‘Concrete Drawing’: An Ethnographical Study of Design, Matter and Affect

Abstract

This paper looks critically at how design evolves through an interaction between human and nonhuman relations. We introduce different ways of understanding this by considering the mediating role that affect has on the design process. To do this we explore a recent work of New Zealand architect Simon Twose through an ethnographical framework. By focusing on affect we highlight the affective capacities and connections between humans and nonhumans. We argue that the affective capacities of non-human objects, matter and spaces are fundamental to the design process, and how knowledge is produced through design. Thus, this paper questions the privileging of human subjectivity -of seeing humans as radically other to matter, where human life remains special and spirited, over the brute force of matter.

Family photos and architectural representation: Using photo-collage sketchbook to understand behaviour patterns in family apartment buildings

“…In the last decades, architects have become more familiar with ethnography than in the past and ethnographic methods are used in architectural research (Schön, 1987;Cuff, 1992;Jacobs & Page| 301 Merriman, 2011). The use of ethnographic tools in architectural research has increased as a result of the studies exploring design-making processes in architecture (Yaneva, 2009a(Yaneva, & 2009bLoukisass, 2012;Cayer, 2018;Gottschling, 2018;Malinin, 2018;Mommersteeg, 2018;Sharif, 2018;Smitheram & Kidd, 2018;Stender, 2018;Van der Linden, Dong & Heylighen, 2018) and architectural drawings (Ferracina, 2018). To understand and investigate the emergence and design of domestic spaces, not only architects but also researchers from a variety of fields, including anthropology and sociology, explore ways to understand the relationship between spaces and daily life practices of people (Rapoport, 1969;Rapoport, 1980;Rapoport, 1988;Lawrence, 1987;Rakoff, 1979).…”