Supporting Studio Culture in Design Research

The concept of studio-based work is central to both practice and education within many traditional design disciplines such as architecture and industrial design. Studio-based work is in fact so central to these traditions that the style of studio-based work itself is quite rarely discussed—it is a way of working and being that is more or less taken for granted within these disciplines. In this paper, we introduce the idea of a studio culture in the context of design research. Is it possible to carry out design research with the attitudes typically found in a design studio culture? We describe the way in which we intentionally designed for a design studio culture, both conceptually as well as physically, to also support research endeavors. To conclude, we discuss some of the pros and cons of conducting design research in a design studio culture as compared to more traditional academic ways of organizing work.