Developing the construction sight: Architectural education and technological change

Abstract

The general thrust of this study is exploratory. With an interest in the development of competence, and, the achievement of professionally purposeful action — as this is done by way of digital technologies — the study exploits the details of a single collaborative design/learning activity among students of architecture. The provided analysis aims at informing the discussion on the role of technically mediated visual reasoning for the emerging professional vision of the to-be architects. By demonstrating the performance of visually complex actions and events — events and actions that could not have occurred outside the particular medium used — the study raises some principled issues. The first issue pertains to the problem of separating the analytical work made by the students from the tools and other resources that enable this work. The second issue concerns how the use of the technology generates new ways of seeing, showing and doing architecture.