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“Archetype,” in the literal sense, means the beginning, original pattern of the source. The Greek philosopher
Plato mentioned this concept, saying that everything in the universe has a form and everything starts from
there. However, the archetype was first theorized about in psychologist Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of archetypal
psychology. Jung indicates that archetypes are part of a collective unconscious. The archetypal patterns are
naturally generated through personal experience and the environment, so that cognitive style and ideology are
established spontaneously.
“Archetype” is often used interchangeably with the word “prototype” in the field of psychology; both of them
mean “the original model.” However, the primary sense of “archetype” refers to an ideology established from
cultural, historical, and social contexts. On the other hand, “prototype” refers to an initial model that has not yet been developed but has potential, and it usually means the starting point of the logic behind the design.
Prototype x System x Tectonic
During my five years of architectural education back at the university, design categories always fell into fixed
archetypes such as libraries, schools, airports, and office buildings. However, in my two years at the Graduate
Institute of Architecture, I began exploring in depth the essence of architecture through the views of the
prototype. Therefore, when we look at the processes of design through the views of prototypes, we realize that
the prototype system and the ways of tectonic are the key factors that constitute the complete design process
of a prototype. In this thesis, we will examine through two different projects, starting with explaining how to find
the initial model (prototype) of an established urban archetype through filtering and screening. Then, in the
second case, we will review the real issue and situation that utilize the features of a prototype through defining
the prototype of an object from a practical point of view. By viewing different ways of defining prototypes with
deeper insights, we attempt to express how many possibilities and methods a prototype system could create
from a design when confronted with different issues.
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