Abstract

The design studio environment has remained the same throughout the past century. As the Studio Culture Task Force of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) (Koch et al., 2006 ) noted, the ongoing changes in architecture education are not aligned with today׳s fast-changing world, especially in the context of architectural practice. The AIAS analyzed the design studio problem and expressed doubts on the effectiveness of current studio practices in providing adequate design-thinking education. The report indicates that studio culture values project appearance instead of the actual design process. In recent years, similar problems have been the topic of debates in Khartoum. Criticisms are mostly centered on the observation that students show no interest in the design process and tend to focus on form making. As a result, efforts to teach design methods and to restore the balance between creativity and rationality in the design process have failed. The reason is related to the difficulties associated with the implicit nature of conventional design methods. These difficulties, which are common in architecture schools, include the lack of a clearly defined design methodology and the misunderstood role of the systematic approach to design in the studio. Nevertheless, signs of change are gradually emerging, as demonstrated by the global call for change in the studio environment. This call for change indicates a general agreement on the need for the reorientation of architectural design education toward an engaging policy that considers the social responsibility of architects. This study proposes that the route for change is through the return of rationalism in the studio. Since the 1960 s, many writers have recognized the importance of balancing rationality and creativity, which are mutually interdependent, in the design process. From this perspective, the research question is drawn: how can we bridge the gap between the rational and the creative design activities in the design process? A theory that conceptualizes the idea of knowledge interdependence does not exist. The available design theories, such as rational problem solving and reflective-in-action theory, deal with different aspects of design activity. Both theories fail to describe the integration of the rational and the creative aspects of the design process. Therefore, we propose the integration of the two theories into a new theory called the integrated design paradigm. The proposed theory serves as a theoretical base upon which the interdependence of the rational and the creative phases of the design process can be conceptualized. We aim to bridge the gap between the two design phases by considering research knowledge interdependency as a unifying activity. The first phase is a systematic method involving research, the use of positive theory, and the production of basic principles. The creative practice phase also involves research and focuses on understanding the rational knowledge developed in the systematic phase, including the basic principles and design strategy, as well as on the application of these concepts to the design problem. The Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Ethiopian Institute of Technology EiT of Mekelle University (MU) is currently developing a research program in which the development of and reflection on design methods is a key research area. Within this framework, the present study is intends to be an introductory effort to guide future empirical research. The present study aims to describe the design process of architects, and introduces theoretical and technical frameworks. The integrated design paradigm as a system of inquiry within the spatial relationship strategy is framed.

Abstract

T. S. Eliot and Carles Riba are two writers with many similarities: they both lived around the same time (the first half of the twentieth century), both stood out as poets and critics, and both wrote on similar literary topics, such as humanism, and several authors of European lite­rature, like Dante, Goethe and Baudelaire. But their different biographical circumstances and their different literary, social, and political contexts conditioned their conception of humanism and their interpretation of some of the leading writers of Western culture. The aim of this paper is to do a comparative literature exercise to relate and contrast these different conceptions and interpretations of Eliot and Riba.

Abstract

This study analyses the diversity of criteria with which the plays by Calderón were assessed during the first half of the 19th century, and the different classification as canon or model to which his dramatic works were ascribed. We present an explanatory review of the comments to which his works gave rise in order to observe how, when and why they became part of the canon, in what sense they were canonized (poetically, dramatically, ideologically, religiously, morally), and also how that canon was transformed throughout the 19th century. This transformation took place both on the grounds of the evolution of art and of the use of an author who was representative of Spanish literature to justify the respect for national literary tradition based on the acceptance of a sense of poetic and political progress of nations. The article starts by analysing how the poetic imagination of Calderón is granted the category of a national artistic or ethical/religious feature, according to the critics. It continues by studying the approaches that required its aesthetic/political relativization depending on history, and how this fact implies a moral canonization. This, in turn, leads to the conflict between a static canon and a canon which is dynamic as part of history and because of history.

Abstract

Television is an important part of our daily life. TV has become «one of the family» and we cannot imagine our homes without one, two or even several TV sets. This situation of privilege in our families may turn into a double-edged sword: depending on the use given it may determine the people development and even manipulate the youngest ones if it is not used correctly. Making all the viewers –and especially the most vulnerable ones, the children- aware of the need for the use of TV from a critical and responsible point of view is a common task for all of us, family, school and society. And the fact is that we cannot only use the media passively, but in a dynamic and active way.