By Rebecca Edmunds, AIA, interviewing Felix Kabo, Ph.D
I spoke with Felix Kabo, Ph.D., Research Director at CannonDesign about the firm’s initiatives in research and his thoughts on what defines true research in practice.
Rebecca Edmunds: Why does your firm devote resources to research?
Felix Kabo:I came aboard because I recognized that research is critical to the firm's goals. CannonDesign is committed to a very clear ethos, or a philosophy or approach, called Living-Centered Design. Living-Centered Design basically fuses the best of human-centered and systems approaches to the design process.
The firm is investing in research because it can help us operationalize Living-Centered Design. Research can help us make our work more replicable; it can make the work more reliable because we have more data-informed solutions.
In a sense, we're all designers. We're all coming up with creative solutions to thorny and wicked problems. But what we are striving for is this idea of hypothesis-driven design, hypothesis-driven thinking. Because the alternative is a normative approach of letting your gut or instincts lead you in the process of creating architecture.
If we get to that point where we engage in a hypothesis-driven design and thinking, then it will elevate and transform our impact on human life, on society, and then our work resonates beyond just our clients. So, that is the goal.
We have these lofty Ambitions as a firm, and we have embraced the idea that research is the engine that can help us realize them.
Image: This figure shows how the research questions and demonstration projects drive convergence at CannonDesign by addressing the firms six major Ambitions.
RE: When you say living-centered design, what does that mean?
FK:Living-Centered Design is our design ethos, our design approach, our design philosophy. It fuses the best of human-centered and systems-based approaches to design.
One feature of Living-Centered Design is five lenses, and those lenses are roughly analogous to what you'd call levels of analysis. Our five lenses are people, businesses or let's say organizations, communities, society, and the environment. So, thinking about these as levels of analysis, you can see how even, hypothetically, a multilevel study can inform each of our lenses.
As stewards of the built environment, we need to think about these different lenses because they don't exist in isolation. There's an interaction, there's an interdependence between them. Living-Centered Design raises our awareness of the fact that a lot of our solutions are complex interventions in an already complex system. It pushes our teams and work to embrace this multi-dimensional impact.
RE: What topics do you focus on in our research?
FK:We do not come with a predetermined set of topics. Instead, we've developed a research agenda with a two-year cycle that includes a set of questions that cut across all our markets and practices. The idea is that all the research done at CannonDesign—any topic someone wants to address—reflects this research agenda. In doing this, we're making sure that research aligns with our goals and the firm's mission, especially Living-Centered Design.
Image: This figure shows the three research questions that are at the core of the CannonDesign’s 2024/25 Research Agenda. These three research questions align all research activities with the firm’s strategic framework, focus areas, and Living-Centered Design
So, at CannonDesign, if your research is responding to one or more of these research questions, then it's aligned with all our broader goals as a firm. For us, the main thing is, does it address, does it respond to these research questions?
RE: What types of research methods do you use and what role does ongoing research play in shaping the firm's design philosophy?
FK:In terms of methodologies, we are agnostic. We don't hang our hat on, "We are the survey people," or "We are the geospatial people." We employ both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including big data approaches.
We do network modeling, statistical analysis and modeling, not one specific method. Instead, we let the hypothesis, and the research questions, guide us in determining the best method. We may get to a point where the question and the hypothesis are suggesting a methodology beyond our in-house expertise—we are not a research university—so one of our approaches is partnering. We'll never have all the expertise we need in-house.
We have a strong, growing relationship with the University of Michigan. This January, I was appointed the inaugural Research Fellow at the Zell Lurie Institute at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. By building those types of relationships with top universities, we can be fearless and not restrict the scope of our work based solely on methods we know; we don't want to do that.
RE: How does your firm approach integrating research findings into the design or project process?
FK: One key is an initiative we’ll launch in early May called the Research Corps. It's a network and community of people at CannonDesign who are interested in learning about research. Most importantly, we want to know how to translate findings into research-informed solutions. We are not an academic institution; we aren’t doing research for research’s sake.
The Research Corps will be open to anyone at the firm at any level. The learning and upskilling curriculum will help members of the Research Corps understand things like, what are the fundamentals of doing research? And what are the fundamentals of translating research into your work?
RE: Are post-occupancy evaluations (POE) part of the process? Had CannonDesign been involved in research before this new, formalized initiative?
FK: POEs have been done by different units in the firm but not often in harmonious ways.
We've taken major steps to standardizing, developing, and pre-testing what we call the CannonDesign Workplace Barometer. It has three core modules. The first allows us to capture networks and structure in any organization, all different types of networks. The second looks a lot like what you might see with a rigorous POE by the GSA or the federal government. Everything around workspace, workplace, and building satisfaction and function, including environmental performance.
The third module goes back to what we experienced during the pandemic around issues of Workplace Climate. It has two robust, validated scales. One is the sense of community scale developed by researchers from different universities. The other is the Eudaimonic[1] Well-Being Scale. Having a standard approach to POEs across the firm allows us to truly become a learning organization.
So, anytime whenever someone in the firm mentions POE, people will think of the Workplace Barometer.
RE: Are POEs separate entities from the Corps program of testing scenarios?
FK: One thing I'm pushing here is changing our approach from POE to PPOE. We know it won't always be possible to do pre-post, but that's our platinum standard. With a baseline, we can do more rigorous studies on the effects of our design solutions.
RE: The firm is making quite a devotion of resources to research programs and to doing them right. In growing research in practice and in architecture, CannonDesign obviously sees its value to the profession, clients, and communities.
FK:You're right. It's a significant commitment. And beyond some of the easy-to-see things, whether it's the financial investments and the like, how do we change our DNA?
We want to not just deliver great design solutions or the kinds of designs that win awards; impact is central to what we're trying to be about. It's hard to do that if we don't have research to drive these processes.
RE: Thank you so much for your time!
Footnotes
- The theory that the highest ethical goal is happiness and personal well-being. (dictionary.apa.org)
_____________________________________
Dr. Felix Kabo is the Research Director at CannonDesign, and a Research Fellow at the Zell Lurie Institute, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. He has established and led multidisciplinary teams and groups doing externally funded innovative, highly interdisciplinary research. Felix has a track record of publications and leadership in research on the built environment. He is translating his work on the effects of built space on outcomes related to health, communication, collaboration, innovation, and team science to advance a research agenda at CannonDesign that is informed by the firm’s Living-Centered Design ethos.
Living-Centered Design fuses the best attributes of human-centered and systems-based approaches to help organizations and communities achieve more impactful and systemic change. Dr. Kabo has expertise in data collection using different modalities, from primary data collection using complex surveys and location-tracking technology, to secondary data analysis using large-scale administrative datasets and system-generated logs. He has tackled important societal issues by integrating spatiosocial theories with methods such as network analysis, statistical modeling, and Big Data approaches. Felix is working collaboratively with CannonDesign’s internal and external stakeholders to both identify thorny problems and to develop research-based solutions. In addition to publishing papers in leading academic journals and policy outlets, Dr. Kabo has also shared his work with diverse stakeholders and communication channels, including local, state, and national media.
(Return to the cover of the May 2024 PM Digest)