Exercises in Translation: Moving from the Virtual to the Real and Back Again

摘要

The practice of architecture is the practice of making representations. As such, there is a need to help developing architecture students learn how to make critical connections between their created representations and the real product that would be generated from them. In the current technology-driven environment, these connections frequently involve translations from a virtual environment to the real world. This paper outlines two projects undertaken with students in their second and third year of their undergraduate education. The first project is a building technology exercise that asks students to transform a drawn wall section into a built element through the creation of a series of virtual constructions (virtual to real). The second project is positioned contrary to the first; it is a studio exercise that asks students to translate a series of full-scale built constructions into representations leading to a project design strategy (real to virtual). These opposing ways of working, situated within this environment of representation, have the potential to not only provide balance for the students, but also to help fulfill the diverse learning objectives required for their study of architecture.