Thoughts on brief/manifesto

    Today when approaching a design brief we are aided by an infinite array of CAD programs.  One tends not to begin with the simple base elements anymore; they are too legible and obvious.  However fabrication has its limits and when we are happy with a design we spend time post rationalizing and re-crafting the geometry and breaking up the complex object into a series of relatively simpler ones.
    An icon is the symbolic representation of itself, a signifier making its signified object iconic.  Everywhere we look we are attacked by a barrage of icons, on a computer we are used to dealing with icons within icons; indexes of icons.  Architecture is at similar,  where the buildings become, referential.  For a work to be iconic, truly iconic it must be referential.  Just as with good works of literature their references plentiful, but they remain legible as autonomous, they are self referential.  This is the function of the icon; primarily pointing to itself, all secondary 'symbolic' references serve to strengthen its statement and create a dialogue with the spectator.  
    The way this translates into a formal proposal, is through simple intricacy.  Looking at simple base elements, that when compounded becomes formally very complex and intricate.  This component/unit or compunit, is generative at all scales, from the main layout, to the definition of discrete spaces.  This compunit, becomes the iconic building block of the icon.