Project

Discipline

Design research; academisation; architecture; epistemic cultures

Lead
Entwurfsforschung in der Architektur
Lay summary
Universitäten werden zunehmend nach ökonomischen Kriterien geführt. Dies hat zur Folge, dass von den Fachgebieten erwartet wird, unabhängig von individuellen Entwicklungen und Traditionen, übergreifend messbare Leistungen zu erbringen. Solche Leistungen umfassen in der Wissenschaft neben der Lehre insbesondere die Forschung und darin in der Regel Publikationen in Fachzeitschriften sowie Einwerben von Drittmitteln prestigeträchtiger Forschungsförderungsinstitutionen. Unser Projekt geht von der Hypothese aus, dass diese Entwicklungen anwendungsorientierte Fachgebiete wie die Architektur besonders treffen. Traditionellerweise hat die Architektur Praktiker_innen ausgebildet und die Forschung an Nebendisziplinen wie Kunstgeschichte und Architekturtheorie, aber auch Stadtsoziologie, Statik, Materialwissenschaften etc. ausgegliedert. Durch die aktuellen wissenschaftspolitischen Entwicklungen gerät zunehmend auch der Kern der Ausbildung, die Entwurfspraxis in den Fokus von Forschungsdiskursen. Das Ziel unseres Projektes liegt darin, an ausgewählten Architekturdepartementen in verschiedenen nationalen und ausbildungsorientierten Kontexten (in Deutschland, Skandinavien und Australien) zu untersuchen, wie Entwurfsforschung praktiziert, diskutiert und in der Lehre vermittelt wird. Dabei möchten wir aufzeigen, wie diese Diskurse die Selbstwahrnehmung der Architektur als Fachdisziplin prägen und wie die Entwurfsforschung in Wechselwirkung zwischen wissenschaftspolitischem Zeitgeist und personellen Konstellationen an den jeweiligen Departementen umgesetzt und vermittelt wird.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 10.04.2017

Natural persons

Active participation

Self-organised

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

In recent years, the role and character of research, its definition and evaluation has come into discussion within the academic field of architecture. This trend stands in a close relation to the economization, politicization and harmonization of higher education, described as ‘new governance of science’ (Braun & Merrien 1999), bringing about an increased research orientation within skill-oriented and practice-based disciplines. As a core skill of architecture, design particularly came into focus of such discussions.Against this background, the proposed project intends to examine selected leading architecture departments in different national and educational contexts (at universities in Scandinavia, Germany and Australia), each with a focus on and a distinct understanding of architectural research. It aims at studying how these framings shape the education of architects and everyday practices of architecture as epistemic culture (Knorr Cetina 1999). For this analysis, a qualitative ethnographic study, situated at the intersection of sociology of architecture and science and technology studies (STS) will be applied. This conduct will be based on approaches of laboratory studies (e.g. Latour & Woolgar 1979) and draw on the concept of epistemic cultures as developed by Knorr Cetina (1999). The project will start with a discourse ethnographic inventory (Keller 2011b; Knoblauch 2002) of documents relating to architectural research as produced by the analysed departments, that is, research publications of various kinds, PhD theses as well as documents concerning guiding principles, training concepts, and PhD programmes. Building on this, fieldwork will consist of ‘active interviews’ (Holstein & Gubrium 2004) with teaching assistants, professors and heads of departments regarding their research and the ways research is instituted within education. In addition, focused participant observations (Knoblauch 2005) will be conducted in selected design classes at the analysed institutions.Research and education in skill-oriented fields such as architecture is different from that of traditional ‘hard science’ research disciplines as regards the empirical, ontological and social dimension of knowledge production. Hence, an increased research orientation produces a variety of ambivalences and irritations within the academic field of architecture (Geiser 2008; Gerber et al. 2010; Gisler & Kurath 2015). The proposed project aims at investigating these tensions in order to contribute to better understand the specificities of genuine architectural research (Ammon & Froschauer 2013; Hauser, et al. 2011; Müller & Reichmann 2015). The proposed project follows three major goals:1.Analysing the understanding and practice of architectural research as conducted by the faculty at six selected architecture departments in Scandinavia, Germany and Australia.2.Studying the ways architectural design is taught at the different departments.3.Comparing the selected departments - not only among themselves, but also to the departments analysed within the responsible applicant’s two ongoing research projects (as will be mentioned below) - with regard to similarities and differences in their understanding, practice and teaching of architectural design.