Visual Research Methods in Architecture

Suzanne Ewing (Editor), Igea Troiani (Editor)

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract / Description of output

Reviewing research practice in the architectural humanities reveals a slippage between the generally favoured textual expositions of history and theory, and the visual production, and sometimes reflexive or critical practice, of architectural design. The emergence of studies in visual culture has changed the research methodologies practiced by many humanities disciplines, and we expose here a critical theorisation of how these have evolved as navigated by Gillian Rose in cultural geography, where much has been gained around ‘visibility’ while less has evolved on ‘visuality’ (Rose, 2014:xx). We reflect on how architectural scholarship might use ‘visuality’ as a more explicit and precise research method so as to increase the architectural researcher’s visual literacy and agency. We argue that sharpened focus on looking and seeing, alongside reading and visual interpretation, or research through visual practice, offers new means of architectural interdisciplinary research and scholarship with potential to change how research is read, viewed and disseminated. This book reflects on the benefits of visual research methods in architecture to the interrelated knowledge generation of theory, practice and pedagogy. What are the areas that architectural research is attentive to as a discipline and how might visual research methods enhance architectural research practice? Contributors to the book, from established to emerging researchers, researcher-practitioners to media specific practitioners, with backgrounds and topics traversing Europe, the US, Australia and developing culture in Africa, and from different disciplinary backgrounds, explore and use of what we term, ‘critical visualisations’, which employ observation and socio-cultural critique through the creation of visual texts, drawings, diagrams, paintings, visual devices, photography, film and their hybrid forms.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherIntellect
Number of pages420
ISBN (Print)9781789381863
Publication statusPublished - 14 Aug 2020

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • architectural research, visual methodologies,

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