A computational design workshop experience for 21st century architecture education

With the rapid increase in the accessible data, available information surpasses one's ability to extract knowledge from, which puts a great emphasis on the skills of the individual to reach and use relevant information, adapt to changing conditions and sustain respective skills. ICT skills, critical thinking skills, and communication/collaboration skills emerge as the survival skills and key factors for individuals to cope with the demands of the 21st-century. It is known that educational institutions have struggles in changing the curricula/teaching system in coping with the requirements of the rapidly evolving industry. Thus, workshops gained more importance in different levels which are a part of curricular or extracurricular activities to refurnish existing skills or gain new skills. In the scope of this study, the learning and teaching approaches based on STEAM approach are assessed through a three-day workshop aiming to illustrate how these survival skills can be conveyed and embedded into the architecture education. The workshop is designed to be inclusive for all architecture students regardless of their level of education or background knowledge/skills. Within the scope of this paper, the conduction strategies of the workshop are covered in detail to highlight the importance of these survival skills along with the modes of teaching and share the best practices and gained knowledge for future works