Abstract:

The presentation discusses the active learning techniques used by the students of the School of Architecture of the University of Málaga (Spain) in the context of the course Building Techniques IV (Construcción IV). A critical analysis of the studio work done in the last four academic years will be presented: students were asked to undertake all aspects of the design of a building, from the project stage to the constructive developments. The location, the building program and the technologies applied were chosen with two considerations in mind: the integration of the building in its geographic and social context and the environmental and social responsibilities involved in the choice of materials and building systems.
The material discussed has been arranged according to three criteria: the geographic and cultural context (which includes twenty countries in the five continents), the typological program (public or private buildings, cultural, social or sport facilities, and so on), and the materials involved in the structural design (stone, brick, BTC, adobe, rammed earth, wood, bamboo, steel, aluminum and reinforced concrete).
The studio work and its discussion allowed the students to acquire skills in the design of environmentally friendly buildings and made them aware of the need to think beyond their own cultural context to encompass unfamiliar, and often problematic, geographical and social settings.
A particular technology or building material does not become suitable just on the grounds of its structural efficiency, its economic advantages or the quality of its execution. The cultural and social contexts in which it is used are an integral part of its suitability, in order to avoid the cultural loss involved in the indiscriminate use of architectural forms and technologies foreign to a given social milieu. Students were asked to integrate these factors in the design process, opening a reflection on the suitability of any building program beyond the purely technical considerations common in technology courses. They learnt to relate buildings with the set of immaterial manifestations that form the cultural and emotional components of social memory and to consider them as an integral part of responsible planning.
Awareness of the interaction between technology and pre-existing social and cultural practices is an essential part of the technical learning of students of architecture. Awareness arises from a close analysis of both the technology available and the social needs it is supposed to fulfill. In the learning process discussed here, this wholistic approach was accompanied by personalized active training and the consideration of real situations where the design solutions proposed acted as the balancing element between technological development and preservation of local values.

Keywords:

Architecture, Integrated Technologies, Social Awareness, Sustainable Building.