MIND MAPPING

For Architectural Design Firm

1. Challenge

I am heading the Design Studio of our Architectural Design firm in India and we deal in variety  of projects like Industrial, Institutional and Commercial. We generally start the design concept  development by listing all the design ideas. The challenge here is that many times it becomes  difficult to comprehend on the exhaustive list of ideas for a given project. For instance, if we are  developing concept for a commercial project then the team would share various ideas like  green building, modern architectural language, maximizing the floor area ratio etc which might  or might not have any connection with each other. And many times we are not able to fully  utilize this exhaustive exercise.

2. Selection

Since architectural designing is not about linear processing of ideas we had to choose a tool  which can capture a web of ideas – and that’s where Mind Mapping comes in handy.

3. Application

We started our meeting with interactive brainstorming session with our design staff for design  concept development of the new project. Since we wanted the discussions to be open  therefore we welcomed everyone’s ideas. However we did something different this time, we  started grouping these ideas with respect to common elements – for example rain water  harvesting on the site and use of high performance glass in building façade (to reduce electricity  consumption) were both mentioned in a branch called ‘green building concepts’. By doing this  our exhaustive list of approximately 35-40 points was categorized under 6 sub-heads.

4. Insight

We realized that the free visual manner in which our ideas were being branching out from our  objective was actually helping us see the factors which are extremely important as Design  Concept and the factors which are probably not so critical at this stage! This made it easier for  us to define our primary design decisions – for example building orientation with respect to  Sun’s movement. Moreover, it is a fantastic tool for a group brainstorming and facilitates  creativity. And the biggest advantage of this exercise was that after our internal discussion on  Mind Mapping we were able to share this very diagram with our clients and they were more  than happy to see this design process in a visual manner!

5. Approach

What started out as an experiment is now becoming a fundamental part of our Design Process.  It is a collective exercise which invokes creativity. We have now decided to do Mind Mapping at  every critical phase of a project life cycle. Moreover, we have decided that we shall try to  involve our clients during the next Mind Mapping session of their project – so that it becomes a  more collaborative exercise and client’s visions and intents are inherently incorporated at the  fundamental stage of design!


MIND MAPPING For Architectural Design Firm 1 . Challenge I am heading the Design Studio of our Architectural Design firm in India and we deal in variety of projects like Industrial , Institutional and Commercial . We generally start the design concept development by listing all the design ideas . The challenge here is that many times it becomes difficult to comprehend on the exhaustive list of ideas for a given project . For instance , if we are developing concept for a commercial project then the team would share various ideas like green building , modern architectural language , maximizing the floor area ratio etc which might or might not have any connection with each other . And many times we are not able to fully utilize this exhaustive exercise . 2 . Selection Since architectural designing is not about linear processing of ideas we had to choose a tool which can capture a web of ideas – and that ’s where Mind Mapping comes in handy . 3 . Application We started our meeting with interactive brainstorming session with our design staff for design concept development of the new project . Since we wanted the discussions to be open therefore we welcomed everyone ’s ideas . However we did something different this time , we started grouping these ideas with respect to common elements – for example rain water harvesting on the site and use of high performance glass in building façade ( to reduce electricity consumption ) were both mentioned in a branch called ‘ green building concepts ’ . By doing this our exhaustive list of approximately 35 - 40 points was categorized under 6 sub - heads . 4 . Insight We realized that the free visual manner in which our ideas were being branching out from our objective was actually helping us see the factors which are extremely important as Design Concept and the factors which are probably not so critical at this stage ! This made it easier for us to define our primary design decisions – for example building orientation with respect to Sun ’s movement . Moreover , it is a fantastic tool for a group brainstorming and facilitates creativity . And the biggest advantage of this exercise was that after our internal discussion on Mind Mapping we were able to share this very diagram with our clients and they were more than happy to see this design process in a visual manner ! 5 . Approach What started out as an experiment is now becoming a fundamental part of our Design Process . It is a collective exercise which invokes creativity . We have now decided to do Mind Mapping at every critical phase of a project life cycle . Moreover , we have decided that we shall try to involve our clients during the next Mind Mapping session of their project – so that it becomes a more collaborative exercise and client ’s visions and intents are inherently incorporated at the fundamental stage of design !