DOCSLIB.ORG

Boundary Work and the Demarcation of Design Knowledge from Research

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Boundary Work and the Demarcation of Design Knowledge from Research Science & Technology Studies 3/2015 Architecture as a Science: Boundary Work and the Demarcation of Design Knowledge from Research Monika Kurath Recent STS literature has described a trend of academisation in higher education and universities in which administrative bodies and formalised practices like evaluations have gained increased inf uence. This article discusses the impact of such trends on the discipline of architecture, focusing on the strains and boundaries that architectural faculties face in their research and teaching practice. Specif cally, the development of design knowledge from individual and multiple theoretical and methodological approaches, the tight connection with tacit knowledge forms, as well as the use of non-formalised tenure and peer-review indicate on-going processes of boundary work (Gieryn, 1983), where external disciplines evaluate architectural knowledge production and demarcate it from their own research approaches. Due to the increased meaning of evaluations, such boundary work plays an increasing role in framing the form and content of design research. In this respect, architectural research becomes a matter of negotiation that not only involves architecture, but also traditional research disciplines as well as the added restrictions of interdisciplinary and administrative bodies. Keywords: design research, boundary work, economisation of universities, higher education, epistemic culture Boundary Work, Academisation T e above-mentioned quotation illustrates and Epistemic Cultures an example of boundary work (Gieryn, 1983), where an external evaluation Architectural design research depends committee has been involved in framing on intuition, ideas, ideology and architectural design knowledge as research. individual personalities who create The boundaries are drawn in several new things that imprint the built respects and are concerned with the environment. Additionally, it engages content of the design practice by referring to arts and the humanities. Architectural the basis of architectural work as intuition, design combines pure and applied tacit knowledge and individuality. Further research at almost every step. (Excerpt boundaries are drawn on a formal level, from an evaluation report of a Swiss by identifying the disciplinary rooting architecture department, 10 January of architecture in both the arts and the 2013) Science & Technology Studies 2015, Vol. 28(3) 81-10081 Science & Technology Studies 3/2015 humanities and by a twofold location of its formalised study program structures and research in ‘pure’ and in ‘applied’ research. standard administrative practices like Gieryn (1983) uses the term boundary auditing and evaluation of research and work for describing the practice of teaching (Schultheis et al., 2008), it has also demarcating science from other knowledge framed academic attitudes according to the production activities. He shows that notion of a ‘higher education governance’ scientists have an interest in distinguishing (Ferlie et al., 2008: 326). their f eld specif c knowledge production T ese related trends of economisation, forms from external ones for achieving harmonisation and managerialisation of professional goals like the acquisition of universities, higher education and research intellectual authority, career opportunities —here termed as academisation—has and the protection of the ‘autonomy’ of had considerable impacts on academic scientif c research from external inf uence knowledge production. For example (Gieryn, 1983). In showing that these it has created a greater flexibility in boundaries are f exible, drawn and redrawn appropriating funds and in more ef cient according to the respective scientific allocation of resources, but simultaneously interests, (Gieryn, 1999) shows that the it has also generated greater dif culties in boundaries are not only socially and persevering long-term lines of research, culturally constructed, but also science itself. as well as privileging mainstream research Using Gieryn’s (1983) concept, (Schimank, 2008). Facilitated by the Bologna the boundary work emerging in the Reform, the academisation of education transformation of architecture into a and research and its standardisation research discipline in the Swiss higher is transforming knowledge production education system is analysed. T is paper and education into globally marketable identif es the reason for this boundary work products. Subsequently as a result, the in trends described in recent STS literature inf uence of interdisciplinary administrative towards the economisation of universities bodies like university management, science and an externally imposed process of policy organisations, research commissions establishing new science policy steering and councils has increased (Fuchs & Reuter, and management structures (Weingart, 2003; Masschelein & Simons, 2012; Muche, 2001; Schimank, 2008). The literature 2005). describes these strategies as subsumed This externally imposed quest for under notions such as ‘new public academisation is further characterised management of universities’ (Schimank by an increased research orientation in 2005), ‘new governance of science’ (e.g. applied disciplines and the trend to frame Braun & Merrien, 1999; Felt & Fochler, research in measurable terms, such as the 2010), ‘managerial revolution’ (Maasen & amount of third-party funding and peer- Weingart, 2006: 20) and a harmonisation of reviewed publications (Felt & Fochler, higher education systems. 2010). While scholarly regimentation and One of the drivers of this larger process economisation of educational institutions is the European Bologna Reform, which has has been described as particularly af ecting led to a vast top-down-enacted reformation knowledge production in the humanities of higher education and organisational and cultural studies (Bollenbeck & Wende, structures of universities in a majority of 2007), this trend has had a significant European countries (Maesse, 2010). The impact on knowledge production in reform has not only contributed to more applied, skill-intense and artistic disciplines 82 Monika Kurath without identif able and distinct research cultures are specific ways of knowledge traditions such as architecture and the production or ‘amalgams of arrangements arts, whose applied and practice-based and mechanisms’, which in each specific knowledge production processes are hardly f eld def ne the content of knowledge and compatible with the audit-oriented criteria how it is produced. of traditional research disciplines (Ammon Based on the above-mentioned assump– & Froschauer, 2013; Lesage & Busch, 2007). tion that the boundary work emerging in T is article analyses the impact of such the transformation of architecture into academisation trends on the discipline of a research discipline is framed by the architecture. It particularly focuses on the epistemic culture of architecture, this strains and boundaries that architectural analysis implies a twofold approach: faculties face in their research and teaching practice, where external disciplines are 1. An analysis of the epistemic increasingly becoming involved due to culture of architecture the growing influence of administrative 2. An investigation of the bodies and formalised practices such as boundary work concerning evaluations, which have gained within architectural research these academisation trends. T e analysis is guided by the assumption that architecture The epistemic culture of architecture as an applied discipline is particularly has been analysed within a review of the concerned by such boundary work, and available architectural, cultural studies that these strains and demarcations frame and STS literature focusing on the specif c and are framed by the specif c character of character of architectural knowledge architectural knowledge production—or production. T is analysis has used Knorr the epistemic culture (Knorr Cetina, 1991) of Cetina’s (1999) analytical framework to architecture. identify the empirical, the ontological Based on ethnomethodological analyses and the social dimension of the epistemic of knowledge production in hard science culture of architecture. disciplines such as molecular biology and The boundary work in demarcating high-energy physics in the context of STS- architectural knowledge production driven laboratory studies (Latour & Woolgar, from science has been analysed with an 1979; Traweek, 1988; Knorr Cetina, 1981), empirical study. T is study has investigated Knorr Cetina (1999) uses the term epistemic the implications of the European Bologna culture for the specific ways, contexts, Reform on knowledge production in arrangements and self-understandings architecture with a particular focus on the in which knowledge is produced in teaching of design and design research in certain disciplines and academic fields. architecture.1 T e data was collected at a Knorr Cetina (1999) def ned her concept Swiss architecture department. Methods of epistemic cultures as consisting of consisted of qualitative interviews with an empirical (methodologies, theories faculty members, administrative staf and and conceptualisations), an ontological students, as well as participant observation (instruments, materials, processes and at faculty meetings and within design objects) and a social dimension (human studios.2 interactions of context, environment and The next section presents an analysis researchers in their specialised milieu with of selected architectural, cultural studies fellow workers).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Sciences of Design: Observations on an Emerging Field Working Paper
    The Sciences of Design: Observations on an Emerging Field Sandeep Purao Carliss Y. Baldwin Alan Hevner Veda C. Storey Jan Pries-Heje Brian Smith Ying Zhu Working Paper 09-056 Copyright © 2008 by Sandeep Purao, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan Hevner, Veda C. Storey, Jan Pries-Heje, Brian Smith, and Ying Zhu Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author. The Sciences of Design: Observations on an Emerging Field Sandeep Purao College of IST, Penn State University, Carliss Baldwin Harvard Business School Alan Hevner University of South Florida Veda C. Storey Georgia State University Jan Pries-Heje Roskilde University Brian Smith Penn State University Ying Zhu Georgia State University Excerpted from The Sciences of Design: Observations on an Emerging Field by Purao, Baldwin, Hevner, Storey, Pries-Heje, Smith and Zhu, (c) 2008. Used with permission from Association for Information Systems, Atlanta, GA; 404-413-7444; www.aisnet.org. All rights reserved. Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the authors. THE SCIENCES OF DESIGN OCTOBER 9, 2008 ABSTRACT The boundaries and contours of design sciences continue to undergo definition and refinement. In many ways, the sciences of design defy disciplinary characterization. They demand multiple epistemologies, theoretical orientations (e.g. construction, analysis or intervention) and value considerations.
    [Show full text]
  • Shaping New Knowledges
    PAPER ABSTRACT BOOK SHAPINGSHAPING NEWNEW KNOWLEDGESKNOWLEDGES ROBERT CORSER SHARON HAAR 2016 ACSA 104TH ANNUAL MEETING Shaping New Knowledges CO-CHAIRS Robert Corser, University of Washington Sharon Haar, University of Michigan HOST SCHOOLS University of Washington Copyright © 2016 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Inc., except where otherwise restricted. All rights reserved. No material may be reproduced without permission of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture 1735 New York Ave., NW Washington, DC 20006 www.acsa-arch.org 2 – 2016 ACSA 104th Annual Meeting Abstract Book CONTENTS THURSDAY, MARCH 17 FRIDAY, MARCH 18 SATURDAY, MARCH 19 2:00PM - 3:30PM 11:00AM - 12:30PM 9:00AM - 10:30AM 05 Acting Out: The Politics and Practices of 15 Divergent Modes of Engagement: 31 Beginnings in the Context of New Interventions: Session 1 Exploring the Spectrum of Collaborative Knowledge Mireille Roddier, U. Michigan and Participatory Practices: Session 1 Catherine Wetzel, IIT Caryn Brause, U. Massachusetts, Amherst James Sullivan, Louisiana State U. 06 Architecture is Philosophy: Beyond the Joseph Krupczynski, U. Massachusetts, Post-Critical: Session 1 Amherst 32 Open: Hoarding, Updating, Drafting: Mark Thorsby, Lone Star College The Production of Knowledge in Thomas Forget, U. N. Carolina @ Charlotte 16 Knowledge Fields: Between Architecture Architectural History and Landscape: Session 1 Sarah Stevens, U. of British Columbia Cathryn Dwyre, Pratt Institute 07 Open: Challenging Materiality: Industry Chris Perry, RPI Collaborations Reshaping Design 33 Water, Water Everywhere…: Session 1 Julie Larsen, Syracuse U. Jori A. Erdman, Louisiana State U. Roger Hubeli, Syracuse U. 17 Knowledge in the Public Interest Nadia M.
    [Show full text]
  • What Knowledge Is of Most Worth in Engineering Design Education?
    Integrated Design: What Knowledge is of Most Worth in Engineering Design Education? Richard Devon Sven Bilén 213 Hammond 213 Hammond Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University PA 16802 PA 16802 [email protected] sbilé[email protected] Alison McKay Alan de Pennington Dep’t. of Mechanical Engineering Dep’t. of Mechanical Engineering University of Leeds University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Leeds LS2 9JT, UK [email protected] [email protected] Patrick Serrafero Javier Sánchez Sierra Ecole Centrale de Lyon Esc. Sup. de Ingenieros de Tecnun 17 Chemin du Petit Bois Universidad de Navarra F-69130 Lyon-Ecully, France 20018 San Sebastián, Spain [email protected] [email protected] Abstract This paper is based on the premise that the design ideas and methods that cut across most fields of engineering, herein called integrated design, have grown rapidly in the last two or three decades and that integrated design now has the status of cumulative knowledge. This is old news for many, but a rather limited approach to teaching design knowledge is still common in the United States and perhaps elsewhere. In many engineering departments in the United States, students are only required to have a motivational and experiential introductory design course that is followed several years later by an experiential and discipline-specific capstone course [1]. Some limitations of the capstone approach, such as too little and too late, have been noted [2]. In some departments, and for some students, another experiential design course may be taken as an elective. A few non-design courses have an experiential design project added following a design across the curriculum approach.
    [Show full text]
  • Budgen, Software Design Methods
    David Budgen The Loyal Opposition Software Design Methods: Life Belt or Leg Iron? o software design methods have a correctly means “study of method.”) To address, but future? In introducing the January- not necessarily answer, this question, I’ll first consider D February 1998 issue of IEEE Software,Al what designing involves in a wider context, then com- Davis spoke of the hazards implicit in pare this with what we do, and finally consider what “method abuse,”manifested by a desire this might imply for the future. to “play safe.”(If things go well, you can take the credit, but if they go wrong, the organization’s choice of method can take the blame.) As Davis argues, such a THE DESIGN PROCESS policy will almost certainly lead to our becoming builders of what he terms “cookie-cutter, low-risk, low- Developing solutions to problems is a distinguish- payoff, mediocre systems.” ing human activity that occurs in many spheres of life. The issue I’ll explore in this column is slightly dif- So, although the properties of software-based systems ferent, although it’s also concerned with the problems offer some specific problems to the designer (such as that the use of design methods can present. It can be software’s invisibility and its mix of static and dynamic expressed as a question: Will the adoption of a design properties), as individual design characteristics, these method help the software development process (the properties are by no means unique. Indeed, while “life belt” role), or is there significant risk that its use largely ignored by software engineers, the study of the will lead to suboptimum solutions (the “leg iron”role)? nature of design activities has long been established Robert L.
    [Show full text]
  • Design for an Unknown Future: Amplified Roles for Collaboration, New Design Knowledge, and Creativity Stephanie Wilson, Lisa Zamberlan
    Design for an Unknown Future: Amplified Roles for Collaboration, New Design Knowledge, and Creativity Stephanie Wilson, Lisa Zamberlan Introduction The field of design has expanded significantly in recent years. In Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/desi/article-pdf/31/2/3/1715404/desi_a_00318.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 addition to engaging in the design of artifacts, designers are apply- ing their skills in a wide range of areas that include organizational design, service design, strategic design, interaction design, and design for social innovation. The rapid development of these areas is, in part, propelled by a broad recognition of design thinking and practice as a significant driver of innovation. This recognition is reflected in the establishment of government-funded design labs, such as MindLab in Denmark and Helsinki Design Lab in Finland. The potential of design to transform the public sector has also recently been recognized in Australia through the development of the Centre for Excellence in Public Service Design. Although recent research has identified new and emerging roles for design and the designer in the twenty-first century, a num- ber of areas remain underexplored in the literature. This article examines several of these areas, including the designer’s role as co- creator in collaborative and interdisciplinary teams, as well as the designer’s role in generating new design knowledge and in devel- oping and contributing to cultures of creativity. Examples from practice are used to illuminate the growing importance of these roles in design and for designers as they navigate the complexity of today’s design challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • Design Science Research and the Grounded Theory
    Association for Information Systems AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) European Conference on Information Systems ECIS 2010 Proceedings (ECIS) 2010 Design Science Research and the Grounded Theory Method: Characteristics, Differences, and Complementary Uses Robert Gregory Goethe University Frankfurt, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2010 Recommended Citation Gregory, Robert, "Design Science Research and the Grounded Theory Method: Characteristics, Differences, and Complementary Uses" (2010). ECIS 2010 Proceedings. 44. http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2010/44 This material is brought to you by the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been accepted for inclusion in ECIS 2010 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contact [email protected]. 18th European Conference on Information Systems DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH AND THE GROUNDED THEORY METHOD: CHARACTERISTICS, DIFFERENCES, AND COMPLEMENTARY USES Journal: 18th European Conference on Information Systems Manuscript ID: ECIS2010-0045.R1 Submission Type: Research Paper Research methods/methodology, Design/design science, Behavioral Keyword: science, IS research methodologies Page 1 of 12 18th European Conference on Information Systems DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH AND THE GROUNDED THEORY METHOD: CHARACTERISTICS, DIFFERENCES, AND COMPLEMENTARY USES Gregory, Robert Wayne, Goethe University Frankfurt, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, [email protected] Abstract Two research strategies that have received increasing scholarly attention recently in IS are design science research (DSR) and the grounded theory method (GTM). In this paper, we conduct a systematic comparison of the most salient characteristics of both research strategies to identify the differences as well as possible complementary uses in a pluralistic research design.
    [Show full text]
  • An Application of the Design Science Research Theoretical Framework
    Journal of Advances in Information Technology Vol. 7, No. 4, November 2016 An Application of the Design Science Research Theoretical Framework and Methodology in the Construction of an Approach for Designing Applications in 3D Virtual Worlds William Sawyerr Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom Email: [email protected] Abstract—This paper discusses the use of the design science In spite of these ideals, the application development research theoretical framework and methodology for process in VWs is currently at an early stage of constructing an approach for designing applications in 3D development, largely utilising existing methods and tools virtual worlds. The research is about the need for a suitable for application design. These methods and tools were method and tools for designing virtual world applications, mostly developed for managing application design which is evidenced by many of the problems that virtual worlds continue to suffer due to poor design. The proposed activities for the classic types of applications in SE. approach uses the generative design grammar framework Therefore, their use is unsuitable for designing VW and the generative design agent model as tools for designing applications. The use of unsuitable methods and tools for virtual world applications. Preliminary analyses suggest designing VW applications results in poorly designed that, the use of a method and tools created specifically for specifications. Poor design is one of the causes of designing virtual world applications provides a suitable and usability problems in VW applications [2]. Furthermore, robust approach for designing these types of applications. poor design can also adversely affect the adoption and use of VWs [3], [4].
    [Show full text]
  • A Prototype Framework for Knowledge-Based Analog Circuit Synthesis* Abstract 1. Introduction 2. Background
    A Prototype Framework for Knowledge-Based Analog Circuit Synthesis* Ramesh Harjani, Rob A. Rutenbar and L. Richard Carley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Carnl:gie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 Abstract Analog design is commonly perceived to be one of the most knowledge-intensive of design tasks: the techniques needed to An organization for a knowledge-based analog (circuit build good analog circuits seem to exist solely as expertise in- synthesis tool is described. Analog circuit topologies are vested in individual designers. represented as a hierarchy of functional blocks; a planning This paper describes a knowledge-based framework for an mechanism is introduced to translate performance specifica- analog circuit synthesis tool. Although “knowledge-based” tions between levels in this circuit hierarchy. A prototype im- has come to be synonymous with “rule-based” in CAD ap- plementation, OASYS, synthesizes sized transistor schematics plications, our prototype implementation relies more heavily for simple CMOS operational amplifiers from performance on planning mechanisms than on rule execution. We attack specifications and process parameters, and demonstrates the the behavior-tc+structure portion of the synthesis task; our workability of the a.pproach. goal is to produce circuit schematics including device sizes, from performance specifications for common analog functional 1. Introduction blocks. This approach is motivated by the lack of tools to Design automation ideas from digital VLSI have only support the design of custom analog circuits. In particular, recently begun to migrate into analog circuit design. In part there are emerging semi-custom methodologies to lay out a this reflects the inherent complexities of the analog design given circuit schematic, but as yet no real tools to help design process.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Creative Mechanisms of Design Thinking: an Evolutionary Approach
    !"#$%&'("#)"*+',$+-%$(').$+/$0,(")&1&+23+4$&)*"+5,)"6)"*7+ 8"+9.2:;')2"(%<+8==%2(0,+ Katja Thoring Roland M. Müller Department of Design Faculty of Business and Economics Anhalt University of Applied Sciences Berlin School of Economics and Law Seminarplatz 2a, 06846 Dessau/Germany Badensche Str. 50/51, 10825 Berlin/Germany +49 (0) 340 5197-1747 +49 (0) 30 85789-387 [email protected] [email protected] 8>?5@8-5+ Since generating creative concepts is one of the core aims In this article, we analyse the concept of design thinking of design thinking, we try to analyse how this is actually with its process, the team structure, the work environment, achieved. The first part of this article presents a short the specific culture, and certain brainstorming rules and overview of the design thinking process, as well as the techniques. The goal of this work is to understand how the involved artefacts and team members, and the underlying creative mechanisms of design thinking work and how they principles and guidelines for the process. In the second might be improved. For this purpose, we refer to the idea of section, we present an overview of the evolutionary theory creativity as an evolutionary process, which is determined of creativity. Both sections also cover the analysis of by generation (i.e., recombination and mutation), selection, existing literature in each area. The third section describes and retention of ideas. We evaluate the design thinking the used methodology, while in the fourth section, the main process in terms of its capabilities to activate these part of this article, we draw a comparison between the two mechanisms, and we propose possible improvements.
    [Show full text]
  • Information Systems Foundations: the Role of Design Science
    Information Systems Foundations: The role of design science Information Systems Foundations: The role of design science Dennis N. Hart and Shirley D. Gregor (Editors) THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY E P R E S S E P R E S S Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/is_foundations_citation.html National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Information Systems Foundations (‘The role of design science’) Workshop (2008 : Canberra, A.C.T.) Title: Information systems foundations : the role of design science / edited by Shirley D. Gregor and Dennis N. Hart. ISBN: 9781921666346 (pbk.) ISBN: 9781921666353 (eBook) Notes: Workshop held at the Australian National University in Canberra from 2-3 October, 2008. Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Management information systems--Congresses. Information resources management--Congresses. System design--Congresses. Other Authors/Contributors: Gregor, Shirley Diane. Hart, Dennis N. Dewey Number: 658.4038 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by Teresa Prowse Cover ilustration by Jackson Gable Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2010 ANU E Press Contents Preface . ix Philosophical Foundations 1 . Identification-interaction-innovation: a phenomenological basis for an information services view . 3 Dirk Hovorka, Matt Germonprez 2 . How critical realism clarifies validity issues in theory- testing research: analysis and case . 21 Robert B. Johnston, Stephen P.
    [Show full text]
  • On Deciding the Boundaries of Architectural Knowledge
    1 On deciding the boundaries of architectural knowledge Abstract Architectural educators constantly struggle with the boundaries of architectural knowledge and the logistics of providing an education that prepares a student to become an architect. The constant struggle between the intellectual demands of the discipline of architecture and the practice of architecture is due to the vagueness in defining the boundaries of architectural knowledge. A new approach to structure architectural knowledge may provide the armature necessary to bridge the divide between the discipline of architecture and the practice of architecture, to redefine the architectural curriculum and allow us to map the territory of architectural knowledge. Introduction A major problem facing the field of architectural education is the lack of boundaries for architectural knowledge. The proverbial curriculum of 22 years suggested by Dean Hudnut, or pithy statements that point out that the pursuit of architectural knowledge is a lifelong endeavor, do not help the situation. Faced with a limited time frame in which to provide an architectural education in a university setting (which is constantly being questioned), deciding1 the boundaries of architectural knowledge (thereby defining a discipline?) becomes a necessary task. Architects are perpetual transgressors when it comes to disciplinary knowledge. We appropriate from many different sources and pride Ganapathy Mahalingam Page 1 3/2/2019 2 ourselves on the fact that we are able to creatively synthesize an "architectural
    [Show full text]
  • The Design Studio Brief in Architecture's
    Charrette:essay Tales and tools: the Design Studio Brief in Architecture’s expanded field. Suzanne Ewing. Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Edinburgh. ABSTRACT This essay argues that the Design Studio Brief establishes tacit disciplinary practices of architecture, as well as more explicit pursuit of topics of formulated relevance or concern. A series of tales of Design Studio Briefs from the fourth year of study at one UK Architecture School are sampled at dates which coincide with significant moments in Scotland’s recent constitutional history: the 1979 devolution Referendum, the 1997/1999 establishment of the Scottish Parliament, and the 2014 Independence Referendum. The tales are followed by a discussion on tools: towards means and practices which might inform the re-tooling of the Design Studio Brief and its ends. KEYWORDS design studio brief, disciplinary practices, architectural education Over the past forty years the field of global Higher Education economy. Allied to Architecture has expanded in scope and in the funding conditions which redefine national and potential of architectural design as subject and transnational educational responsibilities, what practice.1 Focus has shifted from site to field, educational capital is and what it is for, from static object to moving project.2 requires a refreshed ethical position.5 Preoccupations of Design Studios in architectural education have shifted from Euro- Architectural Design Studios are often known centric sites and artefacts deemed worthy
    [Show full text]