UrbanHeart : a design research forum

A studio in which students act as practitioner-researchers brings together communities, local authorities and professionals, offering a case study in design as research.

Operating a studio within a research culture: the urban heart surgery design research forum

The question of whether or not design can be considered research has perplexed schools of architecture ever since they were first introduced into universities. It was at the center of the Oxbridge union debates in the early 1900s. It formed one of the corner stones of the Oxford conference on education organized by the RIBA in 1958 (Martin 1958) and came under scrutiny again in the UK with the introduction of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in 1992. While the arguments both for and against are considerable1, “in order to understand the questions and the possibilities of architectural research and to respond to the difficulties that confront us now, we have to have a model which acknowledges what schools of architecture really are, and could be, and then work with that” 2.
Drawing on professionally oriented research models, such as qualitative ‘clinical research’, from Medicine and the Health Sciences - where the processes of exploration, observation, investigation, recording and communication are conducted in-situ by the ‘practitioner-as-researcher’ 3 - the following paper outlines an initiative introduced in 1999, referred to as the ‘Urban Heart Surgery’ 4. The program actively integrates students entering their second degree program into a studio based design research culture and allows them to engage in critical discourse by working on high profile strategic design projects in three areas significant to Victoria’s future growth: Metropolitan Urbanism, Urbanism on the Periphery, and Regional Urbanism.
With a growing core of industrial and community based partnerships, including: four regional councils (Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Warrnambool) and three metropolitan municipalities (Melbourne City, Port Phillip and Wyndham), the forum actively facilitates a graduate/practice research agenda through the ARC linkage grant program.

Digitech, remix and design research for course /program-wide thinking and enhancement

This paper describes the initial stage of an exploratory investigation in which the authors aim to build course/program-wide thinking into a process aimed at supporting, documenting and sharing technology-rich practices, innovative teaching and active student learning. The investigation uses a remix lens, in an attempt to creatively consider the manipulation of resources and approaches for reuse, while supporting consistency across subjects/units within a course. The authors are working within Deakin University’s Course Enhancement Process, which is a major university-wide initiative that includes a framework of collaborative teams comprising academic and resourcing specialists working with faculty academic leaders. The Course Enhancement Process is flexible in its implementation and the authors aim to use the process to build a sustainable course-wide sharing and thinking approach within the Business and Law faculty at Deakin University, Australia.

Assessment rubrics: towards clearer and more replicable design, research and practice

‘Rubric’ is a term with a variety of meanings. As the use of rubrics has increased both in research and practice, the term has come to represent divergent practices. These range from secret scoring sheets held by teachers to holistic student-developed articulations of quality. Rubrics are evaluated, mandated, embraced and resisted based on often imprecise and inconsistent understandings of the term. This paper provides a synthesis of the diversity of rubrics, and a framework for researchers and practitioners to be clearer about what they mean when they say ‘rubric’. Fourteen design elements or decision points are identified that make one rubric different from another. This framework subsumes previous attempts to categorise rubrics, and should provide more precision to rubric discussions and debate, as well as supporting more replicable research and practice.

The method is design: towards a handbook of design research tactics

New Zealand's schools of architecture are unique in the Australasian context, in that the fifth year of study for students takes the form of a 12-month research thesis. This structure prompts reflection on research through the medium of design, which we will explore here in the context of the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW).

But with recent developments in digital technology, new materials and construction practices, shifts in the client-architect relationship, and architectural practice subject to evermore-onerous procurement models, is the studio model still ...

Perspectives on architectural design research : what matters - who cares - how

Perspectives on Architectural Design Research is a collection of short essays, projects and edited transcripts that offers current perspectives on design research in architecture and aligned disciplines. Contributors include international figures Donald L. Bates, Richard Blythe, Nat Chard, Murray Fraser, Dorita Hannah, Jonathan Hill and Vivian Mitsogianni. What emerges from the multiple perspectives is that contemporary design research – transdisciplinary, multi-scalar and concerning place, people, space and time – provides a collective and subtle mechanism that is propositional and transformative. The shared optimism of the contributors is that this propositional mode of research can be of catalytic value for contemporary culture and society

Introduction to perspectives on architectural design research

If something called ‘design research’ was to begin tomorrow, what might we want it to encompass: how designers design, how they learn to design, what the limits and shapers of design might be? What other aspects of architectural activity should it deal with? Minimally, there is a range of possible social, cultural and environmental matters which could be considered and which certainly impinge on questions of why designing is undertaken and who, or what, it is for. But, such issues were central prior to there being something called ‘design research’. In grumpier moments over two decades it has been tempting to suspect some architects of using the term to fashionably relabel what they do. Enriched accounts, such as the range offered in this book, are required to clarify whether or not it is a useful construct. Since I am a fabricator and make things (up) as a way of designing, let me engage in a little fabricating around design research: tales of its history, present context, and of ideas for its future.

Planing a thesis: ways, means and tactics for research through design

"Design is messy and over analysis will stop the flow ... " was the parting line from a colleague after a conversation on design methods. Fo1- many, 'method' is associated with a grim period in a1-chitecture where science held sway. I certainly have no intention of resu1-recting the dogma of that period, but in equal measure I agree with Till (20 12) that painting the design researcher as a heroic genius, marginalises the agency of design research. Despite the various arguments surrounding the value of design as research such as those developed by Downton (2003), van Schaik (2008), or Fraser (2013), there are only a few contempo1-ary resources Uomaka,2008) (Muckenheim and Demel, 2012), which at best provide partial references for students planning a design thesis. If the research emphasis is on designing, then critical knowledge and skills on the ways and means (methods) and tactics for their deployment (methodology) is essential.

Gaussian vault geometry : digital design and fabrication of scaled prototypes

This paper reports on three approaches to the translation of Gaussian surface models into scaled physical prototype models. Using the geometry of Eladio Dieste's Gaussian Vaults, the paper reports on the aspects encountered in the process of digital to physical prototype fabrication. The primary focus of the paper is on exploring the design geometry, investigating methods for preparing the geometry for fabrication and constructing physical prototypes. Three different approaches in the translation from digital to physical models are investigated: rapid prototyping, two dimensional surface models in paper and structural component models using Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) fabrication. The three approaches identify a body of knowledge in the design and prototyping of Gaussian vaults. Finally the paper discusses the digital to. fabrication translation processes with regards to the characteristics, benefits and limitations of the three approaches of prototyping the ruled surface geometry of Gaussian Vaults.

Beyond Simon’s means-ends analysis : natural creativity and the unanswered ‘why’ in the design of intelligent systems for problem-solving

Goal-directed problem solving as originally advocated by Herbert Simon’s means-ends analysis model has primarily shaped the course of design research on artificially intelligent systems for problem-solving. We contend that there is a definite disregard of a key phase within the overall design process that in fact logically precedes the actual problem solving phase. While systems designers have traditionally been obsessed with goal-directed problem solving, the basic determinants of the ultimate desired goal state still remain to be fully understood or categorically defined. We propose a rational framework built on a set of logically interconnected conjectures to specifically recognize this neglected phase in the overall design process of intelligent systems for practical problem-solving applications.

Urbanheart surgery - a logic of design alternatives

In 1972 Sir Leslie Martin in his essay “The Grid as Generator”, advocated “a strong theoretical basis for [planning and] urban design” (Carolin P, 2000, p4) by methodically shifting design parameters regarding the way “in which buildings [could be] placed on the land” Martin was able to demonstrate how the generation of alternatives could “allow wider scope for decisions and objectives” to be considered and discussed (Carmona M, & Tiesdell S 2007, p81). Operating within a conventional design studio yet drawing of Sir Leslie Martin’s logic, ie developing an informed understanding of a problem by identifying a finite world of design ‘alternatives’, the following paper outlines a studio based program at the School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University, referred to as the ‘UrbanHeart Surgery’. While most atelier-based courses operate largely on an ad-hoc basis where students often work within self imposed competitive isolation, Urbanheart adopts a more open yet structured approach where students work in design collaboratives to generate a matrix of alternative design scenarios. The program actively integrates postgraduate students from Architecture, Urban Design and Planning into a design research culture and allows them to engage in critical discourse by working on strategic design projects in three areas significant to the future development of the state of Victoria: Metropolitan Urbanism, Urbanism on the Periphery and Regional Urbanism.

The social network virtual design studio : integrated design learning using blended learning environments

Online communications, multimedia, mobile computing and face-to-face learning create blended learning environments to which some Virtual Design Studios (VDS) have reacted to. Social Networks (SN), as instruments for communication, have provided a potentially fruitful operative base for VDS. These technologies transfer communication, leadership, democratic interaction, teamwork, social engagement and responsibility away from the design tutors to the participants. The implementation of Social Network VDS (SNVDS) moved the VDS beyond its conventional realm and enabled students to develop architectural design that is embedded into a community of learners and expertise both online and offline. Problem-based learning (PBL) becomes an iterative and reflexive process facilitating deep learning. The paper discusses details of the SNVDS, its pedagogical implications to PBL, and presents how the SNVDS is successful in enabling architectural students to collaborate and communicate design proposals that integrate a variety of skills, deep learning, knowledge and construction with a rich learning experience.

How social is the virtual design studio? A case study of a third year design studio

With the advent of social networks, it became apparent that the social aspect of designing and learning plays a crucial role in students’ education. Technologies and skills are the base on which learners interact. The ease of communication, leadership opportunity, democratic interaction, teamwork, and the sense of community are some of the aspects that are now in the centre of design interaction. The paper examines Virtual Design Studios (VDS) that used media-rich platforms and analyses the influence the social aspect plays in solving all problems on the sample of a design studio at Deakin University. It studies the effectiveness of the generated social intelligence and explores the facilitation of students’ self-directed learning. Hereby the paper studies the construction of knowledge via social interaction and how blended learning environments foster motivation and information exchange. It presents its finding based on VDS that were held over the past three years.