Product Description

A practical guide to research-just for architects
From searching for the best glass to prevent glare to determining how clients might react to color choice for restaurant walls, research is a crucial tool that architects must master in order to effectively address the technical, aesthetic, and behavioral issues that arise in their work.
This book's unique coverage of research methods is specifically targeted to help professional designers and researchers better conduct and understand research. Part I explores basic research issues and concepts, and includes chapters on relating theory to method and design to research. Part II gives a comprehensive treatment of specific strategies for investigating built forms. In all, the book covers seven types of research, including historical, qualitative, correlational, experimental, simulation and modeling, logical argumentation, and case study and mixed methods.
Complete with real-life examples of how good research can be used from project inception to completion, Architectural Research Methods is an essential reference for architecture students and researchers as well as architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and building product manufacturers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53406 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Back Cover
A practical guide to research–just for architects

From searching for the best glass to prevent glare to determining how clients might react to color choice for restaurant walls, research is a crucial tool that architects must master in order to effectively address the technical, aesthetic, and behavioral issues that arise in their work.

This book’s unique coverage of research methods is specifically targeted to help professional designers and researchers better conduct and understand research. Part I explores basic research issues and concepts, and includes chapters on relating theory to method and design to research. Part II gives a comprehensive treatment of specific strategies for investigating built forms. In all, the book covers seven types of research, including historical, qualitative, correlational, experimental, simulation and modeling, logical argumentation, and case study and mixed methods.

Complete with real-life examples of how good research can be used from project inception to completion, Architectural Research Methods is an essential reference for architecture students and researchers as well as architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and building product manufacturers.

About the Author
LINDA GROAT is Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
DAVID WANG is Associate Professor of Architecture and Coordinator of the Master of Science in Architecture program at Washington State University’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute in Spokane, Washington.

Customer Reviews

At last, a comprehensive text related to architecture
Having completed three doctoral level research methods courses using bits and pieces of material from a variety of sources, I am happy to at last have a comprehensive text that relates specifically to architecture. Groat and Wang have developed a wonderful, thorough, well-written, and well-illustrated text. I imagine that everyone in methods courses will feel very lucky to have such an excellent resource. And the usefulness to researchers overall can't be understated. Many, many, many congratulations to both authors for an excellent job on a much-needed resource for architectural education.

Cohesive and comprehensive
I found this book to be excellent: comprehensive and approachable, eclectic and interdisciplinary. It should save any student, researcher or instructor much time and can serve as a text book and/or a comprehensive reference manual. It also adds to the body of knowledge by freshly demonstrating the application of the research methods of many other disciplines in the specific context of architecture (including many cases and examples), all within a nice, logical, unifying philosophical framework.

Great Book
This is a great book that fills a gap in architectural education. it tries to cover a wide range of issues. The effort is appreciated and to a great extend successful