Architectural Design Research Studio

Architectural Design Research Studio

Project Team: Cecilia De Marinis and Ross T Smith
Year: 2018-2021
Place and Institution: Master of Architecture, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong, AU.

The design studio introduces students to Design Research theories and provides then with explorative tools and techniques to address the design process and to test ideas. The aim is to gain insight into the process of evolution of an architectural idea, through iteration and critical reflection.

The focus of this unit is specifically on the design process rather than on the design outcome. An open attitude towards exploration and risk-taking is strongly encouraged for undertaking and making the most of this unit. Students will be invited to free themselves from their own prejudices and expectations.
In this context, openness is not understood as complete freedom but rather as an ability to develop a design process that embeds rigour and relevance.

Students are invited to undertake a process of meta-reflection, observing thoughts, reflecting upon processes and methods, and the strategies applied to the design activity. It is thus a process of self-exploration.
It is an exploration of your own so-called Tacit Knowledge (Polanyi, 19++), defined as hidden, unspoken, and subjective knowledge, a piece of invisible baggage that every individual owns and carries.

It is knowledge embedded in practice, operational and experiential, related to intuition and heuristic thinking. Intuitive heuristics are a way of learning through discovery, by approaching solutions to problems without following a clear and logical path; rather, as suggested by Kahneman (2011), “entrusting to the intuition and to the temporary states of the things” instead.