Chrysi Nikoloutsou, Gianna Siapati and Malvina Apostolou
Follow-up on the application of Ekistics within architectural design projects, focused on the typology of housing.
This paper documents the continuation of the previous research (1), presented at RSD13, focusing on the application of Constantinos’ Doxiadis Ekistics in architectural education and, more specifically, within an architectural design studio.
Constantinos Doxiadis introduced Ekistics as a multidisciplinary approach to studying and designing human settlements. His concept aligns with the principles of systems thinking, treating cities and communities as intricate systems made up of interlinked networks. These networks exhibit characteristics such as feedback mechanisms, non-linear dynamics, and evolving interactions among their components, making them ideal for examination through a systemic perspective.
The current discourse on architectural studio agendas has been previously explored through a system of nodes, created through a thorough study of architectural composition briefs on a global scale dated 2015-2020, mainly based on renowned schools in Britain and the US, and is organised as word clouds, stating the main terms used in contemporary dialogue on housing design. (1)
Additionally, a series of workshops has been held to link key concepts from Ekistics theory, interpreted as a form of systems thinking, to domestic spaces. These workshops focused on the students’ personal notion of “home” as well as the domestic environment they designed in the Architectural Design studio.
The study seeks to investigate how the integration of such a systemic approach into the educational process could influence students’ compositional interpretations of housing typologies.
The cognitive process of design will be analysed using the Ekistics theory as a conductive framework. For this reason, the students’ final presentations will be used as case studies. Through the resulting relational structures and correlations, the study seeks to investigate how the implementation of Systemic thinking in the design studio could serve as a methodological tool in developing housing typology.
Incorporating systems thinking into architectural education, particularly during the conceptual and design development stages, can promote a comprehensive approach to understanding the intricate contexts in which architecture is produced.
Keywords: systemic approach, architectural education, methodological tool, design process, housing design