Teaching Architectural design

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
Socrates
TEACHING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
10/9/2014

When students are coming with concept like this
…
Romanian Green Apple-shaped
Building at Shanghai 2010
World Expo.
•Students will have a doubt in selecting concepts.
•Selecting primary solids or derivative of it will help them get into a
form rather than going in a detailed logical solution for it.
10/9/2014

flower-shaped eco house for Manchester
United captain Gary Neville
Elementary School features a
semi-circular building
wrapped around a central
courtyard/athletic complex.
TEACHING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN 10/9/2014

•Selecting concept like 5 elements of nature will help them
get into spatial designs and getting into 3d form in the final
stage. Eg Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur , Charles Corea
•Concept of a building can vary according to its typology.
Jawahar Kala Kendra - Jaipur
Tonkin Liu’s study model made from orange peel
10/9/2014

Student can also be guided about conscious
inspiration
Source : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Conscious-inspiration/169288299840212?sk=wall
10/9/2014

Source : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Conscious-inspiration/169288299840212?sk=wall
10/9/2014

The complex and flexible nature of studio
education can be seen to accommodate
three types of learning:
• learning about design (the development of
knowledge);
• learning to design (the development and
application of skills) (Schön, 1984); and,
•learning to become an architect (the
transformative pedagogy in which learning is
identified as changing as a person) (Dutton,
1987).
10/9/2014

Major remarks with regards to teaching design
•Provide critiques which do not clearly divide
between what is "right" & ''wrong''.
•Clash between the past and current may destroy
self confidence of the students.
• Instructors need to be open-minded especially
with entrant students. Group criticisms intimidate
many students, try to avoid group crits if possible.
• Stress on the importance of theory by involving
students with History.
•Give more independence to students so they ask
instructors instead of instructors telling them what
to do.
• Gradually build up relations, gently teach them
how to put things together.
10/9/2014

Shortcomings with Conventional Design-
Teaching
Confusion about the process of design
linear design processes are subject to
produce design solutions which are dominated to
their starting approaches - "programming“ approach
usually ends up with logical solutions which are
weaker on aesthetics, and "conceptual" approach
could ignore many hard facts about a design
problem.
Dissatisfaction with the quality of teaching
Some students were dissatisfied with their
educators' attitude towards their design solutions
arguing that most design educators are single-minded
and want students to design their ways.
10/9/2014

Confusing the students with hypothetical
statements
Eg . You are trying to create a problem and
solving it. In this , neither the problem is discussed
nor the solution.
Critizing the students
Criticism is important but what kind of
criticism? ? Creative or destructive?
Dissatisfaction with grading system
Some students argue that their educators do
not spend enough time with them explaining their
weaknesses and students don't know what they are
doing wrong in the process.
10/9/2014

Proposing an Interactive Teaching Strategy
• All design activities are considered to be
interrelated and students are expected to use their
interactive thinking modes throughout the process.
• All students are assumed creative - with different
potentials - and need to be stimulated through
design exercises to express themselves.
• Objectives for students with little or no art
background
• Objectives for students with intermediate art
knowledge skills and experience
• Objectives for high school students or those
with a variety of art experiences and a depth of art
concepts and knowledge
•
10/9/2014

All design ideas should be
honored by educators and
instead of rejecting students‘
weak concepts, they ought
to be shown on how to
improve those ideas.

•Educators should have an organized teaching plan
which could be adaptable to the needs of different
students with different potentials
•Design factors which influence a design solution
ought to be reviewed by educators and students need
to investigate about those influences.
•Creative thinking should be stimulated in students by
the use of Visual Thinking Strategies.
•Students' work ought to be assessed throughout the
process and the final assessment should take
students' progress during the design process into
consideration .
10/9/2014

Some teaching strategies
•Getting started in a design project by
Writing Scenarios;
• Addressing in-depth design studies by
Examining Design Factors;
•Stimulating creative thinking by Using
Visual References;
10/9/2014

• Giving design exercises and a plan of work to keep students
active
throughout the term by Issuing Daily Exercises;
Instead of asking them continuous questions for which he
doesn’t most of the answers , the design could be divided
into simple exercises.
• Circulation
• Natural lighting
• Ventilation
• Landscape
• Massing
• Materials
• Services
Stairs , Lifts ,Elevators ,Toilets etc
10/9/2014

•Developing design ideas by Issuing One-day
Esquisses;
•Development of design ideas could use any
form of architectural presentations - i.e.,
drawings, models, and/or computer graphics.
However, presenting design ideas with the help
of one-day esquisses could help students to
prepare some design solutions under the
pressure of time as a visual report of their
thought progress on the formation of design
solution.
•Assessing students' work through a fair procedure by
Structuring Meetings and Periodical Assessments
10/9/2014

To comprehend architectural design teaching
through critical thinking more effectively, an
approach to introduce character reading as a
design methodology was investigated in a
second year architectural design studio.
Critical thinking about the character
•A single women, a fulltime student, who is
working part times as a ‘merchandise
promotion’ model and is living together with her
single mother
• A French taxi driver, working at nights with
manifold likings towards Thai culture such as
boxing, tattoos and traditional Thai massage.
10/9/2014

How they are finding the solution to
the problem?
1.2d plans to 3d views
2.3d sketches views to 2d plans
3.Sections to 3d and to 2d
4.Only 2d plan
5.Only 3d view
10/9/2014

• First three categories , will work and they will
produce a better solution. As a educator , we
can guide , to solve the design problem with
interactive method.
• But , last two categories , will really struggle ,
to get final form , for whom our help is needed
much. The objectives could be changed and
what ever strategies they are familiar could be
suggested instead of dictating them to do what
we expect.

How we can classify students and their
works
1. 10 to 15 % do outstanding work
2. 20 to 30% shows good work
3. 30% to 40% shows average work
4. 10% to 15 % shows poor work
5. Few % shows unacceptable work
Source :Design Courses & Studios Guidelines - Yasser Mahgoub
by Yasser Mahgoub , University Professor at Qatar University, Department of
Architecture and Urban Planning
10/9/2014

(But it not necessary
that the last two
categories wont be a
successful architect in
practice.)

I
How we can help to come out of their stress
?
10/9/2014

Source - Whelan, Jennifer. "Mental Health in Architecture School: Can the
Culture Change?" 21 Apr 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed 03 Oct 2014.
<http://www.archdaily.com/?p=498397>
10/9/2014
(Students are
undergoing stress
due to lack of
sleep , problem in
personal wise ,
family wise ,
financial wise
etc… The
process of
thinking is from
the soul , how it
will be involved in
creativity .)

Anatomy of a building in contemporary times can be
analyzed in terms of the following:
1. Structural System
2. Water Supply System and Installations
3. Electrical System
4. Waste Management - Collection, Recycling and Disposal
Systems
5. Building Ventilation, Cooling, Heating, and Air Conditioning
Systems (Passive and active methods of internal
environmental control)
6. Lighting and Illumination Systems
7. Acoustical Systems
8. Fire Detection and Protection System
9. Security Systems
10. Communication Systems
10/9/2014

11. Audio – Visual Systems
12. Mechanical Systems
13. Internal Partitions and Fixed
Furniture
14. Façade and External Skin
15. Materials for Interior and Exterior
Finishes
16. Building Automation Systems
Architecture should be discovered, ‘Buildings’ ought to be taught.
Dr. Harimohan Pillai
10/9/2014

In which language students has to explain design …
English ? Tamil ? Hindi ? Telugu ?....
When P.M is speaking in U.N.O in Hindi why not we
accept the regional language which the student is
familiar with and the educator.
10/9/2014

1. Hassan Fathy
2. Laurie Baker
3. Geoffrey Bawa
End of the
day , group of
people who
knows
regional
language will
execute the
architect work
in site.

“There is only one form of good luck, which is having good
teachers!”
Benninger, Christopher (2011-08-10).
Letters To A Young Architect
The best teacher I have ever known was Bernie
Voichysonk, who taught with me at the University of
Florida, who was an irascible curmudgeon and a tough
grader who once said, “I only give the top marks to
students that teach me something.”
Harry Merritt – Architect
(Harry Merritt was the teacher of Ar. Christopher Beninger )
10/9/2014

Other sources
1. Source : Doctor of Philosophy – Dissertation - - THE
DESIGN PROCESS IN ARCHITECTURE A
PEDAGOGIC APPROACH USING INTERACTIVE
THINKING BY AMIR SAEID M. MAHMOODI , THE
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS , United Kingdom
2. http://archiestudio.in/about_us - By Dr.Harimohan Pillai
10/9/2014

Teaching Architectural design

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