Architectural education : peer culture in design studio and its relationship with designing interest

Architectural design studio is an active educational site: it is not only to be defined as a visible space; it is also a way of thinking and learning. Within its physical and virtual qualities, there seems to be the presence ofunique peer cultural signifying practices that are influential to the learning and social process ofthe design students. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge concerning this intriguing and invisible phenomenon. This study is an attempt to investigate this phenomenon by unfolding its hidden manifesting elements and their relationships to the multiple events of design and social cognition. At the same time, this investigation will examine its possible benefits for the learning of design among students both at the personal and interpersonal level. This study also attempts to identify the fundamental differences between studio peer culture and other cultures, in different fields of study. It is considered as a useful approach by looking at this phenomenon from a different point ofview to verify its possible significant influences. A multiple-strategy that combined qualitative and quantitative approach for comparative measures was employed in this investigation. Such a strategy allows for the triangulation of results and findings in order to provide a richer picture of the cultural phenomenon being studied. The unfolding process began with qualitative investigation by using individual interviews to identify possible shared commonalities among the studio learning peers. Following this investigation was a focus group study that involved participants who had dual learning experiences in the design studio and other learning environments. Subsequently, a survey study was formulated based on 'constructs' identified in earlier findings. This was for the purposes of comparative and quantitative investigation oflarger samples. From the various stages of investigation, several interesting findings were revealed. There were notable commonalities shared among the design studio peers. Findings indicated that they had particular ways of learning and socializing with their peers. These were manifested in the form of meaningful words, models ofreferences, non-verbal behaviours and intrinsic values. These shared commonalities were further exemplified by findings from the comparative investigation. The findings revealed that studio peers had fundamental differences in the way they construed their learning, situational and social events in comparison with peers from different learning environments. One of the key contributions ofthis study is the provision of a more meaningful approach to understanding studio peer culture and its influences on design learning. This may also serves as an observational tool for design learning process and development