Abstract
To remain effective in an era of technological flux and AI-driven tools, architects must continuously expand their knowledge base. Architectural research and education must evolve alongside these digital transitions to secure legitimacy and funding within academic institutions. This paper asks how the architectural design research community can self-manage in response to these changes. Using the lens of Strategic Niche Management (SNM), we examine how design research behaves as an emerging niche seeking to participate in broader academic regimes. We conducted a multi-stage review of the Design Research Society (DRS) Conference Biennale Series (2002–2024), involving a quantitative analysis of over 2,000 papers and a systematic deductive qualitative review of 71 selected contributions. Our findings: 1) visualize longitudinal design research trends; 2) identify eight key approaches categorized into the SNM pillars of expectations, social networking, and learning; and 3) discuss strategic directions for architectural design researchers to manage digital transitions.
Keywords
Architectural design research; design research; digital transition; architecture research culture
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.598
Citation
Rout, A., Tjia, M., and Mateljan, M. (2026) The future of architectural design research: An emerging niche in digital transition, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.598
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
The future of architectural design research: An emerging niche in digital transition
To remain effective in an era of technological flux and AI-driven tools, architects must continuously expand their knowledge base. Architectural research and education must evolve alongside these digital transitions to secure legitimacy and funding within academic institutions. This paper asks how the architectural design research community can self-manage in response to these changes. Using the lens of Strategic Niche Management (SNM), we examine how design research behaves as an emerging niche seeking to participate in broader academic regimes. We conducted a multi-stage review of the Design Research Society (DRS) Conference Biennale Series (2002–2024), involving a quantitative analysis of over 2,000 papers and a systematic deductive qualitative review of 71 selected contributions. Our findings: 1) visualize longitudinal design research trends; 2) identify eight key approaches categorized into the SNM pillars of expectations, social networking, and learning; and 3) discuss strategic directions for architectural design researchers to manage digital transitions.