Improving Design Processes through Structured Reflection A Domain-independent Approach Copyright 2001 by Isabelle M.M.J. Reymen, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced, in any form or by any means, including but not limited to photocopy, photograph, magnetic or other record, without prior agreement and written permission of the author. CIP-DATA LIBRARY TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN Reymen, Isabelle M.M.J. Improving design processes through structured reflection : a domain-independent approach / by Isabelle M.M.J. Reymen. – Eindhoven : Eindhoven University of Technology, 2001. Proefschrift. - ISBN 90-386-0831-4 NUGI 841 Subject headings : design research / design theory ; domain independence / design method ; reflection / design process ; description / multidisciplinary engineering design Stan Ackermans Institute, Centre for Technological Design The work in this thesis has been carried out under the auspices of the research school IPA (Institute for Programming research and Algorithmics). IPA Dissertation Series 2001-4 Printed by University Press Facilities, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Cover Design by Cliff Hasham Improving Design Processes through Structured Reflection A Domain-independent Approach PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, prof.dr. M. Rem, voor een commissie aangewezen door het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 3 april 2001 om 16.00 uur door Isabelle Marcelle Marie Jeanne Reymen geboren te Elsene, België Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotoren: prof.dr.Dipl.Ing. D.K. Hammer en prof.dr.ir. P. Kroes To Twan vi Preface After I finished my Master's thesis at the Department of Architecture, Urban Design, and Planning (ASRO) of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven) in Belgium, prof. Herman Neuckermans, head of the Department of ASRO, told me of the possibility of doing a Ph.D. research at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) in The Netherlands. He received a vacancy for a Ph.D. position from a colleague professor in Architecture, namely prof. Thijs Bax. At that moment, Thijs Bax was working at the Stan Ackermans Institute (SAI), the Centre for Technological Design at the TU/e. The aim of the Ph.D. project was to compare design processes in several disciplines in order to develop a multidisciplinary framework for design. Because I had already seen the practice of architecture in my father’s office and I had already studied the theoretical side of it at the KULeuven, I was very enthusiastic about looking into other design disciplines. Instead of first starting a two-year traineeship to become an independent architect and taking over the architect's office of my father, I changed my career plan: I applied for the Ph.D. position and I came to the SAI to do research about designing. The start of my Ph.D. research implied moving from Belgium to The Netherlands. Because research activities were just being set up at the SAI, after a few months, I moved from the SAI to the Department of Computing Science of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing Science at the TU/e. There, I became a member of the Section Technical Applications (Sectie TT) of prof. Dieter Hammer, the initiator, and first promotor of my Ph.D. project. I have been feeling very well in the Computing-Science Department and, after a while, although my research topic was not a computing-science one, I even became the representative of the Ph.D. students of computing science in the board of the department and in the AiOOE (AiO consultative body Eindhoven). For a number of years, I also organised, first, with Richard Kelleners and, later on, with Tim Willemse, Tao meetings in which Ph.D. students of the department present their work to their colleagues. From the Tao and other meetings, I learned very much and I made a lot of friends. One person of the department, namely Twan Basten, has become very special to me. To him, I dedicate this thesis. Many people contributed to the development of my Ph.D. thesis. It is impossible to mention them all, but the following persons get my special thanks. First of all, I want to thank Herman Neuckermans for teaching me the principles of design methodology during my study in Leuven and for initiating my interest in design research. I want to thank Thijs Bax and Dieter Hammer for offering me the opportunity to come to Eindhoven. I am also very grateful for all facilities and support I got from the SAI and the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing Science; I especially want to thank the managing director of the SAI, Marloes van Lierop. Four supervisors, Dieter Hammer, Thijs Bax, Peter Kroes, and Joan van Aken, guided me through the four years of my Ph.D. research in more than fifteen meetings we had together and in many bilateral discussions. I am very thankful for their participation in my research project and for their belief in me. Having four (professors as) supervisors was a privilege, although it was not always that easy. I am indebted to the junior and expert designers for the input they gave me in the case studies I performed at the beginning of my research project and for their feedback on the results of my research at the end of my project: the junior designers Wilbert Alberts, Chris Arts, viii Janneke Bierman, Paul de Crom, Sander de Jonge, Douwe de Vries, Raymond Habets, Edwin Hautus, Albert Hofkamp, Marcel Renkens, Nicole Segers; the expert designers Jan Brouwer of XX Architecten, Astrid Dobbelaar of Philips Design, Henk Döll of Mecanoo, M. Koster of Philips CFT, Jan Kruithof of Daf, Tinneke Reijbroek of Paper Design, Piet Sanders of TU/e, Bart van den Hoge of Paper Design, Migiel van der Palen of XX Architecten, Wim van der Sanden of Panfox, and Karel Verhulst of Philips Medical Systems. I also want to thank the people that helped me with the implementation of a prototype software tool: Elisabeth Melby for programming and Jack van Wijk and Huub van de Wetering for their supervision and technical advice. Important for the development of my results were also the discussions I had with colleagues I met at conferences and at meetings of the Stichting Toekomstbeeld der Techniek (STT) and the Dommelgroup, and the discussions I had with Ph.D. students and staff from the Faculties of Mathematics and Computing Science, Architecture (DDSS Group), Mechanical Engineering, and Technology Management at the TU/e. I especially want to thank the colleagues from Industrial Design at the TU Delft for their constructive criticism of my work and for their confidence in me. The final realisation of this Ph.D. thesis took place under the supervision of Dieter Hammer, Peter Kroes, Joan van Aken, and Kees Dorst, being the core members of my graduation committee. I like to thank them for their advice and for the time they invested to give comments on several versions of this thesis. I want to thank especially Kees Dorst for his willingness to participate actively in the last phase of the project. I also want to thank Thijs Bax for his many suggestions for improving the thesis. Twan Basten did a great job in correcting my English, helping me with the consistency of the thesis, and suggesting other improvements. Patricia Reymen helped me with the layout of the thesis. I also want to thank prof. Jan Buys, prof. Herman Neuckermans, prof. Koos Rooda, prof. Paul Rutten, and dr. Kees van Overveld for being a member of my graduation committee and prof. Karel Lenstra for being chairman of the committee. At this point, I also already want to thank Ann Heylighen and Patricia Reymen for being my paranymphs on April 3rd. During my first months in The Netherlands, I was received very well by the SAI, by Corry Kolk and the OOTI's, and by the secretary Marja de Vroome and the other members of Sectie TT. The following people were a great help to me during the past four years: my roommates Paul and Maarten; Richard, Roy, Tim, and many other Ph.D. students; Huub, Michel (x2), Rob, Tineke, and all other (former) members of Sectie TT and the other groups of the department. Important were also other friends I made in The Netherlands, in particular Bram, Miranda, Petra, and ‘de Introgroep’. I also want to thank the archi's in (far) Belgium for their support, especially Ben and Ann, colleague Ph.D. students in Leuven. And last but not least, I want to thank the people being close to Twan and me for all the support they gave and for their continuous interest: my parents Marcel Reymen and Gabriëlle Hermans, who also have been giving me a broad education and an example of multidisciplinary thinking and who supported my choice to come to Eindhoven; Patricia and Yves, who have been a real sister and brother to me; Theo and Marga Basten, Eveline and Chiel, and oma Bouten who supported us, also in more difficult times. And finally, Twan, there are so many things you did for me and for which I want to thank you; perhaps I can summarise them as follows: Thanks for all your love! Eindhoven, January 2001. Contents PREFACE VII CONTENTS IX 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 The world of designing 2 1.2 Design research 3 1.2.1 Definition 3 1.2.2 History 4 1.2.3 Disciplines 5 1.2.4 Research topics 5 1.2.5 Research results 6 1.2.6 Literature overviews 7 1.2.7 Two paradigms 7 1.2.8 Research methodologies 8 1.3 Characteristics of designing 10 1.3.1 Designing defined 10 1.3.2 Design tasks 11 1.3.3 Design