Abstract
Transferring knowledge about diverse users’ experiences from research into architectural design practice is not straightforward. Effective knowledge transfer requires taking into account architects’ design practice. This paper explores a research approach to gain insight into architects’ designerly ways of knowing about users. It discusses why an ethnographic research approach offers a means to study a culture of practice such as architectural design practice. A fieldwork account from a pilot study in an architecture firm provides insight into the experiential issues architects deal with. It illustrates how fieldwork techniques can be applied to map the socio-material aspects (e.g., different stakeholders and design materials) that mediate knowledge about users. Exploiting these aspects of architectural design practice is expected to open new ways of thinking about informing architects about users’ experiences. For instance, there lies an opportunity in engaging architects’ creative representational skills, which challenges architects’ and researchers’ roles in knowledge transfer.
Keywords
architectural design; ethnography; knowledge; research methodology
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.419
Citation
Van der Linden, V., Dong, H., and Heylighen, A. (2016) Capturing architects’ designerly ways of knowing about users: Exploring an ethnographic research approach, in Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Future Focused Thinking - DRS International Conference 2016, 27 - 30 June, Brighton, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.419
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Capturing architects’ designerly ways of knowing about users: Exploring an ethnographic research approach
Transferring knowledge about diverse users’ experiences from research into architectural design practice is not straightforward. Effective knowledge transfer requires taking into account architects’ design practice. This paper explores a research approach to gain insight into architects’ designerly ways of knowing about users. It discusses why an ethnographic research approach offers a means to study a culture of practice such as architectural design practice. A fieldwork account from a pilot study in an architecture firm provides insight into the experiential issues architects deal with. It illustrates how fieldwork techniques can be applied to map the socio-material aspects (e.g., different stakeholders and design materials) that mediate knowledge about users. Exploiting these aspects of architectural design practice is expected to open new ways of thinking about informing architects about users’ experiences. For instance, there lies an opportunity in engaging architects’ creative representational skills, which challenges architects’ and researchers’ roles in knowledge transfer.