5. Program

Program

The program is very significant when approaching the formal design of a building or other structure. In its most basic form, the program is the list of requirements for a building’s design based on various factors, including the client, cultural context, the use of the space, the environment, and so much more. The program is what will help define the building’s geometries in all aspects of its design. For example, a client may want a tall living room with floor to ceiling windows, which will define the form of both the windows and the rest of the house due to the size of said windows. Georgia’s Governor’s mansion was designed in 1968 in a style similar to those of Antebellum plantation homes. This was due to the current Governor at the time, Lester Maddox, a staunch segregationist who wanted the “glory days” of Georgia represented in its executive residence. This created a specific list of requirements for the building’s design and forms that aligned with that style. The continuous plane exercise in the bottom right required a program where a single sheet of bristol board had to be used and altered using cutting and folding, but it still had to be one continuous piece. These were the project’s requirements and thus its program to devise its form. (continued on page 18)

From top to bottom:

Georgia’s Governor’s mansion in the Buckhead district of Atlanta Georgia. Designed by A. Thomas Bradbury. Photo from Georgia’s Office of the Governor.

A continuous plane exercise I did using cutting and folding techniques.

Georgia’s Governor’s mansion in the Buckhead district of Atlanta Georgia. Designed by A. Thomas Bradbury. Photo from Georgia’s Office

A continuous plane exercise I did using cutting

Program

George Vanderbilt wanted his Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina, to look like the aristocratic homes of French Nobility, which thus defined the house’s forms through its program. The Cinderella Castle at the heart of Disney’s Magic Kingdom also shows the program in the design process’s extensive documentation. Walt Disney wanted it to be a tall landmark to help with navigation as well as have a way for guests to pass through. The inspiration for the building’s style was also something he oversaw as he wanted a fantasy castle based on many of Europe’s tall white castles, such as Neuschwanstein in Germany, which thus created part of the program for the castle.

This section contains all the small aspects related to the program, and as such, all of these things define parts of a building’s program. Context and Environment help define a building’s forms and thus its program based on aspects of its location. A Concept is a simple design idea on which the design and thus the program is based around. Analysis of precedent buildings is also used to determine a building’s forms and program.

From left to right:

The front of the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Photo by Blake Lewis.

Cinderella’s Castle at the Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering. Photo by Matt Wade.

The front of the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina designed by Richard Morris

Cinderella’s Castle at the Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering. Photo by Matt Wade.