Educating the next generation of architects for interdisciplinary BIM environments

The design studio is central to architectural education; it evolved from a traditional apprenticeship of a designer within a master architect's studio. Much has been written about the pedagogy of the design studio; however changes in architectural practice raise new concerns. BIM is being adopted to address issues of cost, value and carbon. It facilitates collaborative design across disciplines to create a shareable body of information to be used across the life cycle of building and infrastructure projects. This article uses interview data from a larger study to explore thoughts raised to incorporate BIM within the pedagogy of the design studio. The long-standing issue of architectural students' lack of construction understanding becomes apparent in BIM environments. The article poses questions regarding individual work in design or CAD studios to facilitate interdisciplinary BIM environments. It has implications for research and the architectural pedagogy required to train the next generation of architects.