Design and Analysis

Design and Analysis is an insightful, interdisciplinary exploration of the diversity of analytic methods used by architects, designers, urban planners, and landscape architects to understand the structure and principles of the built environment. Developed by a team headed by Bernard Leupen at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, Design and Analysis defies borders of history, geography, and discipline, tracing the evolution of design principles from ancient Greece to the 20th century. Design and Analysis defines an ordered system that enables the design student or professional to identify the factors that influence designers' decisions, and shows how to relate them to the finished project. Design and Analysis is organized into six chapters that correspond to these factors: order and composition, functionality, structure, typology, context, and analytical techniques. The authors introduce the analytical drawing as a time-tested means to obtaining insight into the design process. Over 100 line drawings are featured in all. The authors give an outline of space design as a whole, from individual buildings to urban and landscape ensembles. Though primarily intended for design students to help them appreciate many of the issues that they will face as professionals, Design and Analysis's broad, easy-to-read approach makes it an invaluable handbook for designers of all disciplines.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Philosophy, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.