Geometry and light. The luminous experience as a didactic strategy in architectural education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18537/est.v016.n031.a04Keywords:
embodied learning, project-based learning, design-based didactics, content analysis, islamic latticeAbstract
Theoretical courses in architecture often become detached from bodily and sensory practices that underpin the recognition of architectural space, limiting spatial understanding to abstract concepts and theories. This issue was explored through a pedagogical experience in a first-year Architectural History course aimed at integrating theoretical content with a perceptual approach through light. A series of Islamic lattices were designed and built at 1:1 scale, and the experience was documented through participant observation, photographic recording, and students’ written reflections examined using content analysis. The luminous atmosphere generated responses of silence, astonishment, and tactile exploration, and the concepts of light and shadow, intimacy, atmosphere, and geometry appeared repeatedly in the students’ accounts. The results suggest that phenomenological experience at full scale fosters embodied cognition and can transform theoretical courses into experimental spaces for design-oriented thinking.
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