anchoring the design process: A framework to make the designerly way of thinking explicit in architectural design education

This thesis proposes a framework to address the design process in design education. Building upon the assumption that teachers, being professional designers, do not discuss the design process in the architectural design studio and do not have a vocabulary to do so, five generic elements or anchor points are defined which represent the basic...

Making the design process in design education explicit: two exploratory case studies

The aim of design education is that students learn to think and act like designers. However, the focus in the design studio is mainly on the design product, whereas the ‘why and how’ of the design process are barely addressed. A risk of learning by performing real-life tasks without addressing the skills involved, that is, without receiving...

Teaching history for design at TU Delft: exploring types of student learning and perceived relevance of history for the architecture profession

Historical investigation anchors architectural and urban practice. Analyzing two sets of questionnaires distributed in different class settings, this paper explores two questions: how do design students currently learn about architectural history, and how do they translate this knowledge into their design practice? First, tentative conclusions...

The tacit design process in architectural design education

The purpose of the architectural design studio is that students learn to think and act like designers. However, communication between teachers and students seems to be problem- atic. Teachers barely seem to explain how designers work, which may be confusing for stu- dents. To learn professional reasoning processes and strategies, different...

Reflection in design education

In this article we evaluate the manner in which we at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology encourage the development of the capacity of reflection among our undergraduate students. First we explore the concept of reflection in relation to respectively experiential/reflective learning,...

Architectural design education: in varietate unitas

A fascinating and rich landscape of personal views and approaches can be seen in architectural design and in architectural design education. This variation may be confusing for students. This paper focuses on the question: is the framework of generic elements that we developed for explicating the design process helpful to compare the...

Explicit design for real estate education: The management game

In positioning the design school versus the business school, the management game as an educational module in the last semester of the architectural bachelor in Delft is illustrative for the possible synthesis between real estate and architecture. The explicit approach of design, as applied in Delft and many other institutes for architecture, and...

Urban and regional design: Making the design process explicit

Urban and regional design are fundamental skills in the field of urban studies. Designing is a complex, personal, creative and open-ended skill. Performing a well-developed skill is mainly an implicit activity. In teaching, however, it is essential to make explicit what to do. Learning a complex skill like designing, is a matter of doing and...

Making explicit in design education: Generic elements in the design process

In general, designing is conceived as a complex, personal, creative and open-ended skill. Performing a well-developed skill is mainly an implicit activity. In teaching, however, it is essential to make explicit. Learning a complex skill like designing is a matter of doing and becoming aware how to do it. For teachers and students therefore, it...

Making explicit in design education: Generic elements in the design process

Designing is a complex, personal, creative and openended skill. How can teachers help students in learning to design?