Roles impacts: Panel member

The power of contemplation at the presentation of Lena Ehringhaus, the capacity of exploration of drawing, explicit at the work of Rui Barreira, the inputs of Ana Telles, from the field of music, are examples of the diverse approaches to Design Driven Doctoral Research

Dirk Bahmann’s presentation triggered my statement that the moment when the candidate is coming to the overarching insight in his/her PhD IS the PhD itself. Subsequently I could see how Dirk immediately understood what I was trying to say, and that this was a liberating moment for him in his PhD. Lena Ehringhaus’s presentation triggred a comparable moment, when I could see more deeply rooted themes that were implicitly there and that I could make explicit in my comments as a panel member.

The formulation of research objectives differs between early, mid- and final stage of research. The candidates seem to benefit from exposure to different perspectives, so that the design-driven aspects of research appears to be better contextualised in later stages of the research. Whereas, in the early stage candidates, I observe two main tendencies. Either they lean on the design act or processes or show difficulties in narrowing down to clarify the main axis of the research.

Comments by Jo van den Berghe on moments within PhDs when knowledge is produced beyond the terms or expectations of the project from the outset. The search that produces new insights. This was a crucial intervention. Christoph Heinemann’s analogy of the work of the designer/thinker with St Thomas touching the wound of Christ. Ana Telles’s contribution to the discussion of the copy in which she spoke of its importance in relation to traditions in music. All of these led me to think that the specific moments pertinent to design thought and action are in themselves necessarily illustrated as knowledge.

The impact was, in my view, triggered by the workshops. Their role in the events is improving. They are becoming better at establishing dialogues, sharing different understandings of DDDr and forming a common framework for the feedback following the presentations. The shared concluding discussion and inclusion of the observers’ specific reports also helped address detailed insights on DDDr. There were also excellent examples of feedback from different disciplinary backgrounds contributing to shared discussions. For instance, in Pietro Quattropani’s presentation ‘The Concept of Copy in Arts and its Application in Architectural Projects’ where comments on the role of copying from artistic, architectural and musical perspectives came together in a rich discussion.

The capacity of researchers to open up space emancipating it from the mere traditional conception of design as merely linked to construction. The researchers, presenters, and panelists discussed a wider agency of architecture. This agency was shown through the focus on design practices and not just discussing the content of the research. Even if some PhD-projects were missing a generative use of practices or were in a seminal stage of research, the discussions were often focused on design practices motivating the research to find an own practice. This focus was very clear in the keynotes presentations (Tattara, Krumwiede, Lehnerer) and in the related discussion.

I attended a presentation as an observer (‘A Safe Space. Architecture and Preparedness in the Era of Uncertainty’) in which the comments of the panel members caught my attention: they all approached the role of design from different and complementary perspectives. Actually, everyone saw the role of design from their own experience and area of knowledge, and thus offered the candidate a very complete panoramic reflection.

The introductory workshop discussion, aligned around approaches, methodologies and techniques, was perfectly articulated and defined lingering topics with great clarity.