Research Typologies

in
Architecture & Design

Anne Boddington
University of Brighton,
Faculty of Arts & Architecture
 Questions

• What typologies of architecture research do we distinguish?

• How are different types of research resourced and assessed ?

• What are the key issues for research that are evolving ?
 Questions

• What typologies of architecture research do we distinguish?

• How are different types of research resourced and assessed ?

• What are the key issues for research that are evolving ?
 Research is

“systematic enquiry whose goal is

communicable knowledge”

Bruce Archer 1995

Research Typologies
 Research Typologies

their aim

ƒ to attempt the location of research (in

architecture) alongside that of other subjects and/or
disciplines both in Practice and within the Academy

based on work undertaken in Art & Design to advise the

funding councils on research in these and associated fields.
 Research Typologies

Research projects in architecture will likely

encompass more than one type of research.

Research types assist in identifying research

questions

Research types can assist in identifying collaborative

research needs
 Research Typologies (RAE)

ƒ Scholarly research

ƒ Basic Research

ƒ Strategic Research

ƒ Applied Research
 Research Typologies

and distinct from

Practice-led research

which is not a type of research but a way of undertaking research

 Scholarly Research

Creates: Intellectual Infrastructure

Records: questions asked; issues explored;

solutions proposed in the field

Documents: the knowledge gained from basic,

fundamental and applied research
along with the results
 Scholarly Research

ƒ Creates Intellectual Infrastructure

ƒ Records the questions asked; issues explored;

solutions proposed in the field

ƒ Documents the knowledge gained from basic,

developmental and applied research along with the
results
 Scholarly Research

ƒ Defines the disciplinary field in which issues,

problems or questions are located.
(what is known or understood in the general area of the proposed
research already, and how addressing or answering the issues,
problems or questions specified, will enhance the generally
available knowledge and understanding of the area
question)(AHRC)

ƒ Disseminates the results of research to the research

community and to others who may be interested.
 Scholarly Research - issues

• Under developed scholarly infrastructure or

knowledge pool for architectural research;
• Few outlets for research;
• Under developed pedagogy to promote a
research culture
• Limited archival resources and systematic;
documentation
• Limited support for development of research
 Scholarly Research - issues

ƒ Underdeveloped scholarly infrastructure and

shared knowledge pool for research in architecture;
ƒ Few known outlets for the dissemination of
research;
ƒ Limited architectural pedagogy to promote a
research culture;
ƒ Limited archival resources or systematic;
documentation;
ƒ Limited support and knowledge for development of
scholarly research;
 Scholarly Research- Examples

ƒ Creating & documenting archives/collections of

architectural work to enable their interrogation,

ƒ Development of new learning resources (physical

and digital) and alternative means of learning or
researching,

ƒ Developing knowledge and specialist research

networks, hubs and links between people,

ƒ Pedagogic research and development

 Basic (Pure) Research

Asks key questions

Explores questions experimentally

Searches for pure knowledge
Uncovers issues, theories, laws or hypotheses that
help to explain why things operate as they do, why
they are as they are or look the way they do
 Basic (Pure) Research

ƒ Asks key questions;

ƒ Searches for basic or ‘pure’ knowledge;

ƒ Uncovers issues, theories, laws or hypotheses that help

to explain why things operate as they do, why they are
as they are or look the way they do;

ƒ Invents new systems, materials;

 Basic (Pure) Research

ƒ Discovers significant facts and generic theories.

Immediate practical application or long term
economic social or cultural benefits are not a
direct objective;

ƒ Outcomes may be unexpected and yield original

theories or discoveries unrelated to the
disciplines in which the research has been
conducted or the questions first asked.
They anticipate application in some other context
 Basic Research - issues

ƒ Recognised most readily by researchers in the

fine arts or sciences (although not uniquely so);

ƒ The most difficult to envisage within architectural

research as presently conceived or conducted;
(This may have a significant role on the future of
architectural research and pedagogy)
 Basic Research - Examples

ƒ Invention of new or composite materials,

ƒ Development of new ideas and theories,

ƒ Development of new environmental systems;

Strategic Research
 Strategic Research

ƒ Tests issues and existing hypotheses and

theories; (sometimes known as developmental research)

ƒ Applies and tests the outcomes of basic/pure

research by:
i) identifying the limitations of existing knowledge to
generate further insights;

ii) harnessing existing knowledge to determine new methods

or ways of achieving a specific and pre-determined
objective.
 Strategic Research

Focuses on how things are done:

i) generating useful metaphors for organising or

understanding insight;

ii) developing specific theories/ideas that can be

used to examine situations and possible futures
 Strategic Research

Tests and reworks knowledge through:

i) the generation of alternative visual or perceptual

models, experiences and thought systems so to
expand the limitations of existing knowledge;

ii) evolving of special methods, tools and resources

in preparation for solving specific problems in
specific context, where immediate practice
applications is a direct objective ;
 Strategic Research

ƒ Results may be useable across many contexts in

basic and/or applied research, establishing
connections between individual cases and
disciplines;

ƒ This type of research is critical to advancing an

understanding of architecture, art and design
research as a whole;
 Strategic Research - Issues

ƒ Difficulties in identification of strategic research in

architecture and its application due to the lack of an
identifiable knowledge pool;

ƒ Limited knowledge of architectural and design

research fields/context to ensure that the research
undertaken develops new knowledge;

ƒ Devising appropriate research methods to achieve

research aims and objectives;
 Strategic Research - Examples

ƒ Examining concepts of space across disciplines,

ƒ Developing a new means/methods of construction,

ƒ Developing new means/metaphors for describing

or articulating architecture and architectural ideas,

ƒ Developing a new methods of manufacture or

making,
Applied Research
 Applied Research
ƒ Solves specific problems,

ƒ Examines specific cases (Case Studies) systematically,

ƒ Applies (and informs) strategic research and methods

to the examination of a specific context in order to solve
a problem in that context,

ƒ Creates new or improved artefacts products and

processes, materials, devices, services or systems of
thought or ways of seeing,
 Applied Research

ƒ Applies (an informs) outcomes from basic and

strategic research to a specific context or project
where long term economic, social and/or cultural
benefits are a direct objective;

ƒ Results cannot usually be directly applied to other

contexts because of the specificity of the context
from which information is gathered. The methods
and tools may be transferable to other contexts;
 Applied Research

This types of research is most recognised by

researchers and practitioners in the disciplines of
architecture and design (although not uniquely so);

Applied research does not occur in isolation of other

types of research.
 Applied Research - Examples

These may include:

The architectural design process,
The commissioning of architecture,
Architectural construction,
Development of Architectural space and form,

…where research questions, aims, objectives,

methods, context are articulated and where in
RAE terms, significance, originality and rigour
can be demonstrated.
Research Assessment
 Research Assessment

ƒ Good research is self defining

It is about systematic enquiry and scholarship not
regulatory systems;

ƒ Research projects have methods and outcomes

Both have to be designed and articulated;
 Research Assessment

Research projects include the following:

ƒ Research Question(s)
ƒ A researcher or principle investigator (who)
ƒ Aims (project aspirations)
ƒ Objectives (practical and tangible)
ƒ Context (articulation of research field)
ƒ Programme (timetable for the project)
ƒ Methods (How the project will conducted)
ƒ A cost (A budget)
 Research Assessment - W5 H2

What? (Questions)
Who? (PI)
Why? (Aims & Objectives)
Where? (Context,intellectual/physical)
When? (Programme)
How? (Methods)
How much? (Budget)
 Research Assessment (AHRC)

ƒ Does the project demonstrate systematic enquiry?

ƒ Does it have questions, aims and objectives?
ƒ Does the researcher know the research context?
ƒ Does the researcher have the capacity and experience to
undertake the project?
ƒ How will the project be managed?
ƒ Is the timetable feasible and realistic?
ƒ Are the methods appropriate for the project as described?
ƒ Is the budget appropriate?
ƒ Is the dissemination appropriate for the project?
Key Issues
 Key Issues

ƒ Re-examination of architectural pedagogy,

scholarship and the relationships between teaching,
learning & research; (This requires playing it long!)
ƒ Support for the development of a scholarly
infrastructure for research in architecture;
ƒ Engage with a wider (national & international)
research culture - research councils, debates,
funding councils, policy makers, the profession and
industry. Do not claim difference.
 Key Issues

ƒ Promote the commissioning of research from

practice, from government, from industry;
ƒ Development of a cohesive and inclusive research
environment through collaborations, for instance:
Universities, RIBA, RIAS, CABE etc.
ƒ Promote excellence in all aspects of architectural
research in practice and the academy to support a
world-class and sustainable culture of enquiry.
ƒ Be intellectually generous as well as critical.
Thank you