VIPA: A virtual campus for virtual space design (original) (raw)

2006, … Space (s)[24th eCAADe …

The conceptual design of virtual spaces is creating new places in which to live and work. In consequence, new opportunities for work and employment are opening up for architects as well as for architectural educators. In response to this challenge, VIPA, a transnational virtual campus is currently being developed; it contains an e-learning and research platform for European architectural schools with a focus on virtual space design. The virtual campus integrates administrative, curricular, and communicative infrastructures, interactive, multimedia 3-D contents, and pedagogical considerations in respect of the aims, content and technologies employed. Virtual campuses are already established at most universities in the European Community, yet surprisingly e-learning is not yet widespread in architectural schools in Europe. E-learning is arguably still in an initial research phase; although there are best practice examples where e-learning is already replacing traditional study forms in other teaching disciplines. However, it has been found that although all the universities involved in the VIPA project have been involved in e-learning projects for many years, there is a considerable resistance to e-learning as being equally effective as traditional face-to-face studio teaching. Given the new virtual conditions of space design however, new contexts for learning are increasingly relevant. University curricula have developed out of local competencies, networks of teachers and researchers. These local factors need to be woven into the fabric of a transnational VIPA curriculum and supported with organizational layout, platform, user interfaces and their features. Participants will offer existing courses in virtual space design, as well as developing new ones. This offers the option for both present and future participants to adjust the VIPA courseware to suit local curricula demands, while offering a large range of courses and knowledge. An additional feature of VIPA is thus as a platform for curricula development in virtual space design. The paper reports on the VIPA project's aims, pedagogical problems, solutions, course content and methods; it will describe prototype results from participating universities and include perspectives on its future application.