Abstract:
This research investigates the potential contribution of the philosophy of Gilles
Deleuze to design research. Through a comprehensive review of the literature an
understanding of the themes of immanence and anti-essentialism in naturalism and
environmental ethics was generated. Using interpretations of Deleuze’s philosophy with
the sciences of complexity, I investigate the themes identified through the extension of
the notion of self-organising material systems to the socio-technical realm of design
research. Through the analysis of architecture and design discourses in the 1990’s an
immanent field of design research is presented. The implications are drawn out through
the investigation of a general ethico-aesthetic theory of design research through the
comparison of problematic and axiomatic epistemology. The research concludes by
presenting a better understanding of the relationship of issues of the environment and
design as well as providing a conceptual framework that can enable productive dialogue
between architectural and design discourses.
