Data-Driven Design as a Vehicle for BIM and Sustainability Education

The development of BIM pedagogical strategies within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction disciplines is a topic of significant research. Several approaches and theoretical lenses, such as Project-Based Learning, constructivist pedagogy, experiential learning, and Bloom’s Taxonomy have been applied to guide pedagogical education. This paper presents the development and evaluation of an approach integrating these four perspectives that was developed within an Architectural Science undergraduate program. A data-driven design project was incorporated into the curriculum to give students opportunities to engage with BIM-based simulation (cost and energy) to guide their design studio project development. The pedagogical approach is discussed, along with refinements to this project based on early implementation. Four years of data are analyzed, consisting of 1325 design iterations and student feedback on the project. A critical evaluation of the project determined that it was highly effective to engage students at an advanced level - level 4 (Analyze) of Bloom’s Taxonomy was consistently achieved (over 96% of students) and two thirds of students also engaged meaningfully at Level 5 (Evaluate; 67%) and/or 6 (Create; 8%) — while developing a high degree of competence in the use of BIM.