Abstract
This paper presents the advancements of an applied methodology developed by the authors, namely an architect and two environmental psychologists, based on Virtual Reality coupled with psychological surveys − developed ad hoc by the authors − for urban design; in particular, the paper discusses its application in the field of architectural higher education. The proposed method is based on the pre-evaluation of people’s urban experience for testing the effectiveness of design solutions, discovering the unforeseen, and reducing the risk of failure. The method connects architectural to psychological approaches and investigations. The procedure can be schematized as follows: (1) final users navigate the simulation of the design scheme and feedback is collected; (2) the analysis of these collected data is run by professionals and discussed with the designers that then develop the final design solution. In this contribution, we illustrate the application to the urban design development carried out by 100 students of the last year of the Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Planning working in groups. The paper will firstly synthetically present the overall research; secondly, it will argue about its application for higher education; finally, it will conclude by describing the pros and cons of the experimentation, especially in relation to the whole learning and maieutic process and its impact on the design solutions adopted by students, with a focus on the experiential multisensory design.
Highlights
– developed ad hoc by the authors – for urban design; in particular, the paper discusses its application in the field of architectural higher education
The paper will firstly synthetically present the overall research; secondly, it will argue about its application for higher education; it will conclude by describing the pros and cons of the experimentation, especially in relation to the whole learning and maieutic process and its impact on the design solutions adopted by students, with a focus on the experiential multisensory design
The learning methodology is based on a combination of architectural and psychological approaches for teaching directed to the same goal, namely, the anticipation of inhabitants’ urban experience leads by design projects
Summary
It is possible to collect all feedback related to the different ways in which students’ design thinking has been "triggered" by the proposed methodology. Students agree with each other in stating that the process had a significant impact on their design thinking, by enriching and improving their usual approach and contributing to the final solution They affirm that this improvement process is twofold, as the increase in creativity is connected both with the quality and the quantity of information. They appreciate the emergence of data/information not originally foreseen, that lead to a general increase of the design quality To encourage their creativity, the direct confrontation with future users is perceived as crucial, since it has been an absolute novelty for them. A basic modality to explain students the gap between their desiderata and users’ perception was based on the direct comparison between these data: this procedure enables us to highlight relevant mismatches From this shared starting point, different perspectives in redefining/redesigning the design project have been adopted. - implementation of the simulation’s technical quality, since some misunderstanding by users was ascribable to the lack or low quality of the simulation features (e.g. colors, sharpness, people etc.)
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