Summoning courage before this forum, I venture to make the following
tentative propositions:

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On Theories of Design

Definition and Delimitation
Design describes an activity which arises in human beings and which attempts
to adapt available means to an implied or expressed purpose in the form of
Proposal.

Hypothesis 1
All design can be described in a unified theory. This follows from the
proposition that all design has, in a theoretical final analysis, a common
single impulse in the human mind.

Hypothesis 2
A unified theory of design may paradoxically be unavailable to human
intellectual understanding, which is limited to using mind to understand
mind.

Hypothesis 3
Design can be observed in an infinite number of manifested variations. This
follows from the indefinite and unpredictable number of possibilities which
may arise from the interaction of any designer's perception of available
means and purposes.

Hypothesis 4
As design is held to proceed from the singular to the infinite, apparently
dissimilar interactions of the unified entity which display common
characteristics may be identified as 'high-level' types of design process.
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Following from Hypothesis 4, I have begun a description of distinct types of
'high-level' design interaction:

1    'Forming' :
Definition: ‘Forming' is that aspect of the design process in which a
mentally pre-conceived abstraction is represented in 3-dimensional space.

2     'Planning'
Definition: ‘Planning' is that aspect of design process in which sets of
mutually exclusive functions and usages are defined in order to render them
amenable to observation, measurement, statistical analysis, manipulation and
disposition.

3    'Imaging'
Definition: ‘Imaging' is that aspect of design process in which implied
meaning arises through the manipulation of representational images.

4    'Connecting'
Definition: ‘Connecting' is that aspect of design process in which physical
and conceptual entities interact dynamically with each other and their
context.
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An expansion of these types has been prepared for a paper to eCAADe'99. I
welcome discussion, comments and criticism in the spirit of design research
and will forward a draft of the paper on request to me at [log in to unmask]

Michael Mullins
Durban
South Africa

http://www.und.ac.za/und/arch/arch/mfm/homepage.html




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