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Expanding the View: 109th ACSA Annual Meeng 1
Keywords: Design challenge, CleanTech, Platic waste,
Architecture educaon, Pedagogy.
This paper discusses the eecveness of engaging students
wi th a “design ch alle nge” to bridge th e tw o co mm on se ctors
of lecture-based courses and design studios in architecture
cu rr ic ul um . Th is st ud y is set out to des cr ib e th e pl anning an d
implementaon of a typical design challenge and crically
review its capacity in conveying as-needed technical knowl-
edge to students through both analycal and experimental
approaches. Furthermore, the paper provides empirical
evidence through an explanaon of a 90-day experience
with a team of undergrad uate student s wh o par cipated in
a university-wide CleanTech Challenge. Finally, the recent
experience of implemenng a design challenge is synthesized
into three sets of consideraons, including the instructor’s
role, the students’ engagement, and space-supplies require-
ments, and some substanal consideraons are suggested
for beer conducng a hybrid learning environment.
1. INTRODUCTION
A growing body of literature in architectural design pedagogy
indicates that the informaon carryover from a lecture-based
course into studio ulizaon is signicantly less than the
informaon carryover from as-needed studio talks or discus-
sion sessions
1
. Hence, several aempts have been made to
oer technical knowledge through some hands-on acvies
or group projects in lecture-based courses
2
. Such acvies
develop a conceptual schema and allow the acquired knowl-
edge to reside in the student’s mind for the long term. This
paper proposes the eecveness of engaging students with
a “design challenge” to bridge the two common sectors of
lecture-based courses and design studios in architecture cur-
riculum. Design challenges may be planned and implemented
as a part of a lecture-based class or be oered as an indepen-
dent opportunity within the curriculum.
In the rst secon of this paper, the specic features of a typi-
cal design challenge are described, including both its analycal
and experimental approaches in conveying as-needed techni-
cal knowledge to students. The design challenge’s specicity
is explained by comparing it with design studio projects and
research projects in lecture-based courses.
The second part of the paper describes a 90-day experience
with a team of undergraduate students who parcipated in
a university-wide CleanTech Challenge3. This part includes an
explanaon of how the students ed their technical knowledge
on waste transformaon in the building industry. Furthermore,
the students’ arfacts made out of plasc wastes, along with
the key themes that they learned and employed throughout
this challenge, are presented. In the nal secon, the recent
experience of implemenng a design challenge is synthesized
into three sets of consideraons, including the instructor’s
role, the students’ engagement, and the space-supplies
requirements. Such a discussion elucidates the contribuon of
similar design challenges to architecture educaon. Moreover,
some substanal consideraons are suggested for beer con-
ducng a hybrid learning environment.
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPELLING DESIGN
CHALLENGES
Unlike convenonal design studio projects and group projects
in lecture-based courses, where a pre-dened problem is to
be solved, a design challenge is open to include parcipant’s
thoughts in the problem idencaon
4
. Planning a design
challenge usually begins with drawing the prospecve par-
cipant’s aenon to socio-environmental concerns, such as
homelessness, the refugee crisis, pandemic health risks, and
global warming. Then, parcipants have the chance to nar-
row down a broad topic and propose a specic problem for
further invesgaon and soluon. Addionally, the outcome
of a design challenge is expected to be assessed by either
actual stakeholders or the corresponding market. However,
in convenonal design projects in both lecture-based classes
and studio sengs, a jury or team of instructors is expected
to review the design or research project’s outcomes regard-
ing the curriculum-based topics and share their thoughts with
the students. Although both types of design exercises enhance
students’ creavity and crical thinking skills, a design chal-
lenge is expected to have greater emphasis on student
iniaves and leadership in idenfying the problem and the
problem-solving process. Accordingly, students may require
study cross-disciplinary topics to accomplish the design chal-
lenge. Moreover, the instructor has a minimum instruconal
role throughout the challenge and collaborates with the team
as a facilitator or project manager.
A Technical Design Challenge: A Medium for Integrang
Technical Knowledge and Design Skills
ANAHITA KHODADADI
Portland State Univeristy
2A Technical Design Challenge: A Medium for Integrang Technical Knowledge and Design Skills
A typical design challenge is based on an iterave process that
includes the following steps:
1. Ini a o n of the challenge: According to the course-related
goals as well as a real-world problem, parcipants frame a
design challenge and arculate a design problem. The stu-
dents’ primary goals begin to shape at this early step.
2. Problem structuring: Prior to oering any soluon to the
arculated problem, the students must study the precedents
and understand the problem’s context. In this step, they are
expected to learn about the constraints that may arise from the
problem space, economic limitaons, human resources, user’s
expectaons, and polical and social maers. Furthermore,
students may need to incorporate cross-disciplinary studies
on topics far from their major to understand and solve the
problem beer.
3. Ideaon: Through a divergent thinking approach, such as a
collaborave brainstorming session, the team may propose a
series of possible soluons.
4. Early evaluaon: The team needs to lter the primary
soluons through a convergent process. They should have
dened their goals explicitly early in the rst two steps. They
may iterate the third and fourth steps to select a single or a
few soluons that t. If any contradictory objecves exist,
the team should make a trade-o or innovavely resolve the
contradicon
5
. Then, they can move on to the next step of
soluon development. They may need to revise their selecon
based on their future studies and test results.
5. Prototyping: Not all the design challenges require a physi-
cal prototype. Somemes, the expectable outcome includes
the planning or drawing of the proposal. However, in most of
the challenges, making a tangible arfact provides parcipants
with an opportunity to directly observe the performance of
the outcome and receive wider and clearer feedback from
the stakeholders.
6. Performave evaluaon: The arfac ts should be tested by
clear and pre-dened criteria and requirements. For instance,
the prototype of a portable carbon capture system can be
evaluated through an actual experiment and measure the
amount of captured carbon. Another example is the assess-
ment of praccality of a newly developed building through
the construcon process and building operaon. Shiing the
assessment system from external authories’ judgment to
user feedback and test results helps students improve their
self-assessment and crical thinking skills.
7. Post-processing: Parcipants should document the enre
process of the design challenge, including the idencaon
of the problem and relevant constraints, outcomes of brain
-
storming sessions, applied theories, design decisions, detailed
illustraons, and specicaons, as well as the results of tests
and experiments. Then, they can post-process their prototype
and make the required adjustments.
The abovemenoned characteriscs of a design challenge
help students employ technological knowledge and scienc
concepts in a new context
6
. Table 1 highlights the dierent
features of a typical design challenge with convenonal design
Table 1: The features of a typical design challenge, a convenonal design studio projec t, and a convenonal research-based design project in
lecture-based courses.
Scope Process Outcome Assessment
A research-based
design project in
lecture-based classes
• Understanding
course-related topics
• Expanding stu-
dent’s knowledge
1. Studying the pre-
dened problem
2. Proposing a solu-
on to the problem
3. Evaluaon
• Reports
• Papers
• Posters
• Presentaons
• Instructor’s
assessment
A convenonal
design studio project
•Fostering
design creavity
• Applicaon of inter-
disciplinary studies
1. Studying the pre-
dened problem and
relevant precedents
2. Designing a soluon
3. Evaluaon
• Architectural
drawings
• Mass models
• Scaled models
• Peer-review
• In-house jury usually
only from the eld
of architecture
A design challenge •Fostering
design creavity
• Cross-disciplinary
theorecal and
experimental studies
The seven described
steps, in parcular:
Problem idencaon
and post-processing
• A real-size prototype
• Supplemental
documents such
as user’s manual
• User ’s assessment
• Experimental tests
Expanding the View: 109th ACSA Annual Meeng 3
studio projects and a convenonal research-based design
project in lecture-based courses.
3. THE EXPERIENCE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF A
CLEANTECH DESIGN CHALLENGE
The PSU CleanTech Challenge is an annual design opportunity
inially planned to inspire innovators and creave student
teams to address today’s most pressing environmental
problems. In winter 2020, een third-year undergraduate
students in the Architecture program, taking tectonic courses,
parcipated in this challenge. They were expected to study the
life cycle of dierent materials, learn about cradle-to-grave
versus cradle-to-cradle cycles, and invesgate waste trans-
formaon methods. The process through which the student
ed their socio-environmental concerns with their theorecal
studies on waste transformaon is described in the following.
Steps 1 and 2: Initiation of the challenge and
problem structuring
Early at the beginning of the design challenge, some of the plas-
c waste facts raised signicant concerns. For instance, some
esmates indicate that 40 billion plasc utensils are wasted per
year in the U.S alone. Furt he r ex pl or a on has shown that pl as -
c items do not go into regular recycling containers in many
states and end up in landlls and our waterways just aer a
single-use. The small size of these items doesn’t allow them to
be sorted from other recyclable materials. Addionally, turn-
ing suc h items into new mate rials is not an ec onomic de cisio n.
Reusing the materials for purposes that let them be in close
contact with users’ bodies is abandoned because of saniza-
on consideraons. Such informaon raised concerns for the
student parcipants who were the consumers of such plas-
c items in food courts and fast-food restaurants. They had
learned that the three “R” waste management strategies are
Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle. However, they were exposed to
a situaon where reusing and recycling were rejected in some
ways. Thus, they explored further possibilies for counteract-
ing such an environmental hazard. Ulmately, reducing plasc
waste emissions through fostering relevant conversaons
with people became their rst design goal. Second, the idea
of upcycling these plasc wastes was brought up7, suggesng
the conversion of the wastes into new products and repurpos-
ing them in an improved condion.
The next step was invesgang the relevant context and con-
straints. A rough esmaon indicated that in a typical food
court discards 28,000 plasc utensils daily. This amount of
plasc waste produced by just one food court results in the
emission of more than half a kilo pound of carbon dioxide
and wastes 3,000 kW/hr of energy per day. The amounts of
discarded plasc items, carbon emission, and wast of energy
per year reach to catastrophic levels. Students determined
to design a building assembly out of plasc waste within a
brainstorming session and gives these plascs a new life cycle.
Meanwhile, students were prompted to clarify the scope of
the expected outcome by being asked the following quesons?
1. What will be the speci c advant ages and limitaons of their
arfact in comparison with the exisng products made out of
upcycled or recycled plasc material?
2. Considering three aspects of their design outcome, includ-
ing its performance, life cycle footprint, and poec expression,
what are their arfacts’ suitable applicaon?
Steps 3 and 4: Ideaon and early evaluaon
Each student made a module of a tectonic element to form a
larger surface or volume. The generated models ranged from
prototypes with regular and replicable geometry to other sets
with innite and exible geometry that could easily shape
curved and irregular surfaces (see gure 1).
Aer a discussion session, suitable alternaves that merited
further design consideraon were selected based on the fol-
lowing criteria:
1. Diversity of ulized utensils regarding their size, shape,
color, and texture
2. Required me for fabricaon of the assembly
3. Ease of making the joints (e.g., wrapping, pin-
ning, and welding)
4. Flexibility in maintenance and replacement of some ele-
ments during the life span of the assembly
5. Stability of the panels (a minimum requirement of being self-
standing was considered)
6. Compability with dierent spaal sengs such as dierent
framing layouts or posion of backup wall or structure
7. Clarit y and simplicity of geometr y of the assembly
Students emphasized their product’s socio-educaonal eects
with several backs-and-forth conversaons regarding model-
making and invesgaon of dierent aspects of the plasc
waste problem. They reached a consensus on addressing the
plasc waste issue by displaying the collected wastes in a
poec or monolithic way and encouraging their audience to be
a part of the soluon. Finally, the possibility of user’s collabora
-
on on the assembling process became the last but not the
least objecve that necessitates a low-tech design approach.
Steps 5 and 6: Prototyping and performave evaluaon
4A Technical Design Challenge: A Medium for Integrang Technical Knowledge and Design Skills
It took some iteraons to rene the geometry of the suitable
prototypes and establish an instruconal procedure for creat-
ing the geometry. A graphic assembly instrucon was prepared
to encourage the users to be a part of the manufacturing team
(see gure 2). In preparaon of this user’s manual, eorts have
been made to demonstrate the assembling process in a way
that non-exper t users can understand and become engaged.
4. DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION
In conclusion, incorporaon of a design challenge with a
technical course in an architecture program, helps students
acquire and apply the technical knowledge on an as-needed
basis. The design challenge needs to be planned thoroughly to
feature both socio-environmental concerns and the relevant
technical issues.
Fostering and sustaining student movaon are the major
concerns in the implementaon of a design challenge. Failure
to idenfy the problem or determine the design goals may
trigger disappointment and hinder students from mak-
ing a connuous eort and reiterang some steps to get
the suitable outcome. Usually, engaging students with the
Figure 1: Assembly modules of plasc utensils fabricated by a group of students at the School of Architecture, Portland State University, Winter
2020. Image credit: Anahita Khodadadi.
Expanding the View: 109th ACSA Annual Meeng 5
Figure 2: The assembly instruc ons of the one of the arfacts
created by Nate Mason. Image credit: Anahita Khodadadi
current socio-environmental crisis in their own community
will strengthen their passion for posive change. Such an
approach leads students to in-depth study and enhances their
problem-solving and leadership skills.
Furthermore, an authenc instruconal pracce can sup-
port a student’s learning and design process. The instructor
is expected to create a culture that encourages agenve
problem-solvers to take acons, to design with, and design
for community members. The instructor may also prompt stu-
dents to link the foundaonal theories and scienc concepts,
reect on the producve failure, and lead the collaborave
work to the last step. The instructor may also guide students
regarding appropriate methods of documentaon, resolv-
ing contradictory design objecves, and decision-making.
Furthermore, occasional prompts may help students to recon-
sider structure of the dened problem, and become aware of
possible mistakes in applicaon of a certain technical theory.
Partnerships with maker spaces and themed training
workshops will help students acquire the knowledge or
experience they cannot obtain through convenonal lecture-
based courses.
5. FUTURE OBJECTIVES
Future works may focus on the logic of producon based on a
completely closed resource cycle. Through this approach any
non-recyclable material can be inially designed for two or
more sets of life cycles.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My thanks to Annemarie Jacques for her contribuon to
this challenge and Juan Barraza, the Coordinator of the PSU
ENDNOTES
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Spa al Str uctu res IA SS Annua l Sympos ium. Am sterda m;
Emam i, Nilou far, and Pe ter von Buelow. 2016. “ Teac hing struc tures to archit ec-
ture students through hands-on acvies.” Canadian Internaonal Conference
on Ad vance s in Educa on, Teach ing & Techn ology. Tor onto;
Wetzel, Catherine. 2012. “Integrang Str uctures and Design in the First-Year
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3. 3. CleanTech Challenge. Acc essed November 18, 2020. hps: //www.pdx.edu/
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4. Hou sehol der, Danie l L., and Ch risne E. Haile y. 2012. Inc orpor ang Eng ineer ing
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6A Technical Design Challenge: A Medium for Integrang Technical Knowledge and Design Skills
6. 6. Sadler, Philip M., Harold P. Coyle, and Marc Schwartz. 2000. “Engineering
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