Design Studio as Research Catalysts: Unpacking a Research Trajectory

The design studio is a fertile testing ground for new research and, at all levels, have the capacity to initiate, catalyse and catapult students' potential research trajectories. How might design studios be a catalyst for the discovery of research interests that have the potential to launch long-standing research trajectories? Based on my experience, being exposed to a fragment of typological and procedural possibilities as a student in a past design studio was the seed that catapulted a research arc that has impacted my way of working as student; as academic and as practitioner. This paper will unpack a research trajectory drawing on from my personal accounts as a student at RMIT University; two case studies as an academic leading design studios at RMIT Architecture; the application of design research as a practitioner through a design-build project; and a reflective conclusion projecting future tools for the design studio.