Yaparak öğrenme ve dijital fabrikasyonun kesişimi: Kendi aracını tasarlamak
The intersection of learning by doing and digital fabrication: Designing your own tool
Yazar: EKİN ÜNLÜ
Danışman: DOÇ. DR. SEMA ALAÇAM
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimari Tasarım Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2022
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture
Dizin: Bilgisayar destekli tasarım = Computer aided design ; Tasarım eğitimi = Design education ; Yaratıcılık = Creativity

Özet:
Endüstriyel çağ öncesi yaparak öğrenmeye dayalı ve zanaat odaklı inşaa süreci, endüstriyel çağ sonrasında teknolojinin sağladığı olanaklarla yeniden gündeme gelmiştir. Tasarımcılar, teknolojinin gelişmesiyle birlikte yeni bir dijital zihniyeti benimsemektedir. Tasarıma eklemlenen dijital üretim araçları tasarımcının yeteneklerini artıran, çoğaltan ve zenginleştiren araçlar olarak nitelendirilse de, bu araçların kullanım süreçleri tasarımcının yaratıcı düşünme süreci ile çelişebilmektedir. Tasarım sürecinde kullanılan hemen hemen bütün bilgisayar destekli tasarım ve üretim yöntemleri, kullanıcının bilgisayarda bir dosya oluşturmasıyla başlayıp, kullanıcının dosyayı makineye göndermesiyle sonlanmaktadır. Örneğin tasarım nesnesinin eklemeli olarak üretim sürecinde kullanıcı, süreç üzerinde kısmen malzemenin değişimi üzerinden bir kontrole sahip olsa da dosya gönderildikten sonra sadece izleyiciye dönüşmektedir. Her ne kadar yeni dijital zihniyet benimsenmiş olsa da dijital üretim araçlarının operasyonel mantığının anlaşılmasındaki eksiklik devam etmektedir. Çoğunlukla endüstriyel amaçla kullanılan bu dijital üretim araçları, tasarımda süreçten ziyade son aşamaya dahil edilerek kontrollü ve kesin sonuçlara neden olmaktadır. Sonuç olarak tasarım sürecinde doğrusal bir şekilde araçla kurulan ilişkiler tasarımın keşfetmeye ve yinelemeye dayalı süreci ile arasında bir gerilim barındırmaktadır. Diğer yandan kullanıcılar, dijital fabrikasyon araç üreticisi tarafından beklenmeyen şekillerde bu araçları kullandığında yenilik ve farklı bilgi üretimlerine olanak tanıyor gibi görünmektedir. Gelecekteki tasarım süreçlerinde dijital üretim araçları keşfedici bir şekilde nasıl kullanılır? Bilgisayar destekli tasarım araçlarıyla tasarımcının kurduğu ilişkiyi çözümleyebilmek amacıyla araç kullanıcı (tool-user), araç kırıcı (tool breaker), araç tasarımcısı (tool designer) kavramları önerilmiştir. Böylelikle araştırma bilgisayar destekli üretim araçlarında tasarımcının araç kullanıcı (tool-user) ve araç kırıcı (tool-braker) rolleri keşfe olanak sağlayabilir mi sorusu üzerine temellendirilmiştir. 
Tez kapsamında lisans düzeyinde dijital fabrikasyon araçlarının tanıldığı bir ders araştırma nesnesi olarak kullanılmıştır. Ders sürecinde dijital fabrikasyon araç ve teknikleriyle karşılaşan mimarlık öğrencilerinin bu araçları kullanma süreçleri araç kullanıcı (tool-user) ve araç tasarımcı (tool-designer) rolleri üzerinden irdelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular ve çıktılarla ilişkili olarak öğrencilerin yaratıcılıklarını teşvik eden bükme, parçalama, harmanlama stratejileri belirlenmiştir. Eylem araştırması ile incelenen ders sürecinde bu yaratıcı stratejileri teşvik eden ders, egzersiz, ödev ve konuk içerikleri önerilmiştir. Eylemler sonucunda ders sürecinde üretilen çalışmalar "bükme, parçalama, harmanlama" lensleri üzerinden incelenerek öğrencilerin kullandığı taktikler ortaya çıkarılmıştır.
Giriş bölümünde çalışmanın motivasyonu, amaçları ve yöntemi tanımlanmaktadır. İkinci bölümde, mimari tasarımda yaparak öğrenmenin tarihsel süreçteki kırılmaları ve dijital fabrikasyon araçlarının tasarımdaki yerinin güncel durumu tespit edilmiştir. Çalışmanın üçüncü bölümünde araç ve tasarımcı arasında kurulan ilişkiler, tasarımcının rolünün değişmesi ve kullanılan dijital üretim araçlarının yaratıcılığa etkisi açılarından irdelenmektedir. Dördüncü bölümde, çalışmanın çözümlendiği yöntemi olan eylem araştırması ve yaratıcı düşünme stratejileri açıklanmaktadır. Çalışmanın amacı varolan bilgisayar destekli tasarım ve üretimin tasarım eğitiminde ele alınmasına eleştirel olarak yaklaşmak ve tasarım süreçlerinde araçların yaratıcı keşiflere nasıl dahil olduğuna dair eylem araştırması yöntemiyle kanıtlar bulmaktır. Aynı zamanda tasarım sürecinde araçların rolüne ilişkin teorik bilginin yaparak öğrenme sürecinde farklı stratejilerle nasıl destekleyebileceği üzerine bir çalışma yapmaktır. Tez kapsamında önerilen stratejiler, farklı tasarım süreçlerindeki araç kullanımına ve bunların yaratıcılık üzerine kurulu literatürle nasıl örtüştüğüne bakarak ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Son bölümde ise tasarım ve üretim teknikleri dersi sürecine ilişkin öneriler geliştirilmiş ve ders süreci incelenerek stratejilerin alt gruplarını oluşturacak yeni taktikler ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Günümüzde tasarım sürecinde kullandığımız dijital üretim araçlarıyla etkileşim şeklimize yeni bir süreç önerilmektedir.

Abstract:
The craft-oriented and learning-by-doing construction process before the industrial age came to the fore again after the industrial age with the opportunities provided by technology. Designers have been adopting a new digital mindset with the advancement of technology. Although the digital fabrication tools that are fused with the design are described as tools that increase, multiply, and enrich the designer's abilities, the usage processes of these tools can conflict with the designer's creative thinking process. It can be asserted that almost all computer-aided design and manufacturing methods employed in the design process begin with the user creating a file on the computer and end with the user sending the file to the machine. For example, in the additive manufacturing operation of a design object, the user has some control over the process of material change, but when the file is sent, it only becomes a viewer. In a broader sense it can be stated that a lack of understanding of the operational logic of digital fabrication tools remains despite the adoption of a new digital mindset. These digital fabrication tools, which are mostly used for industrial purposes, are mostly used at the final phase of the design process, to obtain more controlled and precise design objects. As a result, the linear relationships and encounters between the designer and the fabrication tool might contain a tension between the explorative and iterative nature of design processes. On the other hand, when users use these tools in ways that the digital fabrication tool manufacturer did not anticipate, it appears to allow for innovation and different information production. How can digital fabrication tools be used experimentally in future design processes? The concepts of tool-user, tool breaker, and tool designer have been proposed to analyze the relationship between computer-aided design tools and the designer. As a result, the study is founded on the question of whether the designer's tool-user and tool-breaker roles regarding the use of digital fabrication tools lead to design explorations and emergent outcomes.
An elective course that introduces digital fabrication tools at the undergraduate level was used as a research object within the scope of the thesis. The tool-user and tool-designer roles of architecture students who encountered digital fabrication tools and techniques during the course were investigated. Bending, breaking, and blending strategies that encourage students' creativity were determined in relation to the findings and outputs obtained. During the course process, which was examined by action research, courses, exercises, homeworks, and invited lectures that encouraged these creative strategies were suggested. As a result of the actions, the course studies were examined through the lenses of "bending, breaking, blending," and the students' tactics were revealed. One of the problems considering the introduction of digital fabrication methods and techniques to architecture students is that the workflow of the digital fabrication tools can limit the creativity of the students, and the fabrication process proceeding in a linear process frequently leads to design fixation.  The challenge for digital fabrication courses is to encourage the imagination ability of students without imposing constraints. The aim of the study is to critically approach the existing computer-aided design and fabrication in design education and to find evidence with the action research method on how digital fabrication tools are involved in creative exploration in design processes. At the same time, it is to conduct a study on how the theoretical knowledge about the role of tools in the design process can be supported by different strategies in the "learning by doing" process.
In the introduction, the motivation, aim and method of the study are defined. In the scope of the study, it is assumed that a mostly linear process is followed in the learning of digital fabrication tools. In relation to this assumption, the study's main goal is to reveal approaches for enhancing learning processes that allow for exploration and improvisation, similar to the design process, with creative strategies and tactics in the handling of digital fabrication tools in design education.  In the scope of the thesis, constructivist theory, tool and designer relationships, digital fabrication, and creativity in design education are investigated.
In the second part, the historical thresholds of "learning by doing" in architectural design and the current situation of digital fabrication tools in design are determined. It is considered that the design process, which was based on learning by doing prior to the industrial age, continues after the industrial age, utilizing the speed and power of technology. Before the use of CAD and CAM tools, the design process was developed manually by iterative and trial and error methods, but with the widespread use of digital tools, efficient, robust, optimized designs are now produced. The incorporation of technology into the learning-by-doing process has expanded the framework of approaches that allow for exploration and improvisation.  Digital fabrication and construction is based on three pillars in theory and pedagogical research: experiential education, constructivism, and critical pedagogy. The educational process in the case study, which is designed as an exploration process, is also built using constructivism theory. The course's teaching power is derived from experiential learning or learning by doing. Learning by doing prepares students for the process of creating customizable knowledge.
The third section of the study examines the relationships established between the tool and the designer in terms of the change in the designer's role and the effect of the digital fabrication tools used on creativity. It is assumed that the designer also acquires new roles in his/her interaction with new digital technologies. Today the designer interacts with, manages and controls productive, performative processes and mechanisms. For the designer, information becomes a new material. New roles for designers are being revealed by technology and emerging knowledge. It is considered that the designer today takes on the role of tool-breaker, transitioning from tool-user to tool-builder and tool-breaker among these two roles.
The fourth chapter describes action research and creative thinking strategies, which are used to analyze the collected data in the scope of the case study. In the thesis, action research was chosen as the research method. The definition of action research, as well as the explanation and justification of participatory action research in the context of its relationship with the thesis's research question, are presented in this section. Conceptual lenses (bending, breaking, blending) are refined and proposed by examining the strategies of creativity and producing creative thoughts in the literature, as well as how the relationship with the tool in the design process can overlap with the literature.
In the fifth part, suggestions for the course process is in the context of design and fabrication techniques are developed, and new tactics that will form the subgroups of the strategies are revealed by examining the course process. Depending on the results obtained from the case study, it is concluded that the suggested actions derived from the proposed pedagogical model have potential to support student's creativity. The transition from the traditional teaching paradigm to the learning paradigm is carried out with various actions that place the student at the center of the learning experience (such as exercise, presentation). In the proposed pedagogical model, instead of constructing the course process, a fluent and dynamic course process has been passed in accordance with the precision and clarity of the learning outcomes. Students participate actively in the planning and management of their own learning due to their individual and group assignments outside of the course time. Early part of the fifth week of the course period and with the final assignment realized by transforming this assignment, CAD and CAM become a part of the design process rather than just a tool used during the semester. Digital design techniques are not only changing our representations of design, but they are also laying a new basic framework for design thinking.
In the examined case study, it is observed that students who were introduced to computational design on the computer, as well as productive drawing codes and technical systems such as Arduino, have transformed these tools into tools that will be used in their final assignment for their own designs. By changing the applications of the CAM tools they learned, the students incorporated these tools into the final assignment by creating parts of the tools they will design themselves. Throughout the course, the students' previous experiences and the experiences gained through the learning-by-doing process were inextricably linked. While some of the students tend to learn through visuals with reference from their reflection reports, others might prefer verbal content, while some of them remain unfamiliar with the exercises, they can reinforce the information individually with their own research in the post-lesson homework part or vice versa. The question of how to respond to all of these variables becomes critical. The exercises, lessons, and discussions with the students prior to the mid-term homework were gained piece by piece, and the students' familiarity with the tools was attempted to be balanced. It is structured by the learner, who gains experience and knowledge throughout the process. Students who reproduce and reevaluate their work in different contexts and with various tools are encouraged to experiment with new situations and tools.
The processes of the students' midterm and final homework were examined in the case study in accordance with the definitions made in the literature. The bending, breaking, and blending strategies in the literature were used as a triple lens in examining the project diaries and reports, and the projects of each student group were analyzed through these lenses. It is revealed at the end of these examinations how students apply tactics under these strategies. When the breaking lens process is examined, students apply tactics such as subtracting, eliminating, removing, hiding, replacing, rearranging, and repeating from these parts after dividing the fabrication process into manageable parts. When the students' working process is observed through the bending lens, it is discovered that the basic model changes the physical and mechanical properties. Deforming, inverting, transforming the rule, adapting (to another purpose), warping, adding (material, time, environmental variables), contextual shift under the bending lens is observed using tactics such as rearrangement and reorganization. Blending is a strategy that students commonly adopt when hacking the tool that they created as part of their research and final project when they first begin working. Tactics such as analogical transfer, association, synthesis, transfer, combining, superimposing, adding, simulating, adapting (source to the main model), and transferring are revealed when using the blending strategy. When the students' study processes are examined, it is discovered that the bending, shredding, and blending strategies overlap with some tactics.
As a consequence, it is assumed in this study that creativity can be achieved by activating the design process of the "bending, breaking, blending" triple lens, which constitutes the entire creative process. There are many concepts in the literature about the source of creativity and producing creative thoughts, and these concepts are intertwined. Because they are ambiguous concepts, it is apparent that they can overlap from place to place and express the same thing. The processes of the students' work are read through these three strategies in the case study, and when they apply the strategies, they reveal sub-tactics. A new process for interacting with the digital fabrication tools used in the design process is proposed.