Structural and Technological Principles within Architecture Education

ABSTRACT: One of the most challenging disciplines of architecture is the structural and technological issues of building design. In the past design and construction of the buildings used to be done by master builders, who were responsible for all aesthetical, technical and structural issues of design, but after industrial revolution and division of skills, architecture and structural engineering appeared as two different professions. Although, this fact have had many advantages, in some architectural projects have caused inadequate attention to structural disciplines by architects and disorder between building components. Since architectural education systems play important and critical roles in structural knowledge of students, “Structural and technological principles within architecture education” has been attended in this research. Consequently, some existing literature and also curricula from different regions and systems have been selected and studied. Within the studied curricula, architecture curriculum of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) has been selected as a case study and studied more precisely. This selection has been due to a primary hypothesis indicating that some enhancements are needed for structural and technological courses and their prerequisites within the curriculum. Thus, efficiency of structural principals of the curriculum has been examined by means of questionnaires taken from students, interviews with faculty staff members and comparison of this information with other existing curricula and disciplines. The results are some general propositions for ensuring the proper implementation of structural principals within architecture curricula in general and also architecture curriculum of EMU. Within the suggested items, Information Technology and its potentials for enrichment of architecture curricula have been highlighted. It is proposed to use IT facilities for provision of communication and information exchange within the students and also instructors, as well as emphasizing structural principles of architecture. Further developments of this idea can extend the domain of collaboration between students and provide easier access to architectural knowledge. Keywords: Architectural Education, Structural Principals, Curriculum, Structure Courses, Information Technology. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………