This issue of arq explores how academic researchers are practicing design, and how architectural practitioners are researching design. Pedagogy has emerged as a theme bridging these two distinct subfields. Likewise, they are connected through explorations of the nature of architectural representation and process, examining how ideas, strategies, and spaces are communicated across academia and practice. The ever-changing field of architectural representation, and how we engage with it, often escapes close reading. By drawing particular attention to it, the issue aims to highlight the state of design research in the discipline today.