ABSTRACT
The building research agendas of the developed nations of the world have changed little since before World War II. These agendas were largely established by physicists, chemists, and civil and mechanical engineers who could frame questions and organize experiments within the general ground rules of the dominant physical science models. The resulting research projects were politically safe both within the national laboratories where they were organizationally located, and within the larger context of the design and construction industry of each country. The managers of the national research programmes were comfortable with the scientific methods used, the credentials of the research staff, and the nature of the publications produced. The outcome was good solid material closer to the applied end of the spectrum than the more fundamental research conducted by other organizational units of the national science programme, but not so speculative or so ‘soft’ that members of the Royal Society or the National Academy of Sciences would raise serious questions.
