TRANSLATIONS FROM PLANE TO FORM From Two-Dimensional Drawing to Three-Dimensional Design in Architecture Education

Abstract

The paper reviews innovations on a supplementary course during the first semester of architectural design studio education in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning (DAUP), College of Engineering (CENG) at Qatar University (QU). It represents a small part of a larger effort to modernize design studio education in the Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch) program to actively promote threedimensional (3D) thinking in architectural design, which is crucial for emerging architecture professionals in a rapidly-changing digital world. The paper demonstrates how to establish a foundation in the lexicon, abstract concepts, and two-dimensional (2D) organizing principles of architecture, enabling students to make a smoother transition to 3D thinking in design studio projects. In part, it is based on well-established design/research techniques used at Cambridge University’s Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies and University College London’s Space Syntax Laboratory over the last half-century. The paper concludes this approach relies on one thing more than anything else: demystifying the process of architecture through quality teaching for students.

Keywords: Abstract thinking, Education, Design studio, Model, Organizing principles