Making & Breaking: Curation of an Experimental Exercise Toolbox for Teaching Building Structures Online

Abstract

The ability to understand the physics of structures is pivotal for a career in architecture. Yet to have a first-hand learning experience became a significant problem during the disruption of pandemic teaching, where students and instructors cannot be in the same space for experimental demonstration dew to the imposed contact restrictions. This project showcases an experimental exercise toolbox for teaching building structures in Architecture. An essential aspect of learning about the performance of building structures resides in understanding the structural behavior of materials and structural systems under load. Experiencing first-hand the deformation and failure of structural models is an important and, therefore, long-practiced, didactic exercise applied in architectural studies of higher education. However, the online teaching and learning environment imposed by the global covid-19 pandemic has deprived architecture students of this crucial experience in their careers. Now hybrid teaching has become the norm for an unforeseeable future and makes it necessary to adapt, redesign and invent practical exercises that allow students to develop their cognitive skills in creating and understanding building structures.