Understanding of Parti and Poche

Parti and poché are terms which are new to most students. I first came across the term 'parti' in the book '101 Things I Learned in Architecture School'. It says that parti is 'the central idea or concept of a building'. Furthermore, the book briefly explains that parti is 'most often expressed by a diagram depicting the general floor plan organization of a building and, by implication, its experiential and aesthetic sensibility'.

When parti was introduced as a method of study in Design Studio lecture, I was quite excited. My curiosity towards parti grew more and I was glad that I can learn about this organizational principle this year. Some of the great masters of architecture have use parti as their preliminary task in defining their design. While making some research of what parti is, I came across an interesting comment by Alan Phillips:

“… a freehand sketch diagram that was at the tangent between idea and imagination…if the parti – the first critical diagram – is not made well, it will be difficult for architecture to follow. If there is no parti, there will be no architecture, only (at best) little more than the utility of construction. Buried within their early sketches is the germ of a narrative or language. The early diagrams are reflective conversations with the language of architecture.”


Figure 1 Matthew Frederick, Parti Diagrams (image), 2007.

Poché is another architectural jargon which must be understood. Poché, unlike parti is more formal in its presentation. It is however complementary with parti. Parti informs a building and poché expresses the building. Xing mentioned that poché creates the atmosphere for a building. The emotions that would be experienced and the qualities of the space can be conveyed by poché.

A recommended book to further understand parti is Roger H. Clark and Michael Pause's 'Precedents in Architecture: Analytic Diagrams, Formative Ideas, and Partis'. It contains some of the world's renowned architects' work and the design process.


Reference List:
1. Matthew Frederick, 101 Things I Learned Into Architecture School, (MIT Press 2007).
2. M. Gerwing, parti diagrams, http://mgerwing.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/parti-diagrams/, 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2010.