An approach to architecture design education based on hermeneutical understanding

The aim of design education in recent years is to prepare design students for a life and professional career in a world of change. New directions in design therefore, must establish a learning atmosphere in which students can face uncertainty and ambiguity without disorientation ; and can formulate viable new meanings to meet changes in the environment. Teaching and learning must take place in an intellectual atmosphere which stimulates affective and cognitive exploration of a set of design variables and design principles. The aim of this study is to emphasize the importance of an approach to architectural design education based on hermenentical understanding by introducing a specific method of teaching which I follow when working through an architectural design exercise with a group of students. According to the ideological base of the hermenentical understanding, a conceptual framework is suggested for the analysis of architectural design education. The feature of this framework is that it defines intellectual atmosphere, graphic thinking, mental matrix judgement criteria in relation to hermeneutical understanding. As a result, an attempt is made to integrate the hermeneutical understanding within analysis-synthesis and hypothesis-testing model by providing the practical and theoretical aspets of both the traditional and modern approaches to design education.