What is 'architectural design research'?

摘要

The September 2007 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Research Symposium was particularly and perhaps unexpectedly well attended this year. This review speculates on the context for this renewed interest in research in architecture. The audience was swelled by many more practitioners than the organizers expected, architects interested in understanding more about 'reflective practice'. This evocative term, credited to Donald Schon, was given new force on the day by keynote speaker Leon von Schaik's account of his Melbourne Masters Architecture initiative. Subsequent speakers reported here included Piers Gough, Sean Griffiths, Kathryn Findlay, Jane Rendell, Deborah Saunt, Alex de Rijke, and Susan Francis who tackled, from various directions, the principal question emerging on the day: 'What is design research as applied to architecture?' Speakers presented built and unbuilt projects as 'design research'. In one notable case, the designer denied absolutely any research dimension to his work, anxious that an increased level of consciousness would dismantle inspiration. How might what the general academic research community considers as research, rigorously applied methodology, and unprejudiced analysis, have affected the projects shown? Is it helpful for design to be cast as research? Is there a missing third category, a funding stream for gathering innovative design work to add to those of 'teaching and learning' and 'research'? Might this new stream stimulate more than self-reflection, a much-needed innovative design programme outside conventional practice, but within academic institutions collaborating closely with practice?