Innovations For Structural System Education In Architecture

Structural systems, which play an important role in today’s architectural education, have become an issue that is analyzed by mega structures using different disciplines in the process from the design stage to the construction stage. While design and structural system studies are performed together in practice, architecture students usually have difficulty in reflecting their learning from the structural system course into their design studio in architectural education. In this study, information about education method for "Structural System and Technologies I" course, carried out in the fourth semester (second class) in Department of Architecture in Gebze Technical University, was primarily given. Unlike previous teaching methods in this course scope, a structural system modeling to solve the given design problem was requested from the students during spring semester 2015. It was aimed to provide the students with an understanding of general design principles involving structural elements and learning about the necessity in which the structural system should be considered in conjunction with the architectural design, concluding with a two-week assignment. A survey was conducted among 55 architecture students in order to evaluate the outcomes of the assignment. According to the survey results, 61% of the students stated that function, form, and structural system affect on another. 20% of them stated that function, form, and structural system, respectively, have an order of importance in the design process. 9% of them stated that structural system determine form and function. 6 % of them stated that form, function, and structural system, respectively, have an order of importance in the design process. Finally, 4 % of them stated that their relations change depending on the condition. Innovative teaching method in this study is found to be successful because the students have experienced the importance of materials in structural system and learned how to integrate structural system course to architectural design studio. It is intended that this study will benefit architecture students and educators.