Transferring knowledge about diverse users’ experiences from research into
architectural design practice is not straightforward. Effective knowledge transfer
requires taking into account architects’ design practice. This paper explores a research
approach to gain insight into architects’ designerly ways of knowing about users. It
discusses why an ethnographic research approach offers a means to study a culture of
practice such as architectural design practice. A fieldwork account from a pilot study
in an architecture firm provides insight into the experiential issues architects deal with.
It illustrates how fieldwork techniques can be applied to map the socio-material
aspects (e.g., different stakeholders and design materials) that mediate knowledge
about users. Exploiting these aspects of architectural design practice is expected to
open new ways of thinking about informing architects about users’ experiences. For
instance, there lies an opportunity in engaging architects’ creative representational
skills, which challenges architects’ and researchers’ roles in knowledge transfer
