Computation and Learning Partnerships: Lessons from Wood Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Integration

Abstract

Examining an interdisciplinary university course for architecture, wood science, and engineering students, this paper studies how the students’ ability to master digital workflows influenced their success in learning collaborative design skills. It highlights potential challenges and opportunities posed by the introduction of new digital tools to support emerging integrated building design in both education and professional practice. The particular course focuses on the wood industry, which is rapidly changing from a very traditional to a highly innovative sector and increasingly embracing the latest technological developments in computational design, simulation, and digital fabrication. This study explores the influence of parametric design on collaboration dynamics and workflow within an interdisciplinary group of students embodying the roles of manufacturer, engineer, and architect. Student-generated data of the first three years of the class is analyzed thematically to find correlations with productive collaborations. Focusing on a stage of an evolving teaching and learning process, this analysis allows identifications of common themes and patterns, suggesting implications for practice and future research. The course highlights the need to integrate data interoperability, collaboration skill-building, and material awareness in contemporary digitally enabled architecture, engineering, and construction education. The lessons learned in this course can be of value to academic programs and professional firms involved in incorporating digital design and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Learning Timber Tectonics through Digital Collaboration

“…To identify ways to improve the course, we began this study by focusing on how interoperability, the ability to share data, correlates with a team's collaboration success attributes (Riggio and Cheng, 2021). Our qualitative methodology characterized each project according to collaboration indicators and interoperability achieved while also considering the major project drivers and types of design media used.…”

SIGraDi 2022. Critical Appropriations

“…Sin embargo, este proceso no se sigue universalmente en la práctica, ni es un modelo común para la educación en diseño ni en arquitectura ni en ingeniería según lo expuesto por Sheine et al (2019).. Específicamente, sobre experimentaciones con madera, llama la atención un curso universitario interdisciplinario planteado para alumnos de arquitectura, ciencias de la madera e ingeniería, que estudia cómo su capacidad para dominar los flujos de trabajo digitales influye en su éxito en el aprendizaje de habilidades de diseño colaborativo. Se destacan destacando los desafíos y las oportunidades potenciales que plantea la introducción de nuevas herramientas digitales para apoyar el diseño de edificios integrados emergentes tanto en la educación como en la práctica profesional (Riggio & Cheng, 2021). Para el presente taller experimental, los intereses temáticos surgieron a partir de la iniciativa conjunta de profesores y estudiantes que contaban con experiencias previas de experimentación con estructuras colaborativas y que estaban interesados en el diseño multidisciplinario, la experimentación de estructuras con madera, la promoción del uso de este material.…”

Promoting experimentation and integrated design process through the exploration of the steam bending technique in wood: Essay F8 challenging orthogonality

“…Destacando los desafíos y oportunidades potenciales que plantea la introducción de nuevas herramientas digitales para apoyar el diseño de edificios integrados emergentes tanto en la educación como en la práctica profesional (Riggio, M., & Cheng, 2021). Para el presente taller experimental los intereses temáticos surgieron a partir de la iniciativa conjunta de profesores y estudiantes que contaban con experiencias previas de experimentación con estructuras colaborativas.…”