Amogh N P
✦ In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary ✦
Diagramming: Drawing Ideas, Not Objects — Parti, circulation, and the power of omission
Lesson 15Module 3 · Design application

Diagramming: Drawing Ideas, Not Objects

Parti, circulation, and the power of omission

3 hours studio

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • Distinguish diagram types — bubble/adjacency, circulation, zoning, parti, site-forces, and process diagrams — and the question each answers.
  • Abstract a real building into a parti diagram capturing its organizing idea in a few strokes.
  • Build a consistent graphic vocabulary: arrows, weights, fills, and symbols that mean the same thing across a project.
  • Use diagrams to analyse precedents and to develop the ongoing pavilion design.
Six ways to diagram the same tiny building — each answers a different question 1 — bubble / adjacency What needs to be near what? entry waiting consult store 2 — circulation How do people move through? entry 3 — zoning Public, private, or service? public private service 4 — parti What is the big idea, in one move? spine + rooms — one gesture 5 — site forces What pushes from outside? sun view road noise wind 6 — process How did the form get made? block carve lift roof
DiagramSix diagram types applied to one tiny building, side by side.
A parti emerging — massing reduced to a single stroke 1 full massing windows, roof, porch — everything 2 abstract diagram tower wing two masses + a joint 3 single-stroke parti the essential move — one line Reduction is the lesson: keep removing until one mark still carries the idea. If it survives the cut, it is the parti.
DiagramA parti emerging: massing → reduced diagram → single-stroke parti.
Bubble diagram → zoned plan — a small clinic 1 adjacency bubbles reception waiting exam 1 exam 2 lab 2 snapped to a grid recept. waiting lab exam 2 exam 1 3 rough zoned plan recept. waiting lab exam 2 exam 1 entry The plan inherits the bubbles' adjacencies — nothing important moves; the diagram simply gains walls, a grid, and a door.
DiagramA bubble diagram morphing into a zoned plan across three frames.
Notation legend — a consistent diagram vocabulary primary circulation secondary circulation entry (point of arrival) view / outlook sun / daylight direction solid mass (poché or hatch) void (open / unbuilt space) Keep one symbol per idea and use it the same way on every drawing. A reader who learns the legend once can read the whole set.
DiagramAn arrows-and-notation legend in a consistent graphic vocabulary.
A site from above — forces to diagram.
ReferenceA site from above — forces to diagram.

Key concepts

  • A diagram deliberately omits: its power comes from what it leaves out.
  • Analysis vs. generation: diagrams that explain an existing building vs. diagrams that propose a new one.
  • Notation discipline: a legend turns scribbles into an argument.
  • Layered diagrams: separating structure, circulation, light, and use, then superimposing to find conflicts and synergies.

In-class activities & exercises

Diagram taxonomy (30 min)Walk-through with a worksheet matching diagrams to the questions they answer.
Precedent autopsy (50 min)From photographs and a plan of a well-known local building, students extract parti, circulation, and zoning diagrams.
Bubble-to-plan (40 min)Converting a room-adjacency bubble diagram for a small clinic into a rough zoned plan.
Pavilion diagrams (40 min)Students diagram their Lesson 14 scheme — site forces, circulation, and a one-stroke parti — and pin up beside the sketches.

Worked example sketches

How the technique looks in practice — loose, hand-drawn examples. Scroll to watch each one draw in; click to zoom.

From massing to parti the object — what it looks like distil the idea — one stroke: ascent to the light
DiagramA building reduced to a single-stroke parti diagram.
Small clinic — zones & flow waiting consult consult lab staff store utility entry patient circulation →
DiagramCirculation and zoning diagrams of a small clinic.
Adjacency bubbles — a 2BHK living kitchen dining bed 1 bath entry strong link weak link
DiagramA room-adjacency bubble diagram with a shared legend.
Site forces — what the plot is telling us N the plot afternoon sun SW breeze view street access (screen road noise) draw the invisible: orient to the good forces, turn the back to the bad ones
DiagramA site-forces diagram — sun, wind, views and access arrows.

Homework / studio assignment

A single A4 'idea sheet' for your pavilion: parti, circulation, and light diagrams with a shared legend.

Assessment

Rubric on abstraction (did the diagram omit enough?), notational consistency, and the explanatory power of the parti.