Refocusing Structure in Architectural Education

Integrating Technical Logic and Creative Design

Abstract

Architectural education increasingly suffers from a conceptual separation between design and structure. While design studios tend to privilege abstract formal exploration, structural education is often reduced to technical calculations detached from spatial imagination. This division leaves students uncertain about how to translate creative intentions into structurally coherent architectural proposals. This paper argues that structure should be understood not as a secondary technical requirement, but as a generative and formative component of architectural design. Drawing on a two-year pedagogical implementation in undergraduate architectural education, the study presents a three-phase experiential learning model integrating analytical observation, digital modeling, and physical model making. Students analyze selected buildings to understand structural behavior and load paths, reconstruct these systems through digital tools, and finally test them through hands-on workshop production. The findings demonstrate that this cyclical learning process strengthens structural intuition, improves proportional and spatial clarity, and fosters more integrated relationships between form, material, and construction. The paper concludes that reintegrating structural knowledge into the creative core of architectural education enhances both design quality and architectural thinking in architectural education.