Summarising several research projects on design systems, I revisit some of the most influential “diagrammatic” practices of the 1990’s – 2000’s – from OMA and SANAA to UN Studio and MVRDV. Considering the design methods, tools and techniques behind the revival of the design ‘infrastructures’ and frameworks, I focus on the diagram – its theoretical inflations and deflations, practical successes and failures. The case studies tackle key design tensions and inconsistencies – between abstract and concrete, analytical and projective, programmatic and formal - exposing both persistent problems and under-utilised potentials of the now-suspect diagrammatic approach. In contrast to return to the incomplete historical pursuit not its abandonment in the world after-the-diagram, I argue for the redirection and the next chapter of both contingent and consistent disciplinary project. Ultimately, lighter, looser and more “plastic” design approaches are a better fit for contemporary contexts and practices.
Maria Fedorchenko is a Diploma 8 Unit Master, and has been involved in HTS, Housing & Urbanism and the Visiting School Programmes at the AA since 2008. She runs a collaborative platform Plakat, co-directs Fedorchenko Studio and an urban consultancy. Her work has been exhibited and published internationally, including Architectural Theory Review and Journal of the Constructed Environment.