Migration from Architects to Architechs!

edited April 2023 in General

Blender and ifcOpenShell offers a freedom highway for migration from today’s Architects into becoming the Architechs of tomorrow. We are witnesses to how AI is already disrupting the way we work. How best can our education system respond and prepare the future Architechs so that we become players, and avoid being relegated to the position of a spectator?

Comments

  • How best can our education system respond and prepare the future Architechs so that we become players, and avoid being relegated to the position of a spectator?

    I think programming becomes a vital skill to have in the future, just like reading and writing now.

    Owura_qu
  • @Coen said:

    How best can our education system respond and prepare the future Architechs so that we become players, and avoid being relegated to the position of a spectator?

    I think programming becomes a vital skill to have in the future, just like reading and writing now.

    @Coen But formal education in most Architecture schools are still not integrating programming into their curriculum. I recently reviewed a new curriculum from a newly established university in my country and nothing to show for programming skills. Not even an introductory programming course!

  • @Owura_qu

    Not even an introductory programming course!

    I think people don't realize they need it until they see it.

  • I teach a course at https://www.e-zigurat.com/en/course-parametric-design-visual-programming-bim/ which includes 4 modules:

    1. Basic Python programming
    2. Visual programming with Grasshopper that focuses on pure geometry
    3. Visual programming with Dynamo that focuses on BIM environments
    4. IfcOpenShell programming that teaches them Python and OpenBIM data structures. By the end they are able to write their own data to/from CSV and also handle non-geometric data in 4D, and read the spec.

    I really think all universities should offer this as a course, maybe not as a mandatory course, but somewhere.

    You might want to talk to @mdjska and Jakob Beetz, both who teach IfcOpenShell too in courses.

    Owura_quArv
  • @pstrokap
    Has experience explaining IFC to students

    Owura_qu
  • edited April 2023

    I think it's a broader problem than just pertaining to the AEC domains. Programming can help immensely in pretty much any job in the services industry. If you're using a computer and you're not automating your tasks, you're using it at 5% capacity. However this does require users to learn a new set of skills and a new way to communicate.

    It also introduces a swathe of ways to fry your data or even your workstation, so it's not that straightforward.
    I'm curious about how this will evolve with the recent and ongoing advances in AI programs. It may not be as hard to jump into the bandwagon as it was before. Or maybe the gap between programmers and other people will become even greater. We'll see.

    But if you're not constantly keeping up with what's going on, you'll more likely than not be left on the side of the road, unfortunately. I don't think one has to learn how to program to compete, but it would definitely help people to learn how a computer works. I don't mean the internal bits and bobs, I mean to really understand that computers are not glorified typing machines, like some (most ?) people in offices do, but awesome tools that can boost our individual & collective productivity thousandfold.

    MoultOwura_quCoen
  • @Moult said:
    I teach a course at https://www.e-zigurat.com/en/course-parametric-design-visual-programming-bim/ which includes 4 modules:

    1. Basic Python programming
    2. Visual programming with Grasshopper that focuses on pure geometry
    3. Visual programming with Dynamo that focuses on BIM environments
    4. IfcOpenShell programming that teaches them Python and OpenBIM data structures. By the end they are able to write their own data to/from CSV and also handle non-geometric data in 4D, and read the spec.

    I really think all universities should offer this as a course, maybe not as a mandatory course, but somewhere.

    You might want to talk to @mdjska and Jakob Beetz, both who teach IfcOpenShell too in courses.

    @Moult Awesome! I have shared this link with the responsible faculty member and I believe most of the students will find it useful once they receive the needed orientation from the faculty. Thank you for sharing.

  • @Gorgious said:
    I'm curious about how this will evolve with the recent and ongoing advances in AI programs. It may not be as hard to jump into the bandwagon as it was before. Or maybe the gap between programmers and other people will become even greater. We'll see.

    I believe in my part of the world the faculties find the need but don't have the capacity to integrate programming into the existing curriculum. Those with the capabilities are the professionals outside academia who acquired their programming skills mostly by being self-taught and don't meet the Ph.D. requirements to teach at the universities. I believe the hard part is how academia can find a bridge for knowledge transfer.

  • Some other universities IfcOpenShell is being taught at:

    • Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland)
    • MSc-education of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Construction & Robotics tracks at RWTH Aachen University and TU Eindhoven
    • Parametric Design with Visual Programming in BIM by the Online Zigurat Global Institute for Technology
    • BIMfag Courses for BIM technicians in Norway
    • Tallinn University of Technology

    With some links:

    There are probably more but it's hard to know exactly.

    I'm also aware of Bond University in Australia who has an OpenBIM course (https://bond.edu.au/subject-outline/SSUD70-301_2023_MAY_INT_01) but it seems to be rather non-technical at a glance. I also tried approaching The University of Sydney (my alma mater) at one point but I think the conversation didn't go anywhere.

    Owura_qubitacovir
  • Has anyone tried the professional certification from buildingsmart https://education.buildingsmart.org/

  • Sorry, but I giggled at this URL

    Owura_quGorgiousArv
  • edited April 2023

    @Moult said:
    Some other universities IfcOpenShell is being taught at:

    Indeed ifcOpenShell has come a long way and to be a subject in the universities is impressive. I hope gradually open source will become a ‘thing’ in the majority of academic institutions and I believe the freedom that it brings will encourage more students to take interest in programming.

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