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Advancing Design Research: A “Big-D” Design Perspective

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ICoRD'13

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering ((LNME))

Abstract

Advances in design research representations and models are needed as the interfaces between disciplines in design become blurred and overlapping, and as design encompasses more and more complex systems. A conceptual framework known as “Big-D” Design, as coined by Singapore’s newest national university (the Singapore University of Technology and Design or SUTD), may provide a meaningful and useful context for advancing design research. This paper is an initial examination of the implications for scientific design research on using this particular framework. As part of the analysis, the paper proposes a simplified decomposition of the broader concept in order to explore potential variation within this framework. It is found that many research objectives are better investigated when the broader design field is studied than in a singular category or domain of design. The paper concludes by recommending aggressive attempts to (1) arrive at a coherent set of terminology and research methodologies relative to design research that extend over at least all of technologically-enabled design and (2) perform epistemological and ontological studies of the relationship of engineering science and technologically-enabled design science as there is more overlap between them than is generally recognized.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These references are only a modest fraction of the books in this general area.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor Robert W. Weisberg for many helpful comments on an earlier and partial draft. This work is supported by the SUTD-MIT International Design Center.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SUTD-MIT International Design Center Cambridge, MA and Singapore MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building E38-450, Cambridge, MA, 02139-4307, USA

    Christopher L. Magee

  2. SUTD-MIT International Design Center Cambridge, MA and Singapore SUTD, 20 Dover Drive, Dover, 138682, Singapore

    Kristin L. Wood & Diana Moreno

  3. SUTD-MIT International Design Center Cambridge, MA and Singapore MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 3-449D, Cambridge, MA, 02139-4307, USA

    Daniel D. Frey

Authors
  1. Christopher L. Magee
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  2. Kristin L. Wood
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  3. Daniel D. Frey
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  4. Diana Moreno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher L. Magee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Centre for Product Design and Manufactur, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    Amaresh Chakrabarti

  2. , Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Sardar Patel Road, Chennai, 600036, Tamil Nadu, India

    Raghu V. Prakash

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Magee, C.L., Wood, K.L., Frey, D.D., Moreno, D. (2013). Advancing Design Research: A “Big-D” Design Perspective. In: Chakrabarti, A., Prakash, R. (eds) ICoRD'13. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1050-4_4

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