Ontological Approaches in Architectural Education: Phenomenology and Object-Oriented Design in Practice
Abstract
This research adopts an ontology-based approach to theorizing the pedagogical dimensions of ontology that emerge through the architectural curriculum via the thing-tool-object framework. Architectural design, in this context, encompasses the mental, logical, and intuitive aspects related to processes of knowledge, production, and creation. Ontological approaches that prioritize holistic understanding beyond isolated parts challenge representational production processes and focus on the relational structure of knowledge. In architectural education, the MSFAU Introduction to Architectural Design course problematizes the pedagogical formation of architectural epistemology by integrating phenomenological and object-oriented approaches. These approaches examine how scaled drawings and modeling represent the formal knowledge of architectural objects and how this relates to the phenomenal reception of spatio-temporal experiences. The research aims to identify the transformation of the ontological status of formal architectural knowledge within its pedagogical context through practical applications. The study addresses key issues in architectural education: the representation of spatial awareness, design as intervention, interventions and phenomenal conditions in design processes, the rationalization of anthropometric data, scaling, modeling, and the relational distances between things, tools, beings, and objects in design.
Keywords
Ontological approach, architectural education, phenomenology, object-oriented design.
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