292 EAAE no 35 Teaching and Experimenting with Architectural Design: Advances in Technology and Changes in Pedagogy
from constraints, principles, and rules; the emphasis placed on "self-expression" leads to
a contradiction between cultivating a student's creative freedom and teaching this same
student in the instructors formmaking value system. A coherent body of knowledge and
skills is pivotal to the teaching of architectural formmaking and should consist of, among
other things, explicit rules, principles, and methods.
Consequently, this exercise was supported by a number of lectures on the principles of
form and space (planes, elements etc.); the experiments also aimed at assisting students
in developing a sense of discipline in approaching visual form that depends on a thorough
understanding of the principles of visual composition
9 The reiterative nature of these projects has also been particularly valuable for setting
individual educational goals and standards. Discussions at the critique of each project
included identification of appropriate issues and goals for the following project. Thus,
although students were given a degree of autonomy in framing projects, we also had the
opportunity to cooperatively agree individual educational objectives during the year.