The CITA principle.

Many people design to undertake and complete tasks. Working on the premise that the least amount of effort to satisfactorily finish the job is good enough, they go from day to day week to week, turning out competent, commendable work that is generally irreproachable.

But is this good enough?

Do we eat to live when occasionally we should live to eat? Do we make love for the sole purpose of furthering the human species? Can we truly do better, aim higher, achieve more with no more effort or cost, just by tuning our minds towards a more creative, positive, goal? I believe that the answer lies in a simple concept: 

The CITA Principle

Many designers and specifiers talk about how we do certain tasks, or when, or the circumstances under which we do them. Perhaps the first question we should ask is why we undertake these projects? It has always been my belief that these types of questions are best answered by the following quotation:
 

 "There are no rules of architecture for castles in the air. "

                                               - G. K.  Chesterton
 

This basic premise that there are literally no boundaries to what we as designers, builders and constructors can achieve, is what makes our profession so interesting. It is an established fact that involvement with creating and realising designs is addictive; there are many cases of people with talents in other fields staying in the design business because of the day to day interest. To accept a challenge and see it through has been the stuff of boys own comics, but we in the design industry fulfil that imaginary boy's dream when we take on a difficult task, or a particularly interesting design project. 
 

We truly build our own 'castles in the air'. - (CITA)

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THE DESIGN PROCESS
         " Imagination is more important than knowledge." 

                                       Albert Einstein 

Design is the process of laying down guidelines for an activity that is essentially creative. In engineering, creativity is expressed as something more physical than most art. Just as form follows function, so must discipline follow invention. To design an object that meets its initial criteria, but is deficient in some other way, is not sufficient. Products must allow for manufacture, transport, use, be hard wearing, and if possible, fulfil other task's not in the original brief. 
Design parameters must be kept as broad as possible in the early stages, to stimulate creativity. The whole history of the design process is littered with otherwise brilliant people, who have been railroaded into obscurity. To design to a brief at a cost, is not enough; the very best design possible for that cost is required. A subtle but important difference that shows the changing face of design for the event industry. 
 

    " Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the 
                      test first, and the lesson afterward. " 

                                               Anonymous 

Many people have been heard to say over the years, "I have designed such and such", when in truth what they have done is to draw it. With the addition of computerised aids for design and analysis such as FEA software with it's ability to help in the conceptual stage of the initial design process, it is possible to define all areas of the products design goals. That product can then be analysed and tested in a simulation of it's service conditions before it can be considered to be fully designed. 
 

"The process of design is a series of cycles. An idea is born and modified time and time again until a solution is found which satisfies the architects wishes and can be both designed, in the technical sense, and built. The engineer is part of this cyclic process, sometimes contributing by saying what is or is not possible. This is particularly true of tensioned structures, whose precise shape is utterly dependant upon the complex inter-relation of stress, stiffness, stability and defamation in the structure." 

Quote from Dr Bill Addis (The Structural Engineers Contribution to Textile Architecture) Head of Dept. of Construction Management, University of Reading. 

MINIMALISM

"Perfection, then, is finally achieved, not when there is 
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. "
                                 Antoine de St. Exupery
 
 
 

The sheer effrontery of the concept, 'that less is more', means that it is seldom used in design. The absence of a thing can be as important as the presence of a thing, such as the absence of air, or the antidote to a poison. The concept can be used in design to place the object in it's setting, to create space, to define the boundaries of the design. To design to the minimal gives the designer the ultimate challenge of providing the most effect with the least effort. 
 

"The great artist is the simplifier",
                                    Henri Frederic Amiel
 

Membrane roofs are possibly the most efficient form of structure in regular use. Due to the covering and cosmetic elements being load bearing, the structural efficiency is extremely high. These constructions take the concept of minimalism to it's logical and mathematical extent. 

STRENGTH OF VISION

"Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?"
                           Frank Scully
 
 
 

To conceive the original concept, then force through that concept, is the goal of every good designer. Many initial proposals are 'watered down' by the end of the project. This lets the 'white elephant syndrome' take over, i.e.; a fear of producing a 'bold' or extravagant final product. At this point it only needs the client to have his own 'strength of vision' to keep things in check. After all, he and only he knows all the objectives. 

This brings up another point; of the price. Not necessarily in money terms, as good design usually saves money, but in effort. Is the client prepared to make the effort to achieve that special goal? In this case there is truly 'no gain without pain'. 

Perhaps a more simple concept is the order of the day? 

Elsewhere in this book I have mentioned that designing and manufacturing tented structures is some what of a black art. Although the bulk of tent making is undertaken with a 'seat of the pants' approach to design, that does not mean that it is the way it has to be. There are facilities available given the right materials, the right design concept and the right budget, to design, analyse, certify and manufacture both mobile and permanently installed structures to the highest engineering standards. 

Then we come to the matter of confidence. 

"Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm 
in two small jumps. " 
David Lloyd George. 

Many tent makers manufacture their own fabric roofs; this is perfectly acceptable for one simple reason. It has been acceptable for many years, and the marquee hire industry has a very good track record. 

Consequently there is a great deal of confidence in the product. The real choice of the designer, is whether his/her confidence is matched by their experience and technical capabilities. It is realising the limits that makes a difference between a good designer and the one who takes chances. 

When those limits are reached there is plenty of back up available in terms of consulting engineers, and design offices. Obviously, if the designer doesn't use them there is the risk of exceeding their own limits.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

" Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot;
others transform a yellow spot into the sun. "
 
                             - Pablo Picasso 
 

Since the pioneering days of FREI OTTO, during which the engineering of membranes became the priority, rather than the manufacture, the 'black art' of tent and membrane design led to a more thorough understanding of fabric behaviour, commencing in the 1920s thorough the 1950's, to the computerised analysis of the 1970's & 1980's, and finally to the fully interactive analysis in the 1990's. The term 'art' is not stated lightly, as in the main, most tented structures are still made with the use of experience rather than engineering knowledge. Engineers such as David Geiger in New York, and Walter Bird, proved that outstanding buildings of enormous capacity could be made using engineered fabric. 

Although no formal design proposals were submitted for early marquees, the process of evolving a strong and durable design is very simple; failures are often the best way of determining the success of a particular structure, as if it is made too light it will fail, if it is made too heavy it will not, but be expensive to manufacture, and this tends to create a levelling out process which the years have proved to be a successful answer to the alternative, which is good initial design. 

From standard rental tents to impressive architectural fabric constructions such as the Munich Olympic Stadium, Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, the ancient arena at Niemes or the Lampugnano theatre tent in Milan, fabric structures are now a part of modern architecture and are a growing and influencial part of the rental industry.