Teaching structures to architecture students: Examples from bridge design

Design of structural systems is a significant part of the design process and also one of the major concerns of architects. In architectural education, structures should be taught differently than in engineering such that the information should be more integrated with the architectural design. When teaching structures, instead of complex formulae and calculations, it is suggested that analytical computer models can be used as they are more effective with their visual explanation besides their precise calculation. However, introducing analytical models alone is not enough for an architect to be able to integrate structural perspective to his/her design. They have to be introduced together with other concepts in their education such that they can apply them properly. In this study, a teaching method for basic concepts of structures is proposed. This method aims to demonstrate that each structural system can be seen as a bridge system which can ease the simulation and analysis.