Y. Friedman 
SEMINAR ON METHODS FOR ARCHITECTS/PLÄNNERS 
The following text and figures are a condensed version of 
the seminars given at various universities in the U.S. 
between 1964-1967, the outlay following the one | gave 
at the University of Michigan, Harvard University and 
the Universite de Montreal in the fall of 1967 
6 ARCHITECTURE’S GOALS & MEANS. 
The physical objects that tKe architect/planner is 
supposed to produce (buildings, town parts, etc.) have 
In satisfy two sets’of criteria. The first one concerns 
physical hardware proprieties: the elements assuring these 
proprieties are not produced by the architect, but by 
manufacturers, artisans, etc,., the architect doing 
nothing else than selecting the appropriate products from 
catalogs. The second set is considered the important part 
of the architect’s activity. It concerns the assembly of 
the catalog elements described in the first sef. 
This second part of activity, materialized by producing 
plans and by their execution, determines the resulting 
object, e.g. building, town part, etc, This object has 
to be used by the "clients", The architect/planner has 
to satisfy the clients and thus plan the object to the 
clients’ criteria, even if he never met or never knew 
his real clients (as is the majority of cases). 
Without knowing the clients, we can organize the 
criteria in two distinct sets: the first set (I will call it 
"objective criteria") has to concern the efficiency of the 
architect-produced object as clients use it in whatever 
way. This efficiency has no relation to what taste, 
culture, religion, opinions, etc. the clients might have. 
For example, a wall is always an obstacle for passage, 
and an opening permits passage in any culture, country 
or society-passage or non-passage being objective 
criteria. 
The second set (I will call it "aesthetic criteria") are 
less determinable criteria, and the values concerning 
aesthetic criteria might vary with every individual taste 
culture, religion, opinions, etc,., for every individual 
client. (An individual client means here not a client 
individvally known by the architect, but a client who 
considers himself as an individual). 
It should be very evident that if the objective criteria 
are satisfied and the aesthetic ones are not, the object 
produced by the architect/planner might be efficient in 
use, even if considered as non-aesthetic by some clients 
On the other hand, if the objective criteria are not 
satisfied, the object is not efficient in use, even if the 
aesthetic _criteria seem perfect for a majority of the 
clients. Such an object might even cause damage to the 
clients, and in the best case it can be considered 
nothing more than a sculpture . 
It is thus clear that an architect-produced object has to 
satisfy objective criteria with priority, as aesthetic 
criteria are discretional. 
Our task will be to attempt to formulate a method to 
discover how objective criteria can be satisfied. 
Obviously enough, this cannot be a "trial and error" 
process, as it would be utterly uneconomic. So we 
cannot experiment on the object itself, but only on a 
reduced model, We have to see how one constructs a 
thought-model and how one can control its efficiency. 
Such a method follows a sequence of operations (a form 
of logical model) we can describe as follows: 
1. A reduced set of first statements describing in a very 
generalized way the organization of system we are 
looking for (axioms). 
Construction of a simple and understandable thought- 
model having a clearly defined analogy with the 
mechanism (assembly of elements) serving in the 
manner described by the axioms - 
n 
3 Enumerating in a complete (exhaustive) list all the 
possible "states" admitted by such a model. 
1. Selection by a procedure of quantitative comparison 
the most efficient "state" (or "states") of the above 
list. 
5 If the model is a very complex one and its functioning 
is not evident at first glance, a control model must be 
constructed. 
ARCH + 1(1968)H?2