Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

The longstanding tradition of travelling to learn, or to study abroad, is widely accepted as one of the most critical components to the education of any discipline. Particular to the architectural student, the opportunity to observe firsthand the ancient and contemporary built environment of places very different from their home is often described as life-changing, and both intellectually and personally influential. Of equal importance is the experience and observation of culture, the curated framework of which is well beyond a standard curriculum. This paper and presentation discuss approximately 10 years of study abroad trips to Japan, focusing on the previous 5 years of workshops held with students in the rural village of Hida in the mountainous region of Gifu. Known historically as a center of Japanese craft and carpentry, the area remains a center for timber fabrication techniques that combine a deep cultural knowledge of wood with new technologies. Our annual workshop between 2018 – 2023 has invited students to Hida, Japan to experiment with traditional fabrication techniques when combined with computational tools and processes. Projects discussed include a model of communicating digitally designed joinery details to carpenters through a custom interface that compares physical orientation data with a parametric model in real-time, the scaling of traditional basket-weaving patterns to larger structures using compressed timber, simulating material bending that is intuitively controlled within the geometric logic of the woven pattern, and the use of augmented reality to guide the chainsaw cutting of curved timber logs.