IARc Faculty and Administration Research Results

INTERVIEWEES:

Group 3 completed interviews will 10 members of the faculty, staff, and administration. The individuals interviewed for our research were:

Sean Bauguess, IARc Digital Lab Director
Suzanne Buchanan, IARc faculty
Stoel Burrowes, IARc faculty
Robert Charest, IARc faculty
Tommy Lambeth, IARc department chair
Kate Pike, IARc staff
John Rife, Associate Dean of the School of Human Environmental Sciences
Patty Rowland, IARc staff
Laura Sims, Dean of the School of Human Environmental Sciences
Jake Tucci, IARc faculty

An additional four interviews were requested but not completed due to either schedule conflicts or no response from the interviewee.


RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS:

1. How has design influenced your life? How has IARc influenced the School of Human Environmental Sciences/UNCG?

The major theme among the responses to this question is quality of life. Responses included:

* Design is a way of life.
* Design is a way to make a living.
* Design allows us to see the world more carefully; teaches us to analyze and be more thoughtful about our surroundings.
* Design influences where/how we choose to live.
* Design can improve quality of life by improving human environments (eg. Urban Studio).

2. What materials/artifacts represent IARc? What comes to mind when you think of IARc?

We received a variety of answers to this question. Some people listed very specific materials that are used often in studio projects. Others mentioned the human aspect of the department. Tommy mentioned that "material, period, are especially representative of the department." Responses included:

* Technology: laptops, Macs
* The people define the department (students, faculty, staff)
* Various materials that are commonly used: concrete, carpet tiles, chipboard, wood, glass, sheetrock, light, color
* Various tools that are commonly used: scale rulers, mat knives, pens, markers, laptops
* Well built models

3. Give 5 words that you feel are representative of IARc.

We had a great list of words that describe our program. As you can imagine, many people mentioned the same, or similar words, and they are:

* Creativity / Imagination
* Innovation / Forward-Thinking / Questioning
* Dedication
* Community / Collaboration
* Authenticity / Integrity / Stewardship / Ethical
* Sustainability
* Dynamic / Energetic

4. How do you envision IARc changing in the future?

Two ideas that many of the interviewees emphasized were the importance of sustainability and collaboration. Sustainability is clearly no longer something to consider, but something to put into play so that design can do its part for the environment. Ideas of collaboration took on broader meaning: among IARc faculty and students; IARc interacting with other departments on campus; integrating other design disciplines more and more into IARc (architecture, graphic design).

Other points that were made were the increasing role that technology plays in design and the way that shifting cultural needs and diversity will affect design in the future.

Status Update on Research Process

Group 3 met at noon on Thursday, 11/1/07, to analyze the data that had been collected from faculty and staff interviews. All interviews had been completed and interview transcripts submitted to Josie by the end of the day on Wednesday. Josie compiled a report of all responses, which the group then reviewed to find common themes to include in the final report to be presented to the entire first year class.

The group also met briefly on Friday morning (11/2/07) to discuss final thoughts on the information to be included in the report/presentation, as well as the report's format. Troy will have a draft of the blog report posted to review on Monday, 11/5/07. The group will make any edits to this draft and changes will be completed by the 5:00 pm deadline on Monday.

Revision of Interview Questions

Following a class discussion on Monday, 10/29/07, Group 3 met and refined the set of interview questions that had been developed. For faculty and administration interviews, Tommy recommended limiting the number of questions to three and keeping them broad to encourage the interviewees to give answers in a dialogue. We ultimately narrowed our list down to four questions:

1. How has design influenced your life? How has IARc influenced the School of Human Environmental Sciences and the campus (for non-IARc faculty)?

2. What materials or artifacts represent IARc? What comes to mind when you think of IARc (for non-IARc faculty)?

3. Give five words that you feel are representative of IARc.

4. How do you envision IARc changing in the future?

Who are we? Why are we here?

The first year class in the Interior Architecture program at UNC Greensboro is designing a departmental time capsule as the final studio project for the fall 2007 semester. Phase one of this project was conception; thus far each individual design student has prepared a statement of understanding and intention, a parti, and multiple ideation sketches.

Phase two is design research, which brings us to this blog. Group 3 was selected to interview and survey Interior Architecture faculty and UNCG administrators. By interviewing these constituents, our group will add to the overall class research by learning more about the IARc educational mission and future goals and any important issues that face the department and the campus. Based on a research consensus discussion, each design student will then utilize the findings to design and create an IARc time capsule.

Group 3 members are:

Michelle Bodon
Brittany Dasso
Chelsea Jackson
Troy Link
Josie McKinney
Lindsey Strohschein
Lauren Thore
Anna Will

At our initial group meeting on Friday, 10/26/07, we discussed a preliminary timeline and process for completing our research as well as preparing some interview questions. The timeline for our process is as follows:

1. Teams of two will contact assigned departmental and campus representatives to set up interviews for early next week (will give them the option of answering questions via e-mail if they are unavailable to meet in person).

2. Interview results will be compiled by each team and will be reported to Josie by the end of the day on Wednesday, 10/31/07.

3. Josie will compile results into a report (i.e. bullet list or Excel spreadsheet) for Group 3 members to review.

4. Group 3 will meet at noon on Thursday, 11/1/07, to analyze this data and begin to formulate a final report to be shared with the entire IARc first year class on Wednesday, 11/7/07 (final report is due digitally by 5 pm on Monday, 11/5/07).

The eight questions that were developed for our team interviews and to be shared during a class discussion on Monday, 10/29/07, are:

1. What are some important issues of today?

2. How has design influenced your life?

3. What materials or artifacts represent IARc?

4. What cultural and outside features have an impact on IARc?

5. How do you envision IARc changing in the future?

6. Do you like to interact with designs or admire them from afar?

7. What do you see as the most important aspect of IARc?

8. How does time influence design?