How can you teach a class about the design process using a cooking recipe as an analogy?

Tachuela, Rome and food

Probably, because of my preservation background, I tend to investigate the why and how of any building. This year, I began teaching a course at my university on Architectural Design Principles which included a topic in the program on the Design Process. Since reading The secret of Architectural Composition by Cortlandt, and The Classical Language of Architecture by Summerson, I developed the idea that the architectural elements required for a project can be compared to the ingredients needed for a cooking recipe.

The Design Process gathers all the steps, stages and decisions that a designer undertakes in order to transform an user´s need or demand into an actual design project. I recall one professor who said that design is an intelligent action -something created thoughtfully just to fulfill the user´s requirements. To design, therefore, is the act of producing something with deliberate intelligence.

Typically, the Design Process begins with researching the project requirements: doing site analysis, interviewing the client and reviewing the building codes. Afterward, the process continues into the conceptualization part, which involves sketching and developing the parti. Later on, making mockups, 3D models and renderings. This is, of course, a very general outline-, these three stages can be even more complex.

Tachuela and cooking recipe

So, what is the analogy? I explained to my students that, in order to understand the design process, we could compare its stages to those of a cooking recipe. I then designed a class activity which they developed an architectural project as if it were a recipe. In this analogy, the ingredients correspond to the architectural program -such as the client's needs, the building area, and the site conditions. The recipe itself can be compared to the architectural concept, which represents the main idea that guides the design; and just as every recipe requires a cooking technique, every building relies on a construction technique.

The student's task was to present an architectural project as a recipe, in just five steps. First, each student had to choose a -dish-, for example, a house, a library, or a store. Then they had to list all the ingredients, followed by writing down the design process, which represented the way the dish would be prepared. They had to describe: how do you begin ? how you develop your ideas? How do you start sketching ? What type of research is required ? How do you conduct the site analysis?

Next, they were asked to add a special ingredient: What is your specialty? or What is your secret ingredient? This element was meant to reflect their own design style. Finally, each student presented their recipe to the entire classroom. So, to finish this post, let me share the result of one of my students, Eliezer.

Student´s architectural recipe