IMAGINING IN THE SPATIAL DESIGN PROCESS Marisha Berenice McAuliffe Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Hons) Thesis submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy School of Design Faculty of Creative Industries Queensland University of Technology 2013 Principal Supervisor Professor Jill Franz Associate Supervisor Associate Professor Barbara Adkins i KEY WORDS Design, design process, design research, imagining, presence, presence research, interior design, architecture, spatial design ii iii ABSTRACT This thesis makes a significant contribution to knowledge in spatial design and spatial design education. Initially prompted by the desire to better understand how students generate ideas in design studio projects and thereby further support and enhance their learning, a multifaceted study was undertaken involving the integration of extant theory and empirical research. Guided by Grounded Theory methodology the study involved preliminary research of spatial design students and their experience of designing before focussing in a major empirical study on experienced architects and interior designers and their process of designing in the early conceptualisation stage. Through a process of theoretical sampling and constant comparative analysis extant theory from presence research and design methodology research was condensed with the empirical research findings to produce two outcomes: a taxonomy of imagining; and substantive grounded theory in the form of the Spatial Design Imagining (SDI) Model. In addition, the thesis addresses additional concerns such as the popularisation of design thinking at the expense of embodied experience and sensation. It achieves this in three ways; first by providing greater clarity in the early stages of design, stages traditionally regarded as mysterious and magical; second through its holistic approach capturing the aesthetic as well as pragmatic aspects of the design process; and third, by undertaking research from a spatial as opposed to product perspective. Added to this is the study’s contribution to presence research by way of its elucidation of the aesthetic quality of imagining and the ‘split subject attitude’ of the designer. Overall, the research has sufficient explanatory potential to inform future educational application, theoretical research and methodological experimentation contributing to an even richer understanding of creative mental synthesis and more experientially meaningful responses by design graduates and practitioners. iv v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. viii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... xii STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP .............................................................................xiv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................................xvi PUBLICATIONS .................................................................................................................... xviii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH OF DESIGN PROCESS, THINKING AND IMAGINING ......................... 8 CHAPTER 3: PRESENCE RESEARCH ...................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 88 CHAPTER 5: EMPIRICALLY GROUNDED IMAGINING ......................................................... 165 CHAPTER 6: THE SPATIAL DESIGN IMAGINING (SDI) MODEL ......................................... 192 CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .................................................................... 208 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 223 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 261 APPENDIX A: ETHICAL CLEARANCE AND PARTICIPANT CONSENT FOR THE EXPLORATORY STUDY .................................................................................................... 262 APPENDIX B: ETHICAL CLEARANCES FOR PRIMARY STUDY ....................................... 270 APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE ...................................................................................... 286 APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ........................................................................... 292 APPENDIX E: EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION – (STAGE 1) RESPONSES, MEMOING AND NOTES ..................................................................................................... 294 APPENDIX F: EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION –CODING .......................... 298 APPENDIX G: EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION –BUILDING THEORY ....... 302 APPENDIX H: EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION – THE INTERVIEW (STAGE 2) TRANSCRIPTS, MEMOING NOTES AND CODING .............................................................. 306 APPENDIX I: EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION – ONE COMPLETE INTERVIEW (STAGE 2) TRANSCRIPT, MEMOING NOTES AND CODING .............................................. 312 vi vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Literature review context for design process, thinking and imagining.....9 Figure 2.2: The three elementary designing activities based on Zeisel (1984)..........13 Figure 2.3: The three dimensions of design process based on Roozenburg and Cross (1991).......................................................................................................16 Figure 3.1 Literature review framework for presence research informed by Lombard and Jones, M.T. (2007) ............................................................40 Figure 3.2 Literature review context for presence research........................................41 Figure 3.3: Presence categorisation adapted from Lombard and Jones, M.T. (2007).......................................................................................................43 Figure 3.4: Technology mediated conceptualisations of presence.............................46 Figure 3.5: Mediated and non-mediated conceptualisations of presence..................48 Figure 3.6: The MEC Model of Spatial Presence adapted from Vorderer et al., (2004).......................................................................................................55 Figure 3.7: The oscillation of presence in physical, virtual and imaginal environments. Adapted from Biocca (2003)............................................56 Figure 4.1: Research structure..................................................................................106 Figure 4.2: Data collection stages.............................................................................107 Figure 4.3: Constant comparative analysis and theoretical sampling in Grounded Theory (Birks & Mills, 2011, p. 71)…………......................................108 Figure 4.4: The five stages in this study...................................................................112 Figure 4.5: Sampling in this study............................................................................115 Figure 4.6: Questionnaire response rate....................................................................125 Figure 4.7: Age group of questionnaire respondents................................................129 Figure 4.8: Gender spread of respondents................................................................130 Figure 4.9: Level of experience of questionnaire respondents.................................130 Figure 4.10: Respondents’ primary area of design practice.....................................131 Figure 4.11: Respondents’ initial education in design..............................................131 Figure 4.12: Level of education of questionnaire respondents.................................132 Figure 4.13: Application of data coding levels for the study....................................134 Figure 4.14: The open coding process in Grounded Theory....................................137 viii Figure 4.15: Identifying concepts and microanalysis in the open coding process using memoing..............................................................................................138 Figure 4.16: Coding sentences in the data................................................................140 Figure 4.17: Creating categories from codes in the .data.........................................142 Figure 4.18: Process of open coding and axial coding in Grounded Theory...........148 Figure 4.19: Refining definitions of categories from the data..................................149 Figure 4.20: Defining interrelationships from the categories...................................151 Figure 4.21: Examining the structure and the process between concepts................153 Figure 4.22: New categories emerging from the data in axial coding......................154 Figure 4.23: Exploring interrelationships between categories..................................155 Figure 4.24: Determining