Arch Research Methods2

7/28/2019 Arch Research Methods2

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The Design Research Writing Process


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The Research Question

Find a good compelling

question in architecture

Doctorate level: a

question that is new

and advances the state

of the art

Masters level: a

question that advances

the state of the art

Compelling to extent,

you are motivated!


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Identify a good research question

1. Identify the issues,

problems, ideas, etc.

that really interest youin architecture?

2. State it in the form

of a problem that

needs to be solved?Write about why it is

significant


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Significance of the

Problem/Question

Why is this animportant question

to be answered?

What implicationsmight having an

answer have?


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Thesis statement/question

Natural Disaster F ire

Containment Dispatch Center,

San Francisco, CA.Undergraduate Thesis:

As a mechanical assemblage thatemulates organic qualities,architecture can successfully

mediate difficult buildingperformance circumstances.Jason Russell, thesis student,

1995.Joseph Bilello, schematic design

and design developmentadvisor.


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Example

Where should the Church

Go?: Church design for a

non-denominational

church.Lubbock, TXThesis: prefabricated

component parts can beused to design a church

facility that is not only

inexpensive, but also endowsa sense of spirituality.

Kreg Robertson, thesisstudent, 1997-98.


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Koolhaas: XL,L,M,S

Diminishing the Fear of B igness:

The Main L ibrary at National

Dong-Hwa University, Taiwan.

Thesis: The design of largefacilities should bring

humanistic scale throughout the

entire facility so that certain

architectural characteristics can be

perceived in their relations to

human beings. Wei Hsin Kao,

thesis student 1997-98.


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The prospect of embodying

through architecture Architecture can re-

create the existence of aperson in a space. By

addressing the existenceof a person

who was interested in thequestion, "what is?"architecture can create a

change of perception inone's sense of being.

Alec Suresh Perera, thesisstudent, 1997-98.


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Final presentation layout. Suresh Perera, A Cenotaph for Marcel Duchamp

Perera presentation layout


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Architecture as Connection:

Linkage theoryArchitecture as Connection: A

New Community Center. LasCruces, NM. Thesis: Thereestablishment of

an urban environment depends ondefining the relationshipbetween existing ideas,traditions, and values and

new visions or directions.Architecture will reconnect

downtown to its immediateurban environment and to the

community of Las Cruces. MylesKraenzel, thesis student, 1997-98.


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Can architecture save lives?

The Architecture of Windstorm

Protection: Elementary School,Quitman, Texas.Thesis: Architecture can provide

significantly improvedprotection, in the event of adisastrous windstorm, throughtechnology transfer, building

form considerations, andbuilding material innovations.

Bryan Ziegler, thesis student,1998-99.


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Example: theory-based research

Formulate a researchproblem that will test atheory

Theory: anexplanation ofobserved events interms of the structuresand processes that are

presumed to underliethem


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Perform a literature review

1. Find out what isalready known about thesubject through doing a

literature review. 2. After you know what is

already known, yourquestion my need to bereformulated so that you

have a question in need ofan answer, rather than aquestion that has already

been answered


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Design a research method

1. Figure out how to goabout getting answers toyour question, that is,

design a research methodfor getting the informationthat could lead to ananswer to your question

2. This must be done

extremely carefullybecause there are manypotential pitfalls


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Collect the Data per

the Research Method 1. Gather the data

per the researchmethods that you haveidentified

2. Structure/organizethe data by thecategories that youhave predeterminedare important for thedata


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Interpret the data

1. Describe the data

gathered

2. Explain what doesthe data mean in

relationship to the

research question(s)

that you are asking?


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Draw conclusions based on your

interpretations 1. Based on what it

means, what

conclusions can youarrive at that answer to

your original

questions?

2. What newquestions emerge?


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Thesis research topics:

Other examples Health:Alzheimers or

aging and design

Urban design and

windstorm mitigation Housing: The crisis in

global housing

New typologies/newforms emerging in newways (extrudingKandinsky)

21st century workplace

Visualization: Kahn, FLW

Adaptive use of Walmarts


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Material Possibilities Will Have no Bounds as

Composites and Performance Based Materials

Become More Commonplace


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Observation


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COLLECTING RESEACH DATA WITH

QUESTIONARIES AND INTERVIEWS


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Validity: the appropriateness,

meaningfulness and usefulness of

specific inferences

Reliability: the extent to which

other researchers would arrive at

similar results if they studied the

same subject

Validity and reliability


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Pre-testing the Questionnaire.

Small sample

Place for criticisms

State in your own words(respondent) what do you

think the question means

Questions should be

revised and retested until

they are understood

accurately


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Case Study Method in

Architecture

The study of

particular instances

( a case = a

particular instance of

a phenomenon)

Right:The future of

manufactured housing.

Architectural Record

December 1999


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What are Case Studies?

In general, case studies are the preferred strategywhen

how and why questions are being posed

when the investigator has little controloverevents

when the focus is on a contemporary

phenomenon within some real-life contextRobert Yin in Case Study Research :

Design and Methods


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Deciding to Build: University organization and the

Design of Academic Buildings: A Case Study

Classroom Laboratory

Administration Building


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Historical methods in

Architectural Research

The American Architect in Practice:

1700-1930


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Experimental Research Methods

in Architecture

To determine whether the observed relationship is one ofcause

(an independent variable) and effect(dependent variable)

Causal relationships


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Experiment Vocabulary 1. (the independent variable=

the experimentaltreatment=intervention = the

variable to be manipulated) Example: the tornado cannon

projectile and its speed

2. the dependent variable =the variable that is

measured to determine theeffects of the experimentaltreatment- The wall system being

tested


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The Architectural thesis year

Thesis

research

Thesis

program

Schem.

Design

Design

Develop

mentTheory Select Project Imple-

ment

Resolve

Facility Select Project Imple-

ment

Resolve

Context Select Project Imple-

ment

Resolve

Th i R h M t i


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Thesis Research Matrix

topic or theory Facility type Context

Research decision-making campus buildings at this time (example taken from

Question In the US, CA

Significance soc ietal need the horizon for the Why is this important now?

of the threshold of problem building type Why is it important, where

Problem an unresolved when, or by whom it is placed

problem

Literature what is known about what is known about multidimensional understanding

review this question this building type? sitewhat has been built? intellectual context, political,

to what end? economic, social-cultural, technological, etc

Research experiment = repetition, qualitative method = triangulation, interpretive method

method interpretive method = distill and writeto answ er my research question here is the best w ay

data gather question andand sort method specific

data question and method

analysis specific

conclusion synthesize and new C12synthesis questions that emerge

Relating elements of research method to processes in producing architecturel iterature observatio interview survey experimen statistical


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l iterature observatio interview survey experimen statistical

review analysis

site selection

site analysis

circulation systems

social behavior and its design influence

environmental factors

regulations affecting development

space requirementscost estimating and budgets

design and construction scheduling

Zoning, code and deed restrictions

functional standards of building types

site design

land forms and geology

contour modification

site drainage

traffic, parking and utilities

site planning historydevelopment restrictions

topography and drainage

parking layouts

barrier free access

site arrangement and circulation

architectural history

structural technology

structural theory

computation methods

wood steel and reinforced concreteconnections of materials

conventional structural systems

long span structural systems

earthquake design

wind design

HVAC

water

electricity and lighting

fire protection

acoustics

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Arch Research Methods2