Comparative Revision of the Curriculum of Basic Design Studios in Undergraduate Studies of Architecture

The current study attempts to revise the curriculum and syllabus of the Basic Design studios in undergraduate program of Architecture. The current curriculum has been executed since 1999 in Iran. In this program lasting for eight to nine semesters, three semesters is dedicated to basic design education, which is workshop-base. Despite the proposed curriculum for these studios, the accurate and exact syllabus must be determined by the instructors in different schools of Architecture. This curriculum needs to be revised so that it could adjust to the general goals of architectural education in Iran and provides a commodious program according to the necessities of architecture today around the world. This research is done based on a comparative method, comparing the curriculum of Basic Design Studios in some creditable foreign schools of architecture and three major schools of architecture in Iran. Thus the research is accomplished in three major sections. In the first section, the curriculum of undergraduate programs of Architecture is studied in eleven foreign schools of Architecture. These schools are selected among the American, British, Australian and Turkish Schools of Architecture. This study focuses on the length of their basic design education, their goals and the syllabus of these programs. In these eleven schools, the length of the program varies from three to six years depending on the type of degree that they offer and accordingly the length of the Basic Design studios varies from one to four semesters. This study shows that twelve major topics for basic design education can be identified through different programs. In the second section, the current syllabus of Basic Design studios in three main Iranian schools is studied separately. Four separate workshops provide eleven major topics in these basic design syllabuses too. Finally, in the third section the similarities and differences in curriculum of foreign and Iranian schools are discussed. There are some main topics which are common in the curriculum of Iranian and foreign schools of architecture, thus they can be assumed as the fundamental topics which are essential in any type of architectural education. There are also some topics which are only offered in foreign schools of architecture, while there are some other topics which are mainly followed in curriculum of Iranian schools. Regarding to the main goals of undergraduate education in architecture which are either training professional architects or preparing students to continue their education in the fields of their choice, the essence of architectural education can be identified as ability-base, insight-base and knowledge-based education. Accordingly the curriculum of Basic Design studios should provide a convenient package of topics relevant to those mentioned goals. For achieving this purpose the essential topics are determined in three main groups covering basic abilities and potentials, intuitional and knowledge of students. As a result, the appropriate length, goals and detailed topics are proposed for the syllabus of Basic Design studios in undergraduate education. This result can be applied as a basis for designing exclusive syllabuses for Basic Design studios in different schools of Architecture.