Catalyst Catalogue for Design

Abstract

The significant relationship between catalogues and architecture influences the architectural componentry of both the interior and exterior fit out of a building, where a variety of selected choices are fabricated to initiate a system for design, benefiting and reducing the difficulty to construct a space by one’s self. Compositional elements from a façade to stairs to the finer internal details are integrated into a system that allows for combinations to lead to the assemblage of a space. Architectural psychology relies on the design’s ability to connect to individuals. It questions the need for controllability and the dependency individuals have on certain elements of their natural environments. Adjusting the way we experience public space allows the collaborative effort to design for individual purpose. Creating, adapting and re-adapting are the processes of determining the best elements to create a catalogue system through many choices that a design process offers. The notion of behaviorology helps establish the concept of ambiance and experience in a spatial environment in terms of the way an inhabitant connects with the surroundings. This thesis explores design development and the significance a catalogue of elements could have on the conceptualisation of a spatial location through the outcome of personal decisions. Each of the three series explores a process of making. Series One delves into four input methods, the built components, drawing, photography and modeling relying on creative approaches to design. Series Two focuses on transitioning, combining and translating two-dimensional environments to three-dimensional space, analysing the method of repetition. And Series Three looks at the way myself as a designer and chooser of the making process can lead to personal implications resulting in possible applications being discovered. By using additive and cumulative work to develop design thinking, new dimensions can be unveiled. Does the catalogue system respond to the unknown desired outcome inhabitants seek with multiple combinations? Although the catalogue focuses on my personal choices, the aim may lead to offer other individuals an accessible catalogue for design comfortability through selective componentry.