ATTITUDES OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS TOWARDS BIOMORPHIC AND PARAMETRIC DESIGN APPROACHES IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

In all design disciplines, the designer attempts to find a solution to design problems using various approaches. In environmental design, the design approaches and design process are similar to other disciplines, only the design product is outdoor spaces. Outdoor spaces are the sections outside the buildings in urban and rural spaces and include all elements from the micro to macro scale. Landscape architect can find direction in certain design principles and theories. Furthermore, a number of design approaches or trends in historical perspective also lead the design process. Thus, biomorphic and parametric design approaches have emerged during recent times. Biomorphic design approach is the imitation of the nature by the designer to create better solutions. The parametric design approach is based on the parametric determination and organization of the data that would affect the design. In the present study, the attitudes and approach of the landscape architecture students in Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) towards these two design approaches were investigated. To test the reliability of the developed attitude scale, the Cronbach's Alpha test was conducted independently for positive and negative statements about each design approach in the scale, and it was found that the scale was reliable. The analysis of the data revealed that the students' attitudes towards the biomorphic design approach was more positive there was a low level and negative correlation between the attitude scores and the two design approaches. Among the KTU Landscape Architecture students, 49, 40% of the students adopted biomorphic design approach and 32% preferred parametric design apporach when working on environmental design projects.