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Diagram
REPRESENTATION & COMMUNICATIONbeginner
Definition
An abstract graphic that communicates a design concept, structural idea, or spatial strategy — stripping away non-essential information to reveal the underlying logic. The architectural diagram is both an analytical tool and a generative device: it can explain an existing building or initiate a new design.
Example
OMA's bubble diagram strategy for the Seattle Public Library (2004) — overlapping programme bubbles that reorganise the library's functions into a new kind of public institution — became both the concept and the building's organisational logic.