Architectural Engineering Starts with Design from Day 1

This paper describes the implementation of an event for first year students of a new engineering program to build teamwork skills and introduce the iterative design process. The university of the author group has recently implemented a new Architectural Engineering (AE) program, which is believed to be the first program of its kind in Canada to integrate core engineering education with open ended design studio courses throughout the program’s entirety. An event called AE Design Days was held during the first two days of classes for the incoming AE students. Much like the program itself, the event sought to combine engineering and architectural pedagogy in a synergistic fashion. In groups of four, students were tasked with designing, building, and testing a furniture piece. The projects were evaluated by core course instructors and teaching assistants against the following criteria: identifying and proposing a solution for a problem specific to the given site, choosing an appropriate match between design, material, and construction technique, and efficiently resisting service loads. The final task of the event was a simultaneous slideshow presentation and load test where students explained their group’s design rationale, tested their designs with estimated service loads, and subsequently continued load testing to failure. Both a ‘people’s choice’ winner and overall winner were identified, with no grade being assigned to the students. According to the student survey conducted after the event, 90% of the participants felt that AE Design Days was a positive experience and wish to have a similar event in future academic terms. The paper will discuss details of the AE Design Days event and its effects on the students through the analysis of the survey questions.