GIS for Architects: Exploring the Potentials of Incorporating GIS in Architecture Curriculum

Abstract

Geographic Information System (GIS) has significant potentials to contribute in contemporary architecture education. GIS techniques are increasingly used in both realms of research and practice; especially in the fields which deal with spatial concerns, like geography, earth and mineral sciences, landscape architecture, etc. Unfortunately, GIS is yet to be conceived as an important content in the global trends of architecture education. Very few schools have incorporated GIS in their curriculums and the conceptual connection between architecture and GIS is yet to be explored. In light of their experiences of developing a graduate GIS course for an architecture school, authors of this paper discuss a feasible way of incorporating GIS contents in the architecture education system. The course is intended to provide students with a foundation for reading, understanding and using basic GIS techniques which are relevant to architectural research and/or practice. Main objective of the paper, however, is to establish a bridge between the two conceptual realms - architecture education and GIS. It is understandable that without defining the conceptual connections between GIS and Architecture, the intended course cannot fully achieve its goals. This paper tries to deal with this challenge by defining the course objectives that address the needs of GIS for an architect. The field of architecture, both in terms of practice and research, may be benefited by GIS. In the changed context of emerging practice and thinking in architecture, GIS has the potential to contribute in the restructured knowledge and praxis taken in the re-disciplining of architecture education. A fully dedicated GIS course for architects can be an important step towards this redisciplining process.