Proceedings of The 5th World Conference on Research in Education
Year: 2022
DOI:
[PDF]
Teaching Architecture and Urban Planning Design Studios – The Importance of Critical Thinking
Antonio Nevescanin
ABSTRACT:
Traditionally, higher education is perceived to be a process where students receive base knowledge from their teachers and tutors, which they should be able to further expand, understand and use in practice. In architecture schools, particularly on the design studios, educators are often focused on teaching particularly practical knowledge. However, design studios are in their essence built as classes which should provoke critical thinking, which should require from students to incorporate all the knowledge and theoretical ideas from other classes, should put focus on interdisciplinary of architecture and urban planning. Critical thinking and ability to interpret knowledge should be main pillars in higher education, particularly in the design fields. This paper focuses on exploring contemporary educational methods, based on the two case studies, working with and teaching group of architecture and urban planning master course students, on two different subjects, one smaller scale, architecture subject, and other wider scale, urban planning subject. The paper describes pedagogical methods, as well as outcomes, but also student insight and commentary after the courses ended. The article provides brief practical framework which can be incorporated in architecture and allied design fields for enhancing students’ design skill set, while providing more inclusive work atmosphere.
keywords: teaching design, teaching architecture, critical thinking, design studio, knowledge interpretation.