Within the fruitful discussion about what design research should mean and achieve and the implication for doctoral education, this paper aims to explore the topic regarding the boundaries between project design research and academic design research. There is also a strong movement within the academic milieu in the realm of design, namely within international conferences and research meetings, to discuss methodologies and processes as a paramount contribution to defining scientific research in design. PhD design research in Portuguese universities started slowly in the late 1990s, but is increasingly establishing itself as a worthy degree. This text focuses on an original study depicting the state of the art of the methodological approaches applied in doctoral design research in Portugal. It proposes a Design Research Classification Model and a Design Research Canvas that can be applied to other systematic reviews of design research as a means of synthesising the past to outline the future. It is also a major objective of this work to contribute to a clarification of a methodological framework, which relates practicebased research to academic research.

Emptiness in a contemporary interior design is often sought by architects and designers in order to achieve order, frugality and purity as a counterpoint to the stressful, busy and noisy outside world. A point of reference for this ideal is the Japanese architectural tradition of quietness, sobriety and harmony of mind, spirit and nature. It is our intention with this article, to focus on the meaning of emptiness from a critical perspective clarifying its potential within home interiors. We differentiate between three visions on emptiness, which each offer a different interpretation of the experience of home and its relation to nature, time and beauty: the ascetic emptiness identified with the Japanese tradition and wabi-sabi philosophy, the constructivist emptiness defended by the Russian Constructivism and by philosophers such as Walter Benjamin and the minimalist emptiness as a response to postmodernist aesthetics. We present two case studies, which both can be seen as contemporary variants of sobriety and emptiness: the formal minimalist emptiness of John Pawson's house versus the more organic emptiness of Marie-José Van Hee's house. We conclude by highlighting the difference between the different theoretical frameworks, and their potential bearing upon contemporary interior architecture.

Despite the remarkable success achieved during his lifetime, the Belgian self‐made designer and interior architect Jules Wabbes (1919–1974) is still poorly represented whether in museum collections or in interior design history. However, he is now being acknowledged as a multi‐talented creator and for his particular vision of interior design and space. Wabbes believed design is a construction of meaning for life, advocating responsible design. The intention of this paper is to: (1) interpret to what extent Wabbes' interiors were based on a personal conception of interiors as total works of art and (2) to reflect on his high‐quality furniture as contributing to interior concepts. On the basis of the available writings and mainly on his body of work, our goal is to portray his practice as interior designer. Our research perspective stems from a concept present in all of his works, design quality, and attitudes, from which we can derive the main thesis of this paper: for Jules Wabbes, each piece of furniture or decorative object should hold value in itself in order to be integrated in an ensemble, creating an atmosphere of well‐being and fruition of space, in literal and metaphoric terms. On the basis of the simplicity of forms and flawless manufacture, his work exemplifies a feeling of timeless aesthetics. Case studies include Wabbes' own home and two public interiors: Live at School as at Home, and Drugstore Louise.

In a few decades, the digital age came into our lives changing lifestyles and social behaviours, forcing the world to rethink daily experiences, including those taking place in the workplaces. The digital nomadism that facilitates the mobility and flexibility of work meets the requirements of today's society and stimulates the emergence of coworking spaces. Furniture design also needs to approach the new demands of current lifestyle. Within this context, the article intends to find out the role that furniture plays in such spaces. The research was carried out by studying a random sample of coworking spaces in Oporto. An interview and a survey were conducted to the coworking space users in order to identify the furniture’s common denominator in those places considering the pairs ergonomic function/comfort, materials/sustainability and flexibility/form as main parameters. The principal output of this study is to attract the attention of designers to the importance of furniture when considering the quality of coworking spaces in its multifunctional capacities in the context of a responsible, ecologic and sustainable society.

The American postwar policy for the construction of embassies was shaped in accordance to a modernist design conception that fostered an image of the USA as a futureoriented country. The Foreign Buildings Office (FBO) of the State Department in Washington was responsible for the approval of plans both for new buildings and for interior design. Whereas the architects for the new buildings were based in America, this was not always the case for the interior designers. For instance, the Belgian Jules Wabbes , interior designer, furniture creator, and businessman based in Brussels, was called upon to collaborate in the design of new interior spaces for several American diplomatic institutions, including the embassies in The Hague (The Netherlands), Rabat (Morocco), and London (UK). This article will, on the basis of new archival research, substantiate Wabbes's role and his relation with the FBO, focusing especially on the embassy in The Hague as a