Section outline

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    Unit 1: Introduction to the Architectural Research Methodologies

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    Module Code: ARC 4263

    Module Title: Architectural Research Methodologies

    Level: 4      Trimester: 2 - 2019/20      Credits: 10

    Pre-requisite or co-requisite modules, excluded combinations:
    Pre-requisite: All modules through Level 3
    Co-requisite: Architectural Design VI

    Instructor: Senior Lecturer_Rahman Tafahomi

    BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF AIMS AND CONTENT

    1.0 Perspective
    Process of human thought has been engaged with search, investigation, and cognition, as exterior and interior explorations in both environment and mind, in the whole history of the world. So, this thoughtfulness character of the Man guides for inquiring the different aspects of phenomenon such as physical and nonphysical elements, aspects, and topics. According to studies of Foucault (Foucault, 1972), all historical knowledge of the Man has been included of both known and unknown aspects of our environment, which, it could be researched, recognized, interpreted again time by time. Hence, the architecture domain as the multiple scales of the man-made built environment has been engaged with other areas of knowledge and science to explore, recognize, and identify people needs, materials specifications, and environmental productions. Therefore, in this area could address some common knowledge such as static and dynamic mechanic, aesthetic, and physic. It can be remarkable, for an instant, that some architects were engaged with science more than scientists were like Leonardo De Vinci were.
    Indeed, architecture as physical, cultural, and environmental effectiveness profession changes both context and environment as architectural productions such as urban planning, urban design, and landscape architecture actions and interactions. However, it called as techniques or art all the times of history while those architectural tasks are interpretations of the environment (Mugerauer, 1995; Gomez, 2003) to reinterpret, re-demonstrate, and redesign the universe. Therefore, this course has a duty to introduce students with architectural working, in the urban environment, as a general context, to investigate in various opinions, ideas, and imagines but in a real case study. Consequence, architectural research methodology combines a wide area of knowledge, science, philosophy, logic, and approach that normally it selects by researchers to inquiry; however, for fresh researcher micro-scale, obvious subject, and the definable title has been recommended.

    At the end of this topic, you will be able to:

    1.           Introducing  the methodology course and process 

    2.           Introduce the theoretical aspects of research methodology  

    3.           Introduce the practical activities in research methodology  

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    Unit 2: Qualitative Methods

    At the end of this topic, you will be able to:

    4.          apply qualitative methods specifications 

    5.          understand the difference between the qualitative and quantitative methods    

    6.          apply different techniques in qualitative method    

    • Methods in a Research Lesson
      Students must
      Mark as done

      this instruction explains how to apply the methods in the research effectively. 

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    Unit 2: Graphical Analysis Technique

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    Unit 2: Content Analysis Technique

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    Unit 3: Seven Research Strategies by Linda Groat and David Wang

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    Unit 3: Other Approaches in the Architectural research Methodologies

    At the end of this topic, you will be able to:

    7.           study and compare the Frayling classification in art and design  

    8.           study and compare the Groat classification in architecture 

    9.           study other methods in architecture    

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    Unit 4: Practical Activities of the research proposal

    At the end of this topic, you will be able to:

    10.         define an architecture research project   

    11.         research, analysis the data on the architecture research topic

    12.         present t conclusion and reporting the results  

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    Unit 4: Research Project Proposal

    Department of Architecture

    School of Architecture and Built Environment’

    College of Science and Technology

    The University of Rwanda

     

    ARC 4243: Architectural Research Methodology

    The form of the report of the Research project:

    Name of the Student:  

    No

    Title

    Explanation

    1

    Name of Project:

     

    2

    Function and Activities

    For example, commercial, buying spending time, watching, chatting …

    3

    Location :

    On a map

    4

    Surrounding areas on a map

    Add a nolli map

    5

    Linkage with other similar building

    Conceptual map

    6

    Typology of the building

    General information (Time, form, height…..)

    7

    Why you are interested in this building?

     

    8

    What aspect do you like to highlight?

     

    9

    Some rough photos about the building

     

    10

    Other buildings

     

    11

    Other issues

     

     

    Guidelines to fill the form:

    1-      The name of the project could be a function like the BK center, or the project like KBC, or the name you going to give the project such old building of Muhima area. The name should be clear, precise, and accurate.

    2-      Function and activities: as you leant in the urban design course the function refers to the land however the activities refer to the human activities in building or open spaces. Therefore, the city tower function is commercial and offices. However, activities in the building included the retail shops, restaurants, buying, recreational activities, stopping, seating and eating and drinking in the restaurants.

    3-      Location of the building should be marked on a map to determine the location and the position in the city.

    4-      Surrounding areas on a nolli map (Mass-space) to show the urban block, urban structure, and important road structure.

    5-      Linkage if exist between the building and other buildings in the city. for example, CST has a strong connection with UR, MINDOC, MINAFRA, and CoK. How about your building?

    6-      Typology of the building: is it a colonial time building? Is it new? When? What rough estimate density, height, floors facades….and other information

    7-      Why do you interest in this building? If not what is another option?

    8-      What do you looking for to find out through your research about this building?

    9-      Some rough photos about the building

    10-   Other generation or similar building like your selection which could refer to a typology of building

    11-   Other issues you need to mention

    Important point:

    Do not select a building that you will face with restriction to visit, document, and collect data on it such as prison, military camp and so on.

    If you have more than one selection you can recommend more than one building and then I could help you to select one of them.

    Your filled table could be more than one page, and it will be depended on the information you have.

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    Unit 4: Research Project

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    Unit 4: Chapter 1: Architectural Research Problem

    The definition of the architectural problem in the research process calls as a Research Proposal, which has a strong role to introduce, identify, and give direct addressing to those interesting points of a researcher. Therefore, this part of the research has a duty to describe, explain, and address the architectural research problems, which included coherence, united, and clear structure and process. In this case, the structure includes all essential parts of the chapter to identify and address the architectural problem a sufficient process to describe, explain, and clarify the problem in the mind of readers. Therefore, highly recommends to students to apply adequate composition and procedure to point out comprehensible of the research problem also create motivating in the mind of readers.

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    Unit 4: Architectural Studies and the Theoretical Framework:Chapter 2

    The architectural studies included a process of increasing the knowledge of the researcher through assimilation of relevant resources to a personal understanding of a specific topic. Therefore, it is supposed that in this part students to select relevant sources and project to enhance their knowledge about the architectural project. The process should document through a deep review of the relevant topic and project and highlight the achievements through citation, analysis, critical thinking, and representing own understanding about the topic. In this regard, it supposed the students present the architectural studios, theoretical framework, the main architectural components and subcomponents in relevant to the research title.

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    Unit 4: Architectural Methodology and Research Methods: Chapter 3

    Methodology part of the research should demonstrate the process of selecting sufficient methods for the research topic. This process continues with the personalisation of the method in the specific condition to design efficient techniques for data collection, analysis, and results. Therefore, this part is expected that the students explain this process clearly to illustrate the validity and reliability of the methodology for the evaluator, reader, and user. All this process should present to testing steps for the logical and practical test.

    The purpose of this chapter is to create sufficient level of convincing sense to supervisors, examiners, and readers that the process of data collection and analysis of research designs based on the scientific methods and techniques, therefore, the results will be valid and reliable. 

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    Unit 4: Architectural Analysis: Chapter 4

    Researcher will analyse those collected data in chapter four of research to discover new facts and evident for supporting the architectural research objectives regarding to the architectural components and subcomponents in the theoretical framework. Hence, in the qualitative part, the meaningful aspect of analysing will be addressed the deepness and significance of data to identify new aspects of facts in the research based on interpretation, connotation, and explanation. However, in the quantitative part, data will compute to discover agglomeration and frequency of data based on techniques. Therefore, the analysis part should show accountability, validity, and ability of data and methods in four categorical parts as below:

    4-1 precedent analysis: in this part students should select some precedents similar to the topic or project to identify and address those achievements of the project those can be applied in the own project.

    4-2: context analysis: in this part students should analyse the context of the project based on the inter and intra-connections with the context. Therefore, scale and the size of the context is depended into the topic, title, and research questions. The results of the context analysis should highlight the significance effectiveness and effected elements or aspect on the site.

    4-3: Site analysis: all the data related to the physical and nonphysical aspect of the site should analyse in this part with clear and systematic classification and hierarchy in different layer to highlight significance aspects of the site.

    4-4 Data analysis: this group of data includes all aspect of data the student going to collect in the field or borrow secondary data. Therefore, according to the Methods part of the chapter three, students should arrange data and analysis one by one in the same structure. So, in the part, students should mention the process of data collection and analysis in the clear way of explanation and presentation.

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    Unit 4: Architectural Findings (Design Framework, Programming, Conceptualization)

    The Architectural Findings of a research compass the new knowledge in the architectural dominie that they did not exist before the research. These architectural findings are included those new meaningful relations between data, results, or contradiction particularly they are new patricianly in previous time they did not exist. Architectural findings of the research should support by data analysis and results in chapter 4, in this regard; the researcher cannot add anything to the architectural findings out of those analysed data. In this case, architectural findings are totally differenced from previous knowledge, and so new architectural findings can support or challenge that approved knowledge in term of architectural Findings. It is important to know that in architectural aspects in findings are more than those reviewed Architectural Components and Subcomponents in chapter two. These aspects of architectural findings part develop, enhance, and accumulate the knowledge that researcher looking for. The architectural findings guide researchers to specific design objectives and strategies through design framework.  

    Design Framework: Design framework and design codes and those ideogram guide researchers to create own concept for the design. Moreover, this concept should continue to the architectural concept at the end of the chapter; however, continuing as the architectural design will take place in the second semester of the thesis program.

    Programming: the programming is a tool to translate the architectural objective to the program in the site in both indoor and outdoor spaces and activities.

    Conceptualisation: the concept generation is a process through design-decision based on the problem-solving process. The conceptualization includes the scenario making to guide the designer from the divergent stage into the convergent stage smoothly.  

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    Unit 4: Conclusion

    Architectural conclusion of the research is a new perspective of knowledge in an Architectural Topic based on the data analysing, findings, and designing. Therefore, the conclusion chapter is commenced by the summary of the research as a synopsis of what you have done in chapters 1-5. Then, in the next part, the researcher should answer to the research questions also should obtain to research objectives one by one, from subsidiary questions also objectives to main question and goal with referencing to chapters five and four. After that, in the next part, the researcher should explain new idea about the topic based on whole research process particularly in the Findings chapter to idealise and generalise results of research as a new theory or a new area of knowledge for similar topics or problems. Therefore, the conclusion part is a contribution to your new perspective and point of view with other researchers. Consequently, the conclusion chapter should convince examiner, jury, reader, groups, society, or the general public as a systematic process, scientific methods, and theoretical approach in the whole process of research.

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    the Final Exam of the Architectural Research Methodologies

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