Solutions and constraints in architectural design process. From solution to problem definition

The clarification of constraints is an action of the design process and not a preliminary. This article presents an analysis of intermediate objects mobilized in the design process of a helicoptered pastoral hut. It shows the dynamic relationship between representation of the project and objectification of the constraints. Contrary to the impression that a process is descending from the problem to the solution, the study shows how the actors go back from the solutions to the redefinition of constraints. The iterative dynamic of the design activity appears from the inventory of various mediating objects as well as the analysis of their materiality, form and transformations during the process. It reveals their role in the evaluation loops that operate between a constraint and the solutions which give the measure.