Developing Your Design Process: Six Key Concepts for Studio

Developing Your Design Process is your primary source for learning how and why you design. It will help you understand how architects think and learn why you should educate yourself about design culture. You'll explore the spark of imagination that leads to a strong concept, realize the importance of sketching and rough drafts, focus your original concept to make your abstract idea visible, and finally step away for a moment to critically question your concept by identifying its strengths and weaknesses. You'll also be introduced to the language of design, architectural terminology, historic precedents, designers, and the why and how of the design process. The book is illustrated throughout with international examples of work by professionals and students in architecture and related design professions.

Now in its second edition, the book has been thoroughly updated to reflect recent technical advances, improve readability for beginning students, and incorporate a broader, more diverse range of global examples and imagery.

Albert C. Smith is an associate professor (emeritus) in the Department of Architectural Science, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada. He holds a PhD in architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a focus on history, theory, and criticism. He has a main interest in representation and is the author of the book Architectural Model as Machine.

Kendra Schank Smith (1953-2019) was a professor and former Chair of the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University, now Toronto Metropolitan University. With a PhD in architecture from Georgia Tech, she has written on representation, urbanism, architectural education, and media, and published two books that explore the representational qualities of architectural sketches.