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It used to be difficult enough for an architect trying to mediate between the
often conflicting needs of clients, builders, and engineers; but things are
only getting more complicated. Now, with increasing ease of
telecommunication--from the Internet to video conferencing--and the
ever-more-interconnected global economy, an architect's partners might not even
be on the same continent.
"Architecture firms are either embracing these new technologies or dying,"
observes Nancy Cheng, an assistant professor of
architecture at the University
of Oregon.
Architecture schools are facing a similar challenge as they struggle to
integrate into their courses the computer tools and skills training appropriate
to the profession as it will be practiced in the early twenty-first century.
"A lot of manufacturing has moved from America to parts of the world where
labor costs are much lower. The same thing is happening in architecture," she
says. "If the U.S. wants to remain competitive in this rapidly changing
environment, our architecture students must be able to use the most advanced
techniques."
To accomplish this, Cheng is exploring new ways to teach that cornerstone of
architectural education, the design studio. Traditionally, students enrolled in
the design studio work in teams to develop architectural designs from inception
and first sketches all the way through to detailed plans. Cheng has expanded
the idea of teams to include students in other parts of the world--British
Columbia, Hong Kong, Taiwan.
In her "virtual design studio," the far-flung team members collaborate
face-to-face in live video conferences and shuttle their designs back and forth
over the Internet. In one assignment, students in different countries
individually develop component parts of a larger project. Then they work
collaboratively on creating and designing an element integrating the two
parts.
"Today, merely becoming adept with the tools of the trade is not enough,"
Cheng says. "It is essential for success in this profession to learn how to
collaborate with peers."
Cheng is using the virtual design studio as a laboratory in which she conducts
research into new forms of design communication. She explores such questions as
the optimum size for virtual group collaborations and the strengths and
weaknesses of various telecommunications technologies. After analyzing these
data, she publishes the results in professional journals where others can
benefit from her findings.
Cheng notes that the pace of change, both of teaching strategies and the
profession in general, does not appear to be slowing down. The past fifteen
years have seen a sea change in the profession, as it has moved into the world
of computer-aided design (CAD), she explains. But the mouse and keyboard are
very clunky design tools, says Cheng, who expects that developments in the area
of virtual reality will be the next great advance that the profession and
educators need to assimilate.
"There are currently in development various virtual reality-based design tools
that allow an architect to enter the virtual world and shape spaces and
structures with the movement of a hand," Cheng says. "Improvements in computer
interfaces will allow us to shape and think about new types of environments."
Because of forward-looking teachers such as Nancy Cheng, architecture students
at the University of Oregon get advanced training in the tools they will be
using as architects of the twenty-first century.