Abstract:

This paper is a reflection on a project that used Computer Aided Design (CAD) modeling to enhance the learning of architectural technology for 2nd year undergraduate students at the University of Cape Town in the 2010 academic year. A valuable grasp of architectural technology requires understanding of the subject as a construction system with technical limitations that offer creative freedom – a delicate balancing act between convention and innovation.
Two buildings of technical and spatial-aesthetic repute were chosen for three dimensional CAD modeling: Fallingwater House (located in USA and designed by Frank Lloyd in 1936) and Die Es (located in South Africa and designed by Gabriel Fagan in 1965). The CAD models, taken from foundation to final roof finish, were elemental and sequentially incremental thus capable of illustrating, at varying scales, individual building components and how they relate to each other as well as to the whole building. The models were made into didactic resources compromised of (powerpoint-compatible) images and short movie clips. The representation precision, scale-shift and viewpoint-change possibilities of the dynamic 3D CAD models enhance understanding of building technology per se as well as comprehension of the reciprocal linkage of technical detailing to architectural spatial-aesthetics.
A significant number of students who engaged in the learning activities based on the created didactic materials displayed a holistic understanding of architectural technology that superseded a reductivist view of the subject.

Keywords:

Architectural technology, spatial-aesthetics, Computer Aided Design (CAD), teaching and learning.