Geometry-based Structural Design

The objective of this project is to develop an integrated two-year Structural Design course (Structural Design I-IV) for the first and second year architecture students at ETH Zurich, based entirely on graphical methods. The project is a collaboration between the chairs of Professor Block and Professor Schwartz.

Currently, there are two separate courses which are taught independently by the chairs of Professor Block (Structural Design I – II) and Professor Schwartz (Structural Design III – IV).
Both chairs have been teaching Structures with a focus on creative design rather than reproductive analysis, using graphical methods and physical models rather than formulas and equations.
However, their approaches to graphical methods are based on different branches of Graphic Statics (see Appendix 1), which causes confusion among the students and results in a loss of valuable teaching time. This confusion is reinforced by the use of different drawing conventions and nomenclature associated with the two approaches.

The key aspects of the project are therefore the following:
• Development of a unified graphical method for structural design and analysis bearing the unique signature of the teaching of Structural Design at ETH Zurich as it did in the past.
• Development of an integrated two-year curriculum involving both chairs throughout.
• Development of updated teaching material.
• Implementation of the new course in the online teaching platform eQUILIBRIUM.

• General enthusiasm of the students resulting from the more consistent approach to teaching: this lead to a greater willingness to include structural considerations in their design projects.

• Clarity: the increased clarity enabled by uniting two professors and exposing students to two distinct but aligned perspectives resulted in greater alignment of approach as well as increased demand for higher-level Structural Design courses and electives.

• Effectiveness of the methods: the synthesis of two previously separate modes of approach meant students were taught something they can really use and remember. Furthermore, for students in Structural Design V, a 2-credit course that is only mandatory for masters’ students who did not receive their earlier education at ETH, this synthesis meant it was possible to effectively teach them the essentials in one semester, resulting in successful structural design projects at the course’s end.

The project’s innovation was to develop a novel, consistent approach to Structural Design teaching that is appropriate to architects, allowing them to develop intuitive but rigorous ways of integrating high-level structural thinking within a flexible design freedom.

The generous funding allowed us to lay an important base, but it is a long-term project of iterations and refinements- we learned by doing, laid the foundation, but now we need time to improve and refine as we continue to teach these courses over the years.

Course evaluations:
Spring 2017 Structural Design II: Average of 4.36/5
Fall 2016 Structural Design I: Average of 4.54/5
Feedback from students (summary – via their student teaching assistants): lectures with both professors alternating and occasionally interjecting were very enriching, allowing for a more multi-faceted approach. Though during the transition period (Autumn 2015 and Spring 2016), it was initially a bit confusing, by the second iteration of the course, the approach was streamlined and refined. Furthermore, the transition of students into the second year of structures instruction received only positive feedback, since students no longer need to start from zero, but could begin where the first-year course left off. Students were also better able to design using graphic statics than in previous years (before the restructuring of the curriculum enabled by this Innovedum grant).

• Use different media to keep the material exciting and relevant; or repeat the same topic through different media, e.g. frontal, powerpoint lecture, blackboard exercise, large-scale structural demonstration model, interactive drawings (available on the Innovedum-funded platform eQuilibrium), etc.

• Distinct approaches: the team-taught course with its two professors offered different perspectives, starting points and interpretations of the course themes. When both professors were present, as happened most often, they could interject during each other’s lectures, always providing multiple perspectives.

• Learn by doing: engage students, make the material relevant to them through design projects and project-centred teaching. This allows them to make it their own and engages them more actively.

• Students teaching students: we offer the best 3rd- through 5th-year students the opportunity to become student teaching assistants and lead the Kojes. They have all taken the course previously and went through the same process, making them more relatable and approachable than the professors. This creates a closer bond and allows for more direct, sincere and unfiltered feedback as to how the course is going, whether the level of difficulty is appropriate, etc. This has proven to be a very effective mechanism.

• eQuilibrium