Site Analysis: Diagramming Information for Architectural Design

Contextual analysis is a predesign research activity which focuses on the existing, imminent, and potential conditions on and around a project site. It is, in a sense, an inventory of all the pressures, forces, and situations and their interactions at the property where a project will be built. This book describes the process and techniques of visualizing site information for architectural design in the dual sense of converting the information into graphic images and seeing or understanding the information better. The central thesis is that our ability to draw needs, requirements, and early design concepts is just as important as our ability to draw final building design solutions and that, in fact, our diagramming skills profoundly influence the quality of our building designs.