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This paper investigates the advantage of VR technology in architectural education. Different studies showed that VR increases the engagement and motivation of students by creating an interactive environment and provides deeper learning. On the other hand, Precedents in architecture are the first and the most important step toward architectural education. One needs to study these precedents and store them in the experiential/episodic memory. Visiting precedents is more beneficial than conventional ways of studying them such as hand sketching but it is costly and not available to all students. Therefore, we believe that the VR technology can take the place of visiting precedents since it resembles the precedents exactly and offers a better, cheaper and easier way for accumulating highly specific architectural knowledge than a local visit due to providing architectural interactivity. We tested our hypothesis by using Therme Vals and an HTC Vive headset among architecture students. This paper shows that VR is an advantage in architectural education because it offers cheap and easy solutions for studying precedents. Also, it motivates the students and leads to deeper learning because of the interactivity that it offers. The students were able to recognize a complex plan clearly and remember the spatial configuration.

This study aims to determine the optimum size of windows based on the window-to-floor ratio (WFR) for the main cardinal directions in Hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa) and Dry Summer Continental (Dsa) climates (Köppen–Geiger classification system) by carrying out a multi-objective optimization that relies on three dynamic metrics of Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI-a (autonomous)), Daylight Autonomy (DA), and Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE1000,250) in Radiance version 5.1. A validation against field measurements is conducted under an overcast sky with an illuminance of 11000 lux. The Pareto front is used to pick the best solutions for evaluating the most optimized solutions. Accordingly, the minimum standards for cardinal directions in each climate are defined. The minimum suggested WFR for the Dsa and Csa climates for the south-, east-, north-, and west-facing windows are 20%, 15%, 20%, and 15% (Dsa) and 20%, 20%, 25%, and 20% (Csa), respectively. Furthermore, the results show the shape and relative proportions of windows (vertical/horizontal) have a significant effect on the metrics. As a result, this paper introduces the “Proportion Ratio” as a new indicator for designing windows.