Open Design: An Actual Topic in Architectural Education

Architecture is never fixed: buildings and (urban) spaces change as their use(r)s and contexts change over time. Even when architectural projects receive recognition of their dynamic nature, it remains unclear how to deal with this during design processes. The need for sustainable building raises interest in this topic in architecture research. This interest converges with discourse on open design in other design fields. Work in human--computer interaction and industrial design engineering is generating more concrete design strategies that bring into view in design processes the dynamic with which artefacts become part of real (end-use) environments. Examples include open-ended design and open script design. We propose such strategies may enrich architectural education particularly in the face of the challenge to move towards a more sustainable architecture that changes meaningfully through time. In this article we explore the value of, and requirements for, teaching open design strategies in architectural education. In the context of a master course on actual topics in architecture we involved architectural engineering students as researchers to explore the value and applicability of these strategies in architectural design. Analysis of focus group interviews and students' intermediary and final coursework suggests that open design makes explicit a topic that is latently present to these students in their education. They perceive open design as having high societal relevance that will help them in their future practice to approach (design) problems (e.g., including environmental and social challenges) in new ways.