A Workshop Example of Basic Design Education in Interior Architecture

Abstract

Basic design is one of the common and introductory courses of design disciplines. It has great importance in interior architecture education as it forms the basis of design practice. Education that proceeds through abstract concepts creates difficulties for students to internalize this course. To avoid these difficulties, learning by doing has great importance. Learning by doing approach was carried out in the form of a workshop within the scope of the “Basic Design 1” course of the Department of Interior Architecture at Konya Technical University in the fall semester of 2022-2023 academic year. Students were asked to produce three-dimensional designs using basic design principles and elements. The class was divided into groups of eight people and studies were carried out with a workshop coordinator in each group. Duration of the workshop was planned as four weeks. In this study, one of the groups was selected and evaluated. In order to increase the functionality of the studies in the group, it was requested that the studies be designed as lighting elements. Addition of the lighting parameter to the design, the work has been transformed into a design problem by emphasizing the aesthetic features of the composition as well as its functionality. During the workshop, students learned to use materials and colors, to design an original composition and to integrate the lighting element into the design. Concealing the lighting element in the product, durability of the design were some of the difficulties experienced by the students. At the end of the workshop, students learned to embody the abstract concepts they learned during the year by creating a composition that considers functionality and aesthetics. As a result, it has been seen that the intelligibility of Basic Design 1, which is a course taught through abstract concepts, has increased thanks to the workshop.