IN-PERSON Prague Research & Teaching Conference

Abstract

Any discussion of current teaching in design studios needs to recognize the place of research in design and conversely, the place of design in research. Understood as controlled and repetitive investigations with the aims of developing new knowledge, research has played a significant role in the design profession in the past decades, as witnessed in practices such as Office of Metropolitan Architecture and Studio Gang, among others. Without question, research is an expected skill to be learned, developed, and employed by future design professionals. However, teaching research in relation to fundamental design processes is largely undocumented, remaining unexplained and unexplored. Shedding light on the connections between research and design clarifies and strengthens each in relation to the other, helping both serve one another. As a problem-based learning setting, studio allows designers to gain knowledge through the experience of addressing complex issues and negotiating solutions. Design is learned through processes that involve analysis, synthesis, reflection-in-action, heuristics, problem-seeking, patterns, iterations, and conceptual development, among others. Research, often listed among these, introduces a scientific process. The aim of research is knowledge output—not design. This differs from other processes used to develop an architectural solution. And while the research topic may be selected by the designer, the product is knowledge. Design becomes informed by research, yet research is informed by design. This process generates a local solution as well as general understandings able to be used for other purposes, becoming a benefit that should not be underestimated.