Engaging with site-specific design through experiential learning and case-based learning

Andrea Moneta

The exposition presents findings and outputs from a trans-disciplinary research project involving students and tutors of level 5 BA Architecture and Theatre design courses of NTU. The process of reading, understanding and interpreting the inner character and performative attributes of architecture, and in-depth exploration and expression of spatial practice, are essential aspects for any design intervention on existing buildings for site-specific performance, but they are not enough used for architectural design. The originality of the action research lies in its trans-disciplinary approach and methodology derived from theatre and performance design, aimed at helping Architecture students to engage with the character of architectural spaces as a propaedeutic step of their design. The final goal was not just the resolution of a specific didactic need, but also the realisation of a resource for educators and practitioners, so to fill a gap in the literature of site-specific design methodology. The academic literature regarding site-specific performance, in fact, is more oriented in depicting its historical background, describing past and current practice, than summoning up its methodologies and applications. For this research Moneta designed and planned a series of multidisciplinary learning activities (perception lab, mapping, dramaturgy of the place) using a constructivist approach, within a collaborative design project with level 5 BA Architecture and Theatre design students, involving the exploration of an historical building in Worksop (UK). The research utilised a combination of Active Learning approach, based on Kolb's Experiential Learning and Case-based learning (CBL); a final questionnaire measured the impact of the research: 87.4% of students agreed that this new methodology helped them to design for site-specific places. Moneta summoned the research in a resource for colleagues in the form of a Poster that explained its methodology, identifying nodal points and learning activities to improve design for site-specific in BA level design courses. The research was peer-reviewed as part of PGCAP final assessment, and the Poster was exhibited at TILT showcase 2019.

Conclusion

During the collaboration with BA (Hons) Architecture, I found out that students struggled to engage with site-specific design to unearth the inner character of a given architecture. And it is especially complicated when students are asked to produce a design response for a sustainable re-use of an historical building in its complexity.

The objective of this research project is to test and measure the impact of a series of learning activities rooted on Experiential learning and Case Based Learning theories, to help students to engage with site-specific design.

Using Experiential learning, I allowed the students to completely immerse themselves in the complex array of information and stimuli embedded in a given historical building –their subject of the year- and to build their own understanding through direct experience, reflection, conceptualization and experimentation. Case Based Learning contributed to realize scenarios within the project, which helped students to apply storytelling to unveil thoughts, ideas and foster their creative response.

The project had been structured following Kolb’s four-stage learning cycle; I designed and planned five activities and three sub activities divided on two days, spanning from Perception Lab with the Mapping of the site, to in-class peer-review of students’ findings, from Dramaturgy of the Place to Presentation.

I had the chance to collect positive verbal feedback from students and colleagues during all phases and to measure the impact of the research project with a questionnaire for the students. Data collected with the questionnaire evidenced that the project was successful and met the learning outcomes derived from my research question: 87.4% of the students agreed that this methodology helped them to design for site-specific places.

Main findings of the project include:

- Effectiveness of building students’ knowledge through experiential learning;

- Architecture is not a passive condition, but the result of a co-creation where everyone contributes to it and that is in a dialogue with the building that we could engage with its peculiar character;

- Integrating the available knowledge and technical information about the architecture with the psychophysical direct experience using students’ senses, instinct, feelings, to build an ability to interact with the place;

- The importance to test our academic practice out of the comfort zone, exploring different contexts and applications through collaborations with other courses.

The Resource that I then prepared for colleagues follows the aim to extend my academic practice in different contexts; to test the validity of a multi-disciplinary methodology that utilized site-specific theatre practice as an instrument to intervene on the intangible aspects of architecture helping the designer to build a dialogue with it.

The Resource is also aimed at filling a gap in the literature of site-specific practice; in the form of a Poster (Appendix 4), it briefly summarizes the integrated methodology based on experiential learning and Case Based Learning, identifying nodal points and learning activities to improve design for site-specific for both Theatre Design and Architecture courses at BA level.

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