Architectural Programming and Predesign Manager

265 Pages·1999·59.64 MB·English

by  Robert Hershberger

Architectural Programming
and Predesign Manager
Robert Hershberger, Ph.D., FAIA

Boston, Massachusetts Burr Ridge, Illinois Dubuque, Iowa
Madison, Wisconsin New York, New York San Francisco,
California St. Louis, Missouri
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hershberger, Robert G.
Architectural programming and predesign manager I Robert G.
Hershberger.
p. cm. Dedication
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-07-134749-6 This book is dedicated to my wife, Deanna, and our children, Vernon
1. Architectural design-Data processing. 2. Computer-aided and Andrew, who have given me both the love and encouragement
design. I. Title.
that I needed to persevere for the twenty-three years that this book
NA2728.H47 1999
720-dc21 99-14447 has been in process.

CIP
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was Andrew Yoder, the copy editior was Audrey Brichetto Morris of the
Herberger Center for Design Excellence of Arizona State University, and the
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Contents
Forevvord ix
Preface xiii
Acknovvledgments xvii
Chapter 1: Architectural Programming 1
1.1 The Nature of Architectural Programming 1
1.2 Definitions of Architectural Programming 4
1.3 Approaches to Architectural Programming 6
1.4 Design-Based Architectural Programming 7
1.5 Knovvledge-Based Architectural Programming 14
1. 6 Agreement-Based Architectural Programming 1 7
1. 7 Value-Based Architectural Programming 25
1. 8 Exercises 3 5
1. 9 References 3 6
Chapter 2: Values and Architecture 41
2 .1 Importance of Values 41
2.2 Enduring Values of Architecture 42
2.3 Contemporary Values of Architecture 53
2.4 HECTTEAS (TEST EACH) 56
2.5 Case Study: Alleluia Lutheran Church 57
2. 6 Case Study: Hershberger Residence 60
2. 7 Exercises 70
2. 8 References 71
Chapter 3: Values Become Issues 73
3 .1 Human Issues 7 5
3.2 Environmental Issues 89
VI Contents
Contents VI I
372
3. 3 Cultural Issues 108 7.4 Executive Summary
3 .4 Technological Issues 123 7.5 Values and Goals 375
3. 5 Temporal Issues 132 7. 6 Design Considerations 376
3. 6 Economic Issues 140 7. 7 Project Requirements 382
3. 7 Aesthetic Issues 145 7. 8 Space Identification and Allocation 7. 9 390
3. 8 Safety Issues 161 Relationship Matrices and Diagrams 395
3. 9 Exercises 167 7 .10 Space Program Sheets 404
3 .10 References
168 7 .11 Budget and Cost Analysis 7 406
.12 Project Schedule 415
Chapter 4: Preparing to Program 4 171 7 .13 Design Analysis 418
171 7 .14 Appendix 430
.1 Pre-Design Services
180 7 .15 Exercises 431
4.2 Architectural Programming
181 7 .16 References
4.3 Discovering Critical Issues 4. 432
182
4 Program Planning
4. 5 Exercises 190 Chapter 8: Methods of Evaluation 8.1 435
4. 6 References 191 Program Evaluation 436
8.2 Design Evaluation 446
Chapter 5: Information Gathering 193 8.3 Building Evaluation 448
5 .1 Literature Search and Review 5. 195 8. 4 Body of Knowledge 451
2 Diagnostic Interviewing 219 8. 5 The Next Commission 452
5.3 Diagnostic Observation 246 8. 6 Exercises 453
5 .4 Questionnaires and Surveys 273 8. 7 References
454
5.5 Site and Climate Analysis
306
5. 6 Exercises
5. 7 References 313 Appendix: Sample Architectural Programs 457
317
A.1 The Planning Department,
457
The University of Arizona
Chapter 6: Work Sessions 321 A.2 Mikvah for an Orthodox Jewish Congregation 470
6.1 Client/User Work Sessions 323
6.2 Executive Work Sessions 6.3 331 Index 487
Work Session Setting
334
6. 4 Matrix Development
335
6.5 Presentation Methods
346
6.6 Requirement Sheets
359
6. 7 Exercises
364
6. 8 References
365
Chapter 7: Program Preparation 7 36
7
.1 Program Form
368
7.2 Program Content
369
7.3 Preliminaries
370
Foreword
T
hroughout a long and distinguished career as an educator, a
significant piece of which was at Arizona State University in
the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (of which I
am currently the Dean), and then most recently at the University of
Arizona (where he has only recently stepped down as Dean), Bob
Hershberger has sustained in parallel an active architectural practice.

This volume draws richly from this joint background. Donald Schoen
has written vividly of the need for reflective practice. Perhaps no one
should feel more powerfully that challenge than the
educator/practitioner. In this book we all benefit from Dr.
Hershberger's reflections on a career that has included the rigorous
research required for his Ph.D., the careful structuring required to
transform students into professionals, and his own work as a
practicing architect.
I should declare immediately that I am the direct beneficiary of
Bob Hershberger's efforts. For a brief period he was my Associate
Dean before the University of Arizona called. The new addition to
our College of Architecture and Environmental Design celebrates
through the work of Alan Chimacoff of the Hillier Group an ex-
traordinarily thoughtful program for which Bob Hershberger and
Tim McGinty provided the major effort and guidance. And every day
of my working life is spent in the context of Bob Hershberger' s two
efforts on Mill Avenue in Tempe, both of which are described in this
book. I am referring to his influence that caused the city fathers to
rethink their plan to bulldoze Mill Avenue, which was then replaced
with a much more responsible plan to honor the historic heritage and
create a richer and far more hu-
x Foreword Foreword
mane urban center. I also Ie njoy my daily salute to the Alleluia Given a certain climate, the availability of certain materials, and
Lutheran Church on Mill Avenue where the existing modest house the constraints and capabilities of a given level of technology, what
became the springboard for his design of the sanctuary. finally decides the form of a dwelling, and moulds the spaces and
This book is a contribution to the literature on programming and their relationships, is the vision that people have of the ideal life.
acknowledges its debt to its predecessors, most notably the work of Amos Rapoport was writing primarily about buildings that were
William Pena whose series of volumes, all of which have the phrase the product of what he calls the "preindustrial vernacular." That is to
"Problem Seeking" in their title, began in 1969. Other names say, buildings that may have been built by craftsmen but were not the
familiar from the literature, such as Henry Sanoff, Wolfgang Freiser, conceptual products of professional architects. I see this book as an
and Mickey Palmer are invoked, as are institutions such as the AIA effort to bring to the self-conscious work of the architect a similar
and GSA who have helped define the current practice. priority of cultural value.
This book differs, however, in several respects. First, it is clearly One of the questions that is always raised when programming is
intended primarily as a text to be used in an educational setting. discussed is whether programming and design are necessarily sep-
Second, it is much more discursive and inclusive, drawing heavily arate and sequential activities, and the corollary question of whether
on the author's academic and professional experiences. Third, and the programmer and the designer can or should be the same
most significantly, it emphasizes the qualitative, or value, issues as individual. This book does not firmly answer those questions, while
having priority while accepting as a competent professional that it does discuss the pros and cons behind them. As an architect who
there remain quantitative, and particularly economic, realities that often has designed the buildings he has programmed, and who is
must be addressed. intimately familiar with the dialogue that can be so fertile between
As a text I suspect the book will be easy to use. The eight chap- program and design, Bob Hershberger clearly does not fit in the
ters relate nicely to a sixteen-week semester. The exercises at the end camp of those who would hold them firmly separate. Indeed, as a
of each chapter are valuable pedagogical tools. And the instructor student, he studied under Louis Kahn, whose building designs are as
will be able to develop an interesting dialogue with the voice and much an interrogation of the program of an institution as they are a
ideas of the author. The voice, and those ideas, lend a personality to consequence of that program.
the text. The reader gets to know and admire the author as a In closing, I have a suggestion as to how to read this book. I
reflective practitioner and a natural teacher, whose own values of would start at the end, with the two sample programs. In particular I
respect and caring for his clients and his students are transparent. would start with the program for a Mikvah for an Orthodox Jewish
Ever since Amos Rapoport wrote House Form and Culture, ed- Congregation. Dr. Hershberger is not an Orthodox Jew, indeed a
ucators have been appropriately loath to refer to climate, site, significant part of his 'practice has been churches for the Christian
technology, and use, as "determinants" of architectural form. Let me faith that informs his life and values, but in this program there is
quote: evidence of the profound respect for the values of the institution
My basic hypothesis, then, is that house form is not simply the which is being served. That is the very center of what this book is
result of physical forces or any single causal factor, but is the con- about. Having come to terms with it, one can turn with profit back to
sequence of a whole range of socio-cultural factors seen in their the beginning to follow the logic of the text in the comfortable
broadest terms. Form is in turn modified by climatic conditions (the company of its estimable author.
physical environment which makes some things impossible and John Meunier
encourages others) and by methods of construction, materials July 1997
available, and the technology (the tools for achieving the desired
environment). I will call the socio-cultural factors primary, and the
others secondary or modifying.
Preface
T
his book is intended to be a teaching/learning tool-a text/
workbook that can be used in the college classroom to help
students in architecture and other environmental design disciplines
learn a sound basis for architectural programming. It will also be
useful in the architectural office for practitioners who have not had
sufficient educational background in architectural programming.
Each reader can learn from the text about the theoretical and
methodological aspects of programming and employ the suggested
exercises to develop needed programming skills.
The intent of the book is to provide a strong philosophical basis
and the appropriate methodology for programming that begins the
process leading to architecture-buildings that accomplish the goals,
meet the needs, and express the highest and most appropriate values
of the clients, users, and architect to become works of art.
Because of its emphasis, the book should appeal to architects,
architectural designers, architectural educators, and architectural
students. Interior designers, landscape architects, and urban de-
signers should also find this programming approach to be useful as
they endeavor to create works of art in their own areas.
The book will also prove of interest and use to behavioral and
social scientists engaged in architectural programming because the
philosophical basis is not alien to their objectives, and the
methodologies are decidedly biased toward those used by behav-
ioral and social scientists. They will find themselves on familiar
ground during discussions of literature search and review, obser-
vation, interviewing, questionnaire preparation, sampling, and
x
Preface X
XIV Preface

the like. They will also find the emphasis on values to be of current 7. Demonstrating how such an approach can help architects
interest in their own fields. evaluate, and hence improve, their design solutions.

The point of view offered is that effective architectural pro- 7. Providing two excellent examples of program documents in
gramming can enhance the quality of design, and conversely that the appendix to show the reader how a final program docu-
some programming approaches actually inhibit quality design. ment should be presented.

Those methods of programming that focus only on the collection of
Finally, the organization of the text and abundance of illustra-
facts and figures about the presumed needs of the client or user
tions should make reading both easy and enjoyable for those in or
group are likely to miss the most important information for design:
aspiring to be in a visually oriented design profession. They should
values and goals. Without an initial understanding of these areas,
find this book of use in their endeavor to create architec-
there is a very high probability that many of the collected facts and
ture.
figures will be irrelevant and misleading. The important values and
goals must be identified for the programmer to know what facts and
figures need to be articulated in the program. The designer, on the
other hand, needs values and goals to know on which areas to focus
the design effort. The designer can also use the expressed values and
goals to evaluate the appropriateness of various design decisions.
The behavioral scientist needs to understand the values and goals for
meaningful post-occupancy evaluation.
The intent, therefore, is to provide the reader with a text/
workbook that articulates a sound and general basis for architectural
programming and sets forth the fundamental methods, techniques,
and tools to be utilized. It differentiates itself from other texts and
publications currently available in this area by:

1. Providing an extended theoretical discussion of the reasons
for preparing an architectural program.

3. Stressing the importance of value identification prior to es-
tablishing specific program goals and requirements.

1. Covering in some depth the most essential and general pro-
cedures for developing programming information

1. Showing how work sessions can be used effectively at the
conclusion of information gathering and the beginning of
program preparation.

1. Showing what program documents should contain and how to
assemble them.

6. Introducing specific exercises by which the reader can de-
velop the skills necessary to do quality architectural pro-
gramming.
Acknowledgments
A
s an architectural student I did not take a course in architectural
programming. I was given the program, usually a
brief one, by the studio instructor and was expected to begin to
design. However, like other students in the typical five-year ar-
chitectural program, I was required to do research and write a
program for my bachelor's thesis. I selected a two-year medical
school for my project, and in the process of literature review dis-
covered Louis I. Kahn and his seminal work on the Richards
Building at the University of Pennsylvania. I was amazed at the
depth of his thinking about architecture, not just design but also
questions about the nature of form and its relation to human in-
stitutions. I decided that I should study under this master architect
and teacher. I must acknowledge the seed that he planted as he
considered with his students the essential nature of various design
projects-a house in Chestnut Hill, a consulate for Angola, a river boat
on the River Th~mes and finally the Salk Center. It started me
thinking about the nature of architecture. My sincere
thanks to Louis I. Kahn.
In my first teaching job at Idaho State University, I regularly
ate lunch in the Faculty Club where, to my constant amazement, I
listened to other faculty talk about their research, statistics and the
like. I found their conversations stimulating and baffling, because
my education had practically nothing in these areas. The University
of Pennsylvania had just begun a Ph.D. program in architecture, so I
decided to go back and learn about research, especially as it might
apply to architecture. This time I discovered Russell Ackoff,
professor and head of Operations Research. He
XVIII Acknowledgments Acknowledgments XI
how they showed me that "values become issues," whether we want
had graduated in architecture, but had found research more to his
them to or not. They taught me how to program.
liking. He applied the problem solving mentality of the architect to
I began working on this book in the summer and fall of 1976.
this new field. His work and teaching were fascinating because, like
The book took second place to an active programming and design
Kahn, he looked beyond the obvious for the profound-for
practice for about ten years, but was nearly complete when I left
understanding, not just description. I gratefully acknowledge his
Arizona State University in 1988 to become Dean of the College of
influence on my way of thinking. Dean G. Holmes Perkins reinforced
Architecture at The University of Arizona. I team-taught pro-
this type of thinking as he guided me through my dissertation study
gramming that spring with Susan Moody, who then taught the course
on Architecture and Meaning. His incisive directions and insistence
for the next seven years using my nearly complete document. I very
that I manage the scope of the research also greatly contributed to
much appreciate the insights that she and her students gave me from
how I think. I acknowledge and thank him. He is my model of a fine
that time period.
human being and an outstanding educator and administrator.

I thank Chuck Hutchinson for his encouragement and good ad-
I presented my dissertation research at one of the first meetings of
vice over the years. I also thank Donna Duerk, Kent Spreckelmeyer,
the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) in
Wolf Freiser, and Walter Moleski for being thoughtful reviewers of
Blacksburg, Virginia. Here I met other architects and social scientists
the manuscript in its various stages. I deeply appreciate the
interested in research questions in architecture. A few, like Gerald
thoughtful foreword by Dean John Meunier of Arizona State
Davis and Jay Farbstein, were practicing as architectural
University. I thank Carl Okasaki for the many excellent sketch
programmers. I have been greatly influenced by a number of these
illustrations, Nancy Cole for her computer graphic images, and
people including Walter Moleski, Robert Bechtel, John Zeisel, Kent
Claudette Barry for initial editing of the manuscript. I especially
Spreckelmeyer, and Wolf Freiser, to name a few. Returning to the
thank Audrey Brichetto Morris of the Herberger Center for Design
annual EDRA conference every year for ten or more years influenced
Excellence at Arizona State University for her exceptionally
my thinking a great deal.

thoughtful copyediting of the final manuscript. I stand in awe of her
After receiving my Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, I took
special abilities in this area. I am equally impressed with the
a position as Associate Professor at Arizona State University where I
expertise of Kelly Ricci, Lisa M. Mellott, Nadine McFarland, and
began teaching research methods and architectural programming. I
Toya Warner of Barry E. Brown, Broker, in designing, formatting,
also began teaching design with Calvin C. Straub, who became a
layout, and graphic design of this book. Finally, I want to express
personal mentor. His devotion to site analysis and, especially,
appreciation to Mary Kihl, Director of the Herberger Center, and
client/user analysis greatly influence how I think, how I teach design,
Wendy Lochner, Architectural Editor for McGraw-Hill, for their
and especially how I have come to think about and teach architectural
timely and incisive answers to my many questions about how to get
programming. I especially acknowledge his contribution to this
the book published. Thank you all!
book.

And, of course, a professor's best teachers are students. I greatly
appreciate the education that they have given to me. I especially
acknowledge how their insights and concerns have gradually shaped
the text on programming to its present state. I have been able to
include some of their work in the text, but there has been so much
more that could not be included. Thank you everyone. Your
contributions are most appreciated. Similarly, the practicing
professional's best teachers are clients! They often selected my firm
because it offered programming services. I have had many
outstanding clients and acknowledge their contribution, especially