Building Structure Design as an Integral Part of Architecture: A Teaching Model for Students of Architecture

This paper explores the place of structural design within undergraduate architectural education. The role and format of lecture-based structure courses within an education system, organized around the architectural design studio is discussed with its most prominent problems and proposed solutions. The fundamental concept of the current teaching model in the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) is quite appropriate for the education of future architects. If we consider that the main occupation of an architect is to design, then, naturally, the design studio should be at the center of the curriculum. Since the act of designing cannot be realized without artistic skills and scientific and theoretical knowledge it is also suitable that the activities in design studios are backed up with relevant lecture courses. On the other hand, the importance of effective structural design knowledge for an architect is emphasized within the context of a country that encountered major earthquakes in the past.