The Designer's Guide to Doing Research E-Book

Sally Augustin

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 555

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The Designer's Guide to Doing Research An essential introduction to applying research for busy architects and designers The competitive design market and the need to create enduring value place high demands on architects and designers to expand their knowledge base to be able to digest and utilize multiple sources of information. Expected by their clients to be well versed on all aspects of a project, time-constrained architects and designers need quick responses in the face of daily challenges. As a result, these professionals must--more than ever--rely on, and apply, readily accessible information culled from sound research to gain a competitive advantage. The Designer's Guide to Doing Research serves as an introductory guide on the general concepts and processes that define "good" research. Organized logically with the practical tools necessary to obtain research for all facets of the designer's workflow, this book offers: * Material written in an accessible format specifically for practitioners * Reliable content by experienced authors--a noted environmental psychologist and an interior design educator who is also a practitioner and writer * Tools for planning, executing, and utilizing research presented in an easy-to-follow format along with case studies, sources, and applications Written for all practices and people concerned with the built environment, from architects and interior designers to facility managers, landscape architects, and urban planners, this book serves as an invaluable starting point for gathering and implementing research effectively.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Research versus Insight

The Research/Design Relationship

Why This Book?

Why Research?

Design as Research

Knowing

Thinking and Knowing

A Scientific Method

Asking the Right Questions

Chapter 1: Design Research and Its Influence on the Practice of Design

Generalizing Design Thinking

Design Research as a Means for Attraction and Retention

Design Research as a Means for Social Reform

Design Research as a Response to the Need for Design Speed

Design Research to Build a Sustainable Knowledge Base

Design Research to Gain Understanding of Cultural Distinctions

Design Research as a Source of Value

Core Concepts

Chapter 2: Researching: Context, Process, General Concepts

Economic Context of Design and Research

Design Process

Research Process

“Good” Research

Owning the Information

Planning and Organizing a Project-Specific Comprehensive Research Plan

Overview of Types of Research

Differences in Types of Research: Applied or Theoretical

Comparing Research Tools

Merits of Using Several Different Research Tools to Answer Any Research Question

Core Concepts

Chapter 3: What to Learn

Informing Design-Related Change

Design-Project-Based Information Gathering

Social-Science-Based Information Needs

Core Concepts

Chapter 4: The Goals of Project Initiation

Research for Competitive Advantage

Secondary Information

Peer-Reviewed Studies

Literature Reviews

Within-Firm Archival Research

Experience Sampling Method

Design Charettes

Chapter 5: The Goals of Investigation

Research as a Process of Discovering a Client’s Needs

Interviews

Cognitive Mapping

Repertory Grid

Annotated Plans

Content Analysis—Verbal Material

Content Analysis—Visual

Surveys

Chapter 6: The Goals of Integration in Schematic Design

How Research Informs the Schematic Design Process

Research Shapes Refining the Design Strategy

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Behavior Mapping

Observation

Space Syntax

Social Network Analysis

Discussion Groups

Space Simulation

Experiments

Chapter 7: The Goals of Implementation

How Research Informs the Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE)

Post-Occupancy Evaluations

Case Studies

Chapter 8: How to Maintain and Access Research Findings

Raw Resources

Organizational System

Additional Considerations

Core Concepts

Conclusion

Additional Sources

Index

Color Insert

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Augustin, Sally.

The designer’s guide to doing research : applying knowledge to Inform Design / Sally Augustin, Cindy Coleman.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-60173-0 (cloth : alk. paper); 978-1-118-09961-2 (ebk.); 978-1-118-09962-9 (ebk.); 978-1-118-10378-4 (ebk.); 978-1-118-10379-1 (ebk.); 978-1-118-10380-7 (ebk.)

1. Architectural design—Research. I. Coleman, Cindy. II. Title. III. Title:

Applying knowledge in practice for design excellence.

NA2750.A94 2012

720.72—dc22

2011010961

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Foreword

The Necessity for Research

The hallmark of a vital profession is its body of knowledge. In law, it’s clearly defined as precedent, found in the great tomes and used, daily, by attorneys. In science, practitioners admit freely that they “stand on the shoulders of giants.” Those employed in the many subsets of the physical and behavioral sciences build their work on the findings of those who came before them, those who work next to them, and those who toil, simultaneously, in competing institutions. Although much of this body of knowledge is gleaned in the course of everyday practice, such opportunistic research is not enough to keep the professions at their cutting edge. It is the deep dives and the intense focus on confounding problems that lift each profession to its highest level of performance and increase the value of its contributions to the growth of human intelligence and betterment of the human condition.

In an age of climate change, global materials shortages, aging populations, technological sophistication, and a worldwide web of connections between people and ideas, the design professions—those best equipped to shape the built environment—are searching for ways to fine-tune their responses to these complex issues. The well-being of humanity and the Earth that supports all living things is at stake. This is a big assignment; it requires a collaborative approach to problem solving. This complex problem solving needs many different professionals, each at the top of his or her game, to bring their unique skills and extensive knowledge to the table.

Clearly, architects and interior designers, whose work comes in close contact with our bodily and emotional needs, are essential participants in this growing and evolving public dialogue. They stand to make significant contributions to human well-being everywhere, to every culture and every economic group, not simply to well-funded institutions, multinational corporations, and wealthy home owners. The prospect of this new clientele predicts a broadening of the designer’s work options, even as it calls for a new understanding of this uniquely varied population. At the same time, the profession’s fine-grained sensibilities, once defined by such skills as choosing colors, textures, and styles, as well as devising spatial adjacencies and lighting schemes—those things that continue to humanize our most intimate surroundings—need to be refined, expanded, and redefined.

Material toxicities, energy performances, and emotional connectivity are only a few challenges faced by architects and interior designers today. How should they dive into these topics while carrying on the duties of a midstream career? How can they understand problems that were, by and large, previously ignored by the professions? What tools are needed to bring today’s spatial designers up to the high level of performance expected of them? Research is a good place to start.

Research can become the solid cornerstone of the profession. The processes and approaches defined in this book are a strong beginning. But, like any worthwhile beginning, this moment, defined so skillfully by the authors, must grow and evolve if the profession and the world at large are to reap its full benefits.

Starting with the familiar, on-the-job research, a habit of relentless inquiry needs to be learned. Its clearly defined goal is to build a solid body of knowledge, a foundation on which future research will be based. This kind of information collection and analysis will be at its most powerful when the professions, as a whole, share their findings through publications and educational programs with ever-growing audiences. At the same time, practical knowledge accrued within firms must be shared freely, through available technologies and the many ways we are learning to use face time. Added to this effort, the professions must engage relevant specialists such as biologists and behavioral scientists in original research on human interaction with the interior environment and how our interiors connect to nature and the surrounding built environment. We intuitively know that it’s all connected, that it’s all part of a great system. The research will prove the hypothesis.

So, start here and start now. It’s the beginning of a wonderful, productive journey in laying a solid foundation for the twenty-first-century design practice. That foundation will make your work indispensable. Your embedded knowledge will make you a valued member of any team. And your contribution to the body of human knowledge will be noted, celebrated, and appreciated by those who are fortunate enough to occupy the spaces you’ll be designing.

—Susan S. SzenasyEditor in Chief, Metropolis magazine

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all the architects, designers, researchers, and experts who have contributed their time and knowledge to this book: Roshelle Born, Perkins + Will; Joseph Connell, Perkins + Will; Malcolm Cook, Loughborough University; Christian Derix, Aedas’ Computational Design Research Group; Bill van Erp, Gensler; Megan Fath, Conifer Research; Judith Heerwagen, PhD, U.S. General Services Administration; Todd Heiser, Gensler; Thomas Jacobs, Krueck & Sexton; Cary Johnson, Gensler; Keelan Kaiser, Judson University; Jan van den Kieboom, Workshop Architects; Peter van den Kieboom, Workshop Architects; Lynn Kubin, Gensler; David Ogoli, PhD, Judson University; Leah Ray, Gensler; Holly Roeske, Conifer Research; Jennifer Smith, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Carolyn Stuenkel, PhD, Conifer Research; Adisorn Supawatanakul, Conifer Research; Nicholas Watkins, PhD, HOK, and Claire Whitehill, HOK.

We extend our appreciation to: Conifer Research, Gensler, Keelan Kaiser, Krueck & Sexton Architects, Perkins + Will, and Workshop Architects for contributing their time and resources to the Stories of Practice.

We are grateful to Susan Szenasy, editor in chief of Metropolis magazine, for contributing the foreword to this book—we are honored.

We extend a special thanks to senior editor John Czarnecki at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., for his skillful guidance.

Finally, from Sally to Denny: Thank you for making all the effort worthwhile. And, from Cindy to Neil and Emanuela: Thank you for making all the effort fun.

Introduction

Before You Do Design Research

Research is a special sort of word. It is simultaneously a noun and a verb. As a noun, it represents a collection of insights and facts—a jumble of the longtime known and newly learned. This “research” is a tool to inform future decisions. As a verb, research represents the process of moving questions that are important enough to require answers toward those answers. At the early stage of a project, it can help to generate new ideas, and at later points in a project it can be used to assess them.

Design is also both a noun and a verb. When acting as a noun, it is a physical manifestation of a series of decisions about form and function. The verb forms of design and research are synonyms—both are a question-answering process. Designers for millennia have been doing research, but it is only in the last few years that people have begun to speak of design and research in the same phrase. Being a “design researcher” is among the hippest professions around—but the job title is redundant.

In this book, we will show you how to apply the processes and tools you have learned as a designer to answer project-related questions in ways that ensure competitive advantage and your own professional satisfaction.

Research versus Insight

Research alone is not all that important. It might get someone tenure at a university or spark conversation at a party, but research does not acquire real power until it is integrated with conscious and unconsciously recognized knowledge. Knowledge combines professional experience, abstract knowledge, common sense, and inspiration. Knowledge becomes intensely valuable when it can lead to an insight that inspires the resolution of an unanswered question. Insight is, according to Microsoft Word’s dictionary “the ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a complex person, situation or subject.”

Developing a multifamily housing complex that enhances the lives of residents, while minimizing the literal and green footprint of their homes grows from a research base to an inspired insight. A school cafeteria that encourages camaraderie among its young users while minimizing bullying springs from the same process.

Insight is really useful to space designers. In this book, we show you, our fellow designers, how to move from questions to insights. It is important that you do research and develop your own knowledge because the people who can most effectively apply knowledge are those who generate it—no one else understands its nuances as well as they do. In this introduction, we talk a little bit about knowledge and insight, to ground our later chapters on research. After reading the introduction it’ll be clear why time used to do research is time well spent.

The Research/Design Relationship

We discuss research in the flow of the design process because research is an inherent part of each stage in that chain. Designers are always posing questions and answering them in the physical forms of the spaces they develop. They are continuously translating both project-specific and generalized expert information into a language understood by clients and others through projected physical forms. This book is not introducing designers to a new process but to new tools that can be used to make the current ones they use to answer design questions more effective and efficient.

And it’s about time that process was streamlined. Designers are being asked to develop more spaces more quickly. Our colleagues come to us exhausted, with questions such as these:

What precedents are there for the design of preschools where young people succeed cognitively and socially?Who are the experts on sales-record-breaking retail design? How do I find out from them what I should know about designing gourmet, organic food stores?