The Changing Role of CAAD in the Architectural Design Studio

This study is concerned with exploring students’ use of CAAD software programs, which are already available in studios and schools of architecture - to better reflect the status of CAAD in the educational context of the studio where CAAD is not an integral part of studio teaching. This study also anticipated providing a “real-context” appraisal for CAAD related issues and to know what is behind the tendency to use CAAD early in the conceptual phases of the design process. At the general level of inquiry, a questionnaire survey was designed and circulated. Also, by directly observing studio activities, the study can develop an understanding of the modern context within which the study operates. This included interviewing students through part of their design reflection at the studio and acting on those observations from a process methodological point of view. This study was able to clarify the effects of computers on the traditional context of the architectural studio, and how this would reflect on the teaching method, taking in consideration the primacy of drawings as a medium for design.