Architects’ use of tools for low energy building design: udMethodological reflections from ethnography and philosophy ofudtechnology

摘要

Design practitioners face an increased pressure to design low energy buildingsudbecause of the need to reduce the carbon emissions of the built environment. As audresponse, building performance simulation tools (BPS) have been created foruddesigners to facilitate the decision-making and help them to propose low energyudbuildings. This paper is based on a research that adopted ethnographic researchudto conduct a case study comparison and explore how BPS tools were deployed byuddesigners during real-time design process. The research adopted a constructivistudapproach informed by philosophy of technology and human computer interactionudtheories to reveal what designers were doing during the design process asudopposed to what they should be doing according to best practice advice. Thisudpaper focuses on the application of ethnographic methods and brings attention toudthe advantages, challenges and limitations of adopting ethnographic research toudinvestigate the `context of use of tools'. The discussion of the method bringsudattention to the context of use of tools as the departure point to develop a range ofudsolutions for design support.