The effect of design tasks on changing the conceptual structure for architectural engineering students

Abstract

In the lastyearsof thiscentury, many of the research centers continue to do many experimental studies with cognitive nature in the field of design process that had wide range of applications in the architectural domain, to explore how the designer think and perform during the design process and on which aspects the designer depend during that process.Thiscanbeattributed tomanycauses are;the intimate need for"Corporatearchitecture"which became the rule of communication between the designersand clientsnow.Theincrease of the designers justification abilities and capabilities the promotion oftheirroleasKeydecisionmakersonaprojects.Finally, therole of computer technology asadesigntool that helpsindesignprocessandbecomes congenial to a designer's thinking and working procedures in order to grow and develop such atool, which will be supportive for architectural field. This paper puts forward an experimental study comparing the cognitive processes during conceptual design stage for three different types of design tasks performed by a group of architectural design students, to explore the effect of the different design tasks on the concept framework of those students during conceptual design activities.