An Experimental Educational Approach through Teaching the History of Architecture and Heritage for a better Practice in Architectural Design

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Architecture Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Egypt.

Abstract

Many architecture schools do not apply experimental learning in teaching theoretical courses like the history of architecture courses. There is a gap between what the students learn in theoretical courses like architectural styles in history courses and design practices. History classes are taught with a teacher-oriented approach, where students miss active and experimental learning. As a result, in the Egyptian urban setting, we find buildings designed using architectural styles, mostly Classical designs, without respecting the technical, aesthetic, and human factors. Furthermore, nowadays, the Egyptian government is very active in constructing the new Administrative Capital of Egypt. The new city is located 45 kilometers East of Cairo, and it is planned to be Egypt's new business and financial center. The new Downtown of the new capital city, or "The new Garden City," is planned to reassemble Khedival Cairo's peculiar value buildings with the renaissance, neo-classic, eclectic, and neo-baroque styles.
As architectural education cannot be separated from current architectural practices, this paper introduces the research project results in the course "History of Architecture-level two." The course was taught in the first semester of the academic year (2018-19) in Fine arts, Cairo, Helwan University, Egypt. The students were asked to select a heritage building with a peculiar value from Khedival Cairo, analyze it with the seven principles of design, and propose a design for a building's facades in the new Capital city Downtown.
This paper aims to introduce the results of the students' work, analyzing their designs, and the effect of experimental learning in developing their intellectual skills. The paper includes the results of a designed questioner answered by the students to evaluate the research project and the link between the history of architecture, heritage, and architecture design. The paper shows the importance of applying experimental learning and linking theoretical and practical courses for achieving better architecture practice.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  • 6           References

    ·            Abouelmagd, Doaa., “Teaching history in architecture: active, cross-disciplinary and experiential learning approach versus the traditional forms of instruction”, 10th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED2016), Valencia (Spain), 7 - 9 March (2016a), ISBN: 978-84-608-5617-7 ISSN: 2340-1079 DOI: 10.21125/inted.2016.1462, pp. 2179–2190.

    ·            Abouelmagd, Doaa., “Evaluating the cross-disciplinary and experiential learning approach used in teaching history in architecture, 10th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED2016), Valencia (Spain), 7 - 9 of March (2016b), ISBN: 978-84-608-5617-7 ISSN: 2340-1079 DOI: 10.21125/inted.2016.1467, pp. 2202– 2214.

    ·            Amarna. “Amarna The Place”,  Amarna project. https://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/index.shtml (accessed August 20, 2020)

    • BECAMI, Belle Époque Cairo Museums Itinerary. https://becami.com (accessed August 30, 2020)
    • Ching, Francis, N. J. Architecture form, space, and order, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996.
    • Chinowsky. P. S.  and, Robinson, J.  "Facilitating interdisciplinary design education through case histories," Proceedings Frontiers in Education 1995 25th Annual Conference. Engineering Education for the 21st Century, Atlanta, GA, USA, 1995, pp. 4a3.6-4a3.9 vol.2, DOI: 10.1109/FIE.1995.483170
    • Cimadomo, Guido. “Teaching History of Architecture - Moving from A Knowledge Transfer to A Multi-Participative Methodology Based on It Tools”, Journal of learning and design, 7. No. 3 (2014) pp 79-90
    • ECG, Engineering Consultant Group (ECG) R5 project brief report (2018)
    • Graham, C.W., & Geva, A. “Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Studio Experience To Teach Architecture and Construction Science Students the Design-build Project Delivery Method”. Journal of Construction Education, the Associated Schools of Construction Summer 6, No. 2 (2001) : 75- 90.
    • Hein, Carola., Van Dooren, Elise., “Teaching history for design at TU Delft: exploring types of student learning and perceived relevance of history for the architecture profession”. Int Journal of Technology and Design Education 30,  (2020): 849–865. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-019-09533-5
    • Irizarry, Javier., Meadati, Pavan., and Gheisari, Masoud., “The Need and Challenges for Interdisciplinary Education in AEC”, Conference: Construction Research Congress, (2010) DOI: 10.1061/41109(373)23.
    • Khan, M. F. “Interdisciplinary Collaborative Design”, International Conference on Architecture Pedagogy-(2019), New Delhi, India.
    • MHUUC,. Ministry of Housing Utilities & Urban Communities, URL: http://admin.mhuc.gov.eg//Dynamic_Page/637170960473890384.pdf  (accessed August 30, 2020)
    • Petersen,  Andrew. “Baghdad (Madinat al-Salam)”, Islamic Art and Architecture. https://web.archive.org/web/20160916131027/http://islamic-arts.org/2011/baghdad-madinat-al-salam/  (accessed August 20, 2020)
    • Sonderman, John. “the history of Washington DC”, Washington DC. https://washington.org/dc-information/washington-dc-history (accessed August 20, 2020)
    • Volait, Mercedes. “The Birth of Khedivial Cairo”, RAWI Egypt's Heritage Review,  https://rawi-magazine.com/articles/khedivial_cairo_birth/ (accessed August 30, 2020)

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics