With growing challenges and increased complexity in the practice of architecture, the need to have the right information at hand at the right time is ever increasing. This can be accomplished through increased inter-disciplinary collaboration, but it is also gradually changing the role of the architect, as well as the design methods used. The term informed design was initially used within White Arkitekter to define ways in which different methods for analysis and evaluation could be further included into design processes, especially through the use of tools that can enhance the way the conditions for a project are analysed, and how different design options can be compared.The notion of informed design has been further expanded within the practice of White Arkitekter over time. It was introduced as one of three research themes in the Research Program for 2017 – 2019, where it addressed interdisciplinary responses to challenges, organisational learning, as well as the direct feedback provided in the design processes in terms of analysis and simulation (White 2017). For the 2020 – 2023 Research Program it became the overarching topic, in order to emphasise the possibilities and necessity that knowledge from different disciplines is brough together in the design process, to help inform decisions, and to push the boundaries of architecture (White 2020). In this sense, there are no sharp borders between informing the process through intuition, disciplinary knowledge or experiences from previous practice, and informing decisions through computable results from an analysis or simulation process.

This ARQ project addresses informed design in the way it was originally defined at White Arkitekter, in the sense that it addresses how digital design and analysis methodologies have been developed and applied within the design the practice of White Arkitekter. The term informed design can be seen as a counterpoint to different proposed approaches when something measurable and quantifiable is regarded as driving the design process – such as data-driven or performance-driven design. In this sense an informed design process is not removing agency from the architect and other stakeholders, but rather shifts the position from where design decisions are taken in order to strengthen this agency. Data-driven design has perhaps been used more as an overarching buzzword, where this issue of agency has not been considered, but the author considers the distinctions of terminology important to address.The project and report target the particular area within informed design where computational design and analysis methods can contribute. With a strong environmental profile since over 30 years, environmental analysis aided by computational design is today well established. Aspects such as Daylight, Microclimate or Climate Impact can be analysed directly through toolsets developed with a basis in computational design. Given that these methods are already well established, the ARQ project has instead addressed aspects such as structural efficiency and fabrication methods.