Insight into a Personalized Procedure of Design in Concept Generation by the Students in Architecture Thesis Projects

Abstract

This paper analyses the predominant trend between the students to follow, frame, and develop a concept in the architectural thesis design. The research targets to question how the students derive their inspiration from diverse sources and influencers into the architectural design concept. The research methodology was based on semi-structured questionnaires with Likert scale questions to analyse and interpret data through the Chi-Square test in SPSS software. The findings revealed that first, the students preferred to employ more symbolic and poetic elements for the design than real projects, second, to create their concepts under influences of supervisors and juries than research, third, to follow personal procedure than the structured process of the course. In conclusion, the results revealed that the students adopted a personal procedure under the influences of the supervisors to design a concept that is closely aligned with a subjective approach, rather than a structured research process.

An Attempt to Fill the Gap between the Architectural Studies and Conceptualization in Architectural Thesis Design Studio

“…The students preferred to exemplify the studies through images and graphics to refer to the precedents studies as the lessons learnt without differentiation between of the research 'in or for' architecture that advocated by Frayling (1993). It means that the students applied different approaches to discover their own theoretical framework than a structured research process (Tafahomi, 2021a). They also were so interested in precedents studies than theoretical topics (Borden & Ray, 2006) in the presentation that made their works more graphical than critical.…”

“…The students learnt continuously through their own presentation and communication to improve the theoretical framework that this achievement of the research has been less discussed by the studies (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2019;Borden & Ray, 2006;Tafahomi, 2021a). Although the studies revealed and advocated a linear process between the studies and the students to select, integrate, and present the results of the studies, the findings highlighted that the students were learnt through following the peer-learner in the presentation to borrow data and styles for effective communication (Frey, 2018;Tafahomi, 2021b).…”

“…The studio was included 22 thesis students in the fifth-year of the study including 3 females and 19 males. The studies revealed that the schools of the through have played a significant role in the architecture education to design the courses, methods of delivery, and thesis project importantly, Beaux Art, Polytechnique, and Bauhaus traditions due to the level of art, science, and craft in the design process (Littmann, 2000;Mindrup, 2014;Madanovic, 2018;Tafahomi, 2021a). Despite the root of schools of thought in Europe, the structure of the thought in the format of the curriculum was copied, adapted, localized, specialized, and integrated into different contexts and times by the followers.…”

“…The thesis program in undergraduate studies is a key design activity to demonstrate the ability of the students in solving problems through design decisions (Ghonim & Eweda, 2019). The thesis project is under influence of different factors to fulfill the task such as inspiration, analysis, and conceptualization phases (Tafahomi, 2021a). The thesis or final year project also widely was discussed as a process of problem-solving through studies, analysis, and design decisions by the students (Borden & Ray, 2006;Mauch & Park, 2003).…”

“…The thesis or final year project also widely was discussed as a process of problem-solving through studies, analysis, and design decisions by the students (Borden & Ray, 2006;Mauch & Park, 2003). Although the thesis project is a student project, it is openly under influence of the juries, supervisors, and peer-students from the first stage (Tafahomi, 2021a) as a collective knowledge output (Borden & Ray, 2006). Seemingly, the quality of a thesis project not only represent the students' skills and knowledge but also identifies the approach and methods of the department to train the students (Brown & Renshaw, 2006;Mindrup, 2014).…”