Reverse engineering: a formative method of research

Design meets people's needs. In order to advance design for future needs, we can learn from our past â- what has worked well and what has not. The act of reverse engineering existing products helps identify successes and mistakes that may have occurred over the service life of a product. Reverse engineering is a method of disassembling existing products to better understand their construction and manufacture. It is an analytical process of observation and documentation used to improve the design of existing products. Knowledge learnt is then considered, developed and applied to create better products. Reverse engineering was an important component of the doctoral research study and design outcome referred to in this paper. The design outcome for this study is a timber window frame: a casement window designed as a product that exhibits the fundamental qualities of formative research highlighting the importance of reverse engineering practices to advance existing products, giving strength to timber as a sustainable material of choice for the window frame industry. Comparison studies of new and old window frames have been conducted to visually represent reverse engineering methods of research. This reverse engineering method identifies poorly constructed products, while design advancements are also developed from this process. In the case of a timber window frame, it has been valuable research to reverse engineer older products to observe deteriorated areas. These areas have deteriorated from moisture build-up leading to rot and decay from fungal attack over a prolonged period. This is the major weakness of timber used in outdoor applications. Observing this in an old window and understanding why these problems have occurred has led to improved design solutions for innovative future products. Manufactured timber window frame, which is the result of this doctoral research, gives highest importance to energy-efficiency, sustainable materials, quality hardware and innovative design solutions to prevent rot and decay during the service life of the product. This window acts as an exemplar product for other window frame types and other timber products intended for outdoor use. The specific style of window, a casement window, was manufactured as it best highlights the areas of innovation incorporated into the design outcome derived from reverse engineering methods.