Action research and architectural sustainable design education: a case study in Brazil

Abstract

Research to improve aspects of architectural design education produced a collection of research-supported best practices and these lessons need integration into the studio environment. Design instructors must innovate, but in ways that allow previous result analysis. Action Research (AR) is seen as a valuable asset for providing an opportunity for systematic documentation and reflection of tested variables. This paper presents an AR-enriched architectural design studio teaching experience delivered to third year Architecture and Urban Design students and devised to support individual design process development of students, framed by bioclimatic and sustainable design of school buildings. A 5-year AR project sought to identify (1) the points where undergraduate architecture students “got stuck” during design development; (2) why they had difficulties to fully understand and integrate sustainability concepts into their proposals; and (3) which contents and approaches could help them to overcome design blocks and produce sustainability responsive quality designs. Our research involved 150 students while taking the studio between 2013 and 2018. As a design process takes time to be consolidated and assimilated, positive response was clearer in relation to students’ interest, behavior and demonstration of understanding of the body of knowledge. Significantly improved student design outcomes were not yet confirmed. However, our findings validate AR to improve a design studio setting through accumulated learning by instructors and detailed documentation and systematic analysis of the effects of a collection of approaches, tools and protocols could be applied to independent analysis to increase the quality of architectural design with sustainability in mind.