This paper, by Dr. D. T. Yeomans and Dr. D. Cottam, was published in The Structural Engineer, Vol. 67, No. 1O, 16 May 1989, p183 et seq. Dr. J. M. Roberts (M) (Allott & Lomax): The authors’ analysis of the Tecton/Arup collaboration on design of flats makes fascinating reading, the more so because of the lack of similar objective studies.
What intrigues me is the basis of their statement that ‘designers are not reliable reporters of their own design processes’, which appears at first sight to be an extraordinary hypothesis. An ‘outsider’s’ analysis of the design that eventually emerges from the complexities of architectural and structural interrelationships could be very misleading, unless the reasoning and constraints that applied during the design evolution were documented adequately enough to allow an independent appraisal.