Skip to main content
Almost an Architect
Current page: Peña, Problem Seeking — Ch 2 — The Cooperative Approach
PatternRecommended

The client is part of the programming team

Peña, Problem Seeking — Ch 2 — The Cooperative Approach

Description

Programming is the joint effort of two groups — the client group and the architect group — who together form the programming team. The major responsibility for creative thinking rests on the client during programming (the architect leads during design). The architect's job in programming is to ASK, RECORD, and SUGGEST ALTERNATIVES — not to dictate.

Why this exists

An architect who programs alone produces a program the client doesn't own. An architect who lets the client program alone produces a list of preferences with no spatial reality. The team is the unit.

Categories

Adjacency

Source

Caudill Rowlett Scott (via ERIC, US Dept of Education)authoritative
Problem Seeking: New Directions in Architectural Programming (early edition (ERIC ED037930, 1969))
Upgrade path: $75 for Problem Seeking 5th Edition (Wiley). 5th edition (2012, Wiley) is the current authoritative form of Peña's method. The ERIC PDF is the earliest published form — all the core method is present; later editions add case studies and refinements.
Section: Ch 2 — The Cooperative Approach
Published 1969-01-01 · last verified 2026-05-14

Solver enforcement

Browsable only — the solver does not currently enforce this directive (no spec-level data to check against). This entry exists so the architect personas can cite it in conversation and the user can read what the rule says.

Related directives

Last reviewed 2026-05-14.