How social is the virtual design studio? A case study of a third year design studio

With the advent of social networks, it became apparent that the social aspect of designing and learning plays a crucial role in students’ education. Technologies and skills are the base on which learners interact. The ease of communication, leadership opportunity, democratic interaction, teamwork, and the sense of community are some of the aspects that are now in the centre of design interaction. The paper examines Virtual Design Studios (VDS) that used media-rich platforms and analyses the influence the social aspect plays in solving all problems on the sample of a design studio at Deakin University. It studies the effectiveness of the generated social intelligence and explores the facilitation of students’ self-directed learning. Hereby the paper studies the construction of knowledge via social interaction and how blended learning environments foster motivation and information exchange. It presents its finding based on VDS that were held over the past three years.

Feeding back and enhancing authentic learning in quality course assessment design : locating information systems education in rigorous educational research

Locating information systems education foursquare within rigorous and substantial educational research is crucial if the discipline is to receive the scholarly attention that it warrants. One way to do that is to highlight how current information systems course design in Australian undergraduate and postgraduate programs exhibits the strongest possible elements of contemporary learning theories. This paper analyses selected features of the design of an information systems postgraduate course in an Australian university, including the use of peer review of journal entries and writing professional reports to enhance authentic learning and maximise quality assessment design. The analysis is framed by the principles of instructional design theory (Snyder 2009). The authors argue that, by demonstrating theoretically grounded and effective educational practice, the course highlights the value of being located in wider educational research, and of bringing the two fields more closely together.

Virtual design studio within a blended social network

Online interactions, multimedia, mobile computing and face-to-face learning create blended learning environments to which some Virtual Design Studios (VDS) have reacted. Social Networks (SN), as instruments for communication, have provided a potentially fruitful operative base for VDS. These technologies transfer communication, leadership, democratic interaction, teamwork, social engagement and responsibility away from the design tutors to the participants. The implementation of a Social Network VDS (SNVDS) moved the VDS beyond its conventional realm and enabled students to develop architectural design that is embedded into a community of learners and their expertise both online and offline. Problem-based learning (PBL) becomes an iterative and reflexive process facilitating deep learning. The paper discusses details of the SNVDS, its pedagogical implications to PBL, and presents how the SNVDS is successful in empowering architectural students to collaborate and communicate design proposals that integrate a variety of skills, deep learning, knowledge and construction with a rich learning experience.

Fictional inquiry : an alternative process to inspire creativity in children's co-design projects

Children's creativity is a valuable resource for architectural design, and attempts have been made throughout the world to involve children in the design process of their environments. Previous children's co-design projects often followed a problem solving process, however, this process has limitations in stimulating children's creativity. Research has found that children's creativity is different to adult's creativity: Instead of creative problem solving skills, children's creativity is most evident in their imagination and originality of thinking. Addressing this issue, an alternative process in children's co-design projects was experimented: Fictional Inquiry. In this paper, two case studies are used to illustrate how the fictional inquiry process is applied in children's co-design projects.* These two projects were both joint educational projects between Deakin University and schools in Geelong and Melbourne. Through several weeks' of workshops, children and university architecture students worked in small groups to develop architectural design solutions. It was observed that creative design outcomes have been achieved in these two projects, which suggested that Fictional Inquiry was an effective process to inspire children's creativity. Applying the Fictional Inquiry process, Deakin University is currently working with another school in the Geelong Region, with the aim of achieving creative architectural design outcomes.

A framework for social networked architectural education

Students engage in Social Networks (SN) as a form of interaction with friends and tutors, as news or learning resource, to make their voices heard or to listen to other views and many more. Online SN work in close association with offline SN to form a blended social environment that greatly enables and enhances students' learning. Some Schools of Architecture have struggled or failed to engage in the potential of SN or their respective University's online Learning Management Systems (LMS). Despite efforts to facilitate blended learning environments or to engage students in problem-based learning activities architectural education often fails to tap into the rich resources that online social learning environments offers through their collective and social intelligence of its users. This paper proposes a framework for SN architectural education that provides opportunities for linking the academic LMS with private or professional SN such that it enhances the learning experience and deepens the knowledge of the students. The paper proposes ways of utilising SN supported learning environments in other areas of the curriculum and concludes with directions of how this framework can be employed in professional settings.

Comparisons in representational media use in design studios between Hong Kong and Australia

Representational media-analogue, physical, digital, or virtual-are employed by students in the conception, development and presentation. In 2013 a survey at two architectural schools was conducted to study the current representational media use in design studios. The survey examined the role digital and physical media play in students' design work and how students use the various media to generate and communicate their designs. This study presents its importance through the shift in architectural education whereby digital tools are not taught per se any longer, however expected to be mastered throughout the course. Yet students' learning experiences are strongly dependant on the successful acquisition of skills and its transfer to deep learning. Especially architectural design studios build upon the premises that re-representation leads to a better acquisition of knowledge. Architectural educators may use the study to revisit their studio and reposition the role of media as well as align learning outcomes, deliverables and communication tools with the actual workingand learning-styles of students. © 2014, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong.

Energy-efficient tall buildings design strategies: a holistic approach

The number of tall buildings is increasing as a result of the advances in construction technologies and the rising land prices. These buildings are characterised by their high energy consumption compared to other building types as they rely intensively on mechanical HVAC systems due to the extreme weather conditions associated with the increase in height. However, they present a great opportunity for energy savings. In recent years, it has been noticed the increasing interest in geometry and form of tall buildings, as a result of the evolution of parametric modelling and 3D visualisation tools, on the expense of the environmental aspect. This paper discusses factors affecting the energy consumption in the tall buildings. Through an extensive analysis of Literature, active and passive energy efficient strategies adopted in tall building at various building stages are identified. In addition, the role of architectural design parameters, such as building form, orientation and envelope on the tall building energy performance are highlighted. Finally, a set of guidelines and environmental design strategies to be considered in different phases in order to achieve energy-efficient tall buildings are proposed. These strategies have been categorised into four stages namely early design, conceptualisation, and documentation and operational. A 3D modelling approach was used to visualise and illustrate the proposed strategies in different stages.

Videogame technology re-purposed: towards interdisciplinary design environments for engineering and architecture

The author and associated researchers have in previous projects adapted videogame technology for design in the context of architectural design education. This paper reflects on this body of research: the original motivations and aspirations; what threads may be productively revisited; how contemporary shifts to parametric design and building information modelling may be incorporated; and considers how some aspects of game play, in particular competition, may seed Interdisciplinary Design environments for Engineering and Architecture (IDeEA).

Painterface: an integrated responsive architectural interface

Interface design is one of the main research areas in human-computer interaction (HCI). In computer science, many HCI re-searchers and designers explore novel interface designs with cutting-edge technology, but few investigate alternative interfaces for existing built environments, especially in the area of architecture. In this pa-per, we investigate alternative interface designs for existing architectural elements—such as walls, floors, and ceilings—that can be created with off-the-shelf materials. Instead of merely serving as discrete sensing and display devices integrated to an existing building’s surface, these liquid and thin materials act as interventions that can be ‘painted’ on a surface, transforming it into an architectural interface. This interface, Painterface, is a responsive material intervention that serves as an analogue, wall-type media interface that senses and responds to people’s actions. Painterface is equipped with three sensing and responsive capacities: touch, sound, and light. While the inter-face’s touch capacity performs tactile sensing, its sound-production and illumination capacities emit notes and light respectively. The out-comes of this research suggest the possibility of a simple, inexpensive, replaceable, and even disposable interface that could serve as an architectural intervention applicable to existing building surfaces.

A computational approach to the reconstruction of surface geometry from early temple superstructures

Recovering the control or implicit geometry underlying temple architecture requires bringing together fragments of evidence from field measurements, relating these to mathematical and geometric descriptions in canonical texts and proposing "best-fit" constructive models. While scholars in the field have traditionally used manual methods, the innovative application of niche computational techniques can help extend the study of artefact geometry. This paper demonstrates the application of a hybrid computational approach to the problem of recovering the surface geometry of early temple superstructures. The approach combines field measurements of temples, close-range architectural photogrammetry, rule-based generation and parametric modelling. The computing of surface geometry comprises a rule-based global model governing the overall form of the superstructure, several local models for individual motifs using photogrammetry and an intermediate geometry model that combines the two. To explain the technique and the different models, the paper examines an illustrative example of surface geometry reconstruction based on studies undertaken on a tenth century stone superstructure from western India. The example demonstrates that a combination of computational methods yields sophisticated models of the constructive geometry underlying temple form and that these digital artefacts can form the basis for in depth comparative analysis of temples, arising out of similar techniques, spread over geography, culture and time.

Architecture, ethics and sustainability - an exploration

Globally we are grappling with the concept of sustainability. What does it mean and how should we respond to ensure that the planet and its ecosystems survive? While the problem of living in a sustainable way must be addressed by all sectors of society, architects are arguably in the 'front line' because of the impact of buildings in terms of resource use and waste generation. Most definitions of sustainability are unhelpful because of their wordiness, lack of detail or ambiguity. Others distort the concept of sustainability to allow business-as-usual (i.e. unsustainable) activity to continue. Using one particular model of sustainability, this paper explores the apparent contradictions between architectural practice in the residential sector, 'sustainable' housing and the desire to behave ethically. The paper begins with definitions of sustainability and ethics, together with some guiding principles. The literature examining the ethics of sustainable architecture is then reviewed. Two indicators are suggested to make a broad-brush assessment of sustainability. Current practice in Australian residential architectural design, both mainstream and 'green', is then critiqued against these indicators. Finally, some practical options for a practising architect faced with a client, who wants an 'unsustainable' house, are briefly explored.

Technologies and considerations for developing internet and multiplayer computer games: a tutorial (extended abstract)

Games are universal and probably as old as humankind. Today the development of computer technology, especially the development of fast networks and the Internet, brings games a faster growth than ever before. Game design and development is now a fast-growing entertainment field, with a lot to offer professionally and creatively. In fact, from IT professional’s point of view, creating computer games provides us with all the usual technical challenges associated with software development, such as requirement analysis, architectural design, rapid prototyping, HCI, parallel and distributed processing, code reuse, programming, performance evaluation, testing and maintenance. It also provides challenges on other exciting aspects, such as storyboarding, screenplays, illustration, animation, sound effects, music, and social impact. By developing a computer game from start to finish, one would be able to acquire multi-disciplinary knowledge to become an IT professional for the modern era.

Hanoi, Vietnam : representing power in and of the nation

Hanoi, like most capital cities, performs functions at three levels. It is home to its residents and provides local level services for them. But it also has a role as a city for all citizens of the Vietnamese state, performing capital city functions across the entire national territory as well as beyond national borders. Hanoi is especially interesting because of the uneasy way in which it has been forced to share power internally with Ho Chi Minh City in the south—Hanoi maintaining political and cultural sway but its rival becoming stronger in economic and demographic terms. Externally, it has struggled for recognition, having been regarded as capital of a weak political state open to the interventions of the Chinese, French, Americans and the Soviet Union. This paper argues that Hanoi's double vulnerability has made its rulers acutely aware of the need to demonstrate the city's power as a capital city—or at least to give the semblance of power—through urban planning and architectural design, the building of heroic monuments and the naming of city features after key historic events and people. Major events and projects have become an important way in which the Vietnamese government has sought to strengthen Hanoi's place—and hence its own—in the national consciousness. The regime also continues to push on with efforts to make a future Hanoi dominant both within the Vietnamese urban hierarchy and as the country's undisputed international metropolis.