Editors’ Letter: Why Research?

This winter edition of AIA’s Context Magazine offers an important opportunity to discuss the value of research to the fields of architecture and design. As its own form of practice, research contributes critical thinking, innovation, increased effectiveness, and advances in technology. However, for most practicing architects, its tenets and modalities remain difficult to identify, institute, and valorize. Design and building professionals rarely capitalize on the value generated by research.  

Compared to engineering and medicine, for example, the built environment is rarely the subject of comparable federal investments. In his 2016 article, “The Confused and Impoverished State of Architectural Research,” Richard Buday discussed how 12 billion dollars was spent in health research that year, while less than 500 million was spent in construction-based research.1 This imbalance is reflected in the publications available to respective professions. By 2016, while the “database of health profession journal articles had almost 24 million entries…the architectural equivalent…the AIA’s Building Research Information Knowledge Base (BRIK)” had 1,900.2 This cannot be good for business. As reported by McKinsey Global Institute, the manufacturing sector has improved its level of productivity by 100 percent since 1995, while construction productivity has stagnated at 10 percent over the last 30 years. Without significant improvements in how we produce more for less, there can be no true innovation in the industry. And according to social scientist Dan Breznit, without innovation there can be no shared prosperity. For Breznitz, innovation occurs when an invention “is actualized in the economy…when we identify how to produce the invention in a better way…when we are in control of all aspects of the production chain – or supply chain.”3 If more architects involved themselves in the production and supply chain of buildings, would this increase our chances at real innovation, productivity, and prosperity?  

This is the gambit represented by the five research labs featured in “Next Generation: The Weitzman School of Design is at the cutting edge of architectural research,” which describes significant research initiatives in biomaterials, thermal architecture, structural computation, digital fabrication, and environmental design. PhD students and faculty pursue funded research in physical labs in search of nothing less than the transformation of the discipline.  

Moreover, as discussed by Dr. Ajla Askamila in “Q&A: Documenting and disseminating architectural research is key to solving ‘wicked problems,’” the best kind of research is that which is shared, a factor most practicing architects have yet to embrace. A growing number of publications by firms have increased participation in this space, but much has yet to be made transparent and available for peer review.  

In our UpClose profile, Ryan Welch, director of research at KieranTimberlake, sheds light on how research is incorporated into the firm’s daily practice, at times directly tied to projects and at times separate but parallel to it. The conversation with Welch highlights the importance of resourcefulness and communication in research — his firm’s endeavors involve advocacy and engagement with a broad range of stakeholders including the federal government, academia, commercial product developers, and local community groups.  

While in Design for Healing, researchers in the discipline of cognitive science identify a shortfall in the understanding of how a physical environment can positively affect users who seek treatment for drug abuse and the caregivers who provide it. Their project provides a case study on how research outside of architectural practice can provide a clear conceptual framework in the design and construction of spaces that serve as living labs to test the effectiveness of various physical/sensory features. 

These pieces demonstrate many of the reasons why we have much to gain as a profession in engaging and embracing architectural research. 

Endnotes 

1.  Richard Buday, “A Brief History of the Impoverished Culture of Architectural Research (August 02, 2017)” accessed via https://www.archdaily.com/876901/a-brief-history-of-the-impoverished-culture-of-architectural-research 

2.  Ibid.  

3.  Accessed via https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/prize-winning-author-says-canada-must-fix-horrific-approach-to-innovation-1.6377569 

Milton Lau 

Senior Associate,  
Perkins Eastman 
CONTEXT Editor 

Dr. Franca Trubiano, OAQ 

Associate Professor,  
University of Pennsylvania  

PhD Graduate Group Chair 

CONTEXT Editor