Re-considering the Architectural Design Studio after Pandemic: Tools, Problems, Potentials

Abstract

The Covid-19 outbreak has significantly influenced all disciplines from economics to politics, especially health, and forced every discipline to develop new strategies to adapt to this situation. For this reason, education has been suspended as of mid-March 2020 in our country; after the break, education methods have changed in a mandatory and rapid way and largely switched to distance education. This compulsory transformation has required the creation of new methods and approaches, especially for applied courses. In this context, this article focuses on a remote architectural design studio experience and explores this experience's problems and potential. This research is in the framework of an adapted architectural design studio setup enriched by authors with online environment-specific tools, including components that centralize participatory production (collaborative learning approach) and enable interaction such as workshops and seminars. The studio (201 A) was experienced in the 2020-21 fall semester by remote conducting with 2nd-grade architecture students. In the article, the process is revealed in detail, and the architectural design studio has been discussed extensively with the student survey and the instructors' experiences. As a result, it has been observed that the studio's components, such as interaction, collectivism, multilayeredness, dynamism, making criticism, and juries, can survive in distance education. Although verbal communication difficulties were experienced in the remote studio, visuality/screen sharing supported the communication throughout the process. However, it is obvious that the content, methods, and tools for remote architectural design studio education should be developed with a different and new approach than face-to-face education. In order to develop more effective methods in this scope, research is required to continue, prepare a large number of experience environments supported by these studies and, most importantly, share these experiences.

Impact of Full-Scale Models on Students’ Creativity in Basic Design Course

“…Researchers preferred that the function of the model to be built is simple, commensurate with the amount of information and experiences of first-year students so that it does not become an obstacle to students' creativity in design. This agreed with what was indicated by a previous study that students who focused on the design of the models and its structure did not reach satisfactory results about its function, due to the lack of their knowledge and experience (Ozorhon' et al, 2016). The researchers believed that the participation of a group of students in a full-scale model by 1:1 contributes significantly to the development of many students' skills as well as creativity in design.…”

“…Through previous studies, it was noted that it is very important to plan for the first design decisions in which new architectural students made their first experiences (Ozorhon' et al, 2016). Not to mention that the study by Sidawi (2013), which was conducted in the period from 2010-2013 to students of the CAP, had indicated that the design studio environment is slowly improving, while it must be radically strengthened to help students produce creative projects.…”

“…This is based on the study that stated that implementation enabled students to have stronger perceptions and skills to express in the three-dimensional forms. Furthermore, it enhanced their ability to face implementation problems in terms of the relationship between the implementation material and the design aspect, while developing themselves in terms of active participation in teamwork (Ozorhon' et al, 2016).…”

Conceptual framework of open and distance learning (ODL) for studio-based architectural design courses

“…Study is warranted because participants' perceptions have had a strong impact on the discussion surrounding the architectural design studio, and knowledge of students' learning experiences in that setting is important since these experiences contribute to architectural student learning. Without understanding their experiences, it may be difficult to facilitate positive change in the architectural design studio environment (Ozorhon and Lekesiz, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic which necessitates online teaching and learning further emphasises the need to understand how these kind of courses can be conducted using the ODL approach to enhance the teaching and learning experience in the studio.…”

Spatial Organization of Interior Design Studios in the Normalization Process

“…Her kademeden öğrenci ve eğitimci çerçevesinde pandemi koşullarındaki eğitime dair algıya, kalitesine, sınırlıklarına, avantaj ve dezavantajlarına yönelik birçok çalışma yapılmıştır (Altun Ekiz, 2020;Başaran vd., 2020;Buluk ve Eşitti;Genç vd., 2021;Genç ve Köker, 2021;Genç ve Gümrükçüoğlu, 2020;Karadağ ve Yücel, 2020). Tasarım stüdyo derslerine yönelik yapılan çalışmalar da ise çevrimiçi tasarım stüdyolarının kullanımı ile ilgili tutumlarını incelemek ve kullanımlarının öğrenme sürecini nasıl iyileştirebileceğini tartışmak için öğrencilerin görüşlerine başvurulmuştur (Alnusairat vd., 2020;Ceylan vd., 2020;Özorhon & Lekesiz, 2021;Varma & Jafri, 2020). Fakat eğitim mekânlarının yeni normale uyarlanması ile ilgili çalışmalar sınırlı sayıdadır.…”