The 'Reflective Phase' in the Design Process : Integrating Critical Thinking in Architectural Teaching

Abstract

The work highlights the importance of critical thinking in the teaching of architecture, proposing the integration of a “Reflective Phase” in the design process as a pedagogical strategy for students of the Interdisciplinary Design Studio I at the Faculty of Architecture in the Universidad Michoacana (cycle 2024 -2025). This phase seeks to strengthen critical capacity through four stages: knowledge integration, synthesis, architectural ideation and appropriation, complementing pre-design. Drawing on key authors such as Dewey, Freire, Schön and other contemporaries, active reflection and student empowerment are emphasized to confront current problems with informed architectural solutions. The strategy was implemented in the Design Studio over 10 weeks, collecting all the evidence of the students’ work and supporting it through surveys made to the students themselves. This aims to develop theoretical-practical skills in students and to generate proposals in accordance with the challenges of the 21st century.

Presenters

Claudia Bustamante
Professor, Faculty of Architecture, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Michoacán, Mexico

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Design Education

KEYWORDS

Critical, Thinking, Design, Education