In “Design in Relation to Research,” David Wang examines the relationship between design and research. This article takes a look at the importance of research in design by studying a particular student, Austin Dickey, and his design thesis. Austin’s design and building form for a non-denominational wedding chapel, were informed by his teacher and pictures he found in an article. This chapter takes a look at the things Austin could have done differently in order to get a more informed design by doing research. “Design is not research but, research can aid the design process in many ways.” The article is divided into three sections. The first, Difficulties in Relating Design to Research, is about Austin’s design process. This part of the article explains how he was only informed by, “personal history (he was getting married), what he saw in books and magazines (he happened upon a project by Hadid), what instructors told him, and numerous sketches until the ‘light bulb.’ " The next section, Different models for “Episodic” Research within Generative Design Activity, is about the architectural scientific method and other various gateways for bringing research into the design process. The last section is titled, “Seven Examples.” This part of the chapter reviews the ways in which different kinds of research strategy can be use to inform the design process. The different research strategies are as follows; design and history research, design and qualitative research, design and experimental research, design and correlational research, design and simulation research, design and logical argumentation, and lastly, case study and multimethod approaches to research. “Architects armed with an awareness of how episodic research can inform their design processes will no doubt agree with Lawson’s view that design can be learned. As such, we can learn to do it better over time.”
In “Research in Design,” by Stephen Kieran, Kieran states that research is a necessary ethic in order to develop an “ethical architecture that unifies the art of design with the science of performance.” He also states that architecture is so situational that most of the time we move form one project to the next, “none the wiser.” He claims this happens because we have little real reflection and informed improvement from one act of design to the next. “Few schools of architecture teach research skills and fewer yet insist upon critical reflection and learning based upon research findings.” Building upon this idea, Kieran and his business partner, Timberlake, ceased teaching studio at the University of Pennsylvania and instead began a design research laboratory focused on speculative research and occasional prototyping. “We have an ethical obligation as architects to own the consequences of what we design. We can no longer just complete the project and walk away… our obligation is to reflect and look back, monitoring, researching, and learning from what we have just done so that we can move forward, aspiring toward a cycle of continuous improvement derived from a performance-based design ethic and aesthetic.” Kieran uses three case studies, dealing mainly with large expanses of glass envelopes, in his article to explain why we must introduce research and monitoring into architecture in order to, “have a truly performance-based architecture.” The buildings he takes a closer look at are Levine Hall, University of Pennsylvania, School of Art Sculpture Building, Yale University, and the Loblolly House, Maryland, Kieran claims that, “Research brings science to our art. Responses to place and program provide intuition to guide form. Research provides information and insight that enhances the performance of our intuitions. Architectural education rightly focuses on developing design intuition. To move the art of architecture forward, however, we need to supplement intuition with science. Research skills need to be brought to the center of the architectural curriculum, providing the basis for a cycle of continuous reflection, learning, and improvement. We need a deep research ethic to guide the art of intuition.” These three case studies are continuously being monitored, in an “effort to establish a deeply engrained research ethic as part of the design process.”
Both articles make valid points on the different methods that one can use in research in architecture. The first article, “Architectural Research Methods,” uses a young architecture student and their design thesis to clarify their point. The article takes a look at how research could have been integrated with the design process in order to propose a more informed piece of architecture, instead of just designing something that they saw in a magazine. The second article, “Research In Design”, takes a look at three case studies where project monitoring has been implemented for research that continues long after the building has been completed. This process allows the architects to be more informed of their decisions and to gather information that help with the design of future buildings.
Research is an important part of the learning process and education in general. When research is implemented into the design process, no matter what the method, it only improves upon a design by gaining insight and creating “beautiful, high-performing solutions.” (Kieran) Both articles reflect on the importance of research integrated into the design process, not only for a more informed notion of architecture but also for an improved way of life. Research doesn’t just inform decisions about how something should look or be designed, but it also helps to improve upon the quality of life by learning from what came before.
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