Functional zoning and bubble diagrams
Before any shape is drawn, allocate the space by what happens in it: arrive, sit, eat, play, dry washing, hide bins, grow food, store the trailer. Bubble diagrams are ugly, fast, and the single highest-value hour in the design process.
Not planted yet — but the plan for it is final
The practical task and the checklist below are exactly what this lesson will teach. What is missing is the written explanation and the curated links, each one fetched and verified before it ships.
In the meantime the checklist is genuinely usable on its own. Take it outside.
Do this on your own block
Field journal entry
Zoning diagram
Produce at least three different bubble diagrams for your block, allocating every square metre to a function drawn from your brief. Then pick one and say why it beat the others.
Saved to your workbook
Sign in to write this straight into your project workbook — or just keep it in a notebook.
Checklist
- Every function in your brief has a zone
- The unglamorous zones — bins, storage, clothesline — are allocated
- Zones respect the constraints plan from Phase 3
- You produced at least three alternatives before choosing