Drew Powers - Assignmet 3A

   The two articles Design in Relation to Research by David Wang, and Design as Research by David Hinson both discuss the merits of research and the design process. Design and research have often been considered separate entities that people engage in individually of each other. The two articles argue the merits of integration of research into the design process as a tool for further development and exploration.

   The text by David Wang presents many strategies for research in the design process and offers many examples to back up his claims. He starts his arguments by establishing the prevalent perception most architects share, that design and research are two distinctly different processes. He then argues that although they are separate activities, research can aid in the design process. This is an idea supported in the Design as Research text. In that article Hinson discusses the movement in some schools of architecture towards a design/build model of architectural learning and exploration. This model embraces research as the foundation to the design process. 

   Hinson argues that while research can on it’s own merits be considered scholarly, design can also be considered scholarly if it meets certain requirements. He supports his arguments with two examples from Auburn University’s School of Architecture. These design/build studios would most likely fall into the Design and Experimental Research method discussed by Wang in his text. That is one of seven different methods he explains about approaching research in architectural exploration. 

   I found the Hinson article to be much more to the point and succinct, while the Wang paper was much more dense and said too much about the exact same things. Wang uses many words to describe primarily the same info, but sighting new sources along the way. Hinson poses his arguments and backs them up with a few sources that resonate better than the many delivered by Wang. Over all I found both articles to be informative, but I had a better connection with Design as Research because of the easy way the information was presented.