanding that previously enabled architects to formally enhance and innovate while still maintaining environmental coherence. Consequently, architects must now undertake a study of the ordinary as the fertile common ground in which form- and place-making are rooted. In focusing on built environment as an autonomous entity distinct from the societies and natural environments that jointly create it, this book lays the foundation for a new dialogue on methodology and pedagogy, in support of a more informed approach to professional intervention.

The Structure of the Ordinary: Form and Control in the Built Environment

Literature & Fiction

Short Stories & Anthologies

MIT Press]

Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing (Routledge Revivals)

First translated in English ten years after its original Dutch publication in 1962, this book has inspired practitioners for generations. It's proposal to distinguish the infill from the support - what users can individually decide in a housing process from what users share - has turned out to be feasible in practice. The Natural Relation - the interaction of people with their immediate environment and the central concept of the book - is the result of that distinction. It is essential to the well-being of everyday environment regardless of function or available resources.

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

Routledge

Originally published in 1985 this book explores, in four interwoven essays, the many ways human life and built form interact and the place that professional designing takes in this interaction. Together, the essays touch on a number of ideas: the idea that our position in space relative to the thing we are designing determines the methods we apply when designing it; the idea that designing is about making proposals, and is therefore a social act first of all; and the idea that agreements, consensus and above all conventions shape the act of designing things independent of their creative qualities.

The Appearance of the Form: Four Essays on the Position Designing takes between People and Things (Routledge Revivals)

Sports & Outdoors

Water Sports

The Appearance of the Form (Routledge Revivals)

Palladio's Children

Based on many years of personal observation, Palladio's Children critically examines the role of the architect as a professional descendent of Palladio, and as an heir to his architectural legacy. Seven innovative and carefully crafted essays explore the widening ideological schism between today’s architects whose core values, identity and education remain rooted in the Renaissance legacy of creating artful ‘masterpieces’, and the practical demands on a profession which acts within an evolving, ubiquitous and autonomous built environment or ‘field’.  Clearly written yet expressing complex, evolving ideas, this extended argument opens a new forum of debate across design theory, professional practice and academic issues. Moving the subject on from a historical perspective, Habraken shows how architects are increasingly involved in the design of everyday buildings. This must lead to a reassessment of architects’ identities, values and education, and the contribution of the architect in the shaping of the built environment.

Palladio's Children: Essays on Everyday Environment and the Architect

History

Ancient Civilizations

Taylor&Francis

Based on many years of personal observation, Palladio's Children critically examines the role of the architect as a professional descendent of Palladio, and as an heir to his architectural legacy. Seven innovative and carefully crafted essays explore the widening ideological schism between today’s architects whose core values, identity and education remain rooted in the Renaissance legacy of creating artful ‘masterpieces’, and the practical demands on a profession which acts within an evolving, ubiquitous and autonomous built environment or ‘field’. Clearly written yet expressing complex, evolving ideas, this extended argument opens a new forum of debate across design theory, professional practice and academic issues. Moving the subject on from a historical perspective, Habraken shows how architects are increasingly involved in the design of everyday buildings. This must lead to a reassessment of architects’ identities, values and education, and the contribution of the architect in the shaping of the built environment.

Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing

Praeger Publishing

Supports, an alternative to mass housing

Architectural Press

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