Situated design: toward an understanding of design through social creation and cultural cognition

Video and transcripts of two architectural design meetings are presented in an analysis of a specific design process. The focus of the analysis presented here is the social and cultural aspects of cognition in design. The argument begins with a discussion of the parallels in design studies and cognitive science as each begun to consider the importance of environmental influences in how we design and how we think. By applying three situated frameworks to understand the situated nature of design meetings, the analysis shows that notions of social creation and cultural cognition are complimentary and necessary when trying to understand how the design process works.

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