Advanced design research: exploring the teaching research nexus

The relatively recent shift from Bachelor to Master degrees has seen a foregrounding of research within architecture programs. Within the new regulated environment under the Australian Qualifications Framework, which mandates research skills as a core component of the ‘level 9’ degree, there is an increasing imperative to articulate both the nature and scope of research within the Master of Architecture. Coupled with the pressures on academics to publish or perish and to find innovative ways of doing more with less, the Master of Architecture presents a world of opportunities in relation to the ‘teaching-research nexus’.

Although the ‘nexus’ between teaching and research is widely promoted as universally desirable – benefitting both academics and students, there is very little critical interrogation of what this means in relation to either teaching pedagogy or research practice. While both have been the subject of widespread research in recent years, there is very little that targets the interface between these two areas.

The aim of this paper is to unpack the meaning of the ‘teachingresearch nexus’ in design through the framework of the Advanced Design Research (ADR) studios within the Master of Architecture program at the University of Tasmania. While traditional architectural design studios allow the students to develop specific solutions for projects, the ADR programme offers the opportunity to explore design problems through a range of different processes, which follow Christopher Frayling’s typology of research for/into/through design, resulting in a diverse range of outputs. These outputs extend from traditional academic publications (co-authored by students and supervisors), to the dissemination of research findings to appropriate audiences through reports, exhibitions and digital media.