An interdisciplinary reflective approach to promote architectural design pedagogy: animating basic design principles by music visualizer

Purpose The study investigates the effectiveness of an adaptive reflective framework that shifts the learning process toward a student-centered approach within an interdisciplinary learning environment. It aims to promote the learning process within an interdisciplinary learning environment that could promote the students’ design competencies. Design/methodology/approach The experiment was conducted at Basic Design studio, investigating three concepts of basic design principles: harmony, repetition and rhythm. A total of 80 first-year architectural students were enrolled in this study and placed into two equal groups: the “control group” received the traditional learning method and in contrast, the “experimental group” received an interdisciplinary reflective learning method using music as a relevant discipline. Findings The results showed that utilizing “Music Animation Machine” in the learning process significantly promoted students’ cognitive skills, engagement and design competencies. In addition, there was obvious evidence of excellent progress in learning basic design principles using the proposed reflective approach within a student-centered learning environment. Originality/value Many researchers focus on the importance of using music as a design tool. However, there is a crucial demand for investigating it as a learning tool. This research raised music effectiveness in the learning process of design principles. Thus, it incites to test more disciplines interconnected with architectural design. Other researchers could utilize this approach to ensure its effect on enhancing design competencies in the basic design and other architectural design courses.