The influence of learning methodologies on the understanding of Architectural Technologies

This work began as some kind of assessment of how construction should be learnedand why. Thus, the exercise described is directly related to this assessment, and its relevanceshould be understood only within it. We think construction should be integratedin architectural studies as part of a whole, and therefore we played with the ideaof using a particular material to convey the student’s volumetric intentions. The focuswas put not simply on using the student’s knowledge on a material and its assemblyto express a conceptual intention, but mainly on the tools used to explore and conveythis intention. Our main concern was the relationship between a learning tool and theunderstanding of technologies, more accurately, the understanding of assembly.Over the course of two weeks during the academic year 2008/09, two groups ofstudents in the technology studio explored the same theme through the same shortexercise. In each school, half of the students explored this theme by means of modelmakingonly, and the other half of the students explored it through graphic-expressiononly. Timber was chosen as the material to use and explore: this material beingeasy to work with, timber allows the students to sense materiality and establish aclose relationship with it. In order to draw valid conclusions from the study, the studentscompleted a multiple-choice test prior to commencing the workshop [Table 1].Answers to this questionnaire helped in determining knowledge or awareness of thestudent on the material, experience of the student of different means of expression,etc. The students were also asked to complete a second multiple-choice test after finishingthe workshop [Table 2]. This questionnaire offered information on the students’responses to the exercise