The social life of shared artefacts in integrated design processes: an ethnographic approach to studying shared design ownership in interdisciplinary student teams

Collaborative design necessitates interaction between team members, requiring social exchanges and shared understanding in multidisciplinary projects. When developing the design of a building, the different disciplines contribute their knowledge through various formats, which may have differing effects on the teams’ sense of ownership when reviewing the results of their decisions collectively. This paper focuses on an analysis of the influences that shared artefacts have on integrated collaboration in student teams. We used an ethnographic study from an interdisciplinary AEC design studio to examine what aspect supported effective shared design ownership. Although digital tools were used to generate certain artefacts, such as building plans and cost comparisons, the teams’ physical interactions around sketched iterations, drawing mark-ups, and handwritten goals supported improved communication and generated shared dialogue. Making shared artefacts displayed in common spaces supported shared record-keeping, illustrative gestures, and cross-disciplinary discussions. The techniques observed in this research can be useful for future integrated design team interactions that seek to foster shared design ownership.