Design Informed: Driving Innovation with Evidence-Based Design

Gordon H. Chong · Robert Brandt · W. Mike Martin

Sep 2010 · John Wiley & Sons

About this ebook

The Power of Evidence to Create Design Excellence

This practical, accessible book—for design professionals and students alike—is about design excellence and how to achieve it. The authors propose an evidence-based design approach that builds on design ingenuity with the use of research in ways that enhance opportunities to innovate. They show the power of research data to both reveal new design opportunities and convince stakeholders of the value of extraordinary work. A guide for all designers who want to earn their place as their clients' trusted advisor and who aspire to create places of beauty and purpose, the book demonstrates:

• An approach to applying evidence to design that neither turns designers into scientists nor requires large-firm resources

• The wide range of types of evidence that can be applicable to design and where to look for it

• Direct, practical application of the evidence-based design approaches in use today

• Provides tools to distinguish strong evidence that can improve design decisions from misleading assertions resulting from weak research

• Benefits of evidence-based design, including improved human and building performance

Two featured case studies illustrate the theory and practice of evidence-based design. The work of the authors' 2005–2007 AIA College of Fellows Benjamin Latrobe Research Fellowship provided an empirical foundation for this book, and addresses the use of rigorous research methods to understand relationships between design choices and health outcomes. The California Academy of Sciences, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Chong Partners Architecture, and Arup, provides transparent evidence that enhances building technology performance in the context of a powerful design expression.

In-depth interviews and case studies are clustered around three research categories: modeling, simulation, and data mining; social and behavioral science and the physical and natural sciences; and including cutting-edge use of neuroscience to understand human response to physical environments. The twenty-two featured thought leaders include: William Mitchell, MIT Media Lab; Fred Gage, Salk Institute; Phil Bernstein, Autodesk; Sheila Kennedy, Kennedy & Violich; James Timberlake, KieranTimberlake; William and Chris Sharples, SHoP Architects; Vivian Loftness, Carnegie Mellon University; John Zeisel, Hearthstone; Paco Underhill, Envirosell; Susan Ubbelohde and George Loisos, Loisos+Ubbelohde Architecture-Energy; Chris Luebkeman, Arup; Martin Fischer, Stanford University CIFE; and Kevin Powell, GSA.

Ratings and reviews

This book is about architectural research methods which seek evidence to answer specific questions about cause-effect. In a series of a couple of dozen case studies and interviews, it characterizes the six quality attributes of hypothesis, epistemology, metrics, strength of evidence, external validation and transparency. It discusses the 2005 Latrobe hypothesis which has three parts for collaboration between architect and clients, use of both empiricism and induction, and metrics. A process of prototyping and testing is used to make buildings. Software is used for analysis and prediction. Computer models are used to find and demonstrate solutions. Compelling measurements from the realworld support the conclusions. The computer is then used to include these types of measurements in architectural designs. Actual designs are made which use the newer solution approaches. There are seven chapters.

About the author

Robert Brandt, AIA, LEED AP, a real estate planner for Intuit, has more than thirty years of design/ behavior and strategic planning experience with Stantec, Chong Partners, and as a managing partner at HLW International. His clients have included News Corporation, General Motors, University of California, San Francisco, and Amgen. Brandt was a team leader for the 2005–2007 AIA Latrobe Research Fellowship.

Gordon H. Chong, FAIA, served as the national president of The American Institute of Architects in 2002 and president of The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture from 2007 to 2009. As a founder of Chong Partners Architecture, he led the team that received the 2005–2007 AIA Latrobe Research Fellowship.

W. Mike Martin, PhD, FAIA, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, has served as the undergraduate dean of the College of Environmental Design and chair of the Architecture Department. A co-recipient of the 2005–2007 AIA Latrobe Research Fellowship for Research, Martin served as president-elect of the San Francisco chapter of the AIA and as the editor of Architecture California (AIACC).