Developing a Complex Knowledge System for Architectural Design Education

Going beyond the confines of single disciplines is a hallmark of late C20th and C21st knowledge systems. Contemporary biological and ecological reconceptions of Architectural Design, as a complex dynamic system, illustrate such movement. However, this shift is not only of interest for the new transdisciplinary knowledge system it creates. Serendipitously, it might also make possible another fruitful synergy: between Education and Architectural Design - for Education, too, has recently explored a biological substrate to explain and understand learning. This paper arises from a doctoral study that set out to investigate this synergy, asking, in essence, whether Education is a designing discipline. Here, we lay out a potential basis for synergy between the two disciplines, from which the research design and methodology of this doctoral study was derived. We give some brief general insights into the study's preliminary findings insofar as they address the viability of this potential synergy and conclude by exploring the implications for architectural design education that could follow from such a synergy