Architectural education has received attention from within and even from outside the field, and it has even been presented as a model for all professional education, as i.e. by Donald Schön, since 1983 and 1985. In conditions of globalized capitalism, developing tendencies in education, such as the shift from objectivist to constructivist paradigms, have not left architectural education unaffected. Especially since the global financial crisis of 2008 it is expected to remain under scrutiny: Does contemporary architectural education have the purpose of developing the student’s individual expressiveness, or is it a process of coming to terms with society, and even, developing a ‘world’ citizenry? Is it a process of unifying the fragmented areas of knowledge and interpretations of reality into an articulated and meaningful whole or is it about acquiring instrumental knowledge towards professional mastery? The motivation for this thesis was born in the aporia of how we could situate, in the context of broad questions as the above, the enquiry into ways of investigating better teaching and learning in architecture. This research draws from examples of architectural education in the U.K. and from previous research work undertaken in the U.K., as well as from relevant deliberations from the international educational scene. The thesis distinguishes between pedagogy and didactics within the current discourse, and argues for the priority of didactics in the framing of explanations for architectural education. The main questions are: (a) what are ways to investigate better modes of learning in architecture, and (b) what are presuppositions for establishing a special didactics for architecture. Two methods of enquiry are employed in this thesis. One is argumentative analysis, used on two exemplary cases of a subcategory of the broader discussion, described in this thesis as ‘discussion at the extremes’. The other is philosophical explanation, used to investigate the logical, theoretical and philosophical presuppositions and consequences of architectural education. The ‘Theory of Experience in Education’ by John Dewey and the ‘Theory of Skill Acquisition’ by Hubert Dreyfus, representing the distinct theoretical frames of pragmatism and phenomenology respectively, are proposed for the study of architecture’s two didactic tools, of the Design Studio project and the Live project. The approach is dialogic, attempting to bridge qualities of the two frames into a hybrid descriptive model. The thesis concludes with the proposed component of a descriptive didactics for architecture. At the end, this thesis puts forward the opening of a broader discussion about the prospects for a didactics and meta-didactics of architecture.

<p> The goal of this research is to establish a visual environment diagnostic model based on the occupant's physiological responses for detecting improper ambient lighting conditions, a major contributing factor to visual stress and work productivity in office workplace environments. The human body, as a biological mechanism, naturally minimizes the effects of ambient environmental stressors using its physiological autonomous nerve system. This system enables a human's pupils to dilate and contract, depending on visual sensations affected by the ambient lighting conditions. An extensive experiment using human subjects will be conducted in an environmental chamber on the University of Southern California campus. All parametric data including human pupil sizes and lighting parameters will be categorized by age and ethnic origin, to investigate and determine the most common features of pupil sizes per visual sensation among individuals. Lighting parameters, including illuminance (lux), luminance (cd/m2), and lighting-color-temperature (K), will be controlled and maintained for each volunteer subject based on his/her task-type (computer-based or paper-based), which is most typical in the current office environment. </p><p> This study will provide unique knowledge concerning how an occupant via his/her physiological signal, i.e. pupil size can interact with the visual (lighting) environment. The research outcome will be potentially applicable in reality to diagnose the lighting quality in workplace environments, and to integrate an occupant's pupil size information for the visual environmental controls.</p>

This project investigated the performance of two separate building types, designed using ASCE 7-05, using the analysis procedures from ASCE 41-06. The results from the ASCE 41-06 analyses were compared to the expected performance level of Life Safety to determine the adequacy of the ASCE 7-05 design. ASCE 7-05 is intended to result in designs that perform to a Life Safety performance level regardless of the building type. A design using the AISC specifications for a steel Special Moment Frame and the lateral loads from ASCE 7-05 resulted in a building that slightly exceeded an Immediate Occupancy performance level for the BSE-1 Hazard Level. In comparison, a design using the AISC specifications for steel Special Concentric Braced Frame resulted in a building that performed to a Collapse Prevention performance level for the BSE-1 Hazard Level.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-38)

Architectural competitions are no longer simply professional praxis for architects and a recurrent exercise for students at schools of architecture. The competition has also turned into a field of research, and this book is part of an effort constituting the architectural competition as a field for studies with scholarly claims. The first doctoral dissertations on competitions were presented in the 1990s in Europe. Another clear manifestation of research interest is the growth and spread of scholarly conferences on architectural competitions.   The contributions to the book show in a convincing way that the architectural competition is an interesting and rewarding object for research. The competition processes bear rich empirical findings to which one may refer for knowledge about architecture as professional practice, as educational subject and research platform. The architectural competition illustrates processes of change in society that are technical and organizational as well as social; it shows up constructive dilemmas, the borderline of rationality and the relative, creative insecurity of knowledge production in architectural projects. / <p>QC 20130610</p>

Over the past fifteen years Berlins Potsdamer Platz has experienced a nearly unprecedented level of redevelopment, transforming it from a bleak, empty ruin cut by the Berlin wall to an urban entertainment and commercial complex. Housing international corporations and designed by a slew of world-renowned architects, the site has played a large part in the architectural discourse of post-wall Berlin. Critical scholarship concerning the new Potsdamer Platz, however, has largely neglected the more complicated and discordant attributes of the architecture and planning, regarding the site as a superficial image of contrived urban tourist space and classifying it in a singular capacity. Synthesizing historical and critical texts and images with experiential research and analysis of the architecture and spatial relationships on Potsdamer Platz, I examine the various complexities, dissonances and ambiguities present within the site and the surrounding context of Berlin. Through this exploration I propose a new image of Potsdamer Platz, one that is multifaceted, fragmented and ultimately defined by layered discord rather than singularity.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes special study report entitled: Art/space @ media age. Includes bibliographical references.

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