Design-build projects
Design-build projects are based on a specific approach in architectural research that combines architectural practice with different formats and methods of research and teaching. The term “design-build” describes a process in which the realization of a building is handled by a single actor, from conceptual development and design to execution. In the academic context of architectural education, the term is developing as an alternative form of research, learning, and teaching that combines social engagement with technical—theoretical and practical—learning. Consequently, teaching, research, and practice are brought together in the complexity of the architectural project. As a practice-oriented learning and teaching method, design-build projects also offer students the opportunity to become involved in research at an early stage and to go through all phases of the construction process, from design to execution.
PEP - Design-Based Doctoral Research
www.pep.tu-berlin.de
The design disciplines of architecture and landscape architecture have a long academic tradition at technical universities.
An examination of the contributions of architecture and landscape architecture in the context of third-cycle academic degrees reveals that only a few doctorates are awarded in the field of design in the narrower sense. Principally, doctoral theses in architecture and landscape architecture deal with research content from sciences dealing peripherically with design, such as sociology, economics, botany, building construction and building physics, or history. In these cases, the focus is on the scientific understanding and methodology of the respective discipline, e.g., an orientation toward the humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences. There is a deficit regarding the design discipines here that the PEP design-based doctoral program aims to address.
One of PEP's key socio-political and higher education policy goals is to use design-based doctoral projects to reconnect research in architecture and landscape architecture more closely with design and planning.
Design-based research involves treating design results as scientific observations. These observations are made explicit, i.e. reflected through critical examination and developed into an interest area and knowledge field. Subsequently, practical implementations of the thesis are developed based on this and evaluated using the specific criteria. The result is a description of the findings that constitute the doctoral candidate's own work. By comparing their work with other fields of knowledge production in the design disciplines, doctoral candidates locate their own contribution to the discourse and make it distinctive. In this way, research is elevated from design practice by creating awareness, explicitness, and criticality, and new knowledge is made available to the design research community. Design-based research can tap into those areas of knowledge in the design disciplines for which the available instruments of established scientific methods are not suitable.
