A New Approach to Design Education for the 21st Century

Design training in Architecture and Civil Engineering has long been directed towards the improvement of the educational background through a mono-disciplinary thematic learning. Nowadays, design education should offer architects and civil and environmental engineers a good opportunity to increase their planning, technological and economic skills. It should also allow the integration of different technicians, able to share their individual expertise within a team. This work presents the organization of a methodological approach for the training courses of 21st century designers. The main aim of this didactic process is to enable students to plan and coordinate all aspects through the whole design process, both at the urban scale and at the building scale. This new approach should guarantee a specialized education in an area of scientific and social relevance and create a center of excellence for training in the design field. Students would have the chance to experiment with new teaching tools for learning, in collaboration with research centers and companies in the building sector. The project management has a particular relevance in design education, and it leads all training processes across concept design, building design, construction and monitoring, and integrates the necessary tools for planning and controlling project activities during the design and the construction process.