ABSTRACT
This paper proposes a teaching methodology focusing on the overarching principles of a material-based approach to design-teaching in architectural education. Rather than focus on specific tools or materials, the method employs critical thinking as a starting point for individual student exploration and, by doing so, encourages debate about the weight of different steps taken towards the finalization of a project. Along a project development path, regular material experiments, detailed studies, and full-scale mock-ups link form thinking to physical conditions of shaping and joining and their associated processes. Along the way, so-called “quick exercises” are interjected into the design phase to disrupt set patterns and habits. Facing the inherent resistance of construction, referring to the need for discrete solutions, and working with material systems in 1:1 allows for instant feedback between the material-world and the object, and it generates an iterative design loop based on the physical world. This loop is didactically designed to lead to a deeper understanding of design, material systems, and construction through tangible firsthand experience that interweaves with preexisting theoretical knowledge on the three subjects. The proposed methodology is discussed in-depth through four workshops, led by the authors in the last years, to illustrate its goals and effects and, more broadly, reflect on the potential for design teaching.
