Abstract
Learning to ‘read’ places is a fundamental skill for built environment designers. Although we may intuitively respond to different designed environments - the silencing effect of a church interior or the imposing scale of a grand estate, for example – the ability to understand how places are spatially and semiotically constructed (encoded) and interpreted by others (decoded) is an ongoing aspect of design education. In this paper, a teaching-led research project addressing such design literacy is presented. This project simultaneously introduces the concept of design interpretation to students whilst addressing the research question ‘how do different students read their own university campus?’ A cohort of first year architecture students were asked to voluntarily complete an online survey capturing their responses to a range of campus spaces, and the survey results were presented to the students in a follow-up lecture titled ‘Reading the Built Environment’. This exercise benefits students by informing them about the communicative power of architecture and landscape design, encouraging them to critically reflect on their own place perceptions, and engaging them in research methods. The research findings provide educators and University management with evidence suggesting how campus spaces can be designed and represented to be more welcoming to students.
Keywords
design, teaching-led research, architecture, landscape, campus
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.113
Citation
Porter, N.(2013) ‘What do you think the campus is telling you?’ Teaching-led research exploring campus design and perception, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.113
Creative Commons License
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Included in
‘What do you think the campus is telling you?’ Teaching-led research exploring campus design and perception
Learning to ‘read’ places is a fundamental skill for built environment designers. Although we may intuitively respond to different designed environments - the silencing effect of a church interior or the imposing scale of a grand estate, for example – the ability to understand how places are spatially and semiotically constructed (encoded) and interpreted by others (decoded) is an ongoing aspect of design education. In this paper, a teaching-led research project addressing such design literacy is presented. This project simultaneously introduces the concept of design interpretation to students whilst addressing the research question ‘how do different students read their own university campus?’ A cohort of first year architecture students were asked to voluntarily complete an online survey capturing their responses to a range of campus spaces, and the survey results were presented to the students in a follow-up lecture titled ‘Reading the Built Environment’. This exercise benefits students by informing them about the communicative power of architecture and landscape design, encouraging them to critically reflect on their own place perceptions, and engaging them in research methods. The research findings provide educators and University management with evidence suggesting how campus spaces can be designed and represented to be more welcoming to students.