Designing: Rules, types and worlds

Protocols of seven practised designers, all undertaking a common design exercise, have been analysed for patterns of reasoning and use of design rules. Patterns of reasoning were found to be shared among designers and not significantly different from reasoning in everyday life. Rules were largely implicit, overlapping, diverse, variously applied, contextually dependent, subject to exceptions and to critical modification. It is argued that rules are derived from underlying types - functional building types, references, spatial gestalts and experiential archetypes - that serve as ‘holding environments’ for design knowledge.