Table of Contents
Introduction: What is architectural research? 6
The etic and the emic 10
Depth and focus as a variable 11
Context: methodology: theory 11
Thesis: antithesis: synthesis 14
Architectural History (not history of architecture) 15
Architectural Social Sciences (not social science of architecture) 16
Architectural Philosophy (not philosophy of architecture) 16
The structure of the book 17
Part 1 Fundamentals of Architectural Research
Chapter 1 Defining your research question 24
What do you want to find out? 25
Defining your terms 29
Framing a research question 29
Exercises for developing A research question 31
Chapter 2 Defining your research methodology 36
How can you find something out? 36
Conventional research methodologies 37
Validating your approach 45
Reflective practitioners and practice-based research 45
Chapter 3 Building your literature review 46
Establishing your held 48
Finding relevant works 48
Archival research
Evaluating sources 53
How to review a text 56
Chapter 4 Cross-disciplinary working 58
Defining your discipline 59
Identifying cross-disciplinary texts or partners 61
Finding common ground and a common language 64
Practicalities of cross-disciplinary work 64
Collaboration: frameworks and practicalities 66
Chapter 5 Conducting and documenting fieldwork 68
What is the field? 70
Preparing for fieldwork 73
Documentation: field notes and sketchbooks 74
Recording media: photography, video, audio 75
Analyzing your fieldwork 78
Chapter 6 Conducting interviews and communication
Who should you interview? Types of interview 81
Recording and transcription 83
Analyzing your interviews 88
Chapter 7 Writing up 90
Knowing your audience 91
Your duty to the reader: structuring your writing 94
Part 2 Practical Applications and Case Studies 102
Chapter 8 Material culture 102
The commodity status of things 103
Entanglements of people and things 108
Stuff as cultural indicator in Case Study: The cart at assemblage 109
Chapter 9 Environmental psychology 114
James Gibson and alternative approaches to space 114
People-environment studies 115
Case Study: 'Inflecting Space' 116
Chapter 10 Architectural histories 125
Historiography of architecture: historians and their histories 126
Case Study: The architectural manifesto 133
Chapter 11 The politics of space 140
Politics and the language of architecture 142
The right to the city 145
Society of the spectacle 146
Case Study: 'Cultures of Legibility' 149
Chapter 12 Philosophy, phenomenology and the experience of space 152
Applications of philosophy to architecture 153
Linguistic analogies in architecture 154
Dwelling and being-in-space 157
Case study: Sensory notation 160
Chapter 13 Ethnographic research 164
Conducting ethnographic research 164
Writing culture 166
Using ethnographic research by others 168
Case Study. Ethnographies of creative practice - experiment or ethnography? 169
Chapter 14 Drawing, diagrams and maps 175
A practice native to architecture 176
The sketchbook as a storeroom for ideas 177
Case Study: 'Getting Lost in Tokyo' 178
Chapter 15 Conclusion: Theory and practice 184
Glossary 192
Endnotes 194
Bibliography 201
Index 204
Acknowledgments 208
