design research vs01
Alternatively titled DESIGN RESEARCH, A VIEW FROM MUMBAI the essay is a series of drafts in documenting observation on architectural design research and its conduct in Mumbai. Text is to be seen as a quest in understanding a nature of work practiced by architects and its potential relatability to notions on design by research.
DESIGN (M-WD&T) _ to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan.
RESEARCH (OED) _ a search or investigation directed to the discovery of some fact by careful consideration or study of a subject; a course of critical or scientific inquiry.
John Seely Brown quoted in Design Research, Methods and Perspectives edited by Brenda Laurel _ “theory and practice aren’t enough; it’s got to be theory, practice and purpose.”
Research in architectural circles has become a trend in the recent past. There is an ardent pursuit in academia and upcoming design practices to catalogue, publish work as research among work done or associated with. The popularity of the said association could be credited to the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. His writings are a theoretical premise to concerns raised in context to assignments pursued by his office OMA. Though there are presidents before his work, its popularity is attributed to its flamboyant publishing task which each of his said concerns take form as. These are made possible with tactful collaborations who add value to his idiosyncratic style. What he has been able to achieve is make assessable the mundane with a degree of coolness. The mundane is groundwork which any design assignment take. To elaborate on this activity is to take a note on how a building project becomes a deliverable. Beginnings of the process is a training given in the early years of architectural education on say how a house is designed. Shifting to varying techniques by studio in-charges what a house is should have multiple avenues of approach. To a complex character study of a family or simplistic image studies of the form of a house is the key foundation given to what the design solution can be. It is mandatory for to coagulate all this content gathered. This distillation takes place on site which is a designated group of constraints imposed on the problem. Building design is a distilled product derived in this case. The first sketch gets critiqued. On the basis of the critique iterations are performed for a designated time period as imposed by the program. These kind of exercises are the introductions to components which makes mock buildings. Complexity of program increases with grade. Several given problems over the course of the education a work-flow becomes imperative in solving architectural problems. Processes aren’t much different when standard design offices perform the same task. Climatic, material and delivery concerns take precedence. In both situations of conventional academia and professional spheres there is a considerable amount of research conducted but never adequately credited. Lack of this acknowledgement is related to the lack of prescribed or formal methods applied to research conducted. The need is never considered important as returns on conducted research unless translated into a tangible product.
To argue on how research is becoming significant is to look at production of history of architecture. Development in architecture is positioned and located as styles in building. These transcend both with linear time-line and comparing along geographic advancements. Banister Fletcher’s a History of Architecture is credited to be instrumental of facilitating the form of history as we know it. Citing influences of geographical, geological, climate, religious, political, social alongside architectural character history of study of buildings is a study of its shifting image impacted by forces identified. This has been furthered in another canonical work in Critical History of Modern Architecture by Kenneth Frampton which continues the tradition of this narrative though concentrating on a specific movement. Case-studies of structures and comparing its various elements are hallmarks of these texts. Detailing the local archetype is an analysis of several cultural traits which impact the build form. Either the macro or the micro observation and record methods the visual has played a predominant role in documentation. Building off from this visual methods is how we are instructed to locate ourselves in the profession. Association to a particular style links produced work into the larger body of knowledge which is architectural design. Theorists and critiques in the profession are attributed in laying out contribution frameworks. An overall interests in systemic audit of the profession via a critical lens haven’t produced any significant style of note. Projects and buildings are not bound together to any specific type of production to create larger interest in sustaining the type. The deliberate void and popularity (preserved profitability) of hyper produced research are shifting interests of practitioners to reconsider their products. Without any manifestos to latch themselves on, mostly as self-evaluating tasks research is becoming a tool to make in-words into the larger architectural design knowledge bank. With several personal projects and multifarious independent publications a conversation requests discussion. What are the various strands to observe when there is a collection of design work calling itself research?
Popular design research performed by architects in Mumbai is concentrated on urban proposals. What initially was listing exercises in heritage they have overtime using similar vehicles of community involvement traversed into urban revitalization projects. Funded by MMRHCS [Mumbai Metropolitan Region Heritage Conservation Society] or private/ public partnerships undertaken by NGO’s such as UDRI [Urban Design Research Institute] city based projects are a type of work conducted as research by architects. Though not categorically architectural design research these form part of design job lists for the city. Between spatial practices, undergrad local discussions on built form city projects, design research as produced from within the architects in Mumbai is at its nascence. Heritage conversation is one of the core competence as far as city goes. Collaborative studios arrive with directives of building on urban research, specifically of area development plans. The Mumbai University MArch (by research), conducted at Sir. J.J. College of Architecture sees research as framework. Divisible into six parts a deliverable is a sum total of these introduction, literature review, research plan, data analysis, conclusion and design. These are elaborated as thus evaluating existing content of the research subject, case-studies; context of the research; new territories of development; design as a becoming exercise. A result of elaborating on structured research is review of work by Brenda Laurel (Methods in Research), Design Research Network (Questions, Hypothesis & Conjectures) and Peter Downton (Design Research). Concentrating on varying methods of product design studio in corporations, paper reviews of conducted academic research and process documenting design development are varying ideas explored. Additional to urban research and academic course structures, fringe engagements are being conducted on local variants of building information modelling. TAD distributed as open source early design stage modeller by syncespace and while PreDCR by SoftTech Engineers Pvt Ltd prepares architectural plans as per introduced municipality submission drawings guidelines. Their respective impact is restricted to any dependent on the applications. TAD is experimental and may have a user base in around a thousand while PreDCR is an outcome of enforcing digitization in municipalities. Both products are precedents to commercial products and to attempt see the development of the application through an academic framework is limiting.
If a culture to research for design is established it’s a process i.e. review, design, test and analyse. This is as type proposed in product prototyping. If buildings are considered products it well could follow the same process. Frame the design problem though the lens of similar projects identified. Iterate based on the constraints presented. Model and then revise. Design research a process to a product is therefore a method factoring in mechanisms of operation to inquiry for development. Its distinction from a research in science is its lack of testability and reproducibility. Attributes of quantitative and qualitative are available but poised in a creative way. What are the then possible limits acceptable for a credible research task? Products from OMA/ AMO have capitalised the book as a medium of validation. Concerns in work by Koolhaas and his office are issues relative to projects they are required to commission. Covering all possible aspects of photography, graphics, drawing and writing the creative research as pioneered by them is an uncomfortable benchmark to measure against. Academic research is a formal structured document referred to gain competence by the authority reviewing it. Several theoretic design practices such as Cedric Price, Lebbeus Woods and Archigram have traditionally used diagram a medium to communicate. Charles Jencks, Kenneth Frampton, recent work of Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Pier Vittorio Aureli are narratives in text. In quest for a form of design research among these is elusive in its essential premise. Reference to a type of work based on author is the more appropriate aspiration. An architectural project is controlled by clients, contexts, culture and costs, i.e. how traditional building is perceived. When trying to locally garner an architectural research landscape of Mumbai, to extrapolate an existential type is finding jobs and projects performed by architects other than formal building. Though rather crude in observation a compilation in varying jobs as research is the activity leading up to. Assuming building is limited by issues constraints of site and imperative forces a position on design research as field of engagement is arrived between listing to construction management. With lack of quantifiable projects the understanding of research when observed locally is an assumption. History, architecture and the city is a blur as told by its significant events. Role played by its buildings is obscure. An audit of the profession as practised in and from the city is the first essential stance to positon. The Mumbai School [Bijoy Jain, Kapil Gupta and Rahul Mehrotra] pastiched the South Asian design aesthetic. Heritage and material studies by some from the school is an outcome of this. A part of design production for the city comes from the developer community. This sector and their architects frame the city a result of tactical interpretation of city regulations. An elaborate understanding if derived when observed from Mumbai is this mixture. Derivatives required for building whatever be its nature of production are mandates to earmark a certain required knowledge. Design research as conducted with a defined geography boarders on framing an encompassing practice type those formally recognised and informal currents of production.