For Immediate Release
March 3, 2016

Galen Cranz, Professor of Architecture, recently released Ethnography for Designers (Routledge 2016).   

Berkeley, CA. Ethnography for Designers teaches architects and designers how to listen actively to the knowledge people have about their own culture. This approach gives structure to values and qualities. It does this by noting the terms and underlying structure of thought people use to describe aspects of their culture. By responding to underlying cognitive patterns, the architect can both respond to the user and interpret creatively. Thus, ethno-semantic methods can help designers to enhance their professional responsibility to users and, at the same time, to feel fulfilled creatively. This book is a practical guide for those teaching social factors and social research methods to designers and for those using these methods in practice.

Karen Franck, a professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Design, praises the concept of still working directly with clients. “In Ethnography for Designers, architects and architecture students will find an invaluable guide to conducting research projects that reveal culturally significant aspects of the build environment and that generate thoughtful design proposals.” She goes on to say, “As many [architects and designers] become increasingly entranced with collecting large amounts of data, nearly mechanically with digitial tools, the careful attention Cranz pays to listening and learning, to analyzing and imagining, is particularly welcome.”

Professor Cranz will give a talk about her new book as part of the Environmental Design Library Author Book Talk Series April 19th.