A Construction Design Experience in Emergency Distance Education: Detail Patterns

Abstract

Systematic thinking in construction design provides guidance for architecture students, especially in establishing cause-effect relationships between the concepts of function, constructability, and visual effect. The act of detailing requires a systematic organization in which the inputs and outputs of the consecutive actions following the conceptual design are clearly revealed. It is observed that systematic approaches in the constructiondue to design field are limited in quantity and quality as a consequence of the studies on the literature and applications in the field of education. Therefore, a case study aimed at investigating the effects of systematic thinking construction design education was conducted. The "detail patterns" approach in architectural education constitutes the starting point of this study. In this context, within the scope of the "Construction Design" course planned for students who are interested in architectural technology, alternative approaches to systematic detailing and bringing together the sub-systems that make up the building system were emphasized. For the implication of systematic and holistic thinking in construction design practice, it has been focused on “detail patterns” approach, which includes the basic principles of detailing in Edward Allen's book entitled “Architectural Detailing: Function, Constructability, Aesthetics”. The Construction Design course covered in this study was conducted entirely in emergency distance education conditions during the 2020-2021 Spring semester. All meetings, discussions and submissions have been made whitin digital format in the limits of the distance education platform used. The "Designing Modules for Learning" model was used as the primary method for developing the course the structure . The target and learning outcomes of the course were determined, and the detail patterns approach was transformed into a 14-week lesson plan. For assessment, both student achievement evaluation and course evaluation criteria were determined with the constructional aligning approach according to the learning outcomes. Evaluations were scored by the researchers with a 5-unit Likert scale. It has been determined that positive results have been obtained in the students' ability to assess the building as a whole, to develop knowledge in the field of construction design, to use the theoretical and practical knowledge on architectural detailing process, to solve the problems encountered by using systematic methods and to think interdisciplinary in problem solving and practice.