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E&PDE 2026 - 28th International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education
The Conference will bring together representatives from education and industry interested in sharing new perspectives on design education.
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OBSERVATIONS ON STUDENT DESIGN STRATEGIES IN THE CONTEXT OF A COLLABORATIVE TIMBER DESIGN WORKSHOP
Hay, Tom; Gil Pérez, Marta
Type:
Year:
2026
Editor:
Buck, Lyndon; Brisco. Ross; Bohemia, Erik
Author:
Series:
E&PDE
Institution:
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; Technical University Eindhoven, Netherlands
Page(s):
439 - 444
DOI number:
ISBN:
978-1-912254-24-8
ISSN:
3005-4753
Abstract:
Between 6th and 15th November 2025, Southeast University, China, hosted a cross-cultural workshop in the design of timber structures with the participation of masters level engineering and architecture students from the Royal Danish Academy, TU Eindhoven, Netherlands, and students from the host institution. The workshop entitled ‘Geometric deformation of wood’ provided the opportunity for students to develop design ideas informed by the structural behaviour of timber by drawing, making, testing and analysing. The workshop was based on peer learning within self-selected (culturally mixed) groups with informal input from tutors of the various institutions. The design brief was open with no specific assessment other than a presentation and discussion at the end. The students had access to a timber workshop as well as studio facilities. This paper examines the success of the various learning strategies adopted by the 29 students in 7 groups, in response to the workshop framework, based on informal conversations with the students during the workshop and the content of the final presentations. Design methods chosen included brainstorming, speculative tests of timber and bamboo samples, examination of precedent (already known and searched for), digital form-finding, analysing and prototyping. It was observed that the groups typically embraced divergent strategies in the early stages, and most coalesced around a single or several ideas with productive periods of convergence within the short timeframe of the workshop with clearly defined outputs despite the open-ended brief.
Keywords:
