Pektas, S. T. “Designing the Future: Reflections ... - Bilkent University

FOREWORD
Designing the Future: Reflections of the Developments in Computer Aided Design on Education
Considering the unprecedented growth
of digital design methods and tools in recent
years, designing the future of Computer Aided
Design (CAD) education seems to be a
challenging issue. Scholars from several
universities in Turkey realized this endeavour at
the symposium entitled “Designing the Future:
Reflections of the Developments in Computer
Aided Design on Education” which was held at
the Department of Interior Architecture and
Environmental Design, Bilkent University, on May
16, 2008. This issue of Arkitekt presents a
selection of the papers delivered in the
symposium and invited for publication after peerreviews.
Despite the limitations in size, the
studies in this special file well represent the
spectrum of different approaches to CAD
research in Turkey.
Parametric modelling is a robust CAD
paradigm which prioritizes computational design
over conventional drafting-oriented methods.
Yalınay-Çinici, Özsel-Akipek and Yazar discuss
the effects of parametric design approach on
design education through the outcomes of an
experimental design studio. They point out the
importance of relational thinking in architectural
design and advocate the use of parametric
design tools not only for cultivating relational
thinking skills in students but also for enabling
them to experience the materiality of designs via
combinational use of such tools with computer
aided manufacturing (CAM) techniques in
architectural education.
Interior architecture is a relatively new
discipline whose relations to CAD have been
rarely discussed. Şenyapılı articulates how CAD
transformed the contents of design studio
projects in interior architecture education by
comparing traditional design studios and a
computer aided design studio. The impacts of
digital design tools are described in the paper
under three titles: drawing, virtuality and time as
the 4 th dimension. Şenyapılı claims that as a
result of these developments, interior architecture
began to acquire new meanings without the
limitations of a pre-existing shell which
traditionally formed the basis of the definition of
the discipline.
Despite the ever-growing body of
literature on CAD, most of the existing studies
have focused on relatively technical issues
ignoring the socio-cultural and/or behavioural
aspects of CAD education. Pektaş and Demirbaş
recognize this gap in the literature and present
the results of a survey which analyzes computer
attitudes, learning styles and computer
experiences of interior architecture
undergraduates besides gender as the
confounding variable. The authors propose that
insights into the effects of individual differences
on CAD education will be helpful for educational
improvements.
It is widely acknowledged that building
design is a multidisciplinary domain in which
collaboration is of utmost importance. Two
papers in this issue handle the problem of
collaboration in design education. Building
Information Modelling (BIM) is offering new
opportunities for sharing design information;
however, there have been only few studies on the
educational uses of BIM. Within this perspective,
İlal, Kale and Yavaş reports the findings from a
BIM-based collaboration experiment between
Architecture and Civil Engineering students. The
authors suggest that the increased utilization of
explicit domain knowledge made available by
BIM tools is likely to have a positive impact on the
future role of architects within the multidisciplinary
design teams. Karakaya and Demirkan propose a
framework for the use of collaborative creativity
support tools in design education. This on-going
study is expected to result in a collaborative
creativity support tool which is a plug-in for
Google SketchUp 3D modelling software.
An overview of the works in this issue
demonstrates that important topics of CAD
education research have been addressed by
researchers in Turkey with increasing degrees of
academic rigour. We hope that this special file
will facilitate for building a national network of
CAD researchers who will cooperate for the
better.
We would like to thank Birgül Çolakoğlu
and Halime Demirkan for moderating the
sessions in the symposium, to Tijen Sonkan and
Fatih Karakaya for their work in the organization
committee and to the authors as well as the other
participants of the symposium for their dedicated
contributions. We extend our gratitude to Zafer
Ertürk, Orhan Hacıhasanoğlu, Aydın Türker and
to the staff of Arkitekt who made this publication
possible.
Guest Editor: Şule Taşlı Pektaş
Bilkent University
Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture
Department of Interior Architecture and
Environmental Design