Architectural Research Methods

Linda N. Groat, David Wang

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781118415474
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH METHODS

ARCHITECTURE/GENERAL

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RESEARCH FOR ARCHITECTS AND DESIGNERS—NOW UPDATED AND EXPANDED!

From searching for the best glass to prevent glare to determining how clients might react to the color choice for restaurant walls, research is a crucial tool that architects must master in order to effectively address the technical, aesthetic, and behavioral issues that arise in their work.

This book's unique coverage of research methods is specifically targeted to help professional designers and researchers better conduct and understand research. Part I explores basic research issues and concepts, and includes chapters on relating theory to method and design to research. Part II gives a comprehensive treatment of specific strategies for investigating built forms. In all, the book covers seven types of research, including historical, qualitative, correlational, experimental, simulation, logical argumentation, and case studies and mixed methods.

Features new to this edition include:

• Strategies for investigation, practical examples, and resources for additional information
• A look at current trends and innovations in research
• Coverage of design studio–based research that shows how strategies described in the book can be employed in real life
• A discussion of digital media and online research
• New and updated examples of research studies
• A new chapter on the relationship between design and research

Architectural Research Methods is an essential reference for architecture students and researchers as well as architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and building product manufacturers.

Part I

The Domain of Architectural Research

Chapter 1

The Scope of This Book

1.1 INTRODUCTION: THE AUDIENCE FOR THIS BOOK

The aim of this book is to provide an introductory handbook for anyone wishing to conduct research—or more informally, inquiry—on an aspect of the built environment—from the scale of a building component, a room, a building, a neighborhood, to an urban center.

By this we mean to suggest that this book is intended to be both comprehensive and an entry point. Our intent is to be comprehensive by providing a single text that addresses the full range of research methods available and applicable to the diverse array of topics germane to architectural research. Our intent is also to offer an entry point by introducing readers to the major characteristics and applications of each research method, while simultaneously providing references to more specific books and articles on the methods of interest.

This overarching goal, as articulated in the introduction to the first edition of this book, remains a constant. However, both the nature and role of architectural research, as conducted in the academy and practice, have gradually shifted over the decade since the first edition was published in 2002. Some areas of inquiry—for example, the multiple dimensions and applications of sustainable design—have become relatively more prominent. Other research foci (e.g., the application of notable schools of thought such as critical theory or poststructuralism to design theory) have waned in some contexts, while the hands-on exploration of digital technologies and prototype fabrication has become a significant emphasis in many settings.

In the academic context specifically, the number of doctoral programs in architecture has increased and now figures at close to 30 programs in North America alone; many schools have likewise initiated or expanded research-based master's programs and/or research studio options.1 Worldwide, countless other research-oriented programs in architectural and environmental design fields are available to students. Not surprisingly, given the expansion of doctoral programs, the proportion of faculty with PhDs has now risen to over 25% in U.S. architecture programs.2

In the realm of practice, the shifting tides of the economy as well as the competitive pressures among professional fields have led many firms to reshape the contours of their practices. Many have incorporated or expanded new realms of services (from distinct specialty niches to expansion into design/build) or sought to enhance collaborative relations with other professional specialists.3 Many of these initiatives entail an enhanced role for research in professional practice.

Taken together, the recent evolution of the research enterprise in academic and professional settings has, at least from our vantage point, led to an increasing convergence among the constituent audiences for this book. So, although the various audiences are addressed separately in the following paragraphs, we see many overlaps and intersections among them. Certainly, over the course of a lifetime career in architecture or allied field, most people will find themselves in every audience category listed below.

1.1.1 Students in Doctoral and MSc Programs

Compared to many other disciplinary and professional fields, architectural research encompasses a relatively wider diversity of substantive foci and methodological choices. Even within academic research programs where there is a more narrowly defined research agenda, students will be well served by an appreciation of how their research specialty is situated within the full spectrum of architectural research, as well as within the entire multidisciplinary research enterprise. To this end, one of the aims of this book is to bring the most engaging and fruitful principles from the robust interdisciplinary discourse on methods to the architectural and design context.

1.1.2 Faculty Scholars and Researchers

For at least 40 years now, an increasing number of architectural faculty have chosen research and scholarship, rather than practice, as their academic mission. For faculty who are already well versed in research, this book may either provide a “refresher” text in methodological issues or perhaps expand their horizons beyond the research methods they are most familiar with. For faculty who are new to research, this book aims to serve as a broad introduction to the conceptual framework underlying the research design process.

1.1.3 Master's and Upper-Level Bachelor's Students

At some point(s) in their academic program, most, if not all, architecture students will be challenged to undertake some sort of research, whether it be a thesis project, research studio, or a subject area course. And as future professionals, students will need to develop the ability to critically review and understand the basic research foundation of all manner of architectural products and processes. Our intention is to provide a fundamental understanding about the multiplicity of research processes and standards that underlie research in architecture and allied fields.

1.1.4 Architectural and Design Practitioners

Although it may not yet be the norm, many firms have in recent years either developed or expanded their research capabilities, and some have established a distinct research arm or division. In some market areas, many client organizations now expect architects to be able to demonstrate capabilities in specific research-based practices, for example, “evidence-based design” (EBD) in the health care field.4 Regardless of the scale or specialty niche of the practice, most designers will likely conduct some exploratory investigations or more focused inquiry—research, in other words—in the course of a design project. While certainly more limited than a typical research project in academia, the practitioner will still need to spend some time structuring and organizing the inquiry. This book provides the practitioner with a basic guide to thinking through how best to find the answers to the questions that arise throughout a design project.

1.1.5 All Together Now

Given the evolving convergence among the diverse readership outlined above, we have found the diagram in Figure 1.1 particularly useful. Overall, the diagram suggests the complementary nature of research and design. While we argue that design and research are relatively distinct domains of activity, they nevertheless share many comparable and similar qualities.

Figure 1.1 The complementary nature of research and design.

This particular diagram suggests the relative proportion of these two activities on the range of contexts in design and practice. The left-hand third of the diagram suggests that professional program students and practitioners are likely to emphasize design-related activities, while employing research less frequently and more episodically. The middle third of the diagram suggests that students in research master's programs, practitioners in consulting roles, and/or firms specializing in more focused areas of practice are likely to experience a more equal balance of activities. Finally, the right-hand segment of the diagram represents the context in which doctoral students, many research-oriented faculty, and research lab practitioners are more likely to find themselves. For them, the research activity is likely to dominate, even while the research questions may well flow directly from architectural design questions.

In sum, our goal is for each reader to find this book to be a valuable resource for whatever type and quantity of research activity she or he pursues. Our firm belief is that whatever our individual contributions to architectural research may be, ultimately these efforts will not only complement each other but will also substantially further the long-term vitality of the architectural field.

1.2 WHAT IS ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH?

In one sense, architectural research has been conducted throughout the history of architecture. The development of particular structural forms or building materials over the centuries is the outcome of trial-and-error experimentation, systematic observation, and application of such building principles to other building projects. Take, for example, the development of the flying buttress, the first visible external examples of which are attributed to the nave of Notre Dame de Paris.5 A combination of archaeological reconstruction and structural analysis conducted by authors William Clark and Robert Mark demonstrates the technical validity of what they conclude to be the original buttress design (see Figure 1.2). However, the authors argue that structural stress points resulting from that design, in conjunction with associated maintenance requirements, seem to have led to the major documented alterations to the buttress system early in the 13th century. More generally, continued modifications and systematic observations in subsequent cathedral projects led to further innovations, and so on. Parallel developments in all manner of materials and structural innovation can be cited throughout the history of the field.

Figure 1.2 Flying buttress. (Left to right) After Sanders and Clark; Clark, after Leconte; Clark, after Chaine.

Courtesy of William W. Clark.

However, the conduct of architectural research outside the confines of specific building projects is a much more recent phenomenon. Although climate, product development, and building systems design seem to have been a focal point of research in the 1950s, the research enterprise in architecture emerged more broadly across a range of topic areas—including sociobehavioral issues, design methods, and energy conservation—in the 1960s and early 1970s.6 It was during this period that funding from an array of federal agencies, from the National Science Foundation to the National Endowment for the Arts, became more widely available; uni...