Abstract:

From their first contacts with graphic representation, students of the Degree Building Engineering have to deal with architecture directly. In this context, the scale of the models to represent is an added handicap to the difficult task of translating the three-dimensional reality of buildings to the two dimensions of the paper.

Thanks to the evolution of three-dimensional modelling software, in particular, the kindness of its interface, it is possible to introduce its use as a tool in the learning of graphic representation subjects from the first stages of the degree. It makes easier the understanding of architectural models because students can see and work with the entire building and not only with some parts of it, as it happens when they work with the real models. In this case, due to the large size of the building, what students can see and draw depend on the point of view.

In this way, students maintain the visual control of the model at any time, allowing them to treat the building as a manageable object in which dimensions do not hamper the learning of the main subject objectives, as it is to understand how the model, that students have to represent, works as well as learning the graphic resources necessary for its right definition.

This methodology has been implanted in the Degree in Building Engineering of the Universitat Jaume I, where students start their learning of graphic subjects through three-dimensional representation of a building. The work is developed in group, which suppose a better acceptance by students who are aware of the reduction of workload that it entails, as well as a faster learning thanks to the interaction between the members of the team in the different phases of the work, from the understanding of the model to represent, to the detailed definition of each of its parts.

Keywords:

Architecture, virtual model, Building Engineering.