The purpose of this paper is to achieve an understanding of design activities in the context of building design. The starting point is an overview of design research and design methodology. From the insights gained by this analysis of design in this specific context, we present an ‘organization structure and design’ workshop approach for collaborative multi-discipline design management. The workshops set-up, used to implement and to test the approach, are presented as well as the experiences of the participants. The project was done in close cooperation with the professional societies with in the Dutch building design field. More than one hundred experienced professionals participated in the workshops. The workshops have become part of the ...