Although Danish design research covers a very wide range of topics, the design research environment is based on a shared set of values, according to the four heads of design research at the Danish schools of architecture and design. As part of the ongoing cooperation between the schools, the DCDR and the heads of research held a meeting on 18 February 2008, where the efforts to develop a joint research profile was on the agenda. The heads of research are currently articulating such a profile, including its underlying values. Through examples, the research profile will demonstrate how these values are expressed in design research.

By Hans Emborg Bünemann

The schools of design and architecture each have research areas where they are particularly strong. But when the schools’ heads of design research get together to discuss their academic profile and research methodology, they find that they have more in common than they had realised. This is now reflected in a proposal for a joint profile for the design research that is carried out at the four schools. This explicit profile is going to benefit the Danish design research environment in a number of ways.

International Visibility
In an international context, it is unique to have a national centre to coordinate the design research efforts. This central coordination and the joint research profile will make it easier for researchers to showcase the particular qualities of Danish design research in international conferences. The research profile will help Danish design researchers establish international research partnerships.

Thomas Leerberg, head of research at Designskolen Kolding, says,
“If we look at Danish design research from an international point of view, there are characteristics that unite us, as our research is based on our shared democratic and cultural heritage. The research profile sets out to describe this shared heritage. The common identity that emerges as a result of our work with the profile can be used both internationally and in our dialogue with private companies.”

Thus, the profile will be an important element in the schools’ and the DCDR’s efforts to strengthen Danish design research in the international arena.

The four heads of research: Anders Brix, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Anne-Louise Sommer, The Danish Design School, Thomas Leerberg, Designskolen Kolding and Jørgen Rasmussen, Aarhus School of Architecture. Photo: Erik Hansen-Hansen

Strengthening Danish Collaboration
The actual process of articulating the research profile provides a keener awareness of the shared values that permeate the research environment, says Anne-Louise Sommer, head of research at The Danish Design School.
“In this mapping process, we are writing our common history and facilitating different perceptions of design research than the ones each of us represented at the outset. In this way, we are staking our shared claim to the overall profile of Danish design research. This increases the capacity for collaboration between the schools in Denmark,” she explains.

Anne-Louise Sommer also considers the research profile an internal benefit for the schools:
“With a joint profile, we are expressing that we have a shared set of general views about research in the field of design. This provides inspiration and input for the schools’ internal research discussions,” she says. “That also generates a good exchange between input from the heads of research and discussions in the research environments.”

Invest in Denmark
The presence of a common Danish design research profile will be a considerable benefit for Invest in Denmark, a section under the Danish Trade Council/The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, which aims to attract foreign investments to Denmark within the creative and innovative field, among other areas.

According to Nikolaj Fredsted, Project Manager in Invest in Denmark, the common profile may help make design-oriented companies interested in investing in Denmark.

Prison cell in State Prison Østjylland. By including the users of the prison, the research project Room for Improvement? Design as a Socialising Factor helps identify how improved room design might enhance function. Photo: Trine Brun Petersen

“We are very happy that there is this coordination of design research in Denmark. That lends Danish design research credibility around the world and illustrates the professional character of the research,” he says, adding that each of the 20 or so Investment Managers that Invest in Denmark has stationed abroad has upwards of 200 meetings a year with foreign knowledge-based companies that are considering expansion plans. 

“Our Investment Managers inform the companies about the general business climate in Denmark. For example, they emphasise the general level of education, the infrastructure, and the flexible labour market. An explicit research profile that emphasises shared values and good examples of interactions between design research and private companies is going to be a strong component in our efforts to attract enterprises,” says Nikolaj Fredsted.

Participatory Approaches
The issue of how the shared values manifest themselves in Danish design research is one of the key points for the heads of research in the process of developing the joint research profile.
In their debate, they point to the role of user inclusion as a method in Danish design research as an example. The application of this participatory approach can best be understood in light of the Danish society’s tradition for including citizens in the political process, for example as legislative proposals undergo public consultation procedures.

In this connection, Thomas Leerberg mentions the role of user inclusion in the Ph.D. project Room for Improvement? Design as a Socialising Factor at Designskolen Kolding about design in prisons. One of the aspects in this project is the users’ relation with design, and this is studied partly through qualitative interviews with the users in the prison: management, inmates and staff, particularly the so-called strong, constructive inmates.

He mentions that throughout history, society has had varying purposes with detaining criminals in prison.
“One of the points addressed in this research project is the relationship between prison design and society’s purposes with the detention. The project analyses how design can promote this purpose and thus be beneficial for society,” he says about the project, which is partially funded by the Danish Ministry of Culture.

Design Research as Beneficial to Society
The benefit of design research to society will be one of the key values in the joint design research profile. Another example is the project Regulating Daylight in the Public Space at Designskolen Kolding, which is financed by the research fund under the Danish Ministry of Culture, the textile manufacturer Kvadrat, and the Danish Centre for Design Research.

The purpose of this project is to promote the use of daylight in order to save energy and create pleasant light conditions. Users should be able to regulate daylight based on their individual needs. This should improve the working environment, for example in connection with computer work.

The energy savings will stem partly from using daylight rather than artificial lighting and partly from the fact that regulation would reflect the heat from the sunlight, thus reducing the room temperature and the consumption of power for air conditioning. The project incorporates sustainable solutions in the form of recycled materials, and it emphasises the aesthetic dimension of the working environment.

Hand-woven sample from the project Regulating Daylight in the Public Space. The side that faces the sun features heat-reflecting aluminium yarn. The project benefits society through its dual focus on working environment and energy efficiency. Photo: Vibeke Riisberg

A third example of design research that benefits society is found at the Aarhus School of Architecture. Here, the project User-Driven Guideline for Industry: Accessible Packaging for Seniors and People with Disabilities begins in 2008; it has been developed in collaboration with the packaging industry, the food industry, and the plastics industry.

The purpose of the project is to analyse the needs and demands of users with impairments and to develop packaging that is easy to open, use, and reseal. Thus, the project is going to benefit the end-users, i.e. individual consumers. It is co-funded by the Danish Technological Institute, the Danish Rheumatism Association, and the design firm People and Product.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration
The packaging project also demonstrates the interdisciplinary approach of Danish design research, as in this case where design researchers are working together with engineers. The design researchers study and analyse user behaviour from a design perspective. The engineers carry out systematic measurements of the users’ strength in relation to pulling, tearing and twisting. These measurements will be referenced with the target groups’ sex, age and any functional impairments, for example as a result of arthritis. Next, the design researchers develop suggestions for solution concepts. The outcome of the project will be a set of guidelines for industrial packaging designers concerning how to make packaging more accessible to various user groups.

According to the heads of research, the interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving is a key element in the joint research profile. Thomas Leerberg says,
“Designers and design researchers are drawing on knowledge and methods from the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Design research is usually not produced by individuals but by groups of researchers who represent a variety of disciplinary and professional approaches.”

Before the summer break, the heads of research expect to finalise the research profile, which illustrates the close kinship between the four schools’ approaches to design research.

The mission of Invest in Denmark under the Danish Trade Council/The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark is to attract foreign investments to Denmark in order to create knowledge-based workplaces in this country. Invest in Denmark has Investment Managers stationed in the following cities: Los Angeles (Silicon Valley), New York, Toronto, Paris, London, Munich, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul and Bangalore. These Investment Managers are tasked with promoting Denmark as an investment country to foreign companies.

 

Mind Design #7, 2008