Infusing Technology Driven Design Thinking in Architectural Education: Two Case Studies

This paper narrates two case studies on technology driven design thinking-based education methodologies in an architecture program. The first case study course focuses on a design/build studio course in which the client, the campus performing arts center, incubated the studio in their production facility to mentor the students as they created a new cafe for the facility. Students engaged with the full spectrum of the design-thinking process, interviewing theatre-goers in the empathize mode, seeking the right problem in the define mode, generating alternative concepts in the ideate mode, rapidly prototyping with computeraided design and manufacturing technology, testing resulting prototypes on users on site, learning from feedback, and cycling back through the design-thinking process, evolving the prototypes to higher and higher levels of resolution in each iteration. The second case study course integrates BIM (building information technology) into a traditional large technical lecture course, using the technology to overcome challenges caused by the size and mixed levels of students, meanwhile provide hands-on experience which is typically very difficult to implement in a large lecture course. These two pedagogical approaches intended to integrate fast-changing technologies into architectural education while simultaneously creating a novel learning environment for students. The authors reflect upon the results of the two case study courses, proposing recommendations which could be useful for educators and institutions contemplating the potential for technology to change student experienc