Building Architecture as a Reference for Architecture Intensive Disciplines


Building Architecture as a Reference for Architecture Intensive Disciplines
Research Paper

Author:	Roderick Lim Banda
Date:	2003-05-15
Email:	roderick@absamail.co.za

Table of Contents

Abstract

Thesis Research
	The research involves a literature analysis of "Building Architecture" and case studies of projects involving "Software Architecture". It makes use of story telling and a patterns language to convey the assumption that there is a link between Building Architecture and Software Architecture and other architecture intensive disciplines. The link involves architectural theory, design and construction. The patterns are drawn to illustrate some of these links. Observations are presented as context of how the pattern applied to the respective case studies.
The Drivers
	The concept that building architecture can be used as a reference for architecture intensive disciplines comes from a number of driving forces.
	The Bauhaus Movement
	Prior to entering the information technology sector, I had studied fine arts and graphics to pursue a career in commercial art and design. At the time I took an interest in the Bauhaus school of art of the early 1900s because of its influence on modern design and its approach to combining "art and science". Upon getting involved in computer graphics and then programming, there was an immediate attraction towards object orientation, visual modeling and software architecture. Modeling notations can be linked to the style of modernist thinking and abstraction. Hence, the profession of software architecture was appealing because of its link with art and architecture. Today, many people associate software architecture with the Unified Modeling Language. Not all information technology professionals see a link between building architecture and software development - let alone the link with modernist thinking. It seems a widely held view or perception that computing is all together new and has little to do with the past. It has become almost unfashionable in the industry to associate it with anything other than the future.
	Contracting as a Software Architect
	For commercial reasons it was easier to contract on the Microsoft platform. However, much of object orientated methodologies and established software engineering principles were lacking in projects using Rapid Application Development (RAD). Each project experience entrenched the idea that architectural thinking was relevant. Despite what was happening with RAD, there were architects at Microsoft such as David Vaskevitch who provided inspiration to think beyond the tools. Over the years I have specifically focused on software architecture and software engineering of repository based systems, Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools, client server and web based application frameworks and libraries.
	The Worldwide Institute of Software Architects
	I joined the World Wide Institute of Software Architects because Marc Sewell's idea of Software Architecture as an extension of (building) architecture, struck a cord. In particular the idea of gaining industry recognition and establishing academic direction and support was appealing.
	The Software Crisis and Postmodernism
	The paper by Hall et al. on "Postmodern Software Development" postulated on the link between software engineering and modernism and that the software crisis is an extension of the social cultural phenomenon of postmodernism.
	Black Economic Empowerment in IT
	Architecture is a knowledge issue and there is a real need to address empowerment in the country through a shift in thinking. There exists an opportunity to identify architecture intensive disciplines as vehicles for mentorship and the creation of knowledge workers.
	Extreme Programming and Christopher Alexander
	Friends have introduced other sources of architectural knowledge. Hence, Kent Beck's work on Extreme Programming and the many references to Christopher Alexander also contributed to the body of research material.
	Story Telling and Software Patterns
	Finally, the art of story telling and software patterns as architectural tools resulted in the compilation of the story and the patterns derived from them. This is the approach taken in this research. As such you are encouraged to read a story with little reference to information technology in order to gain a broader perspective of architecture. There are 50 patterns derived from the story which were placed in the context of two past projects as case studies of software architecture and other architecture intensive disciplines.

Introduction

The Concept
	The theory behind Building Architecture as a Reference for Architecture Intensive Disciplines involves the following assumptions.
	Architecture is not just about buildings but also about how we think
	Theory, design and construction can be applied to many things other than buildings. The building was one of the early pre-occupations of man, of applying a theory to design and a design to construction. We can apply this same approach to the way we build software. Part of the software crisis is that we build software without applying any architectural thought. Architecture is an application of the mind, a way of thinking. Many software and application architects only go as far as best practices in the context of methodologies, a modeling language or technologies specific to a platform. There is a need for a theoretical foundation much like what is expected of building architects who study architectural graphics, history and theory.
	Architecture intensive disciplines
	While the research involves direct comparisons between building architecture and software architecture, the patterns drawn may also apply to other disciplines that involve architectural thinking. Such disciplines include data architects who design database structures and programs. Enterprise architects and systems architects whose purview of architecture go beyond software and include human activities, processes and infrastructure. It also includes designers of user interfaces. For this reason, the research uses the term "Architecture Intensive Disciplines" to include software architects and other architects in the information technology sector.

Methodology


Methodology
	The research methodology consists of 3 parts: The Story The Case Studies The Patterns
	The Story
	The story is composed with little or no reference to information technology. It is a story about building architecture derived from a review, research and analysis of selected literature. The purpose of the story is to convey ideas regarding Building Architecture in a narrative format.
	The Case Studies
	The case studies outline two contrasting software development projects where the author was employed as a Software Architect.
	The Patterns
	The patterns are derived from the story of building architecture. The case study observations are also discussed in the context of the pattern to determine which patterns are applicable using 3 indicators: Not Applicable Relevant Applicable These indicators were selected through a post review process with members of the project team.
Resarch
	Literature Review
	The literature review and historical analysis resulted in the compilation of the story. The sources can be found in the bibliography and include works on building architecture and architecture history.
	Data Gathering
	The patterns derived from the story were applied to the case study observations, workshops, interviews and discussions. Both the story and patterns were reviewed with individuals and groups from the case studies for verification, input and feedback. Each pattern was then allocated with an indicator and a context or commentary. This was important in determining whether patterns were applicable or not. In many cases, the patterns were "relevant" rather than "applicable" in that the pattern could not be observed in the context of the case study but may have some relevance. The context provided elaborates on the indicator applied.
	Data Analysis
	The analysis of the patterns was done iteratively in the development of the context. The context being the text provided on building architecture, architecture intensive disciplines and the two case studies respectively.
Production
	Web Document
	The web document uses Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Javascript 1.2 and Dynamic HTML (DHTML) specific to Internet Explorer. It was developed using Notepad on Windows 2000 as a text editor. The formating conforms to specific authoring standards including indentation, use of all lower case and minimalism.
	Diagrams
	All the diagrams were developed using Microsoft Word 2000. In some instances, they were converted to Vector Markup Language (VML). The images were print screened and cropped using Paint on Windows 2000.
	Graphics
	All graphic images are saved as *.gif files. Icons were drawn using Paint on Windows 2000.

The Story

	The story you are about to read is entitled ...
	Building Architecture as a Reference for Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	It is also the title of the research paper. It contains little reference to information technology and focuses primarily on Architecture in the context of buildings. The objective of the story is to consider architecture as a whole and abstract it away from the perspective of information technology. It is hoped that this will provide some theoretical understanding of architecture, architectural thinking and architecture intensive disciplines.

The Story: Building Architecture as a Reference
for Architecture Intensive Disciplines




"By thus acting on the external world and changing it, he at the same time changes his own nature." Karl Marx

The Story: Two Converging Worlds

Two Converging Worlds
Like many other stories, the story of architecture begins with the earliest accounts we have of man. Both the Bible book of Genesis and Darwin's Theory of Evolution provides a story of man's struggle for survival in his natural environment. The building of dwelling places was a functional necessity, which developed into "a creative partnership with the natural world, through which people develop their intellect and skill." [Risebero, 1997]
While the profession and role of the Architect as a designer was established much later in history, man's early creative designs resulted in the development of natural architecture. Aesthetic values were developed based on nature and the surrounding environment. Beliefs also played a significant role. One can imagine the sense of free-flowing natural curves and spiritual forms that influenced the creative thinking in these early craftsmen and designers. Unlike our modern geometric views, there were no straight lines, no spatial constraints. Beauty was judged based on an interpretation of the contours and patterns of nature and was not associated with symmetry, geometric shapes, grids and perspectives.
In his book, "The Story of Western Architecture", Bill Risebero relates how the Urban Revolution changed all this and was a turning point in history, which resulted in the development of two converging worlds. Cities were cultural innovators that provided growth in natural sciences. Using Peter Senge's "Limits to Growth" systems archetype [Senge, 1990, p.379], the story of the two converging worlds can be illustrated through the conceptual model below.

One world represents the view of the natural world with its belief systems. Animistic religion played a significant role in rituals and beliefs relating to birth and death, time and season, sun and moon, and the life-giving river. The other world view represented developments in the natural sciences. Cities around the world were accelerating the pace of development in natural sciences including mathematics, the calendar, astronomy and geometry [Risebero, 1997, p.10].
Note that the belief systems provided a limit to growth, a form of balancing in the view of the natural world that opposed the escalating cycle of development in the sciences. As the view of the natural world converged with the view of natural sciences, the latter escalated in its progress. This progress would lead to classical, modernist and postmodernist architecture. Natural architecture would continue in various forms through cultures whose beliefs and aesthetics placed value on oneness with the natural world around them. The fact that architecture could be influenced in this way - through abstract ideas and beliefs - illustrates the point that architecture has more than one layer of thinking and abstraction.

The Story: The Four Social Theories

The Four Social Theories
From the conceptual model of the "two converging worlds", this story of architecture continues through a "historical view of architecture". The main purpose of this historical view is two-fold. Firstly, it provides a brief account of where we are and how we got here. And secondly, it helps us to identify the four social cultural theories in architecture as related in this story, namely:
	Natural Architecture Classical Architecture Modern Architecture Postmodern Architecture

The above conceptual model attempts to provide a simplified account and high-level view of the history of architecture to this day. It is a summary of the research undertaken of a historical analysis of architecture and should be seen as one of many possible perspectives. References are provided in the more detailed accounts of this story. Much of the account focuses on Modernist Architecture and with specific emphasis on the Bauhaus Movement as a reference for architecture-intensive disciplines.
The cultural theories are relevant because of their impact on social thinking and changing values. These are references for architecture-intensive disciplines because they form part of the body of knowledge, which we must attempt to learn in order to understand the problems we are addressing today.

The Story: Classical Architecture

Classical Architecture
There are many ways of viewing the history of architecture, i.e. the view of classical western architecture as opposed to eastern architecture. The progress of cities in the east such as those in China and Japan are not included in this account, but they involved a progress in natural sciences and technologies that were highly advanced and sophisticated. To this day, the major urban centres of all of the countries in the world form part of a global trade route that interconnects these diverse cultures. The historical path of many of the world's cultures are linked to both natural and classical architecture.
In the rural surrounds and in cultural hubs of these city centres exist various architectures that demonstrate the belief systems and views of the natural world. These examples of natural architecture have paved their own course of existence to this day. Despite the view that there is a more recent resurgence in natural architecture or that it forms part of the pluralism of postmodernism, natural architecture stands out as a cultural theory defined by the enduring partnership between man and nature.
In contrast to the path of natural architecture, the path of classical, modernist and postmodernist theories, is laced with milestones and events that helped shape changes in thinking, design and construction. Some of the periods and influences are noted on the model - providing a simplified view.
Egypt provides us with archaeological evidence of two converging worlds. Urbanisation and rural nomadic life played a significant role in the development of architecture. Technologies in construction, visual languages and belief systems are among the features of this period. The emergence of the Greeks as a world power allowed their culture to flourish. The Greeks are credited with having built more than just monumental structures. Their way of thinking is acknowledged to have built the foundations of western civilisation. An important feature of Greek and Italian architecture is the change and advancement in mathematics and geometry. From the Roman Empire through to the Victorian Era there were advances in design and construction, as well as a series of periods with emphasis on decoration.
It important to understand how Classical architecture contributed to the development of modernist thinking. The Industrial Revolution provided a major turning point leading to modernism. Modernism held many ideals and provided the foundation for structured thinking in Information Technology.

The Story: Egyptian Architecture

Egyptian Architecture
One of the most important (if not challenging) aspect of architecture is the relationship between Patron-Architect-Builder. This is an over simplification of roles which will continue to raise architectural debates. Complexity is introduced when a role represents more than one individual view. The patron as the sponsor can lead to conflicts with the patron as the user. The role of the architect has been re-defined many times over and is still undergoing change.
The fundamental triangle of patron-architect-builder remained a constant and important feature of architectural history. The importance of the patron, customer or client cannot be under-estimated. Much architecture would have remained in the realm of theory and would never have been constructed without the noble patrons. It was often customary for patrons to take credit for the work rather than the architect.
The first recorded instance of the patron and architect relationship was in Egyptian architecture. The Pharaonic system was established around 3200 B.C. when Menes united the lower and upper kingdoms of Egypt into one kingdom. The successive dynasties that followed is known as the Old Kingdom, the first of three great Egyptian periods. Around 2800 B.C. the first known large stone construction was built in the third dynasty. His chief minister Imhotep organized King Djoser�s stepped pyramid at Sakkara. [Risebero, 1997, p.11]
Imhotep was the first known architect and is also regarded as the "father of medicine". Historians believed that Imhotep was a legend because of the many achievements that were attributed to him. He held the highest office in Egypt, i.e. administrator, vizier, priest, healer, and interpreter of dreams, scribe and teacher. [Matthews, 2002]
Archeologist Ron Wyatt provides information on Imhotep and writes that "Manetho wrote that 'during his [Djoser of the 3rd Dynasty] reign lived Imouthes [i.e. Imhotep], who because of his medical skill has the reputation of Asclepius [the Greek god of medicine] among the Egyptians and who was the inventor of the art of building with hewn stone.' It was this statement that caused the specialists to doubt the existence of a real man named Imhotep. But in 1926, the question was settled once and for all- Imhotep was a real man. When excavations were carried out at the Step Pyramid at Sakkara, fragments of a statue of pharaoh Djoser were found. The base was inscribed with the names of Djoser and of 'Imhotep, Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, Chief under the King, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary Lord, High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep the Builder, the Sculptor, the Maker of Stone Vases...'� [Wyatt, 2002]
Some believe Imhotep to be the biblical character Joseph. Reference is also made to him in many of the early writings. His influence in Egypt can be seen from the fact that he was later deified as the god Nefertum, son of Ptah. Ptah was the creator god - unifier of all other gods and god of the masons. His wife Sekhmet was the lioness god. The famous pyramids of Memphis were built for the three gods, Ptah (Father), Sekhmet (Wife) and Nefertum (Son). This bears testament to the high regard Egypt held for the achievements of Imhotep, who was not of royal birth.
There is marked improvement in Egyptian architecture after the third dynasty of the Old Kingdom. A number of attributes of Egyptian architecture are of interest; i.e. the role of beliefs and religion. The role of belief systems and culture in architectural theory is evident in Egypt. Unlike the early step pyramid of Sakkara, extensive use of hieroglyphics is made, especially in religious form. The visual language developed is sophisticated and complex. It was not a primitive form of communication as many assume it to be simply because it was of an earlier period.
Egyptian architecture also illustrates how construction plays a significant role and often helps to re-define the theory and design. The materials used provided a major advance in architecture with the use of lime stones. The movement of these large units of construction required advanced engineering. The methods of prefabrication of large �stone� components, transportation and leveraging are remarkable. They required an understanding of astronomy, physical laws and mathematics. In fact, the most remarkable aspect of Egyptian architecture is its precision in construction. The base of the pyramid is absolutely level and each side is perfectly positioned to face north, south, east and west. The positions of the pyramids in relation to each other are precisely aligned.
It is estimated that about 100 000 men participated in the construction at Memphis, grouped by the hundreds. The epic proportions of such a construction are a feat of organization. Although undoubtedly authoritarian, there were many skilled craftsmen. Considering that the laborers consisted of agricultural workers diverted from their traditional work, the production of food must have required careful administration and management. [Risebero, 1997]
The Egyptians mastered the use of stone, but the Greeks advanced in their use of metals and tools. Despite the ascent of the military world powers of Babylon, Assyria and Persia, the Greeks would gain both military victories and cultural influence and inherit many of the architectural advances made by the Egyptians.

The Story: Greek and Roman Architecture

Greek and Roman Architecture
Just as the triangular form of Egyptian pyramids represents a visual model of that period, triangles can also be used to represent some of the theories of Classical architecture. The treatise "On Architecture" written in retirement by the Roman military engineer and architect Vitruvius Pollio during the period of 31 B.C. to 14 A.D. [Raeburn, 1980, p. 60] expressed ideas, which form the basis for many architectural theorizing and controversy. He recognized that there are three different requirements for a building:
	Firmitas: it should be structurally sound : Structure Utilitas: it must have a practical function : Function Venustas: it should be beautiful : Aesthetics
According to Raeburn, "Vitruvius' book was written principally about Greek architecture. The most important themes that derive from his book are the definitions of the classical Orders, theories of proportion based on modular system, on simple geometry and on the human body, and aesthetic definitions relating to harmony and proportions such as 'disposition', 'distribution', 'symmetry' and 'eurhythmy'. Over fifty manuscript copies of the book have survived from the Middle Ages, and it seems that it was used as a textbook by medieval architects, largely for the geometric ideas it contains." [Raeburn, 1980, p. 9-12]
Today the triad relationship of Structure-Function-Aesthetics is a fundamental part of architecture. Architects throughout the classical, modernist and postmodernist periods referenced Vitruvius� ideas. Today the minimum five years formal education are close to the definitions set by Vitruvius for what constituted an architect. He stated that architects should have amongst others, the following attributes:
	Should have an imagination An understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of Construction Should be versed in: Letters Drawings Geometrical Instruments Optics Arithmetic History Philosophy Music Medicine Law Astronomy
The emphasis on theory ensured that the architectural profession throughout the ages endured - surviving even the buildings and physical structures of their construction. Through recorded trial and error and the ideals of what should be, a body of knowledge has been placed before us, which can benefit many contemporary architecture-intensive disciplines.
The role of the architect was more prominent in Greek architecture than in Roman. Greek architects were considered artists - balancing community, religion and civic institutions - whereas Roman architects were technicians and engineers. [Foster, 1983, p.18]. The progress of Greek architecture was described as "an empirical search for form. The development of Greek temple architecture had little to do with either structure or function. Nor was it much concerned with internal space; since the main rituals took place outside, the exterior form dominated architects' thinking." [Foster, 1983, p.43]. This may seem to have been a contradiction of Vitruvius, but the answer lies in the Greek interpretation of structure and function and in their understanding of mathematical and geometric laws. While the Greeks pursued the triad of structure-function-aesthetics, their mental models of geometry and mathematics limited them.
In 1945 William Mills Irvin Jr., a retired curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, wrote his controversial study on "Art and Geometry". It was controversial because it argued against the supremacy of the Greek culture, which was regarded as the foundation of Western civilization. He concluded that Greeks were "tactile-thinkers" as opposed to "visual-thinkers". Their perceptions of space were based not on a three-dimensional view but on their sense of touch. Today, it is recognize that of the three learning methods (auditory, visual and kinaesthetic or tactile), tactile learning is the most challenging for modern educators. Unfortunately, there is an unjustified perception or social stigma that tactile learning is associated with slow learners.
Irvin was not attacking the Greeks, he was merely placing the evidence of his study, "Basically, the Greeks thought about their geometry in terms of an unexpressed chalk line or yard stick which they held in their two hands." Irvin demonstrated how Euclid derived his basic theorem of parallel lines and concluded that "Euclid's geometry was based on the tactile-muscular intuitions" and that neither Euclid nor his successors made any use of proof of abstract ideas such as "infinity", because it was beyond their notions of handling and measurement [Irvin, 1946, p.40-42].
Many architectural historians noted, but without the same theoretical examination as Irvin, who wrote, "The simple fact of the matter is that the figures of Greek sculpture are abstract, ideological conformations, devoid of physical, mental or spiritual histories. Such little emotion or movement as they have has no relation to emotional or volitional states." [Irvin, 1946, p.23]
Theory in the triad relationship between theory-design-construction is more than just about a treatise, it is about a way of thinking - much of which is in the form of tacit knowledge. The evidence that theory is manifested through design into construction is evident throughout architectural history, of which Greek architecture was no exception. Almost all of Greek architecture is based on the post-lintel system or horizontal beams carried by vertical supports. This was a structural model applied irrespective of construction material - wood or stone. The Greeks showed no evidence of improvement in technical design although they were competent technically. They had an understanding of a beam's strength relative to height and thickness, which seems to confirm a tactile approach, but they showed no evidence of a theoretical understanding of structure [Raeburn, 1980, p.47-48].
In 1452 the Italian, Leon Battista Alberti, produced the treatise De Re Aedificatoria with the object of presenting the works of Vitruvius to his contemporaries. Earlier in 1435 he produced De Pictura , which emphasized painting as the basis for architecture. However, it was his treatise, which was the most influential in architectural history. It "imbued a strong sense of social function of architecture in creating a happy and well-ordered state" [Raeburn, 1980, p.132]. The most important aspect of Alberti's book which was a turning point from Greek architecture and which inspired an age of enlightenment or the Italian Renaissance, was "the geometrical scheme for depicting objects in a unified space, or in other words what we today call perspective." [Irvin, 1946, p.68]
Perspective and three-dimensional geometry re-defined the focus of architecture. Architecture began to deal with the internal living space and addressed the problems of space as a whole. It was a dramatic shift from the external view of Greek architecture. The shape of the square and rectangle as a fundamental structure of the grid would become a foundation for many visual concepts in modernism.
Interestingly, the shapes of triangles, circles and squares (and rectangles) seemed to gain increasing significance. In religious abstract conception, the circle was considered a perfect symbol. It embodied the concept of the church as representative of the cosmos. In De Re Aedificatoria , Alberti identified nine ideal plan-forms based on a circle, and eight polygons derived from the circle. It reinforced the ideal of church construction with a dome as a central location for the altar and sacrament [Risebero, 1997, p.127]. The Church would play a dominant role in architecture throughout the Italian Renaissance, the Middle Ages and the Reformation.

The Story: Architecture and Religion

Architecture and Religion
The church was both a building and an institution. The building was a manifestation of the supreme powers that Christendom established in Rome. During the early Middle Ages, the powers of the church superceded those of the state due to its �divine succession�. The building of churches in villages and towns were of great importance in establishing law and order. Christendom included the Orthodox religion centralized in Byzantine and the Church of England. Many forms of architecture stemmed from this period emphasizing religious decoration and ornamentation as well as advances in building construction.
Gothic architecture is often regarded as the product of a highly religious society under the control of the church. However, many of the buildings from the 13th century onwards were increasingly being funded by a secular society of merchants and craftsmen whose knowledge and education were outside the spheres of Christendom. Colonial expansion brought about great wealth outside of the domain of the church and created a movement of change towards capitalism. Later, the industrial revolution would change the nature of the patron-architect-builder relationship in that capitalists - businessmen and corporations, replaced the churches as patrons. Resistance to change came from the church whose power was based on the social economic structure of feudalism. Villages and towns where structured on the hierarchy of a ruling nobility, landlords and peasants. The increasing urbanization helped to fuel this change towards a growing working class who found themselves more and more in conflict with the church.
"Gothic buildings stand at a crucial transition-point in history, between the church-dominated early Middle Ages and the free, secular world of the Renaissance. It is perhaps this very fact which makes them arguably the finest achievements in the history of western architecture; they are the perfect expression of the dialectical tension between two worlds: between religious faith and analytical reason, between the serene, closed monastic society of the old order and the dynamic expansionism of the new." [Risebero, 1997, p.84]
The tension between religious faith and analytical reason would continue through to the modern period. The tension between "religious faith and analytical reason" would be replaced by modern tensions between "art and science" in architecture. This would come about in part because of the premodern preoccupation with decoration and ornamentation. Decoration and ornamentation best illustrates the tensions between two worlds. This was not only the case in Christendom but could also be found in Islamic architecture. In fact, Islamic decoration and ornamentation is also a good example of what Foster notes as an occasion where social values represent the architectural integrity.
"An important architectural notion is that it is the nature and working characteristics of the primary materials which determine the appearance and character of a building, and that the structure and construction must reflect these qualities in some way if there is to be architectural integrity. Most architecture can be evaluated in this way because these factors are also representative of the cost or effort of building, which are generally among the more critical determinants. However, occasionally more abstract ones outweigh such practical considerations, sometimes to the extent that buildings become vehicles for the expression of different values. Invariably, architecture reflects the preoccupations of the society." [Foster, 1983, p.194]
Decoration seems to be a key attribute in Islamic architecture. Representation of living beings is forbidden. Abstract patterns and calligraphy provide the basis of a framework for infinite variations. Islamic architects are mathematicians and scientists who place great importance on geometric principles. There are three basic motifs in the framework used in Islamic decoration. The first is writing, the second is vegetal (leaves, flowers and fruit) and the third is geometrical. Geometry is the governing principle of the other elements.
In contrast to the non-picturesque approach of Islamic architecture is the decoration and a preoccupation with space evident in Byzantine architecture. To enter the church was to enter a representation of heaven itself. The image of heaven is achieved in the structural design of a dome covering a polygon or square. Inside the dome a mosaic is created with images of heavenly figures dissolved into the curvature of the dome, thus giving the illusion of infinite space. Movement is also expressed through light, which when reflected off the mosaic creates an illusion of movement.
The effects of light were achieved through the use of glass. The discovery of this transparent material made from heating of sand, soda and lime is considered to have been as early as 1500 B.C. in the Middle East. The Romans perfected this technique and it became a feature of church buildings. In Byzantine church interiors it was used to purposely create optical illusions.
Glass was also a feature of Victorian architecture. Windows were at one point considered a luxury for the rich. However, with the industrial revolution and industrial production came an increase in wealth, prosperity and population. The price of glass lowered with the increased demand for factories and office buildings. The glass roof became a hallmark of the Victorian era proliferating in many public places such railway stations, gardens, courtyards, museums and exhibition halls.

The Story: Modern Architecture

Modern Architecture
The importance of materials of construction, social values and function in architecture are evident. Our discovery of materials such as wood, stone and metal for construction defined much of the early and classical period. A hallmark of modern architecture is the glass and steel used in skyscrapers lining metropolitan cities. Clean lines devoid of ornamentation and decoration.
The industrial revolution as a turning point in the premodern period helped to raise a debate on decoration and its purpose in architecture. On the one side there were those who had come to regard decoration as the principle part of architecture. Others questioned this due to the growing emphasis on machinery and a new sense of function, which it was creating in social life. Industrialization and over crowding also brought poverty and a growing working class who found no purpose in art and decoration. The working class became an increasingly secular society to which the religious nature of Gothic architectural theory no longer had an appeal.

The Story: Premodern Architecture

Premodern Architecture
The effects of the industrial revolution on architecture should be seen in the context of the debate, that it sparked in all aspects of design. Society became preoccupied with the machine. This was evident not only in architecture, but also in the arts and crafts. During the Victorian era, machines were used to produce cheap imitations of the expensive neoclassical designs. The hatred of machine imitations later became the motivating force for the English Arts and Crafts Movement. [Lucie-Smith, 1983, p.40]
The man regarded as the first Industrial Designer was an architect, Christopher Dresser. In 1871, he delivered a paper on "Ornamentation Considered as High Art" , which he read to the Royal Society of Arts. Illustrating the demand for industrial design, he states, "As an architect I have as much work as many of my fellows, as an ornamentalist, I have much the largest practice in the United Kingdom - there is not a branch of manufacture that I do not regularly design patterns for, and I hold regular appointments as 'art adviser' and 'chief designer' to several of our largest art-manufacturing firms."
Another influential character of the English Arts and Crafts Movement was John Ruskin. He held a hatred for imitations produced using machines and laid down rules for crafts. These rules influenced art and architecture students such as William Morris, an undergraduate of Oxford, who established the company Morris & Co., later to become a well-known firm in industrial design. Unlike Ruskin, Morris felt that there could be a use for machines in the revival of the arts and crafts. Morris perpetuated the idea that a designer must have a thorough understanding of both processes and design.
A follower of William Morris, Walter Crane, divided decoration into two categories namely, organic and inorganic. The former was "an essential and integral part of the structure, to which it gives final expression". The latter he described as mere surface ornament intended to conceal a structure, not emphasize a design. [Foster, 1983, p.196-197]
From 1896 to 1903, Hermann Muthesius was the architectural attach� to the German Embassy in London [Lucie-Smith, 1983, p.95]. During this time he became an enthusiast for the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Muthesius was a founder of the German WerkBund, an organization of designers, craftsmen, artists and architects, through which he hoped Germany could benefit from the lessons of the English Arts and Crafts. In 1914, on the eve of the Great War, he proposed his idea of the development of standard forms for manufacture and export. This was opposed, not least by the young architect Walter Gropius, who saw it as a threat to individual expression and enforced the status quo. Muthesius backed down and it was symbolic of the times, for Walter Gropius would become a key figure in the transition towards modernism.
Unlike the influential architects and designers of Britain who saw ornamentation and decoration as a way of reviving arts and crafts in the face of machine production, the modernists in Germany sought to integrate the machine into human living and space. In reaction to the decadence of the Art Nouveau style and its German counterpart Jugendstil, Adolf Loos remarked, "ornamentation should be eliminated from all useful objects." [Foster, 1983, p.197]
Decoration and ornamentation in the face of machine production was one of the primary design influences of the premodern period leading to modernism. It in turn sparked theories on art and its relevance in a changing world. While these design theories permeated into architectural theory, the driving influence on architecture of the premodern period was the social cultural changes resulting from the industrial revolution. The conditions of the working class had not improved and the problem of housing large working communities was a preoccupation of architects and architecture. In construction, machines were used in advancing production of all materials.

The Story: Modernist Architecture and the Bauhaus

Modernist Architecture and the Bauhaus
Charles Jencks who studied postmodernism (defining the term), the failings of modernism and the Bauhaus stated in an interview, "The Bauhaus was the greatest design institution of the 20th Century. Without a doubt, its affected everything, our cities on a huge scale - turned them into rather mechanical-like machines." [Whitford, 1990]
The history of the Bauhaus is discussed here in three phases:
	The Bauhaus Inception The Bauhaus School from 1919 to 1933 The Bauhaus Movement from 1933 to the Present
The Bauhaus was the idea of the German architect, Walter Gropius. Gropius became an internationally renowned architect particularly for his factory designs and an influential member of the Deutsche WerkBund before the Great War of 1914.
Gropius entered the war optimistic about the preoccupation of the time - the machine. However, while serving as an officer, Gropius witnessed the mechanized slaughter that changed the world. Like many other men and women of his generation, he longed for a future that would see the taming of the machine. Gropius recalled that after coming back from the war, there was a specific moment where he came to the realization that, "I will have to take part in something completely new which would change the conditions I had been living in before."
According to historian Paul Johnson, "nearly all the major creative figures of the 1920s had already been published, exhibited or performed before 1914, and in that sense the Modern Movement was a pre-war phenomenon. But it needed the desperate convulsions of the great struggle, and the crashing of regimes it precipitated, to give modernism the radical political dimension it had hitherto lacked, and the sense of a ruined world on which it would construct a new one" [Johnson, 1983, p.8-9].
After the war, Gropius was appointed to head the publicly funded Weimar School of Arts. Weimar was the capital and cultural center of the newfound Republic. It was a turbulent period with much rioting. There was strong support for socialism and communism.
Gropius declared his utopian ideas and the new name of the school in his manifesto for the Bauhaus ("Build House"). His manifesto was an essential vision statement for the Bauhaus School in its establishment in 1919. The Manifesto was illustrated by a woodcut of a Gothic cathedral rising to the sky. It declared, "The ultimate aim of all creative activity is the building. We must all return to the crafts. The school is the servant of the workshop and will one day, be absorbed by them. Let us together create the new building of the future which will one day rise towards the heavens as the crystalline symbol of a new and coming faith." [Whitford, 1994] Gropius later stated that he felt these utopian ideas were realized. For better or for worse, the glass and metal skyscrapers of the modern world are a testament to the influence of Bauhaus.

The Story: The Bauhaus School

The Bauhaus School
Frank Whitford provides a detailed account of the Bauhaus School and defines three phases in its history from 1919 to 1933.
The first phase was from 1919 and 1923. "The early months of the Bauhaus were marked both by a determination to reform art education and to create a new kind of society, and by a willingness to sacrifice a great deal in order to do so. Plagued like the young Republic itself by internal dissent, unreasonable external demands and crippling economic crises, the Bauhaus was quickly forced to redefine its aims, to temper idealism with realism." [Whitford, 1984, p.9]
The second phase was from 1923 to 1925. "During the second phase of the school's life, therefore, rational, quasi-scientific ideas gradually replaced Romantic notions of artistic self-expression and brought about important changes in the school's curriculum and teaching methods. This phase embraced the years in which the tottering German economy stabilized and the nation's industry began to flourish. They were, however, also the years in which political extremists of both the left and right gained strength. They, too, directly affected the Bauhaus." [Whitford, 1984, p.9, 10]
The third phase was from 1925 to 1933. "... when the Bauhaus was forced to leave Weimar: the city's new nationalist government withdrew financial support. The German Republic itself now also suffered increasingly from the attacks of radicals and revolutionaries alike, and the polarization of politics was reflected at the Bauhaus, now located at Dessau. At the same time the national economy enjoyed a brief boom and the Bauhaus began to tailor its teaching to the demands of industry." [Whitford, 1984, p.10]
The closure of the school by the Nazis in 1933 began the spread of Bauhaus ideas across Europe and the United States. The Bauhaus inspired a revolution in design and art education that is still present today. The "foundation course" taught in art schools is a product of the Bauhaus. Wolf von Eckardt stated that the Bauhaus "created the patterns and set the standards of present-day industrial design; it helped to invent modern architecture; it altered the look of everything from the chair you are sitting in to the page you are reading now." [Whitford, 1984, p.10]
The Bauhaus established the workshop-based training that revolutionized art education and is used to this day. As Gropius explained in an interview, "I realized that closer links had to be forged between the machine and the artistic individual. So I established workshops, which trained people in two ways - as artists and as craftsmen. It's often wrongly thought that everything was based on handicraft. In fact, it was a place of preparation. You can't understand a machine until you've understood the tools of your craft."
Many of the ideas at the Bauhaus were not unique. Since the industrial revolution, educated men and women were contemplating the problems associated with art and its relevance in the new era of the machine. What made the Bauhaus teaching unique, particularly with regards to the foundation course or Vorkurs, was "the amount and quality of its theoretical teaching, the intellectual rigor with which it examined the essentials of visual experience and artistic creativity." [Whitford, 1984, p.103]
Johannes Itten established the Preliminary or Foundation Course at the Bauhaus. Itten followed a religion based on eastern beliefs called Mazdaznan. Adopting principles from Buddhism, Itten would begin his workshops with breathing exercises. He encouraged his students to study materials and textures by working with materials they could find, feel and touch. In the early stage of the Bauhaus, Itten was the most influential of the teachers since he determined who would take the foundation course and by implication determined who would gain admission into the Bauhaus School.
Unlike previous preliminary art education, which taught art history and the problems that were encountered in the past, the preliminary course was about learning abstract forms, color theory, nature of materials and other principles of art and design. The primary focus was on the individual student (senses, emotions and intellect) and assisting them to learn about themselves before deciding on a specific direction. Students were encouraged to go out and get any material they could find and study its nature and produce work from their exploration. It was an economically hard time and students had to go out to dump yards or use whatever was available. Some innovative designs were created.

"Imagination and creative ability must first of all be liberated and strengthened. Once this has been achieved, technical and practical demands and finally commercial considerations may be introduced. Young people who begin with market research and practical and technical work seldom feel encouraged to search for something really new. If new ideas are to assume artistic form, physical, sensual, spiritual, and intellectual forces and abilities must all be equally available and act in concert. This realization largely determined the subjects and methods of my teaching at the Bauhaus. It was essential to build up the individual student as a well-integrated creative person, a program I consistently advocated in the 'Council of Masters'." [Itten, 1975, p.8]
At the Bauhaus there were two types of teachers or �Masters�. The "Workshop Masters" were skilled craftsmen. They were usually skilled in various disciplines but they taught specific crafts such as painting, pottery, weaving or architecture. There were also the "Masters of Form" who were responsible for aesthetic qualities.
The modern painters provided the constructive thinking. They worked with space and form. Gropius explained that he thought the painters could help usher in a new Constructivist thought in architecture. He said, "We have to pull the whole thing together. We have to destroy the separations between painting and sculpture, architecture and design and so on. It is all one." Amongst the painters who taught at the Bauhaus were some of the most original and well known including the Swiss artist Paul Klee, and the Russian painter Vasily Kandinsky. Kandinsky virtually invented abstract painting before the Great War. His works had no reference to nature, it was about how he felt. He was developing a visual language based on circles, triangles, squares and lines.
Theatre also played a role. The emphasis was not on acting or drama, but on design and construction of props and costumes. In more contemporary business terms, the theatre workshops created a �team spirit� amongst students who worked towards a �shared vision�. No doubt, the emphasis on roles and role-playing also helped in conceptual thinking.
Although Graphic Design was not a specific course, photography and typography were taught at the Bauhaus. The face of the modern media was developed at the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus banned the use of serifs. The new typography was bold and clean. The purpose was to provide better clarity in media and print. It helped to make magazine publications accessible to the masses and resulted in the phenomenon of �rapid consumption�. It created the appeal of advertising. With window glass, television and computer screens, the modern typefaces are easier to read.
The workshops were designed to enable students to become well rounded in all disciplines. It was an effective teaching method because it catered for kinaesthetic as well as auditory and visual learning. The re-location to the industrial center of Dessau from the cultural hub of Weimar was intended to encourage a closer relationship between art and industrial design. Whereas in the early years at Weimar the emphasis was on individual work, the Bauhaus of Dessau became more focused on industrial design. Works became commercial prototypes for some of the products manufactured in industry. From the Bauhaus came kitchen utensils, furniture, toys and other products that are so common in modern life that many people today would be surprised to discover they originated in the first quarter of the century.
In 1923, Laslo Moholy-Nagy took over the foundation course from Itten. He brought a constructivist and functionalist thinking to the course. Josef Albers a graduate of the Bauhaus also taught the course fulfilling one of the Bauhaus aspirations that students should one day become teachers. Albers brought engineering principles to design teaching. He produced three-dimensional structures from paper. Students were taught as engineers rather than as artists. This was also where the use of prototypes and models for expressing design in architecture was instilled.
A functional prototype of the modern home was constructed, known as the "Haus am Horn". It had all the features and functions of the modern kitchen. It was unlike the homes of that time. It was not only functional but also based on rational principles. Although it was intended as a commercially viable alternative for housing in Germany, it became an early expression of the modern suburban American homes from the 1950s and 60s.
It was the Bauhaus in Dessau, designed by Walter Gropius that was the prototype of the crystalline design of glass and metal which became the fore-runner of the International Style that would be adopted in modern building architecture. Cars and airplanes and other modern machines inspired furniture designs. The steel tubular steel chairs common in modern business interiors were designed at the Bauhaus.
There was a housing problem in Dessau especially as it was an industrial area and did not provide adequate housing for workers. With the economic problems facing Germany, there was a need for low-cost housing. Students collaborated on a housing project in a Dessau suburb � assisting in the design and planning. The head of architecture at the Bauhaus was Hannes Meyer who believed that architecture was a science and not an art. He put greater emphasis on the architect's social responsibility.
Meyer became the second director of the Bauhaus in 1928 when Gropius resigned because of the personal criticism of the rising Nationalists (Nazi). Meyer was a communist and his appointment played into the hands of the Nazis who had already labeled the Bauhaus as a breeding ground for communism. In 1930, Meyer resigned and the re-knowned architect Mies van der Rohe acquired the directorship. Van der Rohe was appalled by the emphasis on functionalism at the expense of art and wanted to bring back the arts. He also banned political activity which helped in stabilizing the tense relationship with the Nazi dominated Dessau municipal authorities. Despite these changes, in 1932 the Dessau City Council withdrew all staff contracts. Political harassment continued and the Nazis closed down the Bauhaus. A final attempt was made to establish the Bauhaus in a Berlin Factory but in 1993 it too was closed down.

The Story: The Bauhaus Movement

The Bauhaus Movement
With the closing of the Bauhaus School in 1933, the Bauhaus movement began as teachers and students migrated across Europe and North America. Various work and collaborations were undertaken in Europe where the Bauhaus influence was evident. However, it was in the United States that the modernist movement in architecture took its strongest root where American firms and institutions sought many of the Bauhaus masters. Gropius became head of architecture at Harvard. Mies van der Rohe was invited by American architect Philip Johnson and later in 1938 became the Director of the School of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. [Raeburn, 1980]
The path to America was paved through the growing popularity of what was termed the "International Style". The term was derived from a book written by Gropius in 1925 called "International Architecture" [Wolfe, 1982, p.37]. In 1927, the Stuttgart Government put Mies van der Rohe in charge of the worker-housing exhibition. He brought together the top modernist architects - Walter Gropius, Bruno Traut, Max Traut, Peter Behrens, Oud and Mart Sam of the Dutch "De Stijl" and Victor Bourgeois of Belguim. Included in the group was the man later to be considered the greatest and most influential architect of the 20th century, the Frenchman, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, who abandoned his real name to become known as Le Corbusier [Risebero, 1997, p.245].
It was at the Wiessenhof WerkBund project that a common reductionist, cubist style emerged to define the "International Style". Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson for the Museum of Modern Art popularized the term through an article published in the Museum catalogue. It was Johnson's aim to introduce the "International Style" into American architecture.
In the United States of America, the Bauhaus principles revolutionized art education, previously dominated by the Beaux-Arts method. Through its influence in education and in practice, the modernist movement flourished. The Bauhaus movement became responsible for the modern face of architecture in many of the American cities such as Chicago and New York. Chicago has been described as "row upon row of Mies van der Rohe buildings".
In 1935 Gropius wrote his book entitled, "A New Architecture and the Bauhaus". He declared that a breach had been made with the past, which allows us to envisage a new aspect of architecture corresponding to the technical civilization of the age we live in [Gropius, 1965, p.19]. There were two key elements in his "New Architecture" namely, standardization and rationalization. Standardization did not mean that architecture was in the hands of an elite � something that Gropius did not support in his call in his manifesto for all architects, artists and designers to return to the "crafts". He acknowledged that "personal interest in architecture is something that concerns every one of us in our daily lives" and that this "has been very widely aroused" [Gropius, 1965, p.20].
Gropius also reflected that what he viewed as "rationalization" was not meant to place functionalism over aesthetics. "For instance rationalization, which many people imagine to be its cardinal principle, is really only its purifying agency. The liberation of architecture from a welter of ornament, the emphasis on its structural functions, and the concentration on concise and economical solutions, represent the purely material side of that formalizing process on which the practical value of the New Architecture depends." He continues that the other "the aesthetic satisfaction of the human soul, is just as important as the material. Both find their counterpart in that unity which is life itself. What is far more important than this structural economy and its functional emphasis is the intellectual achievement, which has made possible a new spatial vision" [Gropius, 1965, p.23-24].
One might interpret the following as an elitist statement, "For whereas building is merely a matter of methods and materials, architecture implies the mastery of space" [Gropius, 1965]. However, the distinction between architecture, engineering and construction in all forms of human endeavor is not a question of dominance of roles, or that only specific roles "analyze and design", but that these are done at different layers of abstraction, planning and execution. The desire to execute or implement without fully reflecting on design issues is as true now as it was then "For the last century the transition from manual to machine production has so preoccupied humanity that, instead of pressing forward to tackle the new problems of design postulated by this unprecedented transformation, we have remained content to borrow our style from antiquity and perpetuate historical prototypes in decoration" [Gropius, 1965, p.24].

The Story: Postmodern Architecture

Postmodern Architecture
Not everyone shared an enthusiasm for the new architecture of the �International Style�. While Gropius may have felt that the utopian ideals of modernist architecture were realised, there were many who disagreed.
"Computer science now commands the bulk of research funding at many of our respected design institutions. The exams are increasingly weighted towards technical matters in an effort to weed out the scores of graduates, more in the province of Structural Engineering. The result is that the artistically minded are discouraged from continuing their studies and the status quo is maintained. This author was shocked in retrospect (many years later as the brainwashing was so well managed) that the licensing exam had no measure for artistic or aesthetic sensibility. How completely different was the training of the graduate of the Beaux Arts in Paris who could expertly delineate the most beautiful expressions of the spirit manifest in all forms of glorious piles of stone, stucco, wood, and terra cotta! Our graduates can barely draw freehand; know little about art history, or the humanities in general. How Vitruvius would turn over in his grave if he knew how little the training of today's architect followed his strong recommendations in the times of the Caesars." [Henry, 2000]

The Story: Criticisms of Modernism

Criticisms of Modernism
There are many criticisms of modernist architecture. The emphasis on art has been lost to many modern architects. Modern commercial graphic techniques and visual effects are produced using computer-generated images. The general reliance on technology as opposed to personal mastery is a modern trend. The cubist forms and reductionism of modern architecture is aesthetically boring. "Less is bore" was a reference to the minimalist motto of "less is more". The International Style that gave the impression of a common design - as if one architect produced them - became a representation of a lack of art and creativity.
The patron-architect-builder role had changed. Modern architects have been criticized for the religious adherence to the Manifestos and their theoretical pursuits. The result of this was that "Modern architecture had failed to remain credible partly because it didn't communicate effectively with its ultimate users - the main argument of my book 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture' - and partly because it didn't make effective links with the city and history." [Jencks, 1989, p.14]
In his book, "From Bauhaus to Our House - a devastating and timely attack on the hideous follies of modern architecture", Tom Wolfe refers to Gropius and other European architects of the International Style as "compound architects". This is in reference to their closed pursuit of the utopian ideals outlined in their manifestos. Wolfe also expresses little regard for the young American architects who he referred to as a "Lost Generation" who held a misguided belief that "they do things better in Europe" [Wolfe, 1993, p.9]. Wolfe was appalled by the lack of relevance placed on the client. "And if American architects wanted to ride the wave, rather than be wiped out by it, they had first to comprehend on thing: the client no longer counted for anything except the funding" [Wolfe, 1993, p.40].
Not everyone believed in the new methods in art education and the departure from the Beaux Art tradition of teaching. "Studying architecture was no longer a matter of acquiring a set of technical skills and a knowledge of aesthetic alternatives. Before he knew it, the student found himself drawn into a movement and entrusted with a set of inviolable aesthetic and moral principles. The campus itself became the physical compound, as at the Bauhaus." [Wolfe, 1993, p.54]
Wolfe also makes reference to the emphasis on drawings as designs on paper that are never built. Le Corbusier was known for his style of drawing using watercolors. Modern architectural drawings were not art but more a technical form of graphic art. Much of the original artistry, Wolfe decries has been lost. In May 1980, Michael Graves won the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize for Architecture for a drawing of a building not yet built.
Another criticism of modern architecture is its pursuit of honest and clean lines but its failure to apply this principle in the integrity of materials. At times the materials used in the construction of modern architecture emulate one material but are made of another. In the 1930s, Le Corbusier covered block work with Stucco to make it look like concrete. [Foster, 1983, p.208].
Perhaps the most notable failing of modernism is in its promise to address the problems of housing workers. In 1955 a vast worker-housing project called Pruitt-Igoe was opened in St. Louis. Le Corbusier and his concept of houses as �machines for living in� inspired the design by Minoru Yamasaki. The buildings were rectangular in form separated by open spaces of lawn. The workers for whom it was built avoided them and referred to them as the "projects". Those who moved in were from the rural surrounds of the southern states. They were not accustomed to the densely populated spaces. When a task team met with the workers for whom the projects were intended in 1971 and asked for their opinion, the crowd chanted repeatedly, "Blow it up! Blow it up!"
The demolishing of the Pruitt-Igoe projects was regarded as an event, which heralded the end of modern architecture. Ironically, Yamasaki was also the architect of the twin towers, which were destroyed in the terror attacks of September 11 2001. Yamasaki's modern design was considered by some to be dull. Yet, it was symbolic of the modernity of the Western world, something that undoubtedly motivated the choice of the attacks. Whilst, it may not have been aesthetically appealing, it may have helped to save lives. The lifts were still working after the attack. While the collapse killed the remaining people inside the building, its vertical nature helped to save those in and around the surrounding buildings [Pearman, 2002].
Charles Jencks referred to the demolishing of the Pruitt-Igoe projects in his studies of postmodern architecture. He is responsible for determining the period of postmodernism as well defining architecture in three phases: premodern, modern and postmodern.
"Post-Modernism, like Modernism, varies for each art both in its motives and time-frame, and here I shall define it just in the field with which I am most involved - architecture. The responsibility for introducing it into the architectural subconscious lies with Joesph Hudnut who, at Harvard with Walter Gropius, may have wished to give this pioneer of the Modern Movement a few sleepless nights. At any rate, he used the term in the title of an article published in 1945 called "the post-modern house" (all lower case, as was Bauhaus practice), but didn't mention it in the body of the text or define it polemically. Except for an occasional slip here and there, Philip Johnson or Nikolaus Pevsner didn�t use it until my own writing on the subject which started in 1975." [Jencks, 1989]

The Story: Pluralism

Pluralism
Postmodernism as the term suggests is a reaction to modernism. To some degree, it is about breaking away from the �standardisation� pursued by modernism. There are many movements within postmodernism - many based on revivals of classicism. The aim of postmodernism is not to find �a� solution to the problems of modernism or the problems modernism sought to address, but that there are �many� possible solutions. The most accurate way to describe postmodernism is through "pluralism" or a phenomenon of many values and beliefs - not one single value or belief system dominating over others.
"But the most encompassing trend, it seems to me, is not so much away from belief as towards an increasing plurality of beliefs. Never has consensus been so hard to achieve on a political and professional level. In the architectural world, for instance, there has never been so much conflict, such professional bitterness and hostility. And yet, this friction, the debates between Modernists, Late-Modernists and Post-Modernists, or all of them against Traditionalists, or some of them against Free-Style Classicists - all this acrimony doesn't speak of a decline in belief, but of something quite different; a new-found discovery that differences matter, that distinctions can be fought over." [Jencks, 1989, p.50]
Postmodernism is relevant for all architecture intensive disciplines because it provides us with an understanding of why consensus is difficult to achieve. The activity of design and construction - in organizational structures, software systems or buildings - is currently undergoing this crisis.
"Post-Modernism as a cultural phenomenon is often hard to grasp because it is so various in style and discontinuous, even within a single building or work of art. Eclecticism is the natural style for cultural diversity and there is one fundamental reason for the increasing pluralism of our era: it has been united by current technologies into an instantaneous, twenty-four-hour 'information world', the Post-Industrial successor to a Modern world based on industry. To understand this new situation is to grasp a series of contrasts and not a single entity, or predetermined process. The shifts are kaleidoscopic and simultaneous - that from mass-production to segmented production; from a relatively integrated mass-culture to many fragmented taste cultures; from centralized control in government and business to peripheral decision-making; from repetitive manufacture of identical objects to the fast-changing manufacture of varying objects; from few styles to many genres; from national to global consciousness and, at the same time, local identification - and there are many more related changes than this short list implies. Fundamentally we are passing into a new era of culture and social organization, what Daniel Bell called the Post-Industrial Society in 1967 and what others have called the 'Third Wave', or 'information society'. Several related events have brought it into existence. " [Jencks, 1989, p.43]
What will drive organizational theory is a need to address cultural problems and this will require a sense of "openness". "Perhaps the biggest shift in the Post-Modern world is the new attitude of openness. It's not just a taste of heterogeneity, which has brought this about, but also a new assertion of minority rights, of 'otherness' ...But No single movement is typical of this widespread shift." [Jencks, 1989, p.55]

The Story: Natural Architecture

Natural Architecture
"For analogous reasons we can predict that much of the world will carry on happily for the next twenty years modernizing and following the ideology of Modernism. After all much of it, like China, is still rural and not yet industrialized. Post-Modernism is a stage of growth, not an anti-Modern reaction, and before one country or people can reach it, the various stages of urbanization, industrialization and post-industrialization have to occur." [Jencks, 1989, p.58]

The Story: Relevance of Modernism

Relevance of Modernism
As Charles Jencks acknowledged, modernism would still be relevant in the postmodern era. As the model of the two converging worlds illustrates, urbanization and the path of classical, modernist and postmodernist architecture helped to establish a way of thinking based on the arts and sciences such as geometry and mathematics. It has become tacit knowledge to people living in the modern world. We take for granted the reinforcement of geometric shapes in the plates we eat from, the doors we walk through and the windows through which we gaze upon the world around us.
For the most part, the modern world has not yet understood the application of this thinking. Many people around the world live in poor rural conditions where such things are a luxury. More importantly, their children are not exposed to early childhood education that now re-enforces visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning. And even if they did, the home surrounds and living spaces to which these children will be exposed to are more akin to natural architecture with its free flowing lines and curves. This reinforces a different sense of aesthetic values that are very different to the modern geometric views and mathematical decoration shaped from classical architecture. This in turn, plays a significant role in the difference in thinking between the two converging worlds.

The Story: Wholes versus Parts

Wholes versus Parts
In many ancient designs, where patterns pursued natural architecture, there is a distinct lack of symmetry or straight lines. While shapes such as circles, squares, rectangles and triangles are recognizable; they are not drawn with straight lines or in symmetry. They are free flowing as if observed only in the shapes derived from nature. It would seem that the wall murals of the Ndebele people in southern Africa would argue against this notion. Ndebele homes are brightly colored with abstract constructivist patterns.
But as Powell notes in his book "Ndebele - A people and their art", "Ndebele mural art, geometric patterns on traditional houses have their beginnings in the 1940�s. The first 'Ndebele-style' wall paintings that we know of were photographed by Pretoria architect and university academic Al Meiring at a single settlement in the Hartebeestfontein area during the late 1940s - and there is every indication that it was in fact here that the practice of decorative and geometric wall paintings, at least as we think of it today, had its origins among the Ndebele." [Powell, 1995]
This may indicate that natural architecture is in some way less superior to modern architecture in thinking. But this is not so. In the first paragraph of Peter Senge's book, "The Fifth Discipline - the art and practice of the learning organization", the author writes,
"From a very early age, we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment the world. This apparently makes complex tasks and subjects more manageable, but we pay a hidden, enormous price. We can no longer see the consequences of our actions; we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a larger whole. When we then try to 'see the big picture,' we try to reassemble the fragments in our minds, to list and organize all the pieces. But, as physicist David Bohm says, the task is futile - similar to trying to reassemble the fragments of a broken mirror to see a true reflection. Thus, after a while we give up trying to see the whole altogether." [Senge, 1990, p.3] This aptly describes the modernist thinking of abstracting, structured methods and artefact gathering.
The thought is also conveyed by Charles Jencks. "Modern sciences have triumphed through specializing on limited parts of reality: extremely few of them, like ecology and ethnology, have been holistic. Modern knowledge has progressed by analyzing problems into their parts, dividing to conquer, hence the multiple branching of university departments and investigative disciplines over the last two hundred years. Only a few fields, such as philosophy, ethnology and sociology have made their purview the whole of knowledge, or the interconnection of disciplines, and on these rare occasions only imperfectly so. Perhaps in the future with the environmental crises and the increasing globalization of the economy, communications and virtually every specialization, we will be encouraged - even forced - to emphasize the things which interact, the connections between growing economy, an ideology of constant change and waste. Those who don't realize the world is a whole are doomed to pollute it". [Jencks, 1989]
Senge later uses the story that astronaut Rusty Schweikert recounts of floating above the earth and noticing earth without the geographical boundaries and lines that divide nations, to illustrate the principles of systems thinking. Of this "direct experience" he writes, "The earth is an indivisible whole, just as each of us is an indivisible whole. Nature (and that includes us) is not made up of parts within wholes. It is made up of wholes within wholes. All boundaries, national boundaries included, are fundamentally arbitrary. We invent them and then, ironically, we find ourselves trapped within them." [Senge, 1990, p.371]
Natural architecture and thinking is as much about seeing wholes as opposed to parts and understanding the interconnectivity of life. It is a liberating view that helps us to express ourselves more closely with nature than the arbitrary and man-made constraints of classical, modernist and postmodernist thought. Natural Architecture is not simply an aspect of the postmodernist movement but, as Senge noted, is associated with the pre-industrial cultures whose beliefs were akin to the theory of "Gaia" - the belief that the biosphere, all life on earth, is itself a living organism.

The Story: Beliefs and Perspectives

Beliefs and Perspectives
Modernism perpetuated a perverse view of chaos in natural architecture and by extension an arrogant disregard for those social cultural models that pursued it. Consider the western view of African cultures, where many societies have been subjected to generations of slavery by tribal practice, the colonial expansion of Europe and apartheid. Slavery is dehumanizing because it takes away individual freedom and breaks down the human spirit. Yet there are modern labour-intensive practices, used for commercial gain, that perpetuate this dehumanising experience. The principle of division of labour, often leads to the entrapment of unskilled workers. If learning is fostered amongst unskilled workers, it is to a large extent limited to tactile learning.
The attempts to export modernism from the �First World� to the �Third World� through commercial ventures have resulted in some practices akin to centuries of slavery. Industrialization was packaged to third world countries but the monopoly of control, technologies, knowledge and information were kept in the hands of the first world [Jencks, 1989, p.56].
There seems to be a lack of understanding that theory or abstract thinking plays a key role in action and results. That above all else, it is the thinking patterns and our ability to generate them that must be nurtured and where investment must be placed. When likening the hope of an "African Renaissance" with the Italian Renaissance, many leaders in business and politics focus on the prosperity and wealth generated during that period rather than on the shift in thinking that caused it. The true enlightenment that came from the Italian Renaissance was the shift in space awareness from a two dimensional tactile view to a visual three-dimensional perspective. Africa�s rebuilding and renewal (physically, socially and spiritually) lies in the hands of architecture-intensive disciplines � in the forging of modernist and natural thinking.

The Story: Natural Patterns, Spirit and Beliefs

Natural Patterns, Spirit and Beliefs
Despite the many criticisms of modernism, there are many important facets in thinking to come out of it, which is relevant to our time and circumstance. Perhaps, the secret of applying it in the so-called "Third World" lies in our finding a synergy between some of the positive aspects in the modernist thinking with what can be learned from natural architecture.
An interesting approach in this direction is Biomimetics, which is the study of biological structures and function. It is gaining ground in material sciences, particularly in the development of materials or components for construction. Scientist Stephen Wainwright predicts "Biomimetics will engulf molecular biology and replace it as the most challenging and important biological science of the 21st Century." Professor Mehmet Sarikaya claims: "We are on the brink of a materials revolution that will be on a par with the Iron Age and the Industrial Revolution. We are leaping forward into a new era of materials. Within the next century, I think Biomimetics will significantly alter the way in which we live." [Sarikaya, 1995]
There are many lessons that can be learnt from natural architecture in design and construction. But perhaps its most significant metaphors come from the theories associated with belief systems. Natural architecture is also used to define a recent movement in architecture and design and is also referred to as evolutionary and green architecture. The emphasis is on organic designs that blend into the natural surrounds or incorporates nature in living spaces.
Echoing the early view of the natural world, David Pearson writes that the revival of natural architecture "puts us in touch again with the primeval forces of life-sun, wind, earth, water - and celebrates the cycles of seasons". Its aim is to support life and health and to bring regeneration to body and soul [Pearson, 1994, p.12].
Amongst the common beliefs of early natural architecture was the belief that there should be spaces provided for the living and the dead. Dwelling places were built in harmony with the perceived surroundings including those of the spiritual world. The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico in the United States believed that the link between earth and spirit was fundamental. They viewed the world as layers of "planes" and believed that their ancestors lived just below the surface of the earth and that they traveled through the second and third planes to reach the fourth where humans existed. They built houses with chambers or �kivas� that have levels or planes. The entrance was a ladder at the top, just above the surface of the earth representing the fourth level where humans lived.
The link to the past is also about survival. Many natural architects believe that lessons can and must be derived from the way early civilizations survived by preserving their environment and culture. There is a sense of urgency which comes from the "post-rape of the environment", as the earth is being stripped of its resources, polluted and destroyed. Natural architecture is also seen as a way to preserve cultures. Natural architects argue that our link with the past has been broken and needs to be restored in order to move forward into the future. Communities need a sense of identity.
Cultural identity and environmental concerns drive the emphasis that Filipino architect Francisco "Bobby" Ma�osa places on designs based on the traditional "Nipa Hut" made of bamboos. Faced with the sense that western values are eroding traditional culture in the Philippines, Ma�osa's buildings are based on traditional designs. He also makes use of bamboos, which are plentiful but considered to be technically and socially "poor" in quality.
Pearson also highlights the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, who is traditionally associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement of the premodern period. But Wright's buildings stand out because of his use of organic decoration.
"With Wright organic design was not just decoration or style, it became the underlying inspiration. He wanted his buildings to be intimate with nature and literally to love the ground on which they stood. He felt the ground to be more important than the building, for the ground would endure the longer, and was very much in sympathy with Thoreau's view that we are, 'but a sojourner in nature'. Because nature is not symmetrical, Wright felt the same should be true of a building if it was to reflect the organic and the living." [Pearson, 1994, p.50]
A contemporary, well-known and influential architect is Christopher Alexander - Theorist, Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an author of an influential series of books from Oxford University Press, which explore in practical detail what it is that makes buildings and communities humane over time.
"'A design professional of depth - his 1964 Notes on the Synthesis of Form - is still in print - Alexander is inspired by how design occurs in the natural world. "Things that are good have a certain kind of structure,' he told me. 'You can't get that structure except dynamically. Period. In nature you've got continuous very-small-feedback-loop adaptation going on, which is why things get to be harmonious. That's why they have the qualities that we value. If it weren't for the time dimension, it wouldn't happen. Yet here we are playing the major role in creating the world, and we haven't figured this out. That is a very serious matter'".
Applying this approach to buildings, Alexander frames the design question so: "What does it take to build something so that it's really easy to make comfortable little modifications in a way that once you've made them, they feel integral with the nature and structure of what is already there? You want to be able to mess around with it and progressively change it to bring it into an adapted state with yourself, your family, the climate, whatever." [Brand, 1994, p.21]
Christopher Alexander has inspired the Patterns Movement which involves the discovery of design patterns � particularly in the way it relates to human living spaces and nature. He has authored 4 volumes on his theories relating to design. His 4th volume is likely to be the most controversial as it deals with his theory regarding what he refers to as the inner �i�. He believes that there is a �life force� in nature which defines good design. This �life force� is a process that exists in both natural and man-made structures.
The work of Christopher Alexander is significant because it raises the level of abstraction to a spiritual level. In a scientific world, it would be acceptable to use the term �Natural Architecture� but it would not be appropriate to use a religious term such as �Creation�. In the emerging architecture-intensive disciplines, there is a need to acknowledge this movement that the human experience is important. It includes belief systems and cultures. We should not perceive belief systems as irrational, dismiss them as superstition or reject them as out-dated rituals. Belief systems not only help architects to create structures that are meaningful to people but enable them to understand the essence and purpose of their work.
Ancient practices associated with natural architecture can provide modern architects with powerful tools. Consider the practice of story-telling which is acknowledged by knowledge workers as a technique for discovering tacit knowledge. Just as nature provided patterns for structures, it also provided metaphors for stories. Story-telling combined with visual modelling are powerful tools in discovering and communicating architectural concepts and designs.
The purpose of story-telling from one generation to another was not to record facts or statistics. It�s primary purpose in most cultures was to help preserve a way of life. The power of the story was its openness to interpretation. A story was a tool, to be adapted in use for the specific time and generation, to convey the essence that leads to an understanding and design of values, principles and practices. In this context, the story-telling technique has proven to be effective as many cultures and belief systems today owe their preservation to it. In contrast, technological advances have done little to sustain many western cultures and values which are now preserved only through life-less exhibitions in museums and art.
As our ancient ancestors discovered, the story of nature provides infinite lessons for mankind. For architects and thinkers who see themselves as learners and teachers, our greatest achievement is in being able to re-tell a story. Not only are we able to demonstrate our understanding but more importantly we can participate in the time-less act of sharing knowledge from generation to generation.
An appreciation for natural architecture brings us back to the beginning of our story. The debate between "art" and "science" (and perhaps all other philosophical debates) begins and ends in nature, because in nature these are embodied as one. The terms "art" and "science" are man-made. When seen as a whole, they both represent perspectives or views of the same thing - nature. In natural architecture we find not only design patterns, but that the whole of nature itself exists as the epitomy of structure, function and aesthetics.

The Case Studies

Case Study
	The case studies provide a real world comparison of the patterns derived from the story.
	The two case studies of Software Architecture represent two contrasting environments. One is a large corporate Information Technology department and the other a small team in a commercial software house. In both cases, a software architect was introduced with a similar mandate - to provide technical leadership, implement a methodology, establish standards and an architecture to a development team.
	The following is an extract from a Performance Contract (between the author and an employer) which illustrates the role of Software Architecture in both case studies. Objectives of Job (Software Architect)
	To provide technical leadership to the development team.
	To raise awareness and enthusiasm amongst the development teams around the importance and benefits of architecture, design patterns and software methodology and to establish a continual improvement mindset in this regard.
	To establish, document and maintain application frameworks for each strategic product area, onto which business functionality can be attached in a consistent sustainable manner maximising reuse and minimizing incremental development per function point.
	To participate within the scope, time, quality negotiation triangle with project management, the development team and the communication of architecture and software development practices to the client where required.
	Participate in scope, time, quality negotiation with the project management and act as the upper guardian of the quality relative to architecture principles, best practice design, implementation and testing standards.

The Case Studies: Case Study A - Large Corporate IT

Diagram

Title
	Case Study A - Large Corporate IT
Boundaries
Environment:	Energy Sector - Refining, Distribution and Retail
Enterprise:	Corporate IT
System:	Microsoft (Client Server and Web Based Applications) and SAP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
Roles
Internal Roles:	40 under Group Manager, 15 under Microsoft Development Team Leader, 4-5 Members in Project Teams
External Roles:	IT and Enterprise Architects, Auditors, Business Analysts in Business Units, User Representatives, Project Managers, Help Desk, Systems Administrators and Engineers, Infrastructure
Software Development Process
Methodologies:	Software Architecture and Software Engineering using concepts from Rational Unified Process (RUP), Structure Software Development Methodology (SSDM), Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Zachmann Frameworks
Life Cycle:	Iterative Process
Analysis and Design:	Information Modeling (Business), Entity Relationship Diagrams, Object-Relational Mapping and the Unified Modeling Language
Software Architecture
Objective:	To implement methodology, standards, processes and procedures for group, provide technical leadership and mentoring, architect in-house development and integrate outsource development
Period:	2 Years
Number of Project Iterations:	Between 1 to 5
Involvement in Project:	Assigned to multiple projects. Technical lead, advisor/consultant.

The Case Studies: Case Study B - Small Commercial Team

Diagram

Title
	Case Study B - Small Commercial Team
Boundaries
Environment:	Financial Services Sector
Enterprise:	Commercial Software
System:	Practice Management System
Roles
Internal Roles:	5 under Operations Manager, 3 Developers
External Roles:	Management, Marketing and Sales, Customers, Corporate Project Teams
Software Development Process
Methodologies:	Extreme Programming (XP) with aspects of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and the Structured Software Development Methodology (SSDM)
Life Cycle:	Iterative Process
Analysis and Design:	Information Modeling (Business), Mind-Mapping, Story-Telling and the Unified Modeling Language
Software Architecture
Objective:	To implement methodology for development team, provide technical leadership and mentoring and re-architect existing product
Period:	6 Months
Number of Project Iterations:	1
Involvement in Project:	Assigned to single company project. Technical lead.

The Patterns

	The following 50 patterns were derived from the story on building architecture.
Patterns
	Pattern 01: Architecture Intensive Disciplines Pattern 02: Aesthetic Values and Cultural Belief Systems Pattern 03: Converging Worlds and Cultural Innovators Pattern 04: Four Social Cultural Theories Pattern 05: Structure Function Aesthetics Pattern 06: Abstraction Layers Pattern 07: Patron Architect Builder Pattern 08: Patron as Sponsor and User Pattern 09: Architect as Leader Pattern 10: Classical Architecture Pattern 11: Organisation of Construction Pattern 12: Vitruvian Architect Pattern 13: Architect and Engineer Pattern 14: Internal and External Architecture Pattern 15: Theory and Practice Pattern 16: Learning Methods Pattern 17: Tactile and Visual Pattern 18: Patron as Society Pattern 19: Reason and Belief Pattern 20: Framework and Decoration Pattern 21: Theory and Material Pattern 22: Automation and Craft Pattern 23: Organic and Inorganic Decoration Pattern 24: Unification and the Workshop Pattern 25: Modernist Thinking Pattern 26: Foundation Course Pattern 27: Units of Construction Pattern 28: Art Patterns Pattern 29: Role Play Pattern 30: Readability and Authoring Standards Pattern 31: Modelling and Prototyping Pattern 32: Mastery of Space Pattern 33: Less is More Pattern 34: Compound Architects Pattern 35: Beautiful Drawings Pattern 36: Integrity of Material Pattern 37: Rationalisation and Standardisation Pattern 38: Postmodern Pluralism Pattern 39: Openness Pattern 40: Modernism in Postmodern World Pattern 41: Shaping the Mind Pattern 42: Wholes versus Parts Pattern 43: Revival of Natural Architecture Pattern 44: Shift in Thinking Pattern 45: Natural Architecture Patterns Pattern 46: Beliefs in Natural Architecture Pattern 47: Feedback Loops Pattern 48: Shearing Layers of Change Pattern 49: Story Telling Pattern 50: Nature as Architecture

The Patterns: Architecture Intensive Disciplines

Diagram

Title
	Architecture Intensive Disciplines
Building Architecture
	According to the Penquin Dictionary, architecture can be defined as "a method or style of building." An architect can be defined as a person "who devises, plans and achieves a difficult objective." The term "architecture" and the role of "architect" can be used outside of building architecture. It is used extensively in information technology.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Architecture intensive disciplines in information technology include Software Architects, Enterprise Architects, Data Architects, IT Architects, Application Architects, Network Architects and System Architects. Architects can work with very tangible structures such as buildings or hardware infrastructure. Others work with organisational structures where people represent the building blocks or foundation. Architects can also work with abstract things such as ideas, information, data and software.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The role of the Software Architect was introduced into the environment. Within a large organisation there are a number of different types of architectures and architects. In this large environment, all of the above architectural roles were evident in the IT department (i.e. Enterprise Architects, Network Architects, etc.). One of the most challenging aspects of architecture was aligning different approaches, identifying and unifying architects reporting in different teams or groups. There wasn't a strong culture or support for software architecture and this was evident in part through the lack of definitions, documents and diagrams. However, a more telling sign of the lack of architecture was the lack of formal architectural skills and practices such as visual modeling, prototyping and abstracting. A contributing factor was the fact that most systems were "bought" instead of "built". The "architecture" was centered around vendor platforms such as SAP and Microsoft. The majority of staff were contractors or temporary workers which impacted on the issue of knowledge management - retention and transferral. Some of the positions encountered did not come with a job title that included the term "Architect" but the responsibilities indicated that this was an architectural role (e.g. designing of solutions). Also there were managers who saw themselves as the architects. The practice of using the term "Architect" in job titles and descriptions was relatively new. The practice has gradually emerged or re-emerged during the period observed. An architecture team was established to support project development teams. An initiative was also started to introduce job titles to the human resource department that contained the terms "architect" and "engineer" in place of more traditional IT titles such as "developer", "analyst", "programmer" and other terms of reference such as "senior" and "junior". Mentorship and workshops were conducted to facilitate knowledge sharing and skills development.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The role of the Software Architect was introduced formally into the environment for the first time. Because of the nature of a small team, architecture intensive skills were identified at a more personal level - as a knowledge issue. Certain tasks were deemed as more "architectural" than others. The architecture was encouraged as a team responsibility - incorporated into multiple roles.

The Patterns: Aesthetic Values and Cultural Belief Systems

Diagram

Title
	Aesthetic Values and Cultural Belief Systems
Building Architecture
	Social cultural belief systems can play a role in establishing a set of individual or shared aesthetic values. Some beliefs are based on the pursuit of natural patterns whereas others draw on man-made geometric shapes and forms. As we communicate and think across a diversity of cultures and beliefs, we may find that there are disparities in the way we draw mental models either as a individuals or as groups.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	In designing systems, human to computer interfaces or prototyping bear in mind that "beauty" is not always defined by western perspectives, symmetry and geometric forms. Consider both geometric and natural forms especially when designing systems that have a multi-cultural or global context - the internet, extranets, multinational corporate intranets.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Typically of large organisations, communicating ideas, finding common values and drawing the same mental models was a challenge. Cultural perspectives played a role in the organisation. Apart from the fact that South Africa is culturally diverse, the company was also made up of a global "family" of very diverse cultures. Social cultural issues such as Black Empowerment were high on the corporate agenda with strong underlying resistance to change amongst individuals. The presence of a common application platform such as the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and the application of best practices did provide a common focus and approach. Designing user interfaces is always a challenge and in this environment it was no different. With SAP/R3, the client's graphical user interface could be customised but it had its own distinct "look and feel". With web applications which were developed in-house, the "look and feel" was balanced by the web development team. Initially, it was difficult to find this balance with management, users and outsourced or contracted development having different standards. However, the company maintained a strong adherence to their brand image which helped to focus aesthetic standards. The above pattern was best expressed when comparing portals from different nationalities - western and eastern values. The use of "african" and "european" images as well as religious holidays and seasons, were also carefully considered. One of the systems on the intranet was portrayed by a logo using a character image of a black south african. When it was suggested to "dress" him as Santa Clause for the Christmas period, it was quickly pointed out that not all members of staff were Christians. Due to the fact that the company was made up of followers of different religious faiths including Islamic, Christian and Jewish beliefs - people in general were careful regarding their comments on events such as September 11.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Despite this being a commercial software environment, the customer base was not very diverse. The team and the customer user base consisted largely of English speaking South Africans. While there were individual agendas and issues to overcome there was a common culture. Hence, ideas were easier to convey, visualise and agree upon. Despite this, it was generally agreed that the lack of diversity was a short-coming.

Diagram

Title
	Converging Worlds and Cultural Innovators
Building Architecture
	Multinational corporations and the internet are cultural innovators just as cities were during in the urban revolution - accelerating the convergence of natural beliefs and natural science. Cultures and beliefs in organisational theory, design and construction are just as relevant today as it has been since early civilisation.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Because of global connectivity through the Internet, Extranets and Intranets, there is a greater likelihood that practices will have to change. By considering values, principles and practices it is possible for converging cultures to adhere to common values and principles even where practices may differ.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The various cultural views can be seen in the contrast between the South African Intranet portal and their overseas counterparts. The South African portal adhered more closely with western symmetry and a simplification of colours. The corporate intranet based in Asia conveyed a more colourful and (to members of the web team) a seemingly cluttered look and feel. The sense of aesthetics between western and non-western cultures were very evident. The internet, extranet and intranet across the corporation conveyed a sense of a global multi-cultural community. There was a strategic drive to align corporate cultures and to develop common values. This was an obvious challenge considering that cultures and practices were visibly different. The fact that one could readily communicate to other members of staff in other parts of the world does change one's view of the world. Email as a cultural tool has been well documented but most of us have experienced the use or misuse first-hand.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Although, this commercial team was small and was housed in a separate company, it was a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the top five Information Technology companies in South Africa with offices in other parts of the world. Interaction with other teams at a technical level was limited as products were developed and marketed in vertical streams. It was ironic that in a large corporate, some people made an effort to speak to others face to face rather than send emails whereas in this environment people sometimes sent emails (that could be simply communicated by speech) to a person sitting right next to them. There are times when you need to convey an abstract idea or design best composed in an email or document than through speech. Hence, even in a small team environment our sense of being "inter-connected" provides various vehicles for collaboration. In each case, we need to balance which "vehicle" is more effective versus the ones that are convenient.

The Patterns: Four Social Cultural Theories

Diagram

Title
	Four Social Cultural Theories
Building Architecture
	The story of building architecture and the 4 cultural theories (natural, classical, modern and postmodern) provides a pattern of the cultural phenomenon we find in other architecture intensive disciplines, activities and pre-occupations.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	What has taken place over centuries in building architecture and civilisation represents a pattern that can occur in months of software or systems development. Development begins and follows a natural organic growth. A period of learning, improving and experimentation. To some it may seem chaotic. Intervention takes place whereby methodologies are applied to standardise the approach. Overtime a more formalised or structured approach is seen as a constraint. A wider set of perspectives are introduced with openness and tolerance. This can lead to a return to natural methods and organic processes and a new cycle begins.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	In the 2 years of various project iterations, a strong adherence to the above pattern can be observed - with the exception that pluralism can lead to more standardisation rather than a return to more natural processes. From organic growth, seeming chaos, standardisation and pluralism - the development life cycle followed a similar pattern. In the inception phase the team was small and followed a natural approach. The Unified Modeling Language and a Rational Unified Process like approach was taken. Construction was preceeded by a UML based construction plan. As standards were being put into place, a methodology was adopted called Software Architecture and Software Engineering (SASE) borrowing ideas from RUP and the SSDM. For some the standards were a constraint and gradually we began to adhere to more of a pluralist approach rather than a singular and rigid methodology. Mentoring and workshops were introduced to facilitate knowledge sharing with a positive response from the majority of the developers. What was also evident in the case study of a large organisation is that software development projects are not necessarily in the hands or control of the technical team as is often assumed. Managers, users, project sponsors, project managers can determine the course and direction of phases and outcomes. In many ways, it illustrates the social nature of software development as a whole and the nature of software architecture. One aspect of this case study that was clear is that architects need to respond to change and should not be entrenched in a particular "style". Working with a variety of styles - business visions, champions, experts, project management, teams and individuals - there is a need to be observe the pattern of social change.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	When this pattern was discussed with the team, there was keen interest shown by some of the members. The product however had been developed by various teams and individuals so it was difficult to guage the processes. But from what could be observed from the software and source code, it was clear that different phases of standardisation, organic and unstructured development had taken place. There were some parts of the code that showed good structure and other parts which were more prone to faults or errors.

The Patterns: Structure Function Aesthetics

Diagram

Title
	Structure Function Aesthetics
Building Architecture
	Vitruvius defined architecture as having the qualities of structure, function and aesthetics. It was a central framework and aspiration of reknowned architects such as Alberti and Le Corbusier.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Today the triad of structure-function-aesthetics is still as relevant. It no longer is a question of having these attributes but of striking a balance.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The central definition we adopted for Software Architecture was based on Philip Krutchen's 4+1 view rather than the Vitruvian definition. We also placed too much emphasis on platforms - SAP and Microsoft. Although the pattern has relevance, we perhaps failed to convey this purpose of architecture as striking a balance between structure, function and aesthetics. Much like the modernist thinking we debated on one being more dominant than the other - "function over form", "structure over aesthetics". This was partly also due to the fact that applications development (structure and function) was a group structure separated from web development (function and aesthetics). While there was collaboration between the teams there were also differences. If the pattern in this case study teaches something, it is that the balance of structure-function-aesthetics should be the common definition of architecture and should be set as a core value. It was difficult to convey to non-technical stakeholders the importance of structure. Refactoring and Quality Assurance was not given the attention it needed as project delivery and implementation of functional requirements were always paramount. In this environment the cost of change was often too high a price to pay. Yet design was also not given enough focus. Time after time, when something was compromised and would be addressed later - it would be left unresolved. The above architectural pattern is not always understood or accepted. Architects are asked to negotiate quality within the project framework of the time-cost-quality triad. It is then up to the architect to apply the above pattern.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	This pattern was introduced early in the environment as a definition for architecture. It helped us to establish not only a common understanding but also an objective which motivated much of the refactoring and re-engineering. Over the years function after function was added to the system - to the detriment of structure. The software had gotten brittle - a change could impact negatively on other parts of the system. It was accepted that some of the new structural designs needed to be implemented through refactoring before new functions could be added.

The Patterns: Abstraction Layers

Diagram

Title
	Abstraction Layers
Building Architecture
	Architecture involves 3 abstraction layers - theory, design and construction. These abstract layers of thinking can be applied to almost any discipline, including business management. In the day to day situations faced by managers, this could be applied to viewing problems beyond the events, to find solutions that address problems more likely associated with patterns and structures. In team building and organisational structures, we refer to layers of values, principles and practices rather than a set of standards and procedures. It does not matter how one views or identifies these abstraction layers as they will differ in application. What is essential is that we think beyond the simplified parts that we use to deal with complexity.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	In order to think in terms of �wholes� rather than �parts�, we would have to think in terms of abstraction �layers� rather than �compositions�. If we were to view the �bigger� picture� we would have to �step back�. In the case of abstraction layers, we would have to �step out� of a layer of abstraction. For instance, we could spend much of our time in technically diagramming �physical� software components and lose sight of their functional and aesthectic relevance to the end user or client. To gain a broader perspective we would have to step out into the �logical� and �conceptual� layers. In turn, if we never ventured deeper than the �conceptual� layer, we could be sacrificing structural integrity for user aesthetics and feature-rich functions.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	One of the central part of the systems architecture built in this environment was a database repository which stored artifacts and meta data on 3 layers of abstraction - conceptual analysis, logical design and physical construction components. The repository catered for both Upper CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) and Lower CASE in that it provided artifacts for web based UML diagrams and could forward or reverse engineer classes and database scripts (and any other source code file or documentation). These tools were built in-house. The central concept underlying this approach was artifact gathering based on the above pattern. Although, artifacts are a form of abstraction and attacking complexity through a break down of parts, the association across layers of abstraction helped to facilitate views of wholes. You could map a glossary of terms and analysis documents to physical software dependencies.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The approach taken here was through the values, principles and practices of Extreme Programming. There was a greater emphasis on human values and interaction. Instead of artifact gathering and visual modeling, stories and metaphors were used. We took a view of communicating openly and trying to convey the larger picture at all times.

The Patterns: Patron Architect Builder

Diagram

Title
	Patron Architect Builder
Building Architecture
	The patron-architect-builder relationship is one of the cornerstones of architectural theory, design and construction. It is a model for defining roles. It can represent or be represented by one or more individuals or actors.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The patron-architect-builder is a pattern for the main actor role collaborations in architecture intensive disciplines. The architect must correctly inteprete the requirements or vision of the patron and balance the relationship between patron and builder to derive a mutually benefitial outcome. The model is simple but the application can be complex. It involves technical skills as well as human values and belief systems.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Business analysts were usually allocated to the business units and regarded as the customer representative. The architect interfaced with the technical team, project managers, business analysts and team leaders to ensure architectural integrity and quality in design. The role required a technical leader and one whose purview of the software was that of the whole rather than its parts. Many software architects report to a development manager or an IT management team. In many ways the patron is made up of the development manager, project sponsor, project manager, business analysts and expert users. In a large organisation, the architect often has to integrate and balance many visions and it is often an over simplification to state that "the customer is the patron" - although ideally this should be the case.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	As in the other case study the architect here reported to the development manager. This was one of the key patterns in this case study. In Extreme Programming (XP) the customer is part of the team. We could not produce a customer as part of the team. In this case, the architect functions as a technical lead but the business analyst would interface with the corporate clients and perform the role of business architects. It was noted in our project review that the absence of an on-site customer made it difficult to properly be customer focused. If there was one single failing, it was this inability to address market and customer demands - a critical error in any commercial software venture.

The Patterns: Patron as Sponsor and User

Diagram

Title
	Patron as Sponsor and User
Building Architecture
	The patron may or may not represent both sponsor and user. In the case of the St Louis Pruitt-Igoe Projects which were demolished in 1972, the sponsor was the local housing authorities and the users were the workers who rejected. The demolishing of the buildings at the request of the workers for whom it was intended, illustrates the importance of considering the people for whom our designs are intended.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	A patron in software or systems architecture can represent the business sponsor and the user community. The sponsor seeks adherence to a vision whereas the primary concern of users is functionality or enablement. To a business, integrity of information for reporting purposes is paramount. This is why the integrity of business rules is essential in data architecture and data programming. Users also play a critical role in defining acceptance and the success of software development projects.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	In previous years, each business unit was given autonomy to outsource end user computing requirements. Some core systems were outsourced. The application development manager had set an objective to bring back some of the work that was outsourced and service these in-house. The re-development of one of the core systems from the mainframe to a web application was seen as a platform for this drive. The aim was to satisfy both the business management as sponsor and the business users. This pattern was applicable and represents one of the key drivers in the case study. While there were challenges to overcome, the success of the first phases of the project allowed us to "tender" for the job of bringing other systems in-house. It was proven that better integration and compliance to standards could be achieved through "building" than "buying" but the policy had traditionally been that development was only an alternative if an application could not be integrated into SAP or "bought". The cost of upgrading SAP because of building custom "bolt-ons" and the growing capabilities of internet based technologies made the "build" option increasingly appealing. In this organisation it is thus difficult to simply define the patron as a customer. In many ways there were a number of people who were patron to the architecture. Those managers who saw themselves as architects and those who championed specific solutions were the visionaries. It is their visions that architecture serves. It is also the designers of the business process, the funders of the project and the business sponsors who are patrons. The project managers who control the project also have a stake in the patronage. Finally, there are the user experts and user representatives who can accept or reject the product of design or construction. Business sponsors as patrons had specific requirements for the architecture. They required data and information integrity. The accuracy of the data was paramount. This required a good data architecture and in turn good business analysis. Business analysts are sometimes too focused on the details of the problem domain to architect a technical solution. The role of the business architect was established to ensure architectural integrity between business requirements and data architecture - entities, business data objects, databases and information flow. The Business Architect could best serve the needs of architecting a system with business analysts in the business units. In this case the business analyst represented the business sponsor as patron. The Business Architect/s was mentored on class diagrams, entity relationship diagrams, use case diagrams and activity diagrams. The role of the Application Architect/s was to design modular applications specific to user requirements. This was done through prototyping and modeling. The Application Architect was mentored on use case diagrams, class diagrams and sequence diagrams. It was felt that by identifying architectural roles and by addressing different aspects of the "patron", that we could resolve some of the disparities in design thinking. In many ways this is also the approach taken by Enterprise Architects using the Zachmann Frameworks. It also reflects the diverse set of Architects in the Rational Unified Process.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Only part of the customer base was made up of corporate institutions. In many cases, the software was operated as a standalone and the patron or customer was both sponsor and user. As indicated in previous patterns the lack of an on-site customer or a customer as a member of the team - was a major shortcoming. The business analyst and user support (help desk) conveyed the customer view.

The Patterns: Architect as Leader

Diagram

Title
	Architect as Leader
Building Architecture
	Imhotep as the first recorded "Architect" displayed not only the Vitruvian definition of an architect (long before the time of Vitruvius), but also held a leadership position. Peter Senge illustrated the idea of "designer as leader" by posing the question "Who is the leader of the ship?" The obvious answers are the Captain, navigator and other members of the crew. But what of the designer, surely his design constrains all other decisions made by the crew.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Managers must be designated and it is a role one in many are given. In contrast, almost anyone can be a leader - often just by doing the right thing and setting the example. An architect is defined by his actions - by designing, mentoring and guiding others to follow. It can have a great impact on teams. A sargeant in the army is in a better position to lead a team than any of the officers above him. The architect is often the technical leader - working closely with individuals in the team and the team as a whole.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The architect was brought in by the development manager. The architect was installed as a technical lead in support of the team leaders who represented the vertical management structure. Rather than a designation, the technical leadership came with the architect role. It was up to the architect to convince the team of the benefits of architecture theory, design and practice. Any of the initial resistance to the approach of having an architect was overcome as members of the team saw the technical benefits of applying best practices and principles of design. Knowledge sharing proved to be a key factor. While some developers may not have appreciated the approach, many have progressed well and have come to appreciate architecture (and are themselves practicing it). Architects must lead by example and not just preach the word. They must always try to improve on their knowledge and expertise because the team will test these to the limit. As one member of team often stated "everyday is a school day". Yes, designs and standards were questioned but the debates were healthy because every rule should be tested for exceptions (every principle should be tested with many practices). There had to be balance between standards and flexibility.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The development manager in this instance was the Operational Director. There was a strong support for architecture and it did not require any authority or designation. The team responded well to the technical leadership as each member was encouraged to take a lead in their own area of expertise.

The Patterns: Classical Architecture

Diagram

Title
	Classical Architecture
Building Architecture
	The term "classical" is used to define the cultural ideals from the Greek and Roman world - in particular - architecture, literature and music. It constitutes a Western view of civilisation and history. It is used in the story as a period of learning. The early period, methods are constrained by the materials and technology which are discovered and used. The materials shape the architecture - structure, function and aesthetics. In later stages of the classical period, construction methods, decoration and ornamentation play an increasing role. A design centered approach to construction is taken to deal with complexity and when our approach to construction matures or is better understood.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Classical can also define systems or methods that constitute and accepted approach. In many ways, we are still in the "classical" phase of software and systems architecture. We are establishing accepted approaches and are also constrained by the materials or technologies we discover. For instance, web services provide a set of "units of construction" which cause us to re-think our existing architectures. We are able to leverage abstract concepts and design as our construction processes mature. In turn, better design can improve construction.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Web based development typically lacked programming structure. On the one hand the web development was construction centric. The work undertaken using an architecture and design centered approach had to be proven as the majority of developers simply did not apply analysis and design methods. Visual modeling was introduced and mentored. Initially, the majority of Microsoft developers on contract would cut and paste sample code from the internet. Personal skills development was initially limited to operating the tools rather than on the knowledge issues of theoretical understanding, design patterns and best practices.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	There was no technical documentation and a lack of standards. The software was built by adding function on top of function with little structural design or architectural consideration. After evaluating the system from bottom up, an architectural vision was established within the first month. It included separation of tiers, the identification of a middle tier library and support for 3 user interface platforms. This architectural vision drove the refactoring which resulted in a major re-structuring of the internal component architecture.

The Patterns: Organisation of Construction

Diagram

Title
	Organisation of Construction
Building Architecture
	It is estimated that about 100,000 men participated in the construction at Memphis. The manner in which this large labour force was divided into teams and the fact that they included craftsmen provides us with an organisational model for construction. The degree of precision was high even though the work was labour intensive.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Some programmers (not all) lack an appreciation for detail. Inconsistency and a lowering of software quality also results from time constraints. It does not help that tedious, detailed work is often delegated to so-called "junior programmers." Much of the authoring or coding requires the attributes of a craftsman. Smaller teams that recognise their work as a craft can apply themselves to peer review, skills development, knowledge sharing and quality assurance.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	This pattern was used in the sense that larger groups were broken down into smaller teams. However, it was initially a challenge for many to see themselves as craftsmen. Some did not initially see the need for coding standards and naming conventions. Three development skills were identified - abstracting, prototyping and crafting - to encourage developers to continually improve the quality of their work.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The team of craftsmen was applied in this case. An environment for unit testing was created and tests were built into new components. After evaluating the existing system with the new architecture and standards, the new team was motivated to improve on the past design. The refactoring work was tedious and time consuming but the team put in the additional time and effort because they recognised the value and benefits.

The Patterns: Vitruvian Architect

Diagram

Title
	Vitruvian Architect
Building Architecture
	Vitruvius defined a set of attributes for what constituted an architect. This definition of the architect has been the cornerstone of architecture education and training down to the modern period.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	A software architect should be creative or have the ability to think creatively. Architecture in information technology involves a great deal of abstract thinking and the ability to conceptualise mental models. Architects need to have both theoretical and practical knowledge of software and systems construction, the software development life-cycle and methodologies. As individuals, they should value knowledge in other fields and have a wide range of interests. Personal learning and growth is the essence of the architect. System patterns can be found in other aspects of life and in other disciplines such as medicine (health care), law, music, history etc.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	After having been exposed to software architecture based on visual patterns, frameworks and models, many of those that were mentored recognised that the terms "architect" and "architecture" were applied incorrectly and too closely to platform and vendor specific definitions. It rarely went deeper than the buzzwords used by sales people selling products or tools. As with many organisations, the title "architect" and the term "architecture" has become fashionable - even an over used label. If the Vitruvian definition of an architect were to be applied in this case, many would either not be considered as an architect by their peers or will re-consider their own position. Perhaps one of the most common short-comings is the lack of creative thinking and theoretical understanding. Some lack the broader understanding or experience of the complete development life cycle. There are many IT developers that do not have an understanding of methodologies nor of the software development life cycle itself. Of greater concern are those who do not see the relevance. Lastly, few take the time to balance their life and interests. As a knowledge centered discipline, reading and research is essential. Apart from the way architects abstract and think, they must also demonstrate an ability to model. Like project managers without project plans, one must be weary of so-called architects who cannot conceptualise and lack visualisation skills. Some members of the team were exposed to other corporate environments and shared their own experiences of "architects". Some of the worst presentations that members of the team had commented on came from so-called "architects". Prior to this experience, some had a negative perception of architecture and had commented on how different the approach was and how it balanced theory and practice. One of the best outcomes of this case are the individuals who have decided to either study further or pursue the profession of software architecture.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The small technical team, management and members of staff had not only understood the relevance of architecture but also understood the role of the architect. Even though, the role had not been previously introduced, the company's development experience had made the lack of architecture notable.

The Patterns: Architect and Engineer

Diagram

Title
	Architect and Engineer
Building Architecture
	In Greek architecture, the architect was more of an artist influenced by the philosophical culture and academic institutions. Greek architects balanced community, religion and civic institutions. Roman architects were technicians and engineers trained in the military.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The debate between software architecture and software engineering should be viewed against the background of Greek and Roman history. Both disciplines are relevant. Engineering seeks to abstract and attack complexity by breaking things down into its parts. It seeks precision in the detail. Architecture must balance all aspects and seek to find wholes.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The methodology developed was based on two separate process models - the Software Architecture Process Model (SAPM) and the Software Engineering Process Model (SEPM) . This was specifically to acknowledge the difference and interdependency between software architecture and software engineering. On the one hand, the role of the architect required more engineering orientated work in the sense that the development manager sought to establish the application architecture, tools and frameworks. On the other hand, the role required balancing the vision set by the group management team (standards and structure) with those of the business units and user community (function and aesthetics).
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	In a small development team sometimes the line between engineering and architecture is blurred. Much of the work involved software engineering rather than architecture. Particularly because Extreme Programming (XP) is centred on coding rather than a separate phase for designing. The lack of interface to customers also made the role more aligned to that of a technician.

The Patterns: Internal and External Architecture

Diagram

Title
	Internal and External Architecture
Building Architecture
	The Greeks were less concerned about internal architecture because their main rituals were outside.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Software architecture follows two activities - internal and external. The internal activity can be seen in authoring and coding. The external activity is in the user domain. Architecture and especially the balance between structure-function-aesthetics must be applied in both the internal and external perspectives.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	One of the systems developed involved large transaction processing. There were team members focused on back end development with hardly any user interfaces. The web based reports and user interfaces on the other hand were quite involved. Architectural designs were established for both prior to construction. The core architectural document from the first iteration still represented much of the architecture in successive iterations during the 2 year period - both the internal code and visible external interfaces underwent functional changes. The architectural design remained consistent and stable. One of the concerns of the architecture was that of internal activity (authoring code) and external activity (user functionality). Generativity of design to provide containers for future functional changes were considered. Structural integrity was from time to time impacted when functional additions were written in the wrong place or interfaces designs were not applied correctly.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	One of the key challenges to the new team was the lack of technical documentation regarding the software. An authoring standard was developed to provide an architecture for the internal part of the system. Much of the refactoring was to make apply quality standards internally without changing the externally visible functionality.

The Patterns: Theory and Practice

Diagram

Title
	Theory and Practice
Building Architecture
	The Greeks did not improve on their knowledge of structure despite their technical knowledge. They did not apply their theoretical approach to internal structure because their focus was on the external architecture of the building rather than the internal living spaces. Greek architecture has endured to the modern day not only through the remnants of their structures but also through the practical and theoretical knowledge.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Technical knowledge in itself does not create good architecture. Good architecture comes from an increasing body of theoretical and practical knowledge. What should endure the longer - theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge or the product of construction? The lifespan of software applications and the life cycles of software development are decreasing. Some web applications are designed to last only a few weeks or less before they are discarded or re-engineered. One of the failings of rapid application development in knowledge transferral and retention. If documentation is to be discarded, there has to be a vehicle for knowledge sharing in its place. If we are to build and re-build systems over and over again in increasingly lesser time, we need to value knowledge. Theoretical knowledge captures patterns of best practice and defines the "what". Practical knowledge defines the "how" and is important if we are to learn to do things better rather than simply repeating mistakes.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	One of the goals of the mentorship program was to establish an architecture team that would continue the work. It involved not just transferring practical skills but also theoretical knowledge. Six months after the project, it was encouraging to hear that the software architecture (templates and source code library) were still in use. More encouraging was the relationship with members of the team who continued to build on the knowledge they had gained.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The success of a project or team is measured in the relationships built - whether they last long beyond the project comes to an end. This case proved no different. The project ended but relationships were built. Ironically, the new owners have a different value system. The only acquisition of interest was the source code. No time was allocated for a technical hand-over. Thus the source code is being acquired without theoretical or practical knowledge being transferred. It is assumed that all the knowledge required can be gained from the source code and documentation rather than from the people who built it.

The Patterns: Learning Methods

Diagram

Title
	Learning Methods
Building Architecture
	There is evidence of how learning methods apply in building architecture - the Greeks as tactile thinkers, perspective in Roman architecture, the visual language pursued by modernists, the story telling in cultures pursuing natural architecture. For visual thinkers, geometric shapes and forms can be used in abstract thinking and modeling - the practice of using a grid to aid in visualising perspectives, in spreadsheet like analysis of logical artifacts and the use of eclipses in process models are some examples. The tactile space intuitions and its correlation to prototyping helps us appreciate why for some understanding a problem begins in the construction process.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	When considering which analysis and design technique to adopt, consider the learning method of individuals. Auditory learners in your team will benefit from story telling, visual learners will prefer diagrams and kinaesthetic learners will prefer to prototype. It is no coincidence that spreadsheets are popular productivity tools. The use of grids and boxes to help in abstracting ideas - lists, cross-referencing, hierarchical classifications, etc - is also noted in Michael Michalko's "Thinker Toys", a book on creative thinking. It is important in architecture intensive disciplines to develop both visual and tactile perception. It is not enough to understand specific notations such as the Unified Modeling Language. Architects must also understand how mental models are formed from visual shapes and forms as well as through crafting, prototyping and interaction.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Some developers responded well to visual models, others did not. It became clear when observing the way developers analyse and design, that individual learning methods were relevant to selecting the right approach. This pattern was discussed with members of the team before mentoring the UML so that alternative approaches could be considered such as prototyping. Some members of the team were better suited to pair programming and prototyping. In hindsight, the correct application of Extreme Programming may have been ideal for some who were not keen on visual models - i.e. UML.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The pattern of learning methods was relevant but we did not tailor or observe this pattern. With such a small team, the interaction and communication was fairly dynamic enough so that individual learning took place naturely. No problems were observed or expressed with whatever approach was used - documentation, story telling or models.

The Patterns: Tactile and Visual

Diagram

Title
	Tactile and Visual
Building Architecture
	The Greeks as tactile thinkers had a different space intuition to that of the Roman visual thinkers. Consider how the Greeks used the post and lintel model as a structure for all their buildings. This one model for all structural problems could not be scaled to address other forms of architecture and thus limited the scope of Greek architecture.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Visualising models and frameworks can help us expand our theoretical and practical understanding of software and systems. We need to be careful about being constrained in one paradigm or have fixed mental models and thinking patterns. While entity diagrams may seem very similar to class diagrams, most data architects visual associations using a relational model whereas object orientated architects use an object model. Many developers find the shift between object orientated software and relational databases to be daunting. Often this impedence mismatch becomes a design problem. But in modern web application development, data can be transformed in a single application through 3 structural models. Data on a web interface may reside in a hierarchical structure in an bound XML container. It can then be sent to a class in an object orientated structure and then stored on a relational database.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	It was interesting to note the varying degrees of difficulty experienced by different individuals mapping xml to objects and objects to relational databases. It is not about the performance issues associated with impedence mismatch, but the paradigm shift required in our mental models when abstracting and designing. Client server developers doing web development for the first time, often have problems with the hierarchical nature of XML (having to parse through the document). Many developers have difficulty in grasping object orientation. Many web developers struggled to understand databases and normalisation.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	There were structural problems in the database design and the source code which could have been addressed if diagrams and models were used in the design (to provide perspective).

The Patterns: Patron as Society

Diagram

Title
	Patron as Society
Building Architecture
	In Gothic architecture, buildings were not just the product of the church institution but it was also a product of the secular society of merchants and craftsmen.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The internet as an architecture is a product of society. Individuals who have either business or personal interests have helped to build communities that keep the internet alive with new ideas. Craftsmen skilled with the knowledge of HTML and other web based technologies have helped shape the internet. It is a social pre-occupation. The user as a patron can reject a product of construction. Today, society as a patron can pass judgement on anything in the public domain and collectively can support or reject architecture.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	With the ease of deploying and accessing web based applications, social commentary has become relevant. We tended to have access to systems only if we were a known user with a password. Most web applications and portals cater for an anonymous user knowing that their system is in the public domain. We can therefore form an opinion on anything we can access - even if we can't go further than the home page. It is no longer just the perception of a user base that matters but also the community "out there" who are able to access a site's content. People who did not have access to a portal's secured contents such as reports, would pass a positive or negative comment of the site based on their experience of what they accessed - even if it was just the home page. While tracking page hits, it was obvious that perceptions were being formed about a system from glancing the surface. It raises many questions about how we measure success and how important is society as a patron.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	In a commercial software environment, market perception can make or break a product (as was illustrated by this case study). Non-users of the system had a say on the appeal of the software simply by conveying a negative idea about the product or a feature it does not support. Because the product was perceived to have a short coming, the market's negative sentiment could detriment sales.

The Patterns: Reason and Belief

Diagram

Title
	Reason and Belief
Building Architecture
	Gothic architecture was a transition point between a closed monastic religious order and the expansionism of a free and secular world. Architecture has found itself on many occasions balancing belief and reason. It has extended across debates on art and science, human machine interaction and our place in the natural world.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	We can not simply architect on our own beliefs and perceptions of logical design. We should seek to understand the values of those who have a stake in the product of construction. In turn, we must also perceive when development and progress is hindered by entrenched beliefs and seek to find concensus.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Managers champion systems. Ownership of core systems was a political issue because of control and the power to enable delivery. Under pressure to perform people will act on what they inherently believe is best for themselves and the company. These beliefs and values will in turn become the motivating factor to support one systems architecture over another - it is not always based on what the architect percieves to be the better quality, logic or reason. In this environment, like many others, decisions are taken that often defy technical reason. The only way to comprehend them is to understand the underlying beliefs.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Consensus is generally easier to reach with smaller teams. This was true in this case but it was especially true because the team shared common values and beliefs. There was a high level of integrity and respect.

The Patterns: Framework and Decoration

Diagram

Title
	Framework and Decoration
Building Architecture
	Islamic decoration is based on a framework of writing, vegetal and geometry. This framework provided infinite patterns and variations for decoration. More importantly it enabled adherence to a belief system which forbade any imagery of heaven as a form of idolatry. In Byzantine church architecture, the dome or circle is the framework. Glass was an important enabling material because it provided light to illuminate the inner dome and its visual representation of heaven.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	With web based applications it is important to establish a framework for content and components. Frameworks provide not only a visual coherence but also a structure. It enables variations and provides the capability to adopt to change.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	After building a portal framework and linking it to a repository, it was easy to apply changes dynamically by simply configuring the repository. This could only work if all the underlying systems conform to standards. The concept of a framework was to enable "decoration" to be applied - either "organic" such as business logic and function or "inorganic" such as graphical aesthetics. One interesting aspect of the pattern, is that frameworks are not always obvious - such as those in Islamic decoration. Once you understand it, you look at it in a different light. So to with repository based architectures. Once you realise that the interface is being built dynamically, you begin to appreciate the power behind the approach. Developers were often intrigued that despite the number of screens being created that they were all instances of one server page. The design was not being added as a physical file or source code but as meta data in a database.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The framework of the application consisted of a user interface design and a component library. The refactory involved creating a component of business data objects (BDO) into which business logic could be programmed. Where possible business logic was encapsulated in either BDO class methods or in database stored procedures. System objects within the framework provide re-use so that over time functionality can be added without having to develop system functions again and again. Initially, the work involved refactoring and no visible progress was made as we were not yet iterating through the project deliverables. Once the framework was in place, we completed each of the new business functionality one after the other in increasingly faster time.

The Patterns: Theory and Material

Diagram

Title
	Theory and Material
Building Architecture
	Periods in architecture were marked by changes in theory as well as in materials used in construction and design. Changes in theory can be gradual. For instance the loss of appeal in religious knowledge which marked the transition in Gothic architecture happened over a period of time. Changes in the use of material are more visible as with the prominence of glass and iron which became the hallmark of the Victorian era.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The effects of changing technology is evident in the history of computing. The advent of mainframes, relational databases, networks, personal computers and the internet helped to shape the nature of computing. Architects must also take note of the changes in organisational and strategic thinking. Business process re-engineering in the early to mid 1990s had a major impact on information technology. World events have also shaped social thinking such as September 11. How have these affected security policies and development projects? How do these events and shifts in thinking affect the way we design systems?
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Web services was being punted as a solution for many of the integration problems faced. But it was the shifts in the (top down) strategic thinking that impacted more on the projects than the (bottom up) changes in technology. September 11 and the Enron saga had a negative impact on the economy. Stricter auditing controls and a strategic drive to apply standards through "Price of Non-Conformance" workshops gave impetus to a host of quality focused initiatives. Business units were under pressure to perform and deliver (revenue and profitability) which in turn put pressure on the quality processes within project development.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The strategic thinking was always shifting between quality and delivery. As a small development company, revenue was the driving force. The fact that the company was operating at a loss made it the target of a takeover which put an end to the existing development project. The drive to improve the product was short lived.

The Patterns: Automation and Craft

Diagram

Title
	Automation and Craft
Building Architecture
	Machines were used to produce classical imitations. Machines used in arts and crafts led to the English Arts and Crafts Movement which in turn led to Modernist art and architecture.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The use of Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools can help to automate processes in the software development life cycle. It can reduce human error and minimise human intervention in programming. While programming can introduce errors, without it programs invariably lose function and aesthetic appeal derived from crafting program code. Applications developed using case tools or those that adhere tightly to an architectural design, are often criticised for their rigid look and feel or lack of user friendliness. It is important to craft applications in order to make them more intuitive - particular in their human-computer interface design.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	With the size of the development teams, it was necessary to provide some automation tools. By automating the configuration of the user interfaces through a repository and framework, more time could be focused on the back end programming where we strategically wanted to implement the business logic due to the large transaction and reporting volumes. We had automated some of the manual processing and were able to achieve daily file processes which previously were done on an adhoc basis.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The craft was more important in this case. The source code was large. Many of the methods used cut and paste sample code downloaded off the internet. Some procedures could take up over 40 pages (A4) when printed. While some of the code could be reverse engineered, there was a lot of tedious work required simply to correct the code.

The Patterns: Organic and Inorganic Decoration

Diagram

Title
	Organic and Inorganic Decoration
Building Architecture
	Walter Crane divided decoration into two categories - organic and inorganic. Organic decoration supported a structure whereas inorganic provided only a skin.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	There are those who regard architecture in software development as a luxury. There are also those who consider themselves as architects but have little understanding of the theory or practice which it involves. Projects are often focused purely on the delivery of business functionality. Many software related projects fail to deliver because project estimations are based solely on tasks aimed at providing functionality. Many of the knowledge issues related to structure and aesthetics (user values) are given little priority or are seen as after thoughts that can be addressed later. If frameworks are used to provide a structure that enables functional development, then function must still be divided into two categories. Function that forms an integral part of the structure may require more design consideration to those that provide ornamentation within the context of the framework.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	With web based applications there needs to a be clear divide between business objects (providers and handlers of data, validation, formulas and calculations) and the application objects (providers and handlers of user interface controls, graphics, content and events). One of the main problems in quality audits was the hardcoding of Structured Query Language (SQL) in the front end applications, which increased the risk of database changes. Project managers also tended to allocate business related tasks or functions with little consideration for the work facilitated by roles such technical writers, toolsmiths, testers and configuration controllers in documenting, automation, testing and deploying and archiving builds and releases.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Hardcoding of SQL statements in the front end was also a major concern in this case. The lack of separation (abstraction) between business logic and system components made the software difficult to maintain. Much of the knowledge was tacit and did not follow a logic separation. The development environment was established and processes were put in place so that compilation builds and releases could be done almost everyday or a number of times per day. This could only be done if there is a separation of structure from the functionality and aesthetic changes can be made in predefined parts of the system.

The Patterns: Unification and the Workshop

Diagram

Title
	Unification and the Workshop
Building Architecture
	One of the driving forces which motivated Gropius in his establishment of the Bauhaus school of art was "the unification of all creative activities." He sought to break down the separation between painting, sculpture, architecture and other crafts. "All are one" was his declaration. The vehicle for unification was the workshop and the building was its central point of focus.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The workshop represents a "place" where all creative activities are undertaken together - a place of learning and activity. During the design and construction process, workshops or the center of activity can be used to unify all architecture intensive disciplines and activities. By viewing all members of the team as craftsmen, the hierarchies and separations that hamper team work can be replaced with collaboration. The workshop also represents the center of learning and where knowledge sharing is fostered.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The way rooms are structured - open versus closed cubicles - does play a role in the way teams collaborate. Even where roles exist, teams are best formed when there are few hierarchies and there is a sense of equality. In some cases teams were placed in open plan project rooms and in other cases in cubicles. The teams made a habit of having breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria and eventually formed what was known as "the Breakfast Club". Workshops were also held to enable knowledge sharing. Initially while the team was constituted a "project team", everyone programmed at the same level and had secondary specialists roles within the team - some responsible for back end components and others front-end. Later since there were not sufficient permanent staff to hand over to, the team continued with both development and maintenance. Roles were more strictly defined and on the advise of company auditors we implemented separation of domains - development, integration and production support.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The team was allocated an open plan room - it was part of the culture of the company and was refered to as "the Hut". Furnishing was restructured to facilitate pair programming. Desks were joined to form development, test and production work benches. As opposed to having separate logins with passwords - the logins and passwords were shared. The workstations were not personal - each had a function and positions could be swapped or shared depending on the type of work undertaken. The concept of "shared ownership of source code" and "working as one" were some of the shared values.

The Patterns: Modernist Thinking

Diagram

Title
	Modernist Thinking
Building Architecture
	The Bauhaus school of art was a central influence to modernism. "It set the standard for industrial design, helped to invent modern architecture and altered the look of everything from the chair you are sitting in to the page you are reading now."
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The link between modernism and software engineering is described by Hall et. al. Modernist thinking includes abstraction, visual language, standardisation and rationalisation in design. The structured software development methodology is to a large extent a product of this modern thinking.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The Software Architecture and Software Engineering methodology borrowed concepts from Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE), the Rational Unified Process (RUP), the Zachmann Framework and the Structured Software Development Methodology. The approach was very much a modernist way of thinking. It advocated a visual language and attacking complexity with abstraction and artifact gathering. Much of my own inspiration for the application of this approach was derived from a study of the Bauhaus.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Abstraction always plays a role in attacking complexity. There was a need to apply this in the software product. But initially, the adoption of Extreme Programming (XP) was based on a pursuing a more natural architecture and focusing on developing an open team environment.

The Patterns: Foundation Course

Diagram

Title
	Foundation Course
Building Architecture
	The workshop methods of the Bauhaus encouraged students to understand the materials and tools of their craft. The foundation course placed a great deal of emphasis on theoretical and practical knowledge. It applied a scientific logic to art - a hallmark of modern thinking. It also focused on the individual student and sought to develop a well integrated creative person.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The goal of all learning in information technology should be the development of a well integrated creative person. A foundation must be based on the individual. Vendor or platform specific training that promotes knowledge of a brand of products is not likely to focus on the individual's own personal development. Rather the product manufacturer will seek to focus on promoting the product or brand.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	In this environment there was a contrast in approach towards building a knowledge foundation. Few of the developers held a tertiary qualification (degree or diploma). Most of the contractors (who out numbered permanent staff by 10 to 1) were self-taught, perhaps with experience but no tertiary qualification. There were those who sought to build a foundation based on a vendor certfication such as Microsoft's Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD). The latter two were focused on technical tools and showed less interest in knowledge issues such as documentation, best practices, processes and accepted analysis and design methods. It was much more difficult for these individuals to make paradigm shifts - client server to web application development and vice versa, relational design and object orientation, prototyping and visual modeling, construction and design, hierarchical data and relational (XML parsing). The most effective method for training was to illustrate using templates, tools and source code examples. Raising the level of abstraction was always more difficult. Yet, those who could develop mental models of concepts such as normalisation, generativity, encapsulation, aggregration, recursion were in a better position to comprehend how this applied across tools, brands, platforms or technologies.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	To some extent it is easier to develop a "well integrated" individual in a small team because one is forced to do a broad range of work. What is lacking is the interaction with very experienced and talented specialists that larger corporate environments have. In this case, the technical staff had individuals who held degrees and shared a common value system of knowledge sharing. There was an appreciation for deeper knowledge and a willingness to learn.

The Patterns: Units of Construction

Diagram

Title
	Units of Construction
Building Architecture
	Materials have certain qualities such as texture and strength which need to be taken into account when designing a building structure. Structures are made up of units of construction which in turn inherit the attributes of the material.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Every programming language has its own qualities. Even amongst those languages that are said to be object orientated (OO), the way OO is implement is likely to differ. A languages such as C++ are suited for low level and real time applications while Java is suited for network applications across multiple platforms. Delphi (Object Pascal) and Visual Basic are widely used because of they can increase productivity with their visual Interface Development Environment (IDE) which facilitates rapid application development. Some languages like SQL or Structured Query Language have their variants and are specific designed for database programming. The type of components these languages and tools are able to produce have specific forms and constraints. You can build a stored procedure using SQL and compile an applet from Java source code. A stored procedure differs in form from an applet, but both are units of construction or components of an application or system.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	With the view to migrating to .NET, an application architecture model was developed which illustrated the units of construction, Component Object Model. The model was supported by templates and sample code. Stored Procedures, Active Server Pages, Client-Side Scripts were all treated as units of construction.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	With this commercial product, one of the first things that needed to be addressed was the Configuration Management and lack of a Configuration Controller. Visual Source Safe was used for all version control, but there was no proper method for handling builds and releases. Clients had different versions of compiled executables and components (*.dll files) which did not align with source code versions and database structures. The directory structure had no logical design and file dependencies were scattered all over the development server. There was only one domain for development, testing and production. It illustrated the danger of relying on a tool rather than designing a system.

The Patterns: Art Patterns

Diagram

Title
	Art Patterns
Building Architecture
	At the Bauhaus, painters provided constructivist thinking in architecture. Cubist and abstract art aid in abstraction. Creative thinking can be developed using less traditional art forms such as photography, cartoons and multimedia. Black and white photography and cartoons help to simplify visually complex images. Applying layers of paint provides an iterative pattern for construction - each layer providing increasing clarity and detail.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Art patterns provide patterns for thinking. These patterns relate to construction and can be used in solving design and construction problems. Not only is software development an abstract activity but there are similarities in the process of construction. Art thinking is also directly applied to designing human interfaces and graphics is playing an increasing role with web based development.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	I use UML notations in my technical diagrams. I also try and use geometric shapes and UML like graphics when communicating ideas. A number of slide presentations, documents and web pages contained such diagrams. Where possible the shapes are used to convey visual meaning - for instance a triangle can convey the notion of hierarchy and a circle is ideal for conveying cycles, recursions and wholes. Rectangles foster the notion of containment. Another example maybe that a wholistic view of a problem can be denoted by a circle while each solution proposed can be noted by a rectangle. The web development team employed people with a background in graphic design and journalism. This was very effective in creating a well designed and thought out "look and feel". The challenge faced was no different to other organisations around the world - how to bridge the gap between media centric web development and software engineering. Web developers with a graphic design background are not usually trained in structured programming and many software engineers regard themselves as "artistically challenged". This "brave new world" requires a fusion of graphic artist and software engineer - plus the humanities of "human centered design".
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	I avoided the use of diagrams in this environment because I wanted to attempt story telling and the use of metaphors as prescribed in Extreme Programming (XP). Slight aesthetic modifications were made to replace large "clip-art" graphics with more logical and less resource intensive "ornamentation". The longer term solution was to revamp the interface and apply simpler and logical graphics. For instance, layouts and icons could be standardised to allow the user to learn the function of the application through a visual language or set of patterns.

The Patterns: Role Play

Diagram

Title
	Role Play
Building Architecture
	Theatre was taught at the Bauhaus. Students in other disciplines participated in this collaboration. It involved not only the performing art but also was an opportunity to apply construction in creating stage props, stage scenes and costumes.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The use of role playing has been applied with the use of class-role-collaboration (CRC) cards. Role play helps to "prototype" the operational environment and is a form of "modeling" systems and processes. It also provides a setting for understanding process and collaboration - giving teams a learning experience as well as enhancing the team dynamics. "Actor roles" are also artifacts in Jacobsen's "Use Case" techniques where persons or things interacting with a system are portrayed as "Actors" or "Actor Roles". We also refer to "staging" as providing an environment that emulates or copies that of "live" or production environment. In many ways the concept of a theatre or stage has been applied in systems and software development.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Use case workshops were held with the team as part of an in-house UML skills training exercise. A specific workshop was scheduled to attempt role play as an analysis and design method but unfortunately not followed through.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Role play was not used.

The Patterns: Readability and Authoring Standards

Diagram

Title
	Readability and Authoring Standards
Building Architecture
	Typography and photography at the Bauhaus helped to give birth to modern graphic design and commercial art in print and other media. The Bauhaus popularised the use of lower case as a standard. The "Bauhaus" type font was also one of the first of the modern fonts that could be used in magazines, television and computer screens. The simple lines made the font easier to read. In turn improved readability created a culture for the rapid consumption of information.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	When developing authoring standards, one of the key objectives is readability - a form of internal architecture that balances structure, function and aesthetics. Readability of source code in programming can improve not only the quality of the software but also the productivity in the team development process. Teams often strive for a programming standard that produces source code that seems to have been written by one person rather than individuals with varied approaches.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	One of the challenges in architecture and software quality is to get developers to conform to standards. It is not simply a matter of autocratically enforcing compliance. The best results came from winning people over to accept common values and principles. For instance, if the practice being encouraged involved authoring standards (naming conventions, lower case, identation, prefixes and use of standards for variables and data types), we found it better to first establish an appreciation for the value and principles associated with "shared ownership of code", "oneness", "readability" and "ease of maintenance". We enforced the standards with one project group and built shared values with another. We found that the latter not only complied but taught and defended the standards.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	One of the first documents to be produced was an Authoring Standard agreed to by the team. We had discussed the various abstraction layers - conceptual, logical and physical - illustrating how names and terms can be defined or written in different ways depending on the abstraction layer. For instance the term "customer transaction" could be found in a business analysis document describing real world scenarios. A logical design may involve the naming of an abstract module as "CustomerTransaction". A physical component or unit of construction could be named "cls_customer_transaction" or "prc_customer_transaction". The prefix "cls" indicates the unit of construction to be a class as opposed to "prc" which indicates a stored procedure. We then determined to use prefix for all physical components or source code units. As part of the source code, we included an XML file called "the prefix map" which mapped all prefixes and their description or logic and rules.

The Patterns: Modelling and Prototyping

Diagram

Title
	Modelling and Prototyping
Building Architecture
	Modeling is a function of architectural design and prototyping is a function of engineering design. Prototypes were developed for commercial products at the Bauhaus. The "Haus am Horn" was a prototype for modern living and became an early expression of the American home of the 50s and 60s.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	A prototyping environment should be created in the software development domain. Templates, re-use libraries and "play-pen" or sandbox environments can help to encourage design and learning through prototyping. Prototypes can also be used for unit testing and modular development. When designing user interfaces, the focus should be on usability rather than back-end constraints, hence the advantage of a 3 tier model that separates the presentation layer, the middle layer and the data layer. An agreement regarding the interface design can be established in the early stages on the framework, design principles and type of user controls to be used.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	We encouraged prototyping for one main reason - we needed to address usability to attract more users to web based applications. Users tended to use spreadsheets for their business models (where the most up-to-date data resided) and stored these on their workstations. This contributed to reporting problems and put pressure on management teams. We developed a template for "web-sheets" or web-based worksheets. These used XML and rich client-side functionality (script classes). It was easy to prototype and focus on user requirements because the inherent problems with building a data layer (object-relational mapping) did not exist. The XML could be sent to the database when ready and the back end processing would be programmed by the data architects and engineers. On one project using a conventional approach with a database, the prototyping phase had stretched to 2 months with only 1 of 30 modules completed. The problem was that the developer was spending more time trying to resolve database related issues rather than addressing the user design problems. Using the "web-sheet" template, the prototyping was reduced to 2 days for the entire 30 modules and the user representatives quickly adopted the web-based application. As a result, the method was used to convert some of the more complex spreadsheets in the business unit. An initiative supported by the user community who saw the benefits of swapping their spreadsheets for the "web-sheets". A "play-pen" development portal was established which could be used to develop prototypes of application modules.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	A unit testing environment was created and applications were built as modules with built-in tests. When the module was completed in the unit development and test environment, programmers could pair together on the main development workstation and integrate the component. This ensured that the knowledge of the integrated unit did not reside in one person.

The Patterns: Mastery of Space

Diagram

Title
	Mastery of Space
Building Architecture
	"Space" can express physical space or the abstract conceptualisation of design. Gropius referred to the pursuit of mastering space as an "aesthetic satisfaction of the soul" and not just of material construction.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	What elevates architecture from material construction is the presence of design and theory. Design should be centered on human and natural living spaces. Hence, mastering space involves enhancing the human experience or harmonising with nature. We can only pursue a more meaningful objective if we seek to build systems that interact with human living. We can only define our activities as architectural when they resolve design problems that impact on the quality of life.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	While there were some successes in the application development, there were also issues that were not addressed. Usability was a problem. Towards the latter half of the 2 year period, we were beginning to acknowledge this failing and tried to address it. However, while some users felt that their experiences were enhanced by web applications, others wanted to return to the "simplicity" of the mainframe interfaces. For some people, the paper was all the system they wanted. There were those who dismissed these expressions of frustration as simply legacies of the past. Towards the end of this project, I felt that our modernist approach was not sufficiently addressing the issue of quality in human life. This was something I had debated with my colleagues and others. On more than one occassion, alternative approaches were suggested such as Extreme Programming and architecture as advocated by Christopher Alexander.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	While this environment allowed me to explore the use of XP and other alternative approaches to the ones I was accustomed to, the project came to an unscheduled end before we could fully explore this pattern. The absence of an on-site customer was regarded by the team as a whole to be a critical short-coming. One of the most cumbersome aspects of the system was the take-on process. We had just found a possible solution but were unable to release this in a future version.

The Patterns: Less is More

Diagram

Title
	Less is More
Building Architecture
	Modernist standardisation and rationalisation resulted in minimalism and reductionism. The proponents of modernism declared that "less is more" pointing to the simple, clean and orderly designs of the "International Style". Critics refer to minimalism as "less is bore", arguing that it lacks art and creativity.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Frameworks and standards are often established to create a boundary that ensure architectural integrity. It provides a structure and order to systems. Rigid structures, autocratic enforcement of standards and inflexible policies and procedures can also constrain dynamic responses to change. User interfaces that are standardised to provide ease of use may become restrictive and boring to the more advanced user.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Modernist architecture is a two-edged sword. We had provided an architecture that had an orderly structure. The repository and dynamic configuration of portals was admired by many of the developers that had the opportunity to work on the project. But the works were complex for some developers and the sense of adhering to the integrity of an architecture was perceived as a constraint to those who enjoyed a more independent spirit. Some developers did not want to write stored procedures because it constrained their ability to modify the program from the front-end. And from the user perspective what would initially be accepted as structured would eventually become boring. With web application development, many users acquire an appetite for things "new".
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The software was rich in function. For many users, too rich and complicated. The focus over the previous 3-5 years of development was on functionality. Interestingly, enough the corporate users were more comfortable with the complexity and the rich set of functions than the smaller firms. This may have been due to the fact that smaller companies tended to use more of the features than large corporations who were process centric - where users repeatedly use a part of the system.

The Patterns: Compound Architects

Diagram

Title
	Compound Architects
Building Architecture
	Tom Wolfe coined the phrase "Compound Architects" as a reference to the modernist architects (such as those at the Bauhaus) who in his view lived in closed communal compounds and put their manifestos or ideals over and above the needs of their patrons or clients.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Architecture must serve the needs of the customer. Architecture for architecture's sake is a luxury in today's profit driven world. Methodologies, documentation, visual models and artifact gathering are not an end in themselves. But what constitutes "compound architects" today are not those architects pursuing quality and value for the business but those who seek to sell vendor specific platforms or products as an architecture. An architecture does not create itself, nor does it come from purchasing products or a technology platform. "Compound Architects" are those who believe that one solution fixes all problems. They are often selling a product rather than providing a service.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Admittedly, this is a failing of many architects and this case is no exception. In my job interview, I was asked to implement the repository based architecture I had developed. My suggestion was to pilot it on a small application and try and focus on delivering a project success. The development manager and I agreed not to discuss the architecture but to focus on delivery. What turned out to be a small term contract and a small application - became core to one of the key business units. The integrity of the architecture became paramount and put a lot of emphasis on it in latter stages. In hindsight perhaps we had unnecessarily placed the architecture above the business patron or customer.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	In this case study, there was a more determined goal not to lose sight of the customer and business needs. Unfortunately, the system was brittle - it was difficult to make changes without impacting other parts of the system. We may have been criticised for undertaking a major refactoring of the software but it was possibly the only way we could learn it and begin to take ownership and accountability for changes.

The Patterns: Beautiful Drawings

Diagram

Title
	Beautiful Drawings
Building Architecture
	Beautiful drawings as an end in itself does not constitute architecture. Architectural drawings, diagrams and models result in the construction of something.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Analysis paralysis occurs when a project does not get beyond the analysis and design phase. When systems never get built because design problems cannot be resolved on paper. Models and diagrams must be placed in the context of "prospective", "concurrent" and "retrospective". Rather than trying to keep a single model in sync with the physical state of the system, each diagram must be dated and marked as representing one of 3 states relative to construction. Prospective is a design prior to construction. Concurrent represents a snapshot during construction. Retrospective is a view after construction.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Not all managers were keen on documentation or supported the initiative for an architecture centered approach. There were concerns about project delivery and that documentation was a burden. Initially, hardly anyone used diagrams. If there was a climate where there were diagrams then perhaps visual modeling could get to a point where it was just about producing "beautiful drawings". In this case their was a distinct absence or shortage of diagrams and models.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	There were hardly any visual models used - except in some case where dependencies were mapped. UML diagrams were often sketched on paper by hand or on a whiteboard to analyse and design, but these were often discarded afterwards once the model was communicated or implemented in the code.

The Patterns: Integrity of Material

Diagram

Title
	Integrity of Material
Building Architecture
	Modern architecture has been criticised for its lack of integrity in it's use of materials. Some modern architects made use of one material to emulate anothern as in the case of Le Corbusier's use of stucco and concrete.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	It can happen that a material or language in software development is not applied in the way it was intended. Not all structures and programs in a relational database are designed or authored using relational principles. Some languages are not truly object orientated and some programs using object orientated languages do not always make use of object orientated designs. Technologies in their early stages tend to have short comings that overshadow their intended benefits. A technology to improve integration may have security flaws which compromise its integration capabilities. Error trapping can also be used to mask problems. A system may in effect be presented to the users as being structurally sound or scalable when in fact it is inherently flawed.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	When we designed the application architecture to support Active Server Page (ASP) classes, the classes were not fully object orientated. We had emulated inheritance using the "include" method but we managed to create a business object layer. Another instance of this pattern or anti-pattern was in the relational database. Firstly, the business data was not fully relational. The data was migrated from the mainframe which was not designed in a relational structure. As a result some of the data was not fully normalised. The database needed to be re-designed. The repository was also designed using an object design. Properties that would have been designed as columns were in fact records. Values were stored in a many to many relationship. The repository design was more object-like than it was relational.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	In this environment, business rules change constantly. The aim of building a middle layer of components should have been to enable changes to the underlying components without having to re-compiled the executable. However, in this case, the process was the other way around. Whenever the underlying components were changed, the executables had to be re-compiled. This design should have been applied the other way aound and therefore we needed to refactor the code to cater for late-binding. Another issue was the fact that the system seemingly used stored procedures, but most of the stored procedures were not used. The SQL statements were hard-coded in the front-end and passed to a specific stored procedure that executed the SQL statement sent to it.

The Patterns: Rationalisation and Standardisation

Diagram

Title
	Rationalisation and Standardisation
Building Architecture
	Rationalisation and standardisation are considered the purifying agents against ornamentation.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Standards and rational processes in software development are meant to ensure adherence to architectural integrity. It is one of the cornerstones of software quality. Compliance can be enforced autocratically or motivated through shared values. The latter is better in the longer term but may be difficult to apply in larger organisations.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	An integration domain was established between the development and production domains. To some the integration process was too cumbersome, but it acted as a filter and was effective in providing a Quality Assurance (QA) check point.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Applying standards were far less difficult in this small team. The standards were well supported by the team and there was very little if any conflict or problems.

The Patterns: Postmodern Pluralism

Diagram

Title
	Postmodern Pluralism
Building Architecture
	Standardisation tends to lead towards a singular view. Eventually, a reaction to break away occurs when the forces shift towards pluralism - many views and values. Rather than maintaining the view that one way is right or dominant, the more popular view is towards tolerance of many views where none dominate.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	A crisis will put pressure on efforts to standardise processes. Critics will point to the constraints caused by standardisation. This will lead to pluralism or tolerance of many views. One of the reasons why projects fail is the lack of adherence to a methodology. Yet, it is those who fail to apply a methodology who will likely blame the methodology for the project failure. Pluralism also helps us understand why consensus is difficult to achieve.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Policies and procedures were put into place with quality assurance (QA) points. An architecture / integration team was established to assist developers and the formal Request procedures for change management. The process had been more strictly applied and aligned so that it was consistent on all platforms. However, not all managers agreed with this approach including business unit managers, IT managers and project managers. Even before the process was in place, it was already being blamed for lack of delivery despite the fact that some projects were already behind schedule. As in the pattern, crisis facilitates an opportunity to question the standard. In this case, an alternative approach could replace a previous standard rather than result in pluralism. The pressure to seek pluralism will always exist but in large organisation sufficient measures can be put in place to resist it - for better or worse. The problem with this approach is that there are no layers of abstraction - values, principles and practices. The terminology used was singular - a "standard". Rather than establishing values with many principles and principles with possibly many practices, the approach taken was that there was "only one way".
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	From the beginning the approach adopted was that of values, principles and practices. With smaller teams, this is easier to achieve. But the approach did make a difference. Each crisis became a learning experience to enrich the set of practices we adopted or to find exceptions. Rather than evaluate whether we were doing the right thing and wasting time debating these, we were simply building on a set of foundations. Pluralism was given expression and a "crisis" was simply a "node" to "branch out" from. The approach was organic and natural.

The Patterns: Openness

Diagram

Title
	Openness
Building Architecture
	While pluralism or a state of many values makes consensus difficult, this can be overcome through an attitude of openness.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The "open source" movement or the principle of "shared ownership" of source code is a postmodern reaction to proprietory and closed systems. Source code ownership and exposure is a key issue for debate. On the one hand, security is paramount. Auditors will seek a separation of domains, roles and ensuring compliance to change management systems. On the other hand, shared ownership can be a team value. One perspective is based on "mistrust" and the other on "trust". Openness involves value systems which place great emphasis on human interaction. It is a statement that says the value is in the people rather than the source code. The internet was based on a simple and open HTML standard. File sources could be viewed through the browser. But openness, while ideal is not always practical. With increasing security issues and complexity, there is an increasing trend in web based development to use binary and compiled components that hide the source code logic.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The "separation of domains" involved restrictions on who had access to development, integration and production domains. The majority of programmers were not comfortable with the notion that someone else could change their code before being put into production. Not everyone subscribed to a shared value that all source code should appear to be written as one. Coding was considered by many as an individual craft. Most architects seek conformity and apply automation or forward engineering of code where possible to avoid inconsistencies. The lack of consistency was a problem. There were those that felt this issue could be addressed through interchange standards and XML. But while interchange standards does resolve some of the issues, it does not address problems inherent in design. In a large organisation, consensus can't always be reached and implementation of some designs are forced by creating closed and restricted domains.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The configuration controller manages the source code changes, builds and releases of the product. This is a role any technical person can fulfill. It is usually done through pair programming. The person who has developed a module and passed unit testing, will seek a partner to integrate it into the master copy. This was the "practice". It was stated as a "principle" up front that everyone has access to the code and can make changes. This was possible because of the team had decided on the "value" of shared ownership of code and adherence to oneness of code (that the source code look as if it were written by one person). Refactoring was a process to improve code and when the team decided on a refactoring exercise, either everyone would be involved or at least everyone agreed on what was being done - no closed doors or sneaking around to "fix" code.

The Patterns: Modernism in Postmodern World

Diagram

Title
	Modernism in Postmodern World
Building Architecture
	Much of the world would still find modernism relevant in order to reach a postmodern state.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	In some parts of the world where there is a convergence of culture and technology, modernism has specific relevance. Structured methods and geometric models will be used to develop knowledge and skills, particularly in information technology. Countries such as China, India and South Africa are undergoing this convergence and it is driving social change. In South Africa modern, postmodern and natural architecture (thinking and values) are all relevant because of the cultural diversity.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	As with any organisation in South Africa, this model is relevant. The pattern is not always obvious but whenever one examines disparity in thinking, it always helps to take a step back and consider this pattern. Particularly in IT where we tend to follow a modernist approach. Some people find it hard to express themselves in "bullet pionts" and abstract the main thoughts. There are times when you need to take time to listen and absorb the whole "story" before things make sense. Another indicator of the pattern was the change in corporate values during the course of the project. At the beginning of the project, the organisation had a corporate value system centered on "people values". Each staff member was inducted with these values. Upon reading the material, you could note that these values were closely tied with deeper belief systems and people issues were well illustrated. It was akin to premodern traditional cultures and values. This was also possibly due to the "nation building" and "reconciliation" ethos that characterised the period in South Africa. However, as part of the alignment with the multinational parent company, a new set of values were introduced - a focus on quality through conformance to standard and measured through the "Price of Non-Conformance". In many ways it was needed, but it also brought about a "postmodern" reaction.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The team was not large nor diverse enough to experience a cultural divide. Although there were contrasting "technical" and "user" orientated pespectives that needed to be bridge through communication and knowledge transferral.

The Patterns: Shaping the Mind

Diagram

Title
	Shaping the Mind
Building Architecture
	In western society, people take for granted how geometric forms around them help to shape and reinforce their mental models. From rectangular doors and windows to circular plates, our mental models are shaped from our early childhood. Contrast this with cultures that build their homes and surrounds in harmony with the natural world.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Team collaboration in design and construction can be enhanced by our attempting to understand how individuals shape their mental models. What inspires them and how have their values been reinforced. Having this understanding gives us a wider perspective and can enhance the way we design and build.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Some of my colleagues did not always feel comfortable with being "psycho-analysed" but when the idea was mentioned one or two members in the team would always find this interesting. A good indicator was the way people responded to the visual models. Some members of team would be easily put off with specification documents or diagrams that seemed cluttered. Technical teams were "geared" for construction. As such if a construction plan was presented and it identified what needed to be done and left room for variation, the team would deliver in record time. If the specification was vague and left too much room for further analysis or required a lot of reading, the team would quickly become frustrated. Mental models needed to be formed. For some it could be tested by drawing a "picture" while for others it was a case of working in close interaction - prototyping or pairing.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The use of metaphors to communicate a design was interesting and surprisingly effective. But the "talk" had to be made tangible through testing. Sometimes the metaphors were wrong. Understanding people's interests does help. You can draw metaphors from sports, shopping, hobbies, politics and news events. As a team we decided to use natural patterns but would often draw on other things to illustrate an idea. The business analysis specifications were done in a structured manner and through documentation. Usually the functional requirements were straight forward. It was in the underlying technical designs, mechanisms, libraries and system objects where metaphors were used to form mental models.

The Patterns: Wholes versus Parts

Diagram

Title
	Wholes versus Parts
Building Architecture
	Peter Senge notes that from early childhood we are taught to attack complexity by breaking things into parts. This helps to make complex tasks more manageable. But we pay a heavy price, we are no longer able to see the consequences of our actions because we lose a connection to the larger whole. Charles Jencks described this trend in postmodern architecture where he described how our academic faculties are divided with few having a purview of the whole of knowledge.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	It is an acknowledged method in software engineering that we attack complexity by abstracting or breaking things into parts. Architecture differs from engineering in that it should seek to integrate pieces and see wholes. Architecture is not about one piece or element of a system but of the whole system. It raises the layer of abstraction and thinking. In architecture, we cannot simply attack complexity through abstraction, we must also seek a wider understanding, the vision, the essence and the values.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	This was one of the ethos of the separation of Architecture and Engineering. Engineering involved the work of coding and building the physical software application. Architecture involved setting up the frameworks in which the parts exist, integrating all things into one and ensuring that there is a comprehensive set of views from various perspectives.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The wholes were contained in the essence of stories and each layer represented the detail. We talked about a concept, grasped it (architectured) and coded (engineered). We had agreed up front that it did not matter how often we talked about something, we would focus on gaining the understanding rather than argue about things and say "but I told you that two weeks ago". It was like "Outcomes Based Education" - focus on the outcome of learning rather than the method of teaching.

The Patterns: Revival of Natural Architecture

Diagram

Title
	Revival of Natural Architecture
Building Architecture
	Some believe that there is a revival of natural architecture. In reality, natural architecture has not undergone any change or phases, it has been constant and alive in the cultures which sought to be in harmony with it. The belief that the biosphere and life on earth is one living organism, known as "gaia" can be seen in various belief systems. What is contributing to this greater awareness of natural architecture are issues such as globalisation, the environment and a search for peace.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	We can expect that the evolution of computing and software development methodologies will follow a natural and organic approach. Bio-informatics, the global internet community, mobile and wireless computing and remote collaboration will continue to shape the way we work. The advent of Extreme Programming, Software Patterns and Human Centered Design are trends towards natural architecture as a cultural theory.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	The trend towards a more natural architecture may or may not take place. The main driving force in any business is revenue and profitability. Unless, an approach can produce financial results, it probably won't apply. People as individuals will re-evaluate themselves and what they want to achieve. If they seek quality in their relationships, the pattern will hold.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	From the beginning the goal was set before the team to strive towards a natural architecture and to build strong human relationships. It was motivated as the method by which we could achieve the business goals.

The Patterns: Shift in Thinking

Diagram

Title
	Shift in Thinking
Building Architecture
	The Italian Renaissance saw a shift in thinking from a 2 dimensional view of space to a 3 dimensional perspective. The "African Renaissance" is associated with the material and economic prosperity of the Italian Renaissance rather than the shift in thinking which brought it about.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Black Economic Empowerment in Information Technology is seen primarily as ownership at the highest level. True empowerment however is a knowledge issue. A renaissance is defined as a period of enlightment, therefore a shift in thinking must first take place. Architecture intensive disciplines are key knowledge areas which should be the focus of empowerment. Architects facilitate building, construction and growth - the real key to sustained economic empowerment.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Quotas were being fulfilled as part of a performance criteria but there was a general acknowledgement and a visible awareness of the lack of key knowledge positions - architects, analysts and consultants.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The company was not addressing BEE.

The Patterns: Natural Architecture Patterns

Diagram

Title
	Natural Architecture Patterns
Building Architecture
	Biomemetics is the study of biological structure and function. This approach is gaining ground in material science. From early civilisation, people derived design patterns from nature. Igloos and teepees are shaped from patterns of dwelling places in nature.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Natural architecture provides patterns for design which draw on our natural surrounds. It also involves creating new patterns that are in harmony with nature. It is important for architects to consider their environment. Use cases drawn in the context of boundaries can give context to the human and system interaction. We need to understand the context of systems within an enterprise, industry, markets, communities, geographical locations and our planet as a whole. Many of our problems are based on design - social structures, systems and processes. By drawing on natural patterns we can seek to enhance the quality of life in our designs - try and prevent polluting the environment and burdening society with more stress and frustration.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	We did not explicitly look at natural patterns as a frame of reference. However, use case with environment boundaries formed the "business model" for our construction plans. As part of an iteration we would model the soil on which we were establishing a construction site by creating a the boundaries for roles and use cases - similar to the case study pages in this paper - Case Study A.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	New modules were named and designed according to natural metaphors. For instance, "data_seed" was a generic XML data interchange engine using the metaphor of a "seed" where the databases were represented as "soil", recordsets as "trees", records as "branchs", fields as "leaves", meta data as "roots".

The Patterns: Beliefs in Natural Architecture

Diagram

Title
	Beliefs in Natural Architecture
Building Architecture
	In natural architecture, beliefs such as those regarding life and death played a fundamental role in architecture.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Designing and constructing are creative activities. As much as we engineer and automate the processes by which we create things, the human act of designing and constructing will always be driven by values - individual and collective (shared). These values are established from deeply ingrained beliefs on life and death - our religious or spiritual beliefs. An aspect of architecture involves the establishment of best practices. Practices are in turn established from principles which in turn are established from values. While organisations may feel they have the right to establish practices in the workplace, individual beliefs can enhance or undermine the practice. In software development, it is best to establish teams that have shared values and where respect for beliefs or an understanding thereof is fostered rather than seeking to impose practices which may cause underlying conflicts.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	In this case, teams are not always formed with people sharing common values and beliefs. There is often a requirement for strong leadership - one that can forge diverse compositions of people and focus them on a common vision in design and construction.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	People who share a common set of values and beliefs are able to collaborate more effectively in design and construction.

The Patterns: Feedback Loops

Diagram

Title
	Feedback Loops
Building Architecture
	As observed by Christopher Alexander, nature has "very small feedback loop adaptations". Structures that are good are built dynamically. This process can be found in both nature and man-made structures.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	Feedback in projects involve communication. There must be a balance between technical work undertaken and feedback (to project managers, users or sponsors). This is a form of dynamic interaction rather than intervention. In Extreme Programming (XP), having the Customer as part of the team helps to create this dynamic interaction. In the Rational Unified Process (RUP), this feedback loop is expressed through the 4 phases of each iteractive life cycle - inception, elaboration, construction and implementation. The water-fall life-cycle of the Structure Software Development Methodology (SSDM) did not properly address this dynamic feedback loop. Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Agile methods such as XP can also fail without the forces that provide feedback - hence the need to involve the customer dynamically.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Although a Project Office was established, each project manager in the organisation had a unique approach. In particular, there were contrasting styles of handling feed-back loops. The teams had discussed these and there was a common view as to which approach was perceived as best or worse. Project managers that looked over your shoulder or repeatedly asked the question "when" were considered the most irratating and often did more to slow people down. Just as bad were those who only popped in once a month. Those who had a clear idea of priorities, made informed decisions and estimates and interfaced with the team informally and formally at least once a week were considered the better. More importantly, the feedback between business units and technical teams was critical. The worst type of project managers were simply the ones who could not say "no" and constantly changing the direction of the team or worse (send it into a spiral). The projects were often broken down into project iterations and sub iterations until we had build cycles spanning between 1 to 3 weeks of construction. Due to the nature of some systems (large transaction processing), only a few builds per month could be managed.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The first 2 to 3 months involved refactoring and re-engineering the development domain. We were then able to establish an environment where we could do at least one build per day. We also managed to break down project deliverables into smaller tasks - some down to a few minutes - others one or two day estimates. The key was to create a work break down structure that could provide short feedback cycles so that the project manager could get a handle on the technical work involved.

The Patterns: Shearing Layers of Change

Diagram

Title
	Shearing Layers of Change
Building Architecture
	This work by Stewart Brand is an essential source for associating buildings and software development. Brand provides strong evidence that buildings are not just static objects but that they are dynamic. There is for instance a model based on Frank Duffy's �Shearing Layers of Change� model of the way a building tears itself overtime. The Layers: Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space Plan and Stuff is defined as follows: �Site - This is the geographical setting, the urban location and the legally defined lot, whose boundaries and context outlast generations of ephemeral buildings. Structure - The foundation and load-bearing elements are perilous and expensive to change, so people don't. These are the building. Structural life ranges from 30 to 300 years (but few buildings make it past 60, for other reasons). Skin - Exterior surfaces now change every 20 years or so, to keep up with fashion or technology, or for wholesale repair. Recent focus on energy costs has led to re-engineered Skins that they are airtight and better insulated. Services - These are the working guts of a building: communications wiring, electrical wiring, plumbing, sprinkler system, HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning), and moving parts like elevators and escalators. They wear out or obsolesce every 7 to 15 years. Many buildings are demolished early if their outdated systems are too deeply embedded to replace easily. Space Plan - The interior layout - where walls, ceilings, floors and doors go. Turbulent commercial space can change every 3 years or so; exceptionally quiet homes might wait 30 years. Stuff - Chairs, desks, phones, pictures; kitchen appliances, lamps, hairbrushes, all the things that twitch around daily to monthly. Furniture is called mobilia in Italian for good reason.� [Brand, 1994, p.12-13]
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	There is a correlation between Change in Software Development (Think Web Site) and Buildings. This model of �how buildings tear themselves apart over time� can be adopted as a Model (theory) for Change Rate of Software Application Architectures (Buildings). It can be argued that these can also represent elements in software application architecture, where the change provides the friction that work against each other: Site = Meta Architecture (including Business, System Infrastructure or Platform) Structure = Application Architecture Skin = Presentation Framework or User Interface (GUI) Architecture Services = Services (Internal re-use programs, APIs, Web Services, Engines, etc) Space Plan = Application Modules or Decomposition Stuff = user components or elements (data, controls, etc.)
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Most systems architecture have shearing layers of change. The portal framework architecture was designed for configuring change dynamically. The main pre-requisite was ensuring compliance to design standards. Hence a tool was created for generating structural objects such as database tables and classes. Templates were used for interfaces. Applied correctly, user could request changes and unless they were structural, these could be applied very quickly with minimal risks.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	The shearing layers were applied only after refactoring. The directory structures and middle tier components were re-engineered for better configuration control and implementing changes to logical code. Previously, implementing change and re-compiling was cumbersome. What was still outstanding was the refactoring of the hard coded SQL statements to stored procedures and re-designing the database. Once this was in place we could implement a more maintainable structural and service layer. The skin or interface which had already had minor modification was also to undergo a major re-work. The architectural vision involved at least one year's work to rework the "shearing layers" of the above pattern. Unfortunately, we only completed a quarter of the scope.

The Patterns: Story Telling

Diagram

Title
	Story Telling
Building Architecture
	The art of story telling as found in cultures pursuing natural architecture involved the goal of preserving a way of life and a method of using metaphors as teaching aids in conveying traditional values and lessons. The power behind stories is in their mental models derived from the way metaphors are conveyed and interpreted. A story is not explicit and can be used or adopted to fit the context of one generation after another.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	In Extreme Programming, story telling forms part of the planning game which helps to convey requirements, estimate work and negotiate deliverables. How the system or software must function can be described using other metaphors. Often metaphors are drawn from nature or things common to everyone in the team.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Story telling was not used in the methodology applied. In hind sight, we could have also tried storyboards.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	Story telling was an interesting and challenging approach. Some of the better designs came from it and it certainly can be applied effectively in small teams. The only reservation, as with Extreme Programming in general, is that there is no substitute for technical documentation - especially for commercial products. During the short period of 6 months, the company was "bought out" by a new management team and the whole technical team changed (twice).

The Patterns: Nature as Architecture

Diagram

Title
	Nature as Architecture
Building Architecture
	Nature is the perfect architecture in that it provides an infinite source of how to balance structure, function and aesthetics.
Architecture Intensive Disciplines
	The ultimate aim of natural architecture is to draw on the infinite patterns of nature. For those pursuing an architecture intensive discipline and find themselves wanting in creative ideas or solutions, nature offers a host of inspiration for resolving many problems. Nature has an ability to resolve design problems on an ongoing basis. Even natural disasters are a pattern in that there comes a time to bring closure. Systems may need to be re-written, projects may need to be terminated, processes re-engineered and strategies need to be re-focused.
Case Study A: Large Corporate IT

	Did not influence the architecture or methodology, nor was the pattern observed.
Case Study B: Small Commercial Team

	In the approach taken, this pattern was recognised. It was the ethos of the values and belief systems. It formed part of the architecture and methodology. We not only sought patterns in nature but applied a lot of principles in the human interactions and the relationships built in the team.

Conclusion

Pattern Summary

	Case Study A: Large Corporate IT	Case Study B: Small Commercial Team
Pattern 01: Architecture Intensive Disciplines
Pattern 02: Aesthetic Values and Cultural Belief Systems
Pattern 03: Converging Worlds and Cultural Innovator
Pattern 04: Four Social Cultural Theories
Pattern 05: Structure Function Aesthetics
Pattern 06: Abstraction Layers
Pattern 07: Patron Architect Builder
Pattern 08: Patron as Sponsor and User
Pattern 09: Architect as Leader
Pattern 10: Classical Architecture
Pattern 11: Organisation of Construction
Pattern 12: Vitruvian Architect
Pattern 13: Architect and Engineer
Pattern 14: Internal and External Architecture
Pattern 15: Theory and Practice
Pattern 16: Learning Methods
Pattern 17: Tactile and Visual
Pattern 18: Patron as Society
Pattern 19: Reason and Belief
Pattern 20: Framework and Decoration
Pattern 21: Theory and Material
Pattern 22: Automation and Craft
Pattern 23: Organic and Inorganic Decoration
Pattern 24: Unification and the Workshop
Pattern 25: Modernist Thinking
Pattern 26: Foundation Course
Pattern 27: Units of Construction
Pattern 28: Art Patterns
Pattern 29: Role Play
Pattern 30: Readability and Authoring Standards
Pattern 31: Modelling and Prototyping
Pattern 32: Mastery of Space
Pattern 33: Less is More
Pattern 34: Compound Architects
Pattern 35: Beautiful Drawings
Pattern 36: Integrity of Material
Pattern 37: Rationalisation and Standardisation
Pattern 38: Postmodern Pluralism
Pattern 39: Openness
Pattern 40: Modernism in Postmodern World
Pattern 41: Shaping the Mind
Pattern 42: Wholes versus Parts
Pattern 43: Revival of Natural Architecture
Pattern 44: Shift in Thinking
Pattern 45: Natural Architecture Patterns
Pattern 46: Beliefs in Natural Architecture
Pattern 47: Feedback Loops
Pattern 48: Shearing Layers of Change
Pattern 49: Story Telling
Pattern 50: Nature as Architecture

Case Studies

As indicated above, most of the observations and patterns were applicable or relevant. In discussing these with colleagues, it is obvious that the observations are subjective and open to interpretation. However, it does reflect much of the architectural experience in the case study from the perspective of the architect, members of the team and the development manager who introduced the architecture into the environment.

The patterns explored a number of architectural theories gleaned from the story - which in turn was gleaned from architectural literature and historical references. It is clear that building architecture provides patterns for software architecture and other architecture intensive disciplines.

The research began with a bias towards Modernist thinking. In the course of composing the story, drawing the patterns and sharing this research with others, it was clear that much can be learnt about architecture through the perspective of other social cultural theories. The objective of the research was to illustrate how architectural theory can be approached - beyond platforms, methodologies and modeling techniques.

It is hoped that this research paper will be of benefit to other software architects and other architecture intensive disciplines. The reader must come to a conclusion as to whether or not the paper has helped him/her identify their own architectural influences and what inspires their designs and constructions. The approach can be taken using other references such as music, literary works and reflecting on other systems such as those found in health care, religion, law, military, sports or politics.

For those who carry the responsibility of designing or constructing something that can bring quality to human living, they should consider the architect in them and reflect on what inspires them - their beliefs, their mental models and how they perceive the people and the world around them.

Further Research

It is hoped that this work is the beginning of further academic research into the topic and will help in providing material that will be of use in the recognition of architectural intensive disciplines in Information Technology.

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Appendix


	Appendix 01: Unit of Construction Model Appendix 01: The Software Architecture Process Model Appendix 01: The Software Engineering Process Model

The Appendix: 01 Unit of Construction Model

The Appendix: 02 The Software Architecture Process Model

The Appendix: 03 The Software Engineering Process Model

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgements
	To my mother who passed away while completing this degree. And to my father. My wife and sons for the sacrifice.
	Dr Lucy Lim Banda Dr Sam Banda Bridgetti Lim Banda Turyn Lim Banda Justyn Lim Banda