Rachael Luck

Dialogue in participatory design

Abstract Design processes that involve user participation concern issues of representation in the early stages of design, when users’ needs and expectations are being expressed. A participatory approach is used to investigate the nature of design discussion during the early stages of design. It is shown that the ideology of inclusive design is similar to the ideology of participatory design. The ability of language-use to reveal user preference is explored through the analysis of architect–user conversations. Investigating architect and user interaction revealed that tacit knowledge can be made explicit and the difficulty of generalising user-needs from user statements.

Does this compromise your design?' Interactionally producing a design concept in talk

How a design concept was interactionally produced in the talk-in-interaction between an architect and client representatives was studied. The empirical analysis was informed by ethnomethodology and conversation analysis to observe structures and patterns of talk that accomplished actions and practices of design. Some differences were observed between the properties of the design concept in comparison with the design ideas that were considered during these conversations. The design concept was observed to be significant for assessing why some moves in a design space were considered better than others. The importance of the design concept to these interactions raised more general questions about what a design concept is and how it can be described as an object type. With reference to studies of science, technology and society these concerns were provisionally engaged with and further study of the object properties of design concepts is suggested.

Using objects to coordinate design activity in interaction

The coordination of design is a multi‐faceted problem in construction. In design interactions in particular the real‐time coordination of design activity is a persistent concern. The use of objects to coordinate the activity of design is studied as this happens in interactions between an architect and a building user group, in a setting where maintaining awareness of the design situation is important. An account of ways in which this was accomplished and how design activity is coordinated through interactional practices is provided. The empirical analyses examine design interaction from an ethnomethodological/conversation analysis (EM/CA) informed perspective to examine: ways in which mutual orientation to design issues are accomplished, how objects can provide a resource for the recognition of the activities of others and ways in which objects might be observable as momentarily intelligible. Subtle interactional practices involving talk, gesture and gaze were some of the small ways in which mutual orientation to the design actions of others became observable. The production of actions sequentially, in response to another’s action, marked the real‐time coordination of design moves in this setting. The relevance of accounts of micro‐interaction to develop understanding of design activity and how it is coordinated are considered.

Annual CREMRU‐JCI survey of corporate real estate practices in Europe and North America: 1993‐2000

The annual survey of corporate real estate practices has been conducted by CREMRU since 1993, and in collaboration with JCI since 1997. The survey has been supported by IDRC and NACORE, two leading professional associations concerned with corporate real estate. In 1999 IDRC endorsed the survey and opened it to a wider audience. This summary of the eight annual surveys focuses on the incidence of corporate real estate management (CREM) policies, functions and activities, as well as the assessment of knowledge or skills relevant to the CREM function in the future. Both are of vital interest to educational institutions concerned with this field, as well as the personnel and training functions within organizations concerned with better management of their property.

Longitudinal analysis of corporate real estate practice

Purpose – To report on longitudinal change in corporate real estate (CRE) practice in the last two decades, in particular, monitoring significant changes in CRE policy, function and activities through the statistical analysis of annual survey data.Design/methodology/approach – A literature review revealed the major themes that have influenced CRE practice in the last 20 years. Applying principal components analysis the annual survey of CRE practice dataset was analysed to identify significant tends in the CRE practices reported by organizations.Findings – A significant overlap was observed between the activities used in practice and the CRE literature, and new working practices were identified as a significant theme. Based on these analyses comment is made on the impact of changes in CRE practice over the timescale of the survey and it was predicted that new working practices will continue to influence CRE practices in the future.Originality/value – This paper fulfils a need for evidence‐based monitoring ...

Annual CREMRU‐JCI survey of corporate real estate practices in Europe and North America: 1993‐1998

The annual survey of corporate real estate practices has been conducted by CREMRU since 1993, and in collaboration with JCI since 1997. The survey has been supported by IDRC and NACORE, two leading professional associations concerned with corporate real estate. This summary of the six annual surveys focuses on the incidence of corporate real estate management (CREM) policies, functions and activities, as well as the assessment of knowledge or skills relevant to the CREM function in the future. Both are of vital interest to educational institutions concerned with this field, as well as the personnel and training functions within organizations concerned with better management of their property.

Outsourcing of property-related management functions in Europe and North America, 1993-1998

The annual survey of corporate real estate practices in Europe and North America conducted by the Corporate Real Estate Management Research Unit at the University of Reading and Johnson Controls Incorporated includes information on outsourcing trends of several property-related management functions-design, construction, facilities, and maintenance management. The visual inspection of responses would suggest a gradual trend away from outsourcing, but the statistical tests indicate a significant increase only in in-house construction management function, and only for the period between 1993 and 1994. There are no significant trends in any of the four functions for the remaining period through 1998. However, the survey shows also that these management functions are interrelated. That is, when an organization undertakes one of these functions it is likely that they will perform the others in-house as well. Finally, the shift towards in-house construction management seems to reflect a wider trend away from outsourcing.

Seeing architecture in action: designing, evoking, and depicting space and form in embodied interaction

This article studies the visibility of creative acts and how some qualities of future architectural form can be seen in movements of the hands, in concert with speech and bodily conduct. Selected sequences are studied closely in two settings to examine the ways that our embodied interactional practices organize the depiction of architectural concepts and spaces, which can then be explored in movements of the hands. These fleeting but significant actions are proposed as acts of ‘aesthetic becoming,’ as some architectural quality of the design is visibly depicted in an unfolding design situation. Seeing this is remarkable as this study suggests these acts draw our visual attention to the different temporal landscapes that we move in when designing, where imagining and depicting ‘what is becoming’ is intricately interwoven with ‘what is happening now.’

Organising design in the wild: locating multidisciplinarity as a way of working

The workplace ecology of a multidisciplinary design team is studied to better understand how design work is organised in the wild. Reported is an ethnographic account of the events and practices that were seen, in patterned and subtle ways, to organise the design work for a project. Design events and activities were distributed in nested contexts throughout the office setting. The design work was seen to be planned, self-organised and coordinated through a series of practical actions and events that occurred in different locations. There was no single, identifiable event, interaction or communicative medium in which the coordination of the design work occurred. From these insights, multidisciplinarity is proposed as a way of organising design work that cuts across some design interfaces. This way of procuring design services is contingent on the appointment of a design firm with multidisciplinary expertise, in an arrangement where the design work is undertaken collaboratively in a co-located setting with ...

Living From Home: Older People Looking beyond the House

ABSTRACT This article puts forward the view that the meaning of home is not necessarily contained by the walls of the house. An important aspect of “homeliness” is the capacity for the home to act as somewhere you leave, and not only somewhere to reside. As a result of conversations with a group of older people, based on their own priorities and in their own words, we describe some of their perceptions of the home. This includes a view that the home loses its significance as a personal statement, or a reflection of identity, and becomes more important as a place for envisioning and planning activities outside the immediate confines of the house. with the onset of old age and its consequent limitations in loss of mobility and energy, the difficulties of going beyond the doorstep become more apparent. Despite this, our participants were determined to maintain social and environmental contacts, switching their perspective away from the interior of the home and to the world outside.