Geometry Masturbation: An Unaffordable Luxury

Traditionally, and in the case of Detroit as well, the frontier life lacks luxury.  When designing a building for this frontier, the least affordable luxury is geometry masturbation; the practice of playing with and implementing a certain spatial geometry simply because one "likes it".

Conceived forms must be tested by being juxtaposed with others. The process so far has involved creating variations on specific design elements, implementing them, and only then deciding which is optimal. Only by actually drawing and testing a number of such schemes can an objective decision be made. 


The images below shows this iterative approach to design, in which specific features of a building are allowed to vary, allowing only the most fit to establish itself.

In plan

And perspective

Characteristics include design choices like placement of public and private spaces in plan and section, articulate vs inarticulate circulation, minumum interior dimensions for individual spaces, etc.

These images depict approximately fifty five distinct designs, however by mixing various options for each characteristic tested, thousands of combinations are possible.  It is important therefore to first eliminate unsuccessful options before testing fully assembled building schemes.