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An unspoken issue of increasing priority in architectural education is the under developed differentiation between architecture and technology. Almost all of the qualifications whereby an architect is prepared for and is permitted to practice professionally are technological parameters. But architecture is not technology. Architecture is, however, both protected by and obscured thru technology being in the forefront that means it is both of benefit and a hindrance.

Architecture being undifferentiated from technology and named in terms of technology thus allows the issue to stay safely within the pragmatic assertion of professionalism that is set up during an education mainly controlled by the profession. Within that is a nascent architectural impulse that resides largely unspoken but which is nonetheless evolved and evolving and shared. The unrevealed architecture generates an aura of the mysterious and the radical which that contributes a greatly to the intensity of mundane and well known work.

This paper examines how architectural technology obviates a space of differentiation within architecture, which may be examined phenomenologically in terms of the essence of humanity, whereby architecture has an original ontological correlation with human aspiration. This will be supported with the well known — for brevity — theoretical and practical examples around the work of Heidegger, Louis I. Kahn. Along with phenomenology, we will introduce philosophies of spiritual practice collectively called rajayoga. The latter is a millennia long experiment with well documented research into human aspiration. The paper concludes with examples of architecture presencing this space of differentiation and suggests the implications on the profession of an education that scan develop the super-ordinate program that is architectural practice.

The purpose of this paper is to review mobility-oriented criteria that inform the on-the-move use of digital technology. It addresses aspects of mobile technology-enhancement learning and the perceived differences between mobile lecturers and mobile learners in a higher education (HE) context in an Architectural Technology domain.

A review of literature comprising journal and peer-reviewed conference papers, books and e-articles published between 2009 and 2016 was conducted. The review was supplemented by the administration among facilitating lecturers (n=3) and a cohort of undergraduate students (n=14) of custom-designed survey questionnaires, comprising open-ended and closed items. Qualitative analysis via ATLAS.ti of literature sources and questionnaire-based feedback led to a theoretically grounded codebook enhanced by empirically based items.

Qualitative analysis of literature sources and respondent feedback produced guidelines for mobility in HE environments and led to a set of 32 criteria grouped pragmatically in six themes, namely: mobile technology; stakeholder outlook; effectiveness; facilitation; capability and interactivity. Furthermore, perceived differences between mobile lecturers and mobile students emerged and informed institutional decisions regarding mobility in educational contexts.

The study was limited in the following ways: although the all facilitating lecturers (3) and the enroled cohort of students (14) was selected, this sample is small. The institutional comprises several campuses, faculties and departments covering a wide spectrum of domains. However, the study was purposively and conveniently limited to a single innovative and blended, undergraduate Architectural Technology programme. Face-to-face interviews were not feasible limiting primary data collection to online survey questionnaires; and finally, the study was not longitudinal but designed to be based on a “slice in time” context.

Strategic, tactical, and operational stakeholders such as institutional leadership; administrators; courseware designers; lecturers; and students benefit from this study.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by speaking to capabilities of mobile technology in a digital milieu. It guides practical mobility considerations in HE environments and supports competitive advantage decision-making. The paper establishes awareness of mobility differences between mobile lecturers and mobile students thus highlighting concepts associated with the ad hoc use of mobile technology among HE stakeholders.

Design studio and technology subjects are two dominant parts of the architecture curriculum. How to integrate these different parts of the curriculum is one of the important challenges in architecture education around the world. With increasing internationalisation of both the profession and higher education, an understanding of similarities and differences across the globe is important. This paper illustrates two different approaches to such integration in two very different contexts: case studies at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia and the University of Tehran (UT) in Iran.

The study implemented a case study approach based on document analysis methods. This paper explores the integrated role of technology subjects in architecture education, followed by a critique of the teaching of technology within the design studio. The analysis is conducted across four significant features of the curriculum.

Overall, in both programmes, the aim is for students to develop architectural knowledge and skills; although the Iranian programme has a stronger focus on knowledge, the Australian programme has a stronger focus on the application of knowledge and skills, particularly within the design studio projects.

The comparative analysis of architectural education in these two different contexts offers an insight into alternative approaches to teaching technology. Such an insight may offer guidance in curriculum development to support the exploration of new hybrid approaches as well as supporting international student mobility.

This paper aims seeks to reflect on the transition of a school of architecture to incorporate sustainability principles as a core part of its undergraduate (Part I) programme. The paper offers a brief overview of the processes undertaken and outcomes of this to an integrated problem-based learning approach and with sustainability at its core changing both knowledge content and pedagogical approaches.

Reflecting on the transition to a sustainability-based curriculum, this paper makes use of a mixed methods approach incorporating a review of literature on sustainability in architectural education, pedagogical approaches and epistemology, as well as educational issues in sub-Saharan Africa. The main study made use of an ethnographic approach, including document analysis, interviews, observations and one-on-one informal interactions with students, faculty and alumni.

While the transition to a sustainability-based curriculum was achieved, with integrated studio courses at second- and third-year levels, this did not come without challenges. Divided opinions of formal education, linked to preconceived ideas of what constituted architectural education led to some resistance from students and professionals. Nevertheless, the programme serves as testament to what is achievable and provides some lessons to schools seeking to transition programmes in the future.

The paper contributes to discourses on sustainability in architectural education, examining the transition taken by an architectural programme to incorporate sustainability as a core part of its curriculum. The outcomes of this process provide advice that could be useful to schools of architecture seeking to integrate sustainability into their programmes.

As the first architecture programme in East Africa to integrate sustainability principles into its programme, this study provides an insight into the processes, experiences and outcomes of this transition. This reflective engagement highlights value of an enabling environment in any transitional process.

This paper reports on the use of Information Technologies (IT) in the South African building industry. It offers an insight into the architecture profession, a profession that plays a major role in the construction sector. The analysis is based on the results of a survey conducted in the Western Cape Province during the year 2000. In an attempt to uncover the similarities and differences between the local context and the international one, this paper outlines a few elements of IT for comparison. After a brief introduction to the IT map of South Africa, the analysis concentrates on the following four issues: Response and Respondents, General IT usage, Use of Computer‐Aided‐Design (CAD) and Use of Networks. Each of these issues is framed in both the local and the international contexts. Despite the shortcomings of using different questions with different emphasis when referring to other surveys, it is still believed that reporting on local practices is not extremely meaningful in isolation. It is hoped that this type of analysis will serve to unravel the particulars of the construction industry in South Africa providing its counterparts with a new perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Chinese municipal infrastructure management using urban landscape design smart technologies and to propose an adaptive approach to introduce the best policy and architectural sustainable planning in the country.

The topic of urban environment design is deemed significant as no universal model for the implementation of landscape design ideas in China have been proposed yet.

The study presents the authors' socioeconomic and socio-ecological vision of the strategies closely related to sustainable development concept. Besides, the paper provides a comparative analysis of the developed vision and other studies' approaches to determining Chinese cities' readiness for the implementation of smart services, architectural and territorial planning in conformity with the laws of nature. The study uncovered the main directions and residents' preferences for the introduction of urban environment design technologies in the cities of China for sustainable management of territories.

Step-by-step recommendations were developed for municipal infrastructure management. The article proposes directions for sustainable architectural planning and urban landscape design in compliance with the principle of harmonious human–nature coexistence and environmental safety.

Design studios experienced an unprecedented contribution of technology when it came to organizing studios online, as imposed by COVID-19, which requires exploration of its impacts on the main metaphors of education, learning dimensions, and undoubtedly studio culture.

In order to explore the impacts on the key dimensions of learning, a careful investigation was carried out from organizational, instructional, and learner points of view. The investigation utilized thematic analysis of records of pedagogical actions, as well as online communications, performance, and questionnaire responses of students to infer the conclusions. The freshmen architecture students were found to be an important group for study since they had no previous experiences in on-site design studios and will continue their education based on their first-year experiences.

Exploration of indicators—including reflective dialogue, retention, transfer of learned information to decisions, processing feedback as an investment in future performance, and self-regulation—as major contributors to design learning revealed that first-year students exhibited strong presence and interaction during online studio, and students' individuality influenced the teaching environment in terms of content and process. Hence, sense of belonging, which is a revamped feature of authentic context and studio culture, expands toward fortification of bottom-up educational frontiers.

Developing pedagogies with no concern for the unprecedented impacts of the transformative role of technology on fundamental layers of design education will adversely influence students' chances of personal and professional success. The findings in this paper, regarding the transformational impacts of technology on design studio culture, follow investigation of the direction it has led current and can lead future design education. The study provides unique support for crystalizing new teaching and learning opportunities and pedagogical developments.

Formal architecture curriculum necessitates students to observe their architectural experience and environment, which cannot be comprehended entirely in a classroom alone. However, complications in handling site visits and the Covid-19 pandemic can affect their overall learning experience. This study seeks to uncover (1) how a learning tool can be designed to actively enrich novice designers' personal spatial understanding and (2) how will the experiential learning (EL) with immersive learning technology (ILT) replace the actual concrete experience (CE) in enriching the novice designers' personal spatial experience during the architecture design process.

The current research focuses on novice designers (first-year architecture students) who seem to lack personal spatial experience. Findings from a personal spatial experience survey (PSES) conducted in the earlier stage of the research established that each learner had had a different level of spatial experience, which affected their approach in the design process. A learning tool called Architectural Spatial Experience Simulation (ASES) was designed, developed, implemented and evaluated with an experiential learning model (ELM) framework.

The findings suggest that the use of ASES in the ELM significantly increased the learners' spatial experience. However, the simulation and framework demonstrated a different effect on the participants' spatial experience, particularly on learners with minimal spatial experience.

This study benefits the architecture learning process by providing a tool and a framework to remedy the emerging issue concerning novice designers. The finding contributes to the body of knowledge by expanding the application of EL theory in architecture education.

In the construction industry, building facade systems are gaining significance as reflected in the number of facade product innovations available on the market. While research studies on the adoption of these facade product innovations are comparatively limited in number. An awareness of the advantages and impacts that a product innovation brings is critical in its adoption, and therefore the purpose of this paper is to develop a classification framework for the use of producers/vendors present the advantages and impacts of their innovative facade products to the architects.

The study, in addition to literature review, consisted of four main steps without distinct boundaries, namely, (1) case study sample selection regarding facade products, (2) data collection through review of published documents, analysis of the data via content analysis and generation of a preliminary framework for the evaluation of facade product innovations, (3) further data collection through semi-structured interviews and analysis of the products and (4) redefining innovation types and finalizing classification framework through assessment of new facade products.

Innovation types may vary according to the product groups under investigation and viewpoints of the classifications. Selected facade products were evaluated in terms of their specific characteristics through identified viewpoints: as a physical object and as an agent. It was revealed that assessing a product innovation in terms of changes in its structural composition and impact on other related physical objects/processes can change the type of innovation. Additionally, insights about improved characteristics specific to facade products, forms of change in these products and architects' new actions in the facade design process were obtained.

Only the products stated by the producers/vendors as being new to the Turkish market at the time they were introduced were evaluated in terms of all aspects proposed in the framework. For these products and others that were evaluated, the product data obtained from the producers/vendors have been deemed to be accurate. Research on equivalent products in the market has not been conducted.

Studies identifying innovation types in the facade industry are very rare. The proposed framework can be regarded as a detailed investigation of product innovation types in the facade industry which offers component-system level improvement/change analysis. Moreover, it can be an effective tool for producers/vendors to ensure that architects have knowledge about their innovative products and their impacts on facade design and also to facilitate the adoption of these products.