Analogical Thinking in Architecture

Abstract

Since the turn of the 21st century, “design thinking” has permeated many fields outside of the design disciplines. It is expected to succeed whenever disciplinary boundaries need to be transcended, and it is imperative when thinking “outside the box.” This book argues that these qualities have long been supported by “analogical thinking”—an agile way of reasoning in which symbolic connections allow designers to address the complexities of the design process. An active field in cognitive sciences, artificial intelligence, psychology, and philosophy, “analogical thinking” has yet to be theorized within the built environment. Analogical Thinking in Architecture looks at how this approach offers an agile way to respond to the heterogeneous, and often contradictory, value systems prevalent in architectural design. The book is organized into four case studies: the first reviews analogies in current models of design thinking; the second surveys the revivals of biological analogies from the 19th to the 21st century; the third probes cult architect Aldo Rossi’s theory of the Città Analoga (Analogous City); while the fourth uncovers the role of analogies in critical and theoretical writing. Offering a reappraisal of theories on the role of “analogical thinking” by prominent architects, including Rossi, Peter Eisenman, and Frederick Kiesler; historians Peter Colins and Philip Steadman; and theoreticians Geoffrey Broadbent, Colin Rowe, Peter G. Rowe, Chris Abel and Donald A. Schön; the book provides both a comprehensive introduction to the concept of “analogical thinking” in architecture and the first theorization of analogy specifically within the field of the built environment. This book explores in depth the rich and persistent use of analogical thinking in the built environment. Since the turn of the century, discourses on design thinking have permeated many fields beyond the design disciplines. Design thinking is expected to be helpful whenever disciplinary boundaries need to be transcended, whenever views of a situation to be transformed are conflicting rather than converging, and altogether when it is urgent to think outside the box. The present book argues that these needs have long been supported by analogical thinking: a fundamental capacity to think the unknown through the familiar. As an introduction to the multiple practical and theoretical functions of analogy this book centers on four studies. The first unveils the analogical models at the core of design thinking representations from the 1960s to today. The second study investigates the recurring power of biological analogies in the last two centuries and their culmination at the hinge of digital hypothesis and environmental expectations today. The third study explores the paradoxical imaginary of “analogous cities” as a means of integrating contemporary architecture with heritage contexts. The last study unpacks the critical and theoretical potential of linguistic metaphors and visual comparisons in architectural discourse. These complex visual and textual operations are illustrated by 25 figures and explained through 36 analogical plates. These can be read as an inter-text demonstrating how analogy has the power to reconcile design and theories. So doing, the analogical world of the project is revealed as a wide-open field of creative and cognitive interactions.