Learning from pedagogical experiments: an alternative reading of architectural design studio

Abstract

Pedagogical experiments in the second half of the twentieth century are regarded as evidences of thresholds in architectural design education. Many traditional approaches including apprenticeship, reproduction of existing forms and structures are left behind; and many novel approaches became valid including spatial investigations, using tools and new technology, critical thinking, non-linearity, social and political engagement, interdisciplinarity, participation and questioning the role of architecture. From this point, this study aims to illuminate how these pedagogical experiments challenged and transformed the domain of architecture and beyond. In order to address this transformation, the study presents and discusses the pedagogical experiments through the framework of five themes: systematicity, linearity, simultaneity, participation and complexity.