Anthropological Quests in Architecture: Pursuing the Human Subject

In this paper, we explore what architectural practice and, more specifically, the architectural research domain, may gain from the theoretical and methodological premise of anthropology and ethnography. The paper explores a historical link between anthropology and architecture as academic disciplines, arguing that the disciplines are aligned through anthropology’s search for understanding the conditions of humanity and architecture’s role in forming these very conditions. We do not intend to explicate the individual disciplines but are interested in the crossover between the two and, more specifically, what insights anthropology and ethnography may offer to the discipline of architecture. We consider the relationship between anthropology and architecture, as both a research domain and a profession, and question how anthropology—as an approach to research more so than a discipline—can contribute to the advancement of architectural practice and research.

Keywords: Architecture; Anthropology; Design practice; Design research; Research methods.