The University of Adelaide Library

Built Environments I (DESST 1006)

e-Research topic 17

To do or not to Do-It-Yourself?

The Australian, 1st November 2000, page 4, responded to NSW Premier, Bob Carr 'outlawing' building designers designing residential buildings 3 storeys and higher as reported in the Australian, 31st October 2000, page 3. Registered Architects, said Carr would have 'the sole right to submit plans to council for higher buildings'. This was because building craftsmen had created 'lousy shoeboxes' in suburbia. Is this a reasonable argument? Why were building designers so upset? Does their argument have equal credibility? With the advent of computer design packages are all professional designers (be they architects or building designers) superfluous to the design process in favour of "programs, providing in-depth home design and planning Utilities", [making] "it possible to plan both interior and exterior design options without employing an architect"? Discuss.

REFERENCES

These references are starting points, a few references to show that there is material available on your topic from a variety of sources.
YOU need to -

apply basic literature searching techniques to find books, articles, reports, case studies, statistics, etc,

evaluate the content of the references in the context of your topic

fully ascribe references to their source, using the Author-Date (Harvard) style

Check with your lecturer or tutor if you have queries about the content of references.
Check with your librarian if you need assistance finding more material.

Hughes, Janet. "Be your own architect with this design tool", Australian, 3rd September 2002, page 7.

Harari, Fiona. "Bid to rub out DIY designers", Australian, 1st November 2000, page 4.

Ellicott, John. "Carr outlaws `lousy' flat designers", Australian, 31st October, 2000, page 3.

Peck, Michael. "Formal study is purpose built" LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Australian, 13th November 2000, page 12.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Freidson, Eliot. Professional powers: a study of the institutionalization of formal knowledge. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1986.
Main Collection 306.42 F911p

Hollinger, R. The dark side of liberalism: elitism vs. democracy.Westport, Connecticut, Praeger, 1996.
Main Collection 320.51 H741d

Krause, Elliott A., Death of the guilds:professions, states, and the advance of capitalism, 1930 to the present. New Haven, Conneticut, Yale University Press, 1996.
Call Number: 305.553 K91d

Other Articles
Remember that you can use a number of databases to find articles on the topic. The articles listed below are merely a selection, find others through ARCH and Avery Index for architectural aspects and Australia/New Zealand reference centre, ElectricLibrary and LexisNexis for newspaper and broader commentary Click here for suggestions for quick ways of effective searching.

Cairns, George. "Talking the same language", Architects' journal, vol. 205, 1997, pages 26-27.
Notes: "The realisation that architecture must address the needs of clients and users is finally gaining widespread recognition within the architectural profession." Describes the "Client-User Design Education project" co-ordinated by the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies at York University, England.

McKee, B. "Surveys reveal clients' view of architects", Architecture, vol. 82, 1993, page 91.

"Jencks's theory of evolution an overview of twentieth-century architecture", Architectural Review, vol. 208, 2000, page 76.
Notes: At the start of the twenty-first century, Charles Jencks gives a personal, perceptive and provocative summary of the architecture of the twentieth. Now that the century is over it is time to ask what it meant for architecture. This is a harder question than it first appears. Did Modern architecture, as its apologists claim, triumph over other contenders? What was the relationship of commercial practice to quality -- did the best architects lead or only influence the profession? Did good architecture trickle-down or was it dumbed-down? Or did a hundred mini-movements tell the real story of the century; or was it like that of the past, one of spec builders, the DIY industry and self-build? In terms of sheer numbers the century has been claimed for the shed building, the factory, warehouse and its cousin, the office. In terms of cost airports have won, in terms of prestige museums, in terms of kitsch it has been shopping and mega-malls, but building-counts like body-counts only tell the background story.

Oppenheimer Dean A. "Listening to clients: what do they think of architects?", Architectural record, vol. 186, 1998, pages 52-55.
Notes: Panel of ten clients discuss their working relationship with architects.

Pilling, Simon & Lawson, Bryan "The cost and value of design", Architects' journal, vol. 203, 1996, pages 46-47.
Notes: Research conducted at the University of Sheffield to explore the relationship between the cost of providing the architectural designservice and the value placed on it by its clients."

Quarry, N. "Competency standards: benign or pernicious", Architecture Australia, vol. 82, 1993, pages 68-70.

Wells, R. & Bunster-Ossa I.F. "The client: end or means?", Landscape architecture, vol. 87, 1997, pages 86-87.
Notes: The authors argue the question "Do landscape architects serve the client - who pays the bills - or do they facilitate the processes that serve the project?"

Web sites
Working with an architect Emilis Prelgauskas. Includes his Critique of computer simulation.

Archicentre the home advisory centre of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

ENCYCLOPAEDIAS and HANDBOOKS are useful sources for background information.

Encyclopedia of architecture, design, engineering & construction. Wiley, New York, 1990.
Reference collection 720.3 W682e
'Residential buildings' v.4, pages 209-232; pages 438-448. 'Residential remodeling - working with an architect', v. 4, pages 189-192. 'Role of architect' v. 4, pages 229-230. Solar and energy efficient design' v.4, pages 466-483. 'Daylighting', v.3, pp288-291. 'Envelopes, building', v.2, pages 352-372. 'Mechanical systems' v.3, pages 357-381.

Ching, F. D. K. Visual dictionary of architecture. Wiley, New York, 1997.
Reference collection 720.3 C539v
'Heat', pages 117-127. 'Light', pages 142-150. 'Solar energy', pages 226-227.

The following handbooks present guidelines for architectural design over a range of activities, building types, and environments. These follow European or North American precedents, remember to check with Australian codes.

Architect's data. (Neufert) 3rd ed. Oxford, Blackwell Science Publishers, 2000.
Reference collection 721.0212 N482a.3

Metric handbook: planning and design data. 2nd ed. Oxford, Architectural Press, 1999.
Reference collection 721.0212 N532.2

Time-saver standards for architectural design data; the reference of architectural fundamentals. 7th ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1997.
Reference collection 721.0212 C157t.7

Time-saver standards for landscape architecture: design and construction data. 2nd ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1998.
Reference collection 712.0212 H313t.2

Finding MORE INFORMATION on the topic

Use the Library Catalogue to find books and reports.

For an initial search select Basic Search, then from Search by: select Keywords (using and, or, not). Using the Boolean operators will allow you to make your search effective. In the Search for: bar type words to describe your topic, then click on Search. With the AND operator between your search terms, the Catalogue will find records which include each search word. For example:

residential AND design finds 49 records which include both of these words somewhere in the record.

When there are alternative words for a concept, enclose the words within round brackets ( ) and type OR between each word. Where you want both singular and plural forms of a word, truncate the word and add a question mark ? to the stem. For example:

(dwelling? OR house? OR apartment?) AND (architect? OR builder?) AND (design OR plan)

The resulting search report shows your search strategy and the number of titles which match that search strategy, followed by a numbered list of the titles arranged according to a relevance formula. If you want to see the most recent books first, go to Sort by above the list of titles, and pull down to Date (latest first).
Where a title looks useful, click on the title to get the full description, including Subject Heading(s):, Call Number: and number of copies. Note any other words you could use in your search.
Use the previous and next icons to move backwards or forwards through the list of titles.

Note the range of social and technical topics covered in the titles retrieved. For each title that looks relevant, click on the small check box to the left of the title to create a temporary file of these records, which you can email, print or transfer to disk. Remember to click on Retain Selected before moving to the next page of results. Go to the bottom of the list of titles or individual record for the Save Options box and select Print/Save or E-mail or Save To Bookbag as required.

Where there is a relevant Subject Heading, click on this to get a list of 50 subject headings. Choose a Subject Heading of interest to find records for other books with that Subject Heading. For example:

Architect-designed houses
House construction
Architecture, Domestic

Another way to use Subject Headings is through the Guided keyword search.
From Search by: select Subject, and in the search bar(s) type words that you know from useful subject headings. For example:

domestic architect? [leave the default at] all of these
AND
design? construction [leave the default at] all of these
This search finds 15 records which include these two pairs of words in a Subject Heading or its subheadings.

Alternatively, if you are interested in design or construction of domestic architecture, change the default, for example:

domestic architecture [leave the default at] all of these
AND
design? construction [change the default to] any of these where either of the words must appear in a Subject Heading. This is a broader search and finds 168 records.

Go to What does the Library have on my topic? for ways of improving your search results

Use INDEXES and DATABASES to find what articles or papers have been written on your topic

These databases use Boolean operators, in most cases it is safe to use the words AND or OR (with brackets) but there may be other codes used for truncation, such as an asterisk *. Search notes are provided for each database but if you don't get the results you expect, please check with the Architecture Librarian, Kay Leverett.

The databases listed below cover information on aspects of the design and building of houses.

For Australian material use -
ARCH - indexes Australian architectural and design journals.   click here for search notes
APA-FT - indexes a range of Australian journals in the social sciences, full text of articles provided from 1995 for some 200 journals.   For search notes see ARCH
Australia/New Zealand reference centre - indexes articles in journals and major newspapers from Australia and New Zealand.      click here for search notes
BUILD - from the CSIRO, indexes journals, books and research reports on building and construction in Australia.   For search notes see ARCH
ElectricLibrary - includes full text of major Australian newspapers, some general encyclopedias and journals.     click here for search notes

For an international perspective see -
Avery Index - an international index for architectural and design journals.    click here for search notes
EAI: Expanded Academic Index - covers a wide range of journals. Provides full text for many of the articles.     click here for search notes
GEOBASE - an international index of articles, books and research reports on urban geography. For search techniques see ARCH
LexisNexis - a huge international database; includes full text of many Australian newspapers.      click here for search notes

This is only a small selection of possible databases, if you don't find what you need here, please come and see me, Kay Leverett, Architecture Librarian, or contact me by phone (8303 4659) or email: kay.leverett@adelaide.edu.au