Transformachines: Transforming City Data to Architectural Design Strategies

Abstract

An innovative version of the "New Fields of Design and Construction" (NFDC) design methodology course was set in motion at the Postgraduate Program of the NTUA last spring. The intention was to experiment with the existing design education framework of learning by doing in an extended learning environment of multiple mediums organized as a representation of the multiplicity of the design praxis. It also aimed at raising student engagement and making students complicit to the formation of the course content.
This process has led to the systematic transformation of the content into both verbal and visual learning units. The course layout was also rearticulated to secure that student performance could be accounted for with a certain precision without shrinking its vast content or limiting knowledge exchange in order to control it.
The student learning outcomes were examined upon the course’s completion to verify whether and how e-learning practices can be integrated into architectural curricula. Student attendance rates were closely monitored to register their engagement. The results show increase in course content, high assimilation and continuous interaction between parties. They also show a plurality of approaches toward design, due to the diverse types of students inscribed in the course.