James Timberlake, Stephen Kieran and Arizona State University professor Max Underwood were co-chairs of the 2008 ACSA/AIA Teachers Seminar entitled Deep Matters: a path to meaningful and provocative architectural research at Cranbrook Academy, June 19-22. Architecture educators and practitioners from throughout the United States and Canada convened to discuss one of the most pressing issues currently facing architecture education: Architectural Research.

The seminar sought to address the current circumstance where architectural design exercises focus on the creation of a prototype, advancing to the next problem with little reflection and informed improvement from one project to the next. The conference attendees were asked to redefine the pathways to deep and meaningful research within architectural education and practice.

The conference began with a call for papers engaging architectural research from various perspectives. Papers were subjected to a peer review process with selected papers presented at the conference. Keynote addresses by Dr. Brent Segal, COO of the Nanotechnology firm Nantero, Dr. Thomas Daniel from the Daniel Laboratory at the University of Washington, and Jack Keebler from General Motors provided insight into what is required to engage in meaningful research.

The attendees were separated into six teams that captured the ideas generated by the speakers and paper sessions. Each team endeavored to define deep research within architecture, and addressed a second team specific question related to architecture research opportunities, constraints, and practice, and shared their ideas in a lively presentation on the last day To share the findings beyond the scope of the conference, white papers are being prepared. Links to those resources will be shared on this blog.

For information on ACSA programs, visit www.acsa-arch.org