Design Methodology- Teaching and Evaluation

Design methodology-Teaching and evaluation methods------------April`90.

“ A TEACHER CAN NEVER TRULYTEACH,
UNLESS HE IS STILL LEARNING HIMSELF.
A LAMP CAN NEVER LIGHT ANOTHER LAMP,
UNLESS IT CONTINUES TO BURN ITS OWN FLAME”.
--TAGORE.
Owing to the abstract and varied definitions of architecture, the society in general is prone to undermine architects and architectural education in relation to human welfare. While this lack of appreciation coming from an inability to attain a proper perspective is readily understandable; few individuals have opportunity to observe architect’s multifarious responsibilities in his varied functions and full imprint of architecture on the daily life of people every where.
Learning and education has its roots from the primitive man, whose noble intentions of letting others know of his experiences, through the art of cave drawing, painting, or engraving images of animals, depiction of birds in motion and of the hunt, the decoration of weapons tools and utensils and the carving of figures and animals. During the Paleozoic geological period, twenty to thirty thousand years ago, people, not being agriculturists, existed on animals, which were to them a constant source of danger as well as food.
The very first educational source being the home and its environment itself, gradually, as the scale of settlement and necessity increased, education- passive and active, direct and indirect, visual and audial, oral and through books, also grew in scale. Plato and Aristotle taught the principles of logic, ethics and politics, their classrooms being the corners of the agora- the town square, along the arcades of stoa.
As the population increased, the need for mass education was realized, thus resulting in various schools of teaching, formal and informal, one being the Gurukula type of education wherein the main theme of education was to make the pupil learn by his own experience by exposing him to the practical aspects of life and society.
“History repeats itself ” is a statement widely known and acknowledged. At least part of it seems to be true in the case of architectural education, wherein the stress lay upon training the pupil through practical procedure of architectural design, through case study and assimilation of data analysis there by, and expose the pupil to the profession through practical training, slides video shows etc.,
The education system has always had a powerful influence on society which was then divided into four varnas, wherein the varnas were and should be distinguished by profession alone.
APPROACH TO DESIGN: - To define architecture would be a highly impudent task. Even if one dare make an humble attempt and say “Architecture is probably a proportionate combination of the Building Art and Building Science’’, still, the definition would be individualistic, depending on the varied proportion of Arts and Science.
I. Probably the simplest approach to design solution lay in the process of sincerely questioning and obtaining answers for the five basic questions 1.WHAT?,2.WHERE?,3.WHEN?,4.WHY? and HOW?, representing symbolically one for each finger of a hand.
1. What- is being designed/built? Purpose and functions systematically analysed before proceeding with the design process.
2.Where- is it being built? Site analysed and screened thoroughly for various advantages it may offer and if the disadvantages of site could be turned into advantages or the guide lines etc.,
3.When- are the various elements of the building habited? Micro and macro level climatology applied and parameters for orientation set ready.
4. Why- this particular arrangement? Why not any other arrangement? The pros and cons of the scheme turned in and out, alternatives thought about and selection done.
5. How- is the mode of construction? Materials and the spaces related to totality.
The success of the outcome of the above design methodology
Would certainly depend on the depth with which the above factors are questioned and the sincerity with which the above questions are answered.
II. The second mode of design methodology is probably what is in vogue today in most of the schools.
1. The case study being done to know the inter relationships of various different elements of functions, helps in getting a first hand impression of activities.
2. Observations done during the case studies are analysed and along with the aid of anthropometrics, the requirements are finalized. An effective way of combining past case study and future fore cast of requirements in the present to proceed with.
3. North and wind direction and sun path considerations go a long way in aiding the design process.
4. Circulation system properly understood and satisfied leads to formation of scheme through matrix and other leads.
5. Essentials of space, structure and function synchronised
finalise the scheme.
6.Placement of stress on any of the aspects- space, function, form, materials etc., leading to arguments and counter arguments enhance thinking ability of both teacher and student.
7. Third dimension and totality certainly not sacrificed during the whole process.
The concept of the above methodology being most practical and at the same time creativity of the individual is not curbed.
III. The third being the traditional method of approach to design
solution is what most of the teachers today have gone through.
1.Finalisation of requirements, most of it being fed to students by the teachers.
2. Circulation pattern arrived at by working through circulation diagrams which later would be difficult to relate to physical planning.
3.Orientation pattern achieved through orientation diagrams, keeping in mind North direction, wind direction etc., which again has to be related later design development stage.
4. Sketch scheme formed, based on trial and error method of arrangement of different parts.
5. Structure for the scheme worked out in order to complete the process trying to keep the changes from the schematic stage to a minimum.
In all the above three systems of approach to design solutions, the basic methodology is same, except probably the practical orientation in today’s mode of design approach being a little more specific. Design itself can never be taught, apart from orienting the pupil to the process of design approach.
A pupil can be motivated; can be made to draw inspiration to the various factors of stress laid upon different facts, approaches, leading to concept. Whatever is conceived could still be depicted in a thousand and one manner and the total outcome of design solution is and has to be individualistic. Two design solutions can never be same unlike mathematical results, because of the Art factor and imaginative skill. Two solutions shall be different depending upon the variable proportions of Art and Science.
Architect Achut Kanvinde opined during the Indian Institute of Architects Convention in 1985 that- “Architecture can never be taught but teachers can only kindle a flame of fire and even if that is done to one in a hundred students, we would have achieved success”. He has further elaborated-“ Architecture and design essentially is the result of process of perception and vision on the part of the professional handling with command over visual vocabulary to translate space and form through a sensitive handling. The need of our time is to understand essentially a relationship between cultural and historical context on one hand and technological parameters ensuring human values as an essential need”.
In an attempt to follow the development of human habitation settlement and hence architecture from the smallest scale to gradually the bigger – starting from villages- what better place to start looking for architecture by habitants- to towns, and then to cities; a parallel can certainly be drawn to guide the students by offering the design problems to solve from lowest scale village environment to town and then city/ larger scale problems in respective surroundings. Whatever we are talking now, a moment a go was future, a moment later it is past. Therefore, every thing we talk of, think of, in nature, is a continuum, a link in the total chain. If we are to draw conclusions, if we are to really set certain good precedences to follow in future, we have to study past. Only then, can we analyse and draw conclusions for present as well as for future.
Architect, Educationist B.V.Doshi spoke “ Where human being is given the right to live, the right to do work that he likes, our job is to give a right environment, be it trees and platforms, be it trees platforms and houses, be it a public building, be it a temple, be it a college, every place has position; if we think they are meant for people who are almost gods to us. If we think that a human being is a god and I think all India, we think that Brahman exists within us and if we think Brahman is in every body’s soul, then let us think every human being is a god and we are going to build temples for them, in the form of a house or shelter or education place”(1).
Study and analysis of past, becomes a must in the present now, to assert for future. By maintaining an open-minded attitude of enquiry, by attempting to understand the artifacts left by extinct people who built and lived in their best-suited environments, by approaching sympathetically the mental outlook of the members of society and by inter relating recurrent phenomenon present at all stages of development, we may attain some comprehension of the more significant and fundamental aspects of the important role that socio economic and the environment conditions play in creating architecture.
Out of the first four years of architectural education in schools, the first year would be spent in introduction to basic design, history and culture, workshop forms etc., Programming could be done for the next three years wherein students as well as teachers would be exposed to rural, town and city scale environments at the beginning of 2nd, 3rd and 4th year respectively. Each year, careful selection would be made of places to be visited, of different geological, climatolgical, environmental and socio economic back grounds. This programme should certainly have four-fold advantages, namely-
1. Exposure to the various factors influencing architecture and settlement.
2. Gradual increase in the intensity of exposure. From the village environment at second year to town surroundings at the third year and finally to city scale at fourth year level.
3. First hand experience to analyse and feel the aspects affecting functional varieties, data, etc., as they are.
4. Three documentations each year of a village, a town and a city scale development should enhance the quality of library and also a simultaneous comprehension of places of various climatic backgrounds.
These documentation programmes should certainly stimulate students and teachers together and they would without any doubt imbibe the stimulus and tryst of kindling the flame of inspiration would have been met with.
Architect Achut Kanvinde has also rightly said “ Architectural performance to a great extent depends on the right kind of educational inputs, whereas the institutes can mostly offer degrees, performance is the result of self cultivation and attitudes gained through education. Institutional role is fulfilled primarily by exposing the product in a way that he or she continues to take up a direction and act with responsibility and dedication”(2).
Architecture is an intellectual, not a physical virtue. Design has to do with knowledge of function, form, concept, space depicted in two/three dimensional aspects. Since it is through design that we are attracted towards architecture, design is only a means to an end that is architecture, completed as per the dream.
To extract the best design capability from the student, to make an attempt to inspire him during the process of design, design teacher’s approach in removing the psychological barrier which may exist between student and teacher should be seriously considered, which can become the first step on the part of the towards learning. The design teacher, apart from group discussions and lectures, would of course spend time with each individual and discuss design schemes with respective student designers. The student in turn should involve himself with the design project to an extent that he even dreams of his dream design.
The stress on creativity and to dream should be more now, when students are still academically students, because, when they become architects and enter the professional field later on, the source of inspiration and opportunities to dream the possibilities of design cannot be guaranteed. During this phase of satisfying the zeal to create, if by chance a technicality is missed or if a presentation technique is incomplete or if a minor functional error has occurred, though in the course of design, teacher would and should rectify them, there would still be plenty of opportunities to make up for these. During the career as students at the school, would be the only limited time for them to open wide their flood gates of imagination and proper stress should be laid to flourish their creativity. This opportunity would never be offered to them in the profession, nor would they be able to pursue and cultivate the habit later on. And the aspects which would pull them even if they tried, would be –
a). Lack of time, b). Preoccupation in profession, c). Absence of teachers,
d). Lack of library facilities and e). Lack of inspirational sources.
EVALUATION METHODS: - Depending upon the extent of dream based on the stress of concept in the design aspect, solutions of each pupil is going to be individualistic.
As the solutions to design problems are individual, each one stressing on a specific concept, the individual designs do pose a very difficult situation to assess.
Like in medical profession it is said that ‘Diagnosis is fifty percent cure’, if a student in architecture has capability to perceive the necessity of design and has analysed the requirements to understand the interrelated functions fully, if the design is workable spatially, functionally, circulation wise, with the basic understanding of structure, the parallel from medical profession could be drawn and said that the student has successfully diagnosed the design problem and cure is already ahead, probably 40%. The stress on conceptual factor; third dimensional relationship of form and function; geological and climatological consideration; presentation aspect; all these go on to mark the design distinct.
Architect Uttam C. Jain opines that a design proposal evaluated by the same person at two different times would certainly result two different assessments, because the psychological framework of mind during both the evaluations can never be the same.
Design evaluation, however best it may have been done, would still be a relative assessment. A basis for this assessment for a session could be an expected standard of –
I. Problem understanding-----------------------------------20%
II. Design procedure----------------------------------------20%
III. Oral presentation of design case----------------------20%
IV. Presentation through drawings and models---------20%
V. Conceptual thinking-------------------------------------20%
Each of the divisions carry equal weightage. Once the first design has been evaluated, then onwards it would only be a comparative evaluation from one design to another.
Although the drawings and models being the only recordable documents, weightage cannot be increased, for the assessment becomes even more difficult as the integrity is always questionable.
The other aspects of evaluation could be assessed during the viva/review or jury where the candidate can express and explain his concept, design procedure and present his design.
Architect Uttam C Jain pointed out during his visit to Hassan in December 1987 that the students’ classmates themselves as jury members could come out with best assessment. This method has been successfully attempted at Hassan school for the third and fourth year level. The advantages found with this system were: -
1.The student facing his classmates and friends could express his own version of design, concept, process etc., in a better manner and in a friendly atmosphere.
2. Exchange of questions and answers of varied range help in broadening the scope of discussion and hence knowledge.
3. Facing twenty five to thirty or more people rather than 3or 4 jury members certainly helps boost the confidence and morale of student so that, later on he can face society too with ease and confidence.
The disadvantages experienced are: -
1. As the jury members are too so many, the long hours and days over which the jury gets extended is stretching, too strenuous and laborious.
2. The competitive spirit present amongst the students being natural, it becomes difficult to prevent competitive spirit surfacing and turning out to be unhealthy.
3. Even after setting the general scheme and mode of evaluation, as only positive results would be expected, it becomes a difficult task to effect and set good precedential standards for the school.
4. To maintain the seriousness of evaluation is tough task, as the freedom and responsibility bestowed upon is too much for them to cope with.
So it leaves us with the alternative of setting up a well-balanced jury panel comprising internals, externals, from academic and practicing architects, whose integrity, is beyond any doubt.
Evaluation by representation of marks, grades, etc., becomes, rather unimportant and irrelevant in the profession ahead of the student, where his/her performance alone plays the key role. Therefore, appreciation, remarks, critical appraisal, of various aspects of design, with an aim to correct, better the design and kindle the designer’s interest to create, should become the basic criterion for design evaluation.