Abstract:

Research and teaching are the key higher education activities and the method of “research by design” is often used to support research activities at education institutions focused on design. The common practice in architectural education is to use one thematic assignment for the whole group of students in the design studio, whether they work individually or in pairs, or in a group. This practice is applied in the horizontal as well as vertical models of the studios. Focus on one theme, topic, or selected territory in architecture, urban and landscape design in semestral assignments helps the teachers to facilitate the consultation process of the whole group of students, it enables better interactions between students in the studio and facilitates to compare and evaluate the results. In this paper, we bring examples of using thematic research-oriented assignments in design studios at the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava and examine the potential of this approach to support research, as an integral part of the education process.

Keywords:

Collective assignments, horizontal design studio, vertical design studio, research-oriented assignments.