Nurture and nature of research in architecture: The research foundation of architecture as a discipline

Architecture is lacking theoretical foundation, because its mechanisms to create and accumulate knowledge and experience are non existent or not well developed. Research and especially Ph.D. can contribute to overcome this weakness. This paper focuses on 2 topics: the need for research and the nature of research in architecture. It deliberately articulates some polemic positions in order to stimulate discussion

The relevance of systematic methods for architectural design

critique on the problem solving approach to architectural design and the early design methods movementstatus: publishe

Design van een verpleegeenheid

Methodology describing the design of the academic hospital Gasthuisberg - Leuven (Belgium). Starting at the one end from the masterplan, and from the functional activities at the other end, it is shown how to decide about the structure of the building. Subsequently a T-shaped nursing unit is designed in detail.status: publishe

Representational Limitations and Improvements in Building Information Modeling

This paper discusses advantages and limitations of different representation types, illustrated with examples from current commercial Building Information Modeling applications. There is still a potential benefit in more thoroughly adapting additional representations to access and manage project data. The paper presents arguments to adapt a hybrid approach, where multiple representations should form a series of interfaces to interact with a building model. Inspiration is derived from software applications not associated with Building Information Modeling.status: publishe

Design(ing) knowledge in architecture

Proceedings of the 2nd EAAE-ARCC Conference, Paris (France)status: publishe

From sustainable housing sciences to sustainable housing policies : challenging the social responsibility of researchers and designers

Paper presented at the XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing, 27-30 September 2005,"Transforming Housing Environments through Design", University of Pretoria.Whereas knowledge on sustainable housing techniques expands more and more, it can be noticed that the widespread introduction of sustainable construction techniques in a typical market situation often fails to happen. Considering that, for example, the Kyoto protocol targets are just a first step in fighting the consequences of the greenhouse effect, one should principally expect the reverse to happen. We distinguish three factors that contribute to this anomaly between 'knowing' and 'acting': * the present higher investment costs of sustainable construction * the difficulty of introducing awareness and attitude change with the larger public * the inertia of policy makers in enforcing effective environmental measures that interfere with the public's everyday life, in this case in the domain of housing. This raises some interesting questions for the scientific community: * should researchers only 'inform on demand' or should they take the opportunities for a more pro-active attitude towards public, professionals and policy makers, while at the same time maintaining their scientific objectivity? Or, more fundamentally, does knowledge induce an ethic component one should not deny? * can one think of promoting design strategies that provide for a multi-stage introduction of sustainable building methods, thus reducing the actual gap between goals and reality? These questions are being addressed taking the context of Flanders, one of Belgium’s three regions, as a starting point.Authors of papers in the proceedings and CD-ROM ceded copyright to the IAHS and UP. Authors furthermore declare that papers are their original work, not previously published and take responsibility for copyrighted excerpts from other works, included in their papers with due acknowledgment in the written manuscript. Furthermore, that papers describe genuine research or review work, contain no defamatory or unlawful statements and do not infringe the rights of others. The IAHS and UP may assign any or all of its rights and obligations under this agreement