Co-design studio with different design environments: Analogue design, designing within the design and parametric design

Abstract

This paper explores a graduate course offered by the Architectural Design Computing program at Istanbul Technical University, which is structured as a collaborative studio experience aimed at immersing students in diverse design environments. Going beyond conventional approaches, the course provides students with hands-on experiences across three distinct design settings: utilizing analogue tools, navigating a 3D virtual world, and engaging with computational tools for parametric modeling. This article presents an ethnographic assessment of this co-design studio, detailing its course structure, highlighting innovative pedagogical approaches, and showcasing the outcomes of the collaborative design endeavors. What distinguishes this exploration is its multifaceted examination, shedding light on the intricacies of collaborative design practices across varied contexts. The paper introduces a rigorous ethnographic evaluation to assess the affordances of each design environment, offering a novel perspective to scholarly discourse. The unique focus on students’ perceptions of collaborative design within these settings adds significant value, providing insights into the constraints and opportunities inherent in collaborative conceptual design processes. By undertaking this study, the research not only addresses ongoing concerns post-COVID pandemic but also establishes itself as a distinctive and valuable contribution to advancing the understanding of collaborative learning within architectural education.