Using Historical Know-how to Model Design References

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that new computer and communication technology has the potential to change architectural education in a positive way, based on previous experiences and learning from the past. This research is based on two historical aspects that we bring together in order to propose a new didactic method and material for architectural education: the first one consists in finding obsolete architectural training practices and reconsidering them from a modern point of view, the second one proposes using precedents in a new constructive way in situation of teaching architectural conception in studio. This historical approach, combined with architectural design studio observations, has lead to an outline of a prototype of a digital assistant for teaching architectural design. Some aspects of its functioning are here discussed.