Design Studio Research Articles

EMBODIED CARBON EVALUATION IN EARLY-STAGE DESIGN STUDENTS’ PROJECTS AS PART OF A SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT CURRICULUM

ABSTRACT The building industry causes 40% of global carbon emissions, out of which more than a quarter is constituted by the individual constructions’ embodied carbon. The latter figure takes into consideration not only the selection of materials, the energy needed for their production, and their renewal until the end of the building's life cycle, but also their geographic origin relative to the building's location. The scientific method used to determine this figure, the so-called Life-cycle Assessment (LCA), of new and reused constructions, occupies an important role in the way the architectural profession can address climate change. These efforts are not limited to research and practice, but include the introduction of LCA tools as part of architectural education, with the ultimate goal of establishing energy-efficiency as an intuitive component of the architect's design process. In this paper, the authors investigate the opportunities and pedagogical issues encountered over the course of a second-year undergraduate design studio, during which the life cycle assessment of embodied carbon was introduced as an integral part of the project syllabus. On the one hand, the results reveal the substantial energy-saving potential provided through the use of LCA tools, with more than 50% carbon saving potential provided through the exchange of concrete with cross-laminated timber, but on the other hand they manifest the difficulty of attracting the students’ attention for such exercises during a design studio.

Digitalisation of engineering design education: structured freedom, flipped engagement, hybridity, and transparency

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to current discussions of digital teaching and technology within the field of engineering design education. We enter this dialogue by analysing a hybrid digital learning design for a 15-ECTS engineering design course. The course design pedagogically integrates principles from networked learning research, Problem-Based learning (PBL), as well as established pedagogical traditions. Specifically, we analyse and discuss the case based on four pedagogical principles underpinning the course: structured freedom, flipped engagement, hybridity, and transparency. The purpose of our discussions is to understand and contribute knowledge of digitalising engineering design education. Specifically, our pedagogical approach to hybrid and digital modes of learning rethink and expand the integration of digital technologies in physical design studios in a PBL context by employing networked learning principles. Following this, we draw out interesting contributions that have emerged and use the discussions to feed into the ongoing research on digitalising engineering design education.

Cooperative Learning in an Interior Architecture Studio

Design studio in interior architecture education is rarely conducted as a group learning activity, despite the benefits of preparing students for team-based industry work environments. Students have learnt to be protective of their design ideas and are not always encouraged to share resources, although theories on social learning indicate a deeper learning experience is achieved through collaboration. The theoretical framework for cooperative learning, as a form of collaboration, is extensive and positively supports the virtues of group work as an effective learning activity. This paper describes an action research cycle of preparation, implementation and reflection of a cooperative learning project with third year interior architecture students. For the purposes of this research, cooperative learning is defined as a structured group work activity, with participants working together towards a series of common objectives. The main objectives were for students to experience a typical interior architecture work environment, to promote deeper learning and foster a culture of sharing ideas and resources.

Mimetic Teaching Strategy in Design Education: Relationship Between Students Learning Style and Creativity

Mimetic Teaching Strategy in Design Education: Relationship Between Students Learning Style and Creativity

Compact Tri-band Loaded Antenna for wireless Communication and Fifth generation Applications

The tri-band antenna proposed for wireless applications. The proposed antenna with a low profile and compact-T shaped. Two circular rings are connected with stub different pole sizes is shown in this article. The proposed work is carried out using CST Microwave Design Studio on FR-4 substrate with a thickness of 1.6 mm. The suggested antenna works cover all commercial and C band applications in the frequency range of 1 to 6 GHz. It gives triple band at 2.5 GHz for (EBS), 3.5 GHz for 5G band or C-band and 5.8 Ism band for wireless and Wifi Max ,5G applications. An impedance bandwidth of the 15%(2.45 to 2.6),17%(3.32 to 3.6GHz) and 25%(5.5 to 5.8 GHz is obtained. A good conjunction between the simulation and measured results is inferred from design analysis.

A Web-Based Assessment and Evaluation System for Architectural Design Studio Modules

Architectural design studio modules are known to be difficult to teach and/or assess. To acquire design skills, typically, students have several design modules during their program and several projects for each module. However, traditional project assessment and evaluation lacks consistency, objectivity and fairness. Furthermore, monitoring student progress over the different projects and over the different modules and different semesters is very difficult and needs much time and effort. This work presents a web-based system developed to support fair rubrics-based assessment and evaluation of design projects and to provide in-depth analysis of students' results. It also links between the results over the different projects and the different modules and provides feedback about students' skills and weaknesses in a simple form thus allowing progressive learning. The system has been tested and evaluated and the results show its simplicity, reliability and effectiveness.

Influence of Virtual Learning Environments on Student Achievement for Sustainable Development

As a result of the global pandemic, in-person lecture delivery method was interrupted and thus, the necessitated adoption of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) for the continuity of learning. However, considering that architectural education is hands-on and field-dependent, continuous design studio mentoring is expedient. This study therefore explored the potential of adopting VLE, especially in hands-on related disciplines and how this fosters student achievement in driving sustainable development. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse quantitative data gathered from a randomly selected sample of architecture students representing three private universities in Nigeria. Findings from this research revealed that learning continued during the lockdown within the subject discipline. Notably, 86.6% of respondents utilized virtual meeting software like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco WebEx, while 12.4% utilized Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Moodle. Additionally, accessible facilities like comfortable study areas, a steady power supply, internet connectivity, and studio materials contributed to a successful VLE experience. This research strongly advocates for the continuation of hybrid learning in architectural education, combining physical and virtual modes to deliver enriching and memorable learning experiences to enhance education for sustainable development.

Encoding colour: Capturing rule-based logic in design studio

Encoding colour: Capturing rule-based logic in design studio

Reflective thinking and self-assessment: A model for the architectural design studio

Developing, experimenting, and sharing critical pedagogical approaches is becoming increasingly important in architectural education, which supposedly superposes theory and practice. In this article, the authors reveal and reflect on an enriching pedagogical approach to the traditional architectural design studio. It is acknowledged that students develop comprehensive examination and internalization abilities by developing reflective thinking and self-evaluation abilities that complement each other. Based on the pioneer educational theory of John Dewey, the researchers' selected instructional interventions. Using the action research method, four additional modes conceptualized towards disciplinary literacy -reading, mapping, discussion, and peer assessment- were injected into the traditional studio process during a semester of architectural design course. The pedagogical approach is built on questioning the two basic creativity-based abilities of learners: reflective thinking and self-assessment. The fundamental questions are: How can a reading-discussion setup designed to nurture disciplinary literacy in the design studio be a factor in developing reflective thinking ability? How can the systematic peer assessment exercise be a factor in the students' self-assessment and reflective thinking skills as a learning outcome? The results argue for the effects on students' intangible skills. The model studio setup exhibited two remarkable findings, showing that (i) the reading-discussion mode is more effective in generating reflective thinking and (ii) the systematic peer review exercise is more effective in gaining self-assessment ability. The aim is to contribute to the theory of education by making the model application in the field of architectural design studio accessible and reflective for other educators.

Nurturing Feedback and its Impact on Self-Efficacy, Empowerment, and Professional Growth in Educational and Corporate Environments

This study examines the impact of feedback quality in design education on students' self-efficacy. It argues that nurturing feedback can positively influence students' self-efficacy, leading to increased effort, perseverance, and eagerness to embrace challenges. A case study conducted in a senior design studio course at the American University of Sharjah (UAE) explores the effects of feedback. It proposes strategies to transform it into a nurturing tool for students' self-efficacy. The insights gained provide valuable guidance for all instructors involved in educational environments where feedback plays a pivotal role in students' growth and development. Furthermore, the findings have broader implications for the corporate design sector, emphasizing the importance of nurturing feedback to empower employees and foster their professional growth. Empowered employees are more likely to embrace challenges, take initiative, and contribute to organizational success, making nurturing feedback a vital factor in promoting a positive and productive work environment.

McLuhan’s Tetrad as a Tool to Interpret the Impact of Online Studio Education on Design Studio Pedagogy

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in online studio education, which has presented a significant challenge to traditional design studio teaching methods that rely on face-to-face interactions between instructors and students. It is contended that online studio education enhances the accessibility of design studio pedagogy, making it possible for students to learn from anywhere in the world. However, it also challenges the development of tactile skills, which are crucial in design education. Additionally, online studio education can render certain aspects of traditional design studio pedagogy obsolete, while bringing back elements of design history and theory that may have been overlooked in traditional studio teaching. It can also be argued that online studio education has the potential to reverse the traditional power dynamics between instructors and students, resulting in more democratic and collaborative forms of learning that can empower students. As the literature on the effects of online studio education is growing, there is a need to understand how the shift from the material space and its affordances to an online environment affects the core components of an architectural design studio. To understand the effects of this new medium, this research employed Marshall McLuhan’s tetradic approach, a hermeneutic tool to perform a critical interpretation of any medium by examining four simultaneous effects: how it enhances a human sense, what it makes obsolete, what forgotten aspect it retrieves, and how it flips into its opposite at its extremes. A literature review was conducted to analyze the effects of online studios from a tetradic framework and identify the major discussions of the impact of online studio education. The methodology involves a two-part literature review. This study specifically focused on peer-reviewed, empirical research published after 2020, and the authors used search terms related to online architectural studios during the pandemic. The process identified 176 records of peer-reviewed empirical studies for further analysis and 20 papers were read and included in the review, defining repeating topics/themes and organized under four categories pertaining to the founding archetypes of an architectural design studio: (a) setting and communication, (b) actors, (c) outputs, and (d) dynamics. This process was followed by organizing the findings and interpreting them within the tetradic framework to develop a comprehensive understanding of the consequences of the online design studio. Overall, this research aims to provide a detailed and nuanced analysis of the impact of online studio education on design studio pedagogy, conceptualizing McLuhan’s tetrad as a basis for the analysis, and therefore aiming to enrich our understanding of the post-COVID-19 era of learning architecture by examining the dramatic change in the medium and its effects.

Discussing open architecture in design studio: The case of Atelier 1 and Ankara

Discussing open architecture in design studio: The case of Atelier 1 and Ankara

A multimodal study of augmented reality in the architectural design studio

A multimodal study of augmented reality in the architectural design studio

Walk Under the Midnight Sun

Walk Under the Midnight Sun is a large-scale carpet installation originally designed for the Hungarian Pavilion of the 2023 Venetian Architecture Biennale, part of an exhibition proposal by Fuzzy Earth design studio and BÜRO imaginaire curator collective. The project invites the public to explore the entangled historical, social and architectural relationships within greenhouse cultivation practices. The protagonist of the installation is a regionally unique capsicum cultivar, the Hungarian wax pepper, known in Hungary as the Cecei paprika. The themes of the exhibition were inspired by Fuzzy Earth’s ‘Not Quite a California Wonder’ research project.

Notes from the Anti-Displacement Studio

This article addresses the question of how design pedagogy and methods can be reformulated and retooled to support community-led anti-displacement planning and design initiatives. It critically examines and reflects on a series of architecture courses taught by the author in which students have worked with Boston-based community leaders on anti-displacement planning and design strategies over two academic years. The analysis particularly focuses on the anti-displacement studio, which takes a grounded, relational, and reparative approach to addressing current gaps in design studio education by aligning university-based teaching and learning with community-led decolonizing agendas. Leaning into the university’s location in Lower Roxbury and harnessing the instructor’s existing relationship with community leaders as an anchor for ongoing collaboration, the studio remains a work-in-progress that is replete with tensions and challenges, which carry implications for radical planning and design pedagogy.

Immersive virtual reality in experiential learning for architecture design education: an action research

PurposeChallenges of conducting site visit activities, a vital component of architecture learning during the recent pandemic have proved our unreadiness in facing the digital future. The lack of understanding of learning technology has affected the education experience. Thus, there is a need to investigate immersive learning technology such as immersive virtual reality (IVR) to replace students’ concrete experience in the current learning setting. This study aims to answer: (1) What is the influence of IVR in experiential learning (EL) in enhancing the personal spatial experience? (2) Does IVR in EL influence students' approach to learning during the architecture design process?Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted as an action research design approach. Action research was employed in the first-year architecture design studio by the lecturer as a practitioner-researcher. The personal spatial experience survey was performed in the earlier phase to identify the students’ prior spatial experience. Architectural Spatial Experience Simulation (ASES) a learning tool was implemented and assessed with Architecture Design Learning Assessment (ADLA) rubric, which was developed to evaluate EL and student’s approach to learning during the architecture design learning process.FindingsThe outcomes revealed that ASES as a learning tool in EL could improve the participants’ spatial experience, particularly those with minimal prior personal spatial experience. ASES was recognized to enhance the participants’ EL experience and encourage changes in student’s approach to learning from surface to deep learning.Originality/valueThis research benefits the architecture design learning process by offering a learning tool and a framework to resolve challenges in performing site visit activities and digital learning. It also contributes by expanding the EL theory and students’ approach to learning knowledge in the architecture education field.

Adaptive Reuse of High-Rise Buildings for Housing: A Study of Istanbul Central Business District

The abrupt shift to remote work due to the Covid-19 pandemic increased vacant office spaces globally, especially in high-rent central business districts (CBDs). These vacant office spaces offer the potential for conversion into housing, addressing the shortage of affordable housing in central areas. Additionally, this topic presents a unique experimental ground for architecture students. This study focuses on the Istanbul CBD as a case study, examining the historical developments that led to a rise in office vacancy rates and housing inequality, and exploring the potential for adaptive reuse of these vacant office buildings. A key focus of this study is to underline the pedagogical value of adaptive reuse, highlighting how such projects can inspire more diverse and equitable housing models, fostering experimental and sustainable design approaches. It systematically evaluates the outcomes of a 4th-year architectural design studio that focuses on the adaptive reuse of the Tat Towers in the Istanbul CBD, a structurally vacant high-rise office building, and asks: How does the context of adaptive reuse enable a different design approach, and, potentially, new spatial norms and standards to emerge, and how might this hold a pedagogical value for architecture education? Following these questions, the article discusses how norms and standards are not only culturally but also typologically contextual, and how the students have explored how norms and standards might change, outlining new design approaches to adaptive reuse.

A new way of social interaction for educational purposes in architecture design studios during the pandemic

COVID-19 has challenged educational systems in whole parts of the world, including convenient courses and programs such as architecture. The architecture program is designed based on the design studios that deliver major parts of the activities in the program, such as design productions, project presentations, and receiving comments on the design activities from both instructors and juries. To test the students' satisfaction level with social interactions in design studio activities, a five-scale questionnaire was designed, and through Google Forms, the results were analyzed in SPSS. The findings reveal that communication, social interaction, and design activities are significant for the students. The students demonstrate overall satisfaction with the quality of the course delivery. However, the detailed design illustrates that students and instructors adopted an adapted way to the condition to reduce the risk by minimizing the group work and increasing the individual desk crits. This result shows that teamwork and peer learning were reduced during the pandemic.

Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Interior Design Education: Concept Development

This article aims to explore the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) as a design tool in interior design education. The research examines the students' interior design studio project outcomes over the usage of AI in creating conceptual images, and the implementation of the AI-created concept to the overall space. In the research, students' projects are divided into two groups of 5 according to sufficient or insufficient prompts for the "AI generated" conceptual images. Barnard's (1992) CAIDC (Consensual Assessment of Interior Design Creativity) scale was used for the assessment. Mann-Whitney U Test was conducted for the results. We understand that there is no significant difference between writing sufficient or insufficient prompts in the concept development phase of interior design projects according to the Barnard (1992)’s design merits. It has been confirmed that the main factor that influences this regard is the need for an appropriate "concept analysis" to adapt the concept generated with AI to the specified project spaces.

Virtual Reality in Historic Urban District Renovation for Enhancing Social and Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Tangzixiang in Anhui

Virtual reality (VR) technology has attracted the attention of architectural practitioners due to its ability to allow people to interact with proposed design elements through unique and immersive experiences. This study aims at providing a bottom-up decision-making approach, using VR technology for inhabitant engagement in the design process of historic urban district renovation to preserve local culture, improve community interaction, and replace printed paper use for review. The study focuses on the Tangzixiang district in the Anhui province, providing Scheme 1 with a traditional architectural style and Scheme 2 with a modern architectural style for the renovation. The schemes are developed in a VR environment in both smooth movement mode and node-based movement mode. A total of 62 inhabitants and 10 architecture practitioners finished the VR experience, and the survey-based results indicate that VR quality can satisfy the requirements of practitioners in a professional review. In the inhabitants’ view, Scheme 1, with a traditional architectural style, is identified as being more effective in preserving local culture. The scheme is improved by the design studio after the survey, based on the questionnaire results and comments. Notably, 56 participants scored five, indicating their agreement with the notion that VR enhances their engagement in the design stage. The effectiveness of the VR technology in the bottom-up decision-making process has proven to offer inhabitants opportunities to participate. This study demonstrates how this level of immersive experience in VR environments has the potential to be applied in more projects, aiding clients in better understanding design intent and helping them make more informed decisions early in the design process.