Learning from the Masters: Research by Desing in Architectural Education for non-architects

Abstract

This paper presents a teaching experience in Architectural Design addressed to Building Engineerig students in Italy, who receive a reduced education in the field compared to architects, while sharing professional attributions. This context turns the course into a laboratory where Research by Design (RbD) operates as a learning accelerator, structured in three phases following Frayling’s classification (into, for, through design): theoretical framework, micro-exercises and integrative Project. Teaching, organized around universal categories –order, geometry, light, beauty and matter– is linked to the work and throught of the Masters of Architecture, from whom students learn critically and in practice. Results show that, even for non-initiated profiles in Design, RbD enables the generation of autonomous and reflective knowledge, building “cognitive scaffolds” that bring students closer to architectural culture and to the challenges once faced by their own Masters.