Actor-Network Theory Methodology in Architectural Co-design Process

Research Problem:

 Design research is the field of dealing with content and procedural areas. Architectural design is the result of assemblage between diverse actors. The advent of technology-driven procedures has broadened the range of actors in the design process. This has led the balance of the share of designers and technical objects in the final result of the design disturbed. With the advent of technology-based procedures, machines are playing substantial roles in design and hence, changed the way designers face architectural challenges. Accordingly, it seems that the current design process has shifted from a reciprocal relationship to a spiral movement in which the role of each actor can be analyzed as an actor in the multidimensional network of design. Consequently, the design procedure would be analyzed as a network of actants. The actor-network theory, as a result, provides an approach to analyze events in the design process and is profoundly applied as a methodological tool. Every detail in the design process is like an actor who changes the course of the design. Therefore, the main problem this research is going to undertake is to explain how the actor network theory works in clarifying the role of actors and their impact on the collective design process.

Research Question: 

The main objective of this research is to enlighten the essence of actor-network theory as a research methodology and tries to find the answer to the subsequent questions: How to analyze the architectural design process with actor-network theory and how does this theory influence designers’ interactions?

 The current research is applying design research methodology in a qualitative approach and tries to explain actor-network theory as a research method in architectural design. A practical experiment is demonstrated due to actor-network theory and socio-technical diagrams were qualitatively described.

 The networked nature of the design process has enabled research studies to investigate the design process by actor-network theory. The analysis of the experiment (architectural competition) revealed that connections of nodes in the network were not hierarchically observable and they had a hybrid characteristic. In this sense, non-human existence in the design process was inevitable. The results of the analysis also revealed that collective design can be network-oriented if, in addition to being valuable among human actors, it accepts non-humans in an influential position. Such a design has a very mixed atmosphere and any (unforeseen) event in it can change the design process like an action. Human and non-human actors must actively participate in the design process to stay in the network. Finally, not only the contribution of the actor-network theory in the identification of the design network was revealed, but also it facilitated the analysis of nodes’ connections. Thus, in answer to the research questions, it should be acknowledged that by using actor-network theory in the analysis of the design process, the black box of design could be opened and with a new composition, design actors could be expressed in a socio-technical way so that designers, users and technical objects have an equal and interconnected role. This provides a new reflection of the links in design process and makes a unique narrative of design to each project. In addition, the role of the actor-network theory is to track actors, highlight links, and provide unseen details in the design network. Moreover, it also changes the way designers deal with design issues; as designers with a socio-technical approach would advance the design process in the context of networks and use any event as an opportunity to intervene in the design process.