Mimari tasarım stüdyosunda işlemsel tasarım ve ekoloji tabanlı bir yaklaşım önerisi
A proposal for a computational design and ecology based approach to architectural design studio
Yazar: DERYA KARADAĞ
Danışman: PROF. DR. FATMA ZEYNEP AYGEN ; DOÇ. ÇETİN TÜKER
Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi / Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimari Tasarım Sorunları Bilim Dalı
Derece: Doktora, 2018
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture

Özet:
Mimarlık mesleğinin tarihsel süreçteki gelişimini üç ana eksen üzerinden okuyabilmekteyiz;  insan ve toplumun ihtiyaçlarından kaynaklanan tasarım problemine üretilen çözüm ve uygulamalar, mimarlık düşüncesindeki dönüşümlerin tasarım ve yapım yöntemlerine yansıması ve kullanılan temsil-üretim araçları. Yaşadığımız yüzyılda insan etkinlikleri nedeniyle yeryüzü, daha önce görülmemiş bir hızla büyüyen ekolojik krizle, buna bağlı olarak da ekosistemlerin ve canlı türlerinin hızla yok olması tehlikesiyle karşı karşıyadır. Ekolojik kriz, insan nüfusunun artışı ve ekonomik etkinlikler, kaynakların tükenmesi, yoğun ve yaygın bir şekilde ekosistemlerin ve biyolojik çeşitliliğin zarar görmesi gibi fenomenler ile açıklanabilmektedir. Bununla birlikte krizi doğrudan büyüten nedenler arasında, kentlerin nasıl geliştirildiği, endüstrileşmenin nasıl ele alındığı ve ekosistemlerin nasıl kullanıldığı gibi sorulara yanlış tasarım faaliyetleri ile yanıt vermek yer almaktadır. 
Mimarlık eğitimi ve mimarlık mesleği, birbiriyle etkileşimli, bütünleşik süreçlerdir; mimarın eğitimi ve eğitimde kazandığı etik ve bilimsel farkındalıklarının meslek pratiğine etkisi büyüktür. Mesleki eğitimde ekolojik yaklaşımların mevcut halinden daha fazla yer almasını, yalnızca zorunlu, seçime bağlı derslerde ve  bu konuda uzman ya da ilgili yürütücülerin yönettiği mimari tasarım stüdyolarında kazandırılması, günümüz mimari tasarım sorunlarının başında gelen bir krize yeterince yanıt verememektedir. Ekolojik tasarımın mimarlık eğitiminde önemli bir bağlam olarak ele alınması için gereken tasarım yöntemlerinin araştırılması ve öğrencinin farkındalığını artıracak yapılandırılmış proje stüdyoları ve stüdyo içinde çeşitli alıştırmaların kurgulanması, doğal ve yapılı çevrenin geleceği açısından önem taşımaktadır.
Mesleğin yapısı gereği, mimarlık eğitiminin temellerinin, öğrencilerin "saf bilginin ezberlenmesi" değil, "yapısal ihtiyaçlara ve yere bağlı olarak doğru bilgilere ulaşıp tasarım problemine bağlı olarak yeniden üretecek yöntemleri geliştirmesi"ne dayanması gerekmektedir. İşlemsel tasarım yöntem ve araçları, tam da bu tanımlamaya uygun tasarım çerçeveleri kurgulanabilmesini sağlamaktadır.  
Mimarlıkta işlemsel tasarım ve ekolojik yaklaşımların ara kesiti iki boyutta incelenebilir; tasarım eyleminin bilişsel süreçlerini dönüştüren bir yöntemsel yaklaşım ve insan zihninin daha geniş ve disiplinler arası bir perspektiften veri almasını sağlayan araçların kullanılması.
Bu çalışma mimarlığa dair üç araştırma alanını bir araya getirecek şekilde yapılmıştır; mimarlık eğitimi, işlemsel tasarım ve ekoloji. Çalışmanın esas amacı, mimarlık öğrencilerinin işlemsel tasarım yöntem ve araçlarının yardımıyla yapılandırılmış bir proje sürecinde, ekolojik tasarım bağlamındaki  "anlama", "farkındalık", ve "yapabilme" düzeylerinin hangi yönde ve nasıl etkilendiğini ölçmektir.

Abstract:
The historical progress of the architectural profession can be analyzed along three main axes: solutions and implementations to the design problem arising from the requirements of people and society, the reflection of changes in architectural thinking on the design and construction methods, and the tools used for drafting, representation and production. In the current century, the earth is facing an ecological crisis which is growing at an unprecedented pace. An ecological crisis can be defined by resource depletion and the intense destruction of ecosystems and biodiversity due to human activity. Importantly, issues affecting the severity of the crisis such as how cities are developed, how industrialization is addressed, and how ecosystems are used are intimately related to design decisions.
Architecture education and the profession of architecture constitute an interrelated and integrated process. In other words, the ethical and scientific awareness that the architect gains during her education affects her professional practice. The fact that ecological approaches to architectural design studio are taught only in elective courses does not adequately address the problem. The consideration of ecological architecture as an important element of the design education is important for the future of natural and built environments. For the achievement of this goal, it is necessary to make research about the required design methods and construct various exercises within the structured project studio to enhance the student's awareness. Due to the dynamic base of the concept of ecology, there is not yet a complete definition of ecological design and architecture that is a single definitely effective. On the other hand, considering the diversity of ecosystems, it seems that a research for an integrated and interactive design approach that can produce solutions with different ecological perspectives for different problem areas is needed instead of a single definition. Giving the awareness of this quest to the prospective professionalist, is important in terms of to be the base for ecological design perspective, architectural design and practice. 
Based on the structure of the profession, it is necessary that the foundations of architectural education should not be based on the "memorization of information" but should be based on the "development of methods to reproduce the structural requirements and the exact information depending on the design problem". Computational design methods and tools enable to build the design frameworks suitable for this definition.
Architecture is a discipline that continuously produces information through research in the field of education and professional practice. This process of 'knowledge generation' is also influenced significantly by the act of developing new technology and digital tools as well as by an interdisciplinary approach to architecture. The effects of the computiatonal tools of design processes cannot be denied for the shaping of the architecture. Beyond having knowledge of the use of these tools, it is also necessary to find a place in education for the computational logic in the forms of thought and backgrounds of their emergence.
As a subdiscipline of computational science, computational design has a structure that can form the basis for the integrated and interactive design processes described above with its methods and tools. These methods and tools of computational design influence today's architecture, from the design process to investigating materials and from collecting environmental data to understanding relevant sources. The reflection of this interaction in architectural education is inevitable. The answers that can be produced with the help of the computational design methods and tools for the ecological crisis (one of the today's main problems), have the potential to change the architecture in the terms of both education and professionalism. A detailed and interdisciplinary design process is required in order to obtain appropriate architectural solutions in the field of ecological design, where the search for the emerging environmental problems is motivated. There are a number of ecological parameters and methods that must be taken into account from initial stage of the design process to the analysis of the environmental effects in lifecycle of the structure. The theory of architecture and its education should also include inquiries that allow the built environment to be produced as integrated as possible with its surroundings. Computational design methods and tools have the potential for raise awareness of the architecture student during her education about the integrated and relational approach which is the basis of ecological design.
In the field of architecture, computational design and ecological approaches can be examined into two folds: a methodological approach that transforms the cognitive processes of design activity, and the use of tools that enable the human mind to receive data from a wider, interdisciplinary perspective. 
This study was done to bring together three research areas of architecture: architectural education, computational design, and ecology. The main focus of the study is to analyze the effects of an integrated design process model by using computational design tools in the terms of 'comprehension', 'awareness'  and 'ability' of the architectural students. 
In the Second Chapter of the thesis, the literature background of these three research areas are taken into consideration in relation to each other. This literature survey is also the first step in drawing the framework of the thesis at the intersection of these three research areas.
The Third Chapter of the thesis includes the research methods, data collection and analysis methods of the researches and the workshop study. Within the scope of the thesis, three different researches were carried out; study of curriculum and contents of architectural schools in Turkey, a questionnaire and 10 day workshop study where the proposed educational model is tested. A report of the ethics committee was taken for all these researches and workshops. 
Also in the Third Chapter, the modality for using computational methods and tools in design studios are suggested for undergraduate education of architecture. The context of these methods is to create a framework that will increase their ecological awareness by directing the designer to a relational and integrated thought and gathering the environmental data with the use of digital tools.
In the Fourth Chapter, the results of the course content and questionnaire investigations mentioned in the methodology section are included. The purpose of the investigations is to find answers to the following questions.
• Which features of computational design methods and tools in architectural education are at the forefront and which are missing?
• What are the effects of ecological approaches in the current architectural education?
• Is there an interaction between the architectural design studio and the compulsory and elective courses?

In the Fifth Chapter of the thesis, the proposed educational model was tested by a 10-day workshop. The workshop participants were asked to choose one of the university campuses in Turkey to design a living space of 30 m2 in which they would decide on their integration with environment and plan settlements. The first week of the workshop was evaluated as 'control process' and the second week was evaluated as 'training process'. In the control process participants from different universities were told to work with their own traditional design methods without any manipulations. However, the second week was started by giving training about the modality described in methodology. 
During the last days of both first and second week of the workshop, students presented their weekly works. Decoding the presentation registrations of the participants, the development between the two version could be investigated. The deciphered texts were converted to mind maps by qualitative methods and the differences were evaluated. Besides, the individual interviews with participants were also recorded and evaluated. All participants presented their first design decisions and projects in the first week of the 10-day workshop period with their own chosen presentation techniques. In the second week, they formed their contextual maps that would reshape the design processes. Then, they have critically looked at their own initial designs and added them to the design criteria by determining the context, possibilities, and constraints they found missing. In addition, the data about the design criteria gathered from the taught programs are added to the contextual maps. Due to the short duration, in the second week's presentations, it was observed that there was no time for new design solutions, although, the contextual maps and critiques of their first and second week decision processes  were taken into consideration. Results were assessed not by the participants' designs but by the new approaches and the use of digital tools in the design process, to relate the bond that they have established with the environment and ecological awareness. 
Comparing the mind maps of participants, it can be observed that there is a relation between to have the perception of integrative and relational thinking based on computational design logic and to take into account of environmental data. All of the participants take the requirement program, the relation of the units and their settlement as the design criteria, starting from the problem of the architectural design given at the beginning. However, from the beginning of the process, although a campus had been chosen for specially and the importance of the relationship with the features of the environment had been told, the participants took into consideration only criteria such as transportation, landscape or the certain characteristics of the surrounding. Despite this, it is not possible to say that these datas are integrated with the design of the living unit. 
Six of the eight participants chose to return to the beginning of the design process with the knowledge they had created, after building and supporting integrated and relational contextual maps based on computational design logic. As the other two participants were working with data focus from the very beginning, they only analyzed their own design decisions and arranged the design with minor changes. Although the absence of emphasis of ecological design, and also, no training was given in this regard, the participants expanded their studies to include topics such as passive conditioning systems, solar control and special solutions for non-interruption of the recirculation of earth's water resources. In other words, it can be said that such architectural design problems have also begun to be part of the design process by using the computational design modality. The workshop details, described in the Fifth Chapter of the thesis, clearly shows that proposed education method for students is a contribution to constructing a relational and integrated project process and ecological awareness.
Findings in the researches and workshop study were evaluated and discussed in the conclusion section of the thesis, and it was aimed to provide a contribution for future studies.

Keywords: Architectural Education, Architectural Design Studio, Computational Design, Computer-Aided Design, Ecological Design