Browsing by Author "Demirkan, H."

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Open Access
The 16 cubes game for children who are visually impaired
(Sage Publications, Inc., 2000) Evyapan, N. A. G. Z.; Demirkan, H.
Open Access
Assessing creativity in design education: Analysis of creativity factors in the first-year design studio
(Elsevier, 2012-05) Demirkan, H.; Afacan, Yasemin
The aim of this study is to explore creativity in design education and identify the creativity assessment indicators in the first-year design studio. A measurement tool of 41 items that consists of the artifact creativity, design elements and assembly of design elements were utilised for the assessment of 210 artifacts. Results oldie exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated three main design creativity factors. The primary factor consists of the novelty and affective characteristics of artifact that are associated with its shape. The second factor has the elaboration characteristics that are integrated with its geometric and figure-ground relations and harmony of design elements. The third factor consists of rhythm, repetition, unity, order and number of design elements. (c) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Open Access
Colour and design: from natural patterns to monochrome compositions
(Elsevier, 2011-03) Olguntürk, N.; Demirkan, H.
There is no doubt that nature provides endless inspiration to the world of design. In order to explore the role of colour in design, forty-two people were asked to first choose a pattern from nature, then to abstract this pattern into geometric shapes and finally to colour this pattern. All work done by the participants were statistically analysed to find out the effect of colour on design. Findings of the study suggest that colour in a pattern is the first principal component of design as a unifier whereas this is replaced with the number of shapes in one group in black and white patterns.
Open Access
Creativity in learning environments: the case of two sixth grade art-rooms
(John Wiley & Sons, 2003-03) Hasirci, D.; Demirkan, H.
The four elements of creativity - the person, process, product, and environment - that come together for the purpose of clearly and completely defining creativity, form the structure of the research. Two sixth grade art-rooms have been chosen as the setting, as a likely place to observe creativity and sixth graders as the sample group. Observations of each child in an art-room, her/his creative process, product, and the assessment of a 1/20 model of the art-room made by each student, were analyzed to form a complete picture of creativity. Results showed that the three elements of creativity (person, process, and product) were significantly different from each other. In addition, process and product occurring within the same environment were highly correlated with each other.
Open Access
Effectiveness of tactile surface indicators in 'design for all' context
(Open House International Association, 2013-03) Demirkan, H.
The aim of the study is to determine and prioritise the characteristics of the builtenvironment that increase the effectiveness of the walking surfaces for blind and vision-impaired people. Tactile walking surface indicators are installed on the floor of indoorand outdoor built environments for guiding blind or vision-impaired people. These people perceive the walking surface by a long white cane, through the soles of their shoes or impaired vision. Based on the relevant research and published standards there is a consensuson the characteristics of tactile working surfaces in terms of design specifications, visual contrast, material and installation requirements. In order to have the right decisionwhile using the related knowledge, the designer of a built environment should identify and prioritise the characteristics of the users. The findings of factorial analysis showed that the individual characteristics such as shoe width, stature, gender, and frequency ofleaving residence and experience alone, or with help, determine the effectiveness of tactile surface indicators as the primary factor. The second important factor that can be named as perceptual characteristics of the individual is composed of long white cane usage, time of sight loss and visual efficiency type. It is found that ease of walking on tactile surfaces as ease of change in direction, ease of stay on proper course of walking and transition from truncated domes to bars are third in priority as long as they comply with the standards.
Open Access
The effects of learning styles and gender on the academic performance of interior architecture students
(Elsevier, 2010-01) Demirkan, H.; Demirbaş, Ö. O.
The study focuses on design education using ‘Index of Learning Style’ (ILS) and explores the effects of learning styles and gender on the performance scores of design students. The ILS is designed to assess preferences on four scales of a learning style model formulated by Felder and Silverman (1988). The findings indicated that the usual methods of interior architecture education address a well-balanced class position in active/reflective and sensing/intuitive scales, a moderate to strong preference in visual scale and a weak preference in global scale. Furthermore, in the two-way analysis significant effects were obtained between the individual interactions of active/reflective scale with the other three scales when the academic performance score was the dependent variable.
Open Access
Focus on architectural design process through learning styles
(Pergamon Press, 2003-09) Demirbas, O. O.; Demirkan, H.
Learning as an interactive process is an important issue in architectural design education. This study aims to focus on architectural design process through learning styles that are 'accommodating', 'diverging', 'assimilating' and 'converging' as stated in the Experiential Learning Theory of Kolb. A research was conducted to evaluate the effects of learning style preferences on the performance of design students in a design process. It was found that there were statistically significant differences between the performance scores of students having diverse learning styles at various stages of design process. Also, it was found that performance scores of all students having different learning styles had increased at the end of the design process where the progress of assimilating learners were the highest and accommodating learners the lowest.
Open Access
Focus on the learning styles of freshman design students
(Elsevier, 2008-05) Demirkan, H.; Demirbaş, Ö. O.
Using Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model, this study explores learning styles of freshman design students in three consecutive academic years. Principal Component Analysis method is used to reduce the number of variables and classify them according to the priorities assigned to learning process by the design students. Findings showed that the distribution of design students through learning style preference was concentrated in assimilating group with coordinates close to the intersection of the axes of the Learning Style Type Grid. The bipolar perceive dimension indicated that the freshman design students are more related to the analytical skills of theory building, quantitative analysis and technology. Also, the bipolar process dimension showed that they have better behavioural skills compared to perceptual learning skills.
Open Access
A framework for the design studio in web‐based education
(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2001-10) Sagun, A.; Demirkan, H.; Goktepe, M.
Design education should integrate design concepts and skills with practical and theoretical knowledge through collaborative learning. Computer‐mediated communication systems used in web‐based education systems are quite appropriate for this principle by enabling global access to course material as well as allowing interaction of participants at distributed learning environments at anytime. Course design broadly requires the organization of time, space and activities considering the tools and methods used. Based on these issues, this study proposes a framework for the design of a web‐based studio course with respect to the nature of the design process. An implementation of a sample web‐based course design is included to support the idea. Considering the benefits and limitations, the nature of web‐based design courses is explored first. Then, the sociological, ideological, epistemological and pedagogical aspects of a design studio are examined within the framework of objectives (why), objects (what), methodology (how) and management (who) with special emphasis given to synchronous and asynchronous communication.
Open Access
Generating design activities through sketches in multi-agent systems
(Elsevier, 2005-12) Demirkan, H.
This study describes a multi-agent system that acts as a mediator between the designer and the information environment. The system enables designers to locate and retrieve information from distributed resources. There are three types of agents in the proposed model. The 'user agents' consist of designers, engineers, and technicians. The 'information agents' include various knowledge domains as legislation, codes, previous cases, expert domains. The 'communication agents' that identify and match agents are based on the goals and agent's interest. The communication agents working over the Web use sketches as a collaboration medium in the conceptual phase of the design process. The results of the empirical study showed that the design domain and variables; and design strategies and activities are not independent of each other. The quality of a project increases as the communication increases among collaborators during the conceptual design phase and the Internet provides a suitable medium for communication through sketches.
Open Access
Hidden dimensions of creativity elements in design process
(Routledge, 2009-05) Demirkan, H.; Hasirci, D.
The aim of the study was to determine the items that can be evaluated as the components of creativity in design process. Factor analysis was applied to determine how well the items corresponded with the explored creativity characteristics. An overall component analysis was conducted to achieve a holistic approach to creative design process. It is found that the primary dimension responsible of 46% of the total variance is only composed of product components. The second dimension responsible of 19.54%, and the third dimension responsible of 14.46% of the total variance are both composed of the interaction of person and process components. Therefore, it can be concluded that the product is the strongest factor in determining creativity in design process.
Open Access
Housing for the aging population
(Springer, 2007-04) Demirkan, H.
Based on the concept of 'aging in place,' design of houses in the past years are explored. Design features in the built environment become barriers for aging people with functional limitations. Initially, houses were designed according to the required needs of the user with the physical limitations. Later, adaptable house design was introduced that allows the house to meet the specific needs of the user, while maintaining the appearance of the house until more obvious accessibility features are needed. Today, 'design for all' is recognised as a tool for ensuring physical accessibility for aging people. The holistic perspective embedded in the universal design theory should be systematically and consistently developed during the design process. © European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA) 2007.
Open Access
The influence of sustainable design features on indoor environmental quality satisfaction in Turkish dwellings
(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Afacan, Yasemin; Demirkan, H.
The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of sustainable design features on occupants satisfaction levels with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) aspects in three types of dwellings. Satisfaction level was investigated through a field survey with 240 participants, in apartments, row and detached houses in Turkey. Satisfaction level was explored in terms of overall satisfaction with IEQ, with the efficiency of daily living activities and with sleeping quality. Satisfaction level was also investigated regarding the dwellings thermal, ventilation, lighting, sound level and moisture qualities. The findings indicate that the existence of exterior insulation, a thermostat, light dimmers and control of daylighting systems through operable windows have high impacts on the satisfaction level of occupants living in all three types of dwellings. © 2015 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Open Access
An inquiry into the learning-style and knowledge-building preferences of interior architecture students
(Elsevier, 2016-05) Demirkan, H.
This study explores the learning-style and knowledge-building preferences of interior architecture students using Felder-Soloman's Index of Learning Styles. Considering the learning and knowledge-building skills of students in design education, this study concludes that the instructor should not only be a conveyor of knowledge but also a facilitator. The findings indicate that design students' preferred learning styles are as follows, in descending order: Sensing/Intuitive, Visual/Verbal, Active/Reflective and Sequential/Global. In the two-way analysis, where the student's design studio grade was the dependent variable, significant effects were obtained for each scale. Furthermore, double interactions were highly significant between the Active/Reflective and Sensing/Intuitive scales and between the Active/Reflective and Sequential/Global scales. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Open Access
An insight on designers’ sketching activities in traditional versus digital media
(Pergamon Press, 2003-01) Bilda, Z.; Demirkan, H.
This study aims at gaining an insight on designers' cognitive processes while sketching in digital vs traditional media. Empirical data on design processes have been obtained from protocol analyses of six interior designers solving an interior space-planning problem through media transition. In order to encode the design behavior, a coding scheme was utilized that allowed the inspection of both the design activity and the responses to media transition in terms of the primitive cognitive actions of designers. The analyses of the coding scheme constituents, which are segmentation and cognitive action categories, allowed a comparative study demonstrating the effect of the use of different media in the conceptual design phase. The results showed that traditional media had advantages over the digital media, such as supporting the perception of visual-spatial features, and organizational relations of the design, production of alternative solutions and better conception of the design problem. These results also suggested implications for computer aids in architectural design to support the conceptual phase of the design process.
Open Access
Integration of reasoning systems in architectural modeling activities
(Elsevier Science, 1998) Demirkan, H.
In the first phase of a design process, the designer understands the problem and assimilates it to a conceptual framework that is already known to him. Due to the nature of design problems, the reasoning methods and techniques for modeling are not uniform and clear. An integrated reasoning system is proposed for modeling the architectural processes. Such a system may help designers to make decisions based on past experiences as well as domain theory. The performance of the integration approach is compared with the pure case-based and rule-based reasoning systems to study the efficiency and effectiveness in the same domains. The study tried to identify the reasoning systems used by designers pertaining to the interior design applications. © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
Open Access
Involving the elderly in the design process
(Taylor & Francis, 1998) Demirbilek (Saritabak), O.; Demirkan, H.
Based on the concept of'aging in place', a prescriptive model is proposed, aiming at the creation of a usable, safe and attractive built environment where the elderly residents are actively involved in the design process through collaboration sessions. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been adapted to develop an evaluation and translation method for the collected data of the elderly end-users.
Open Access
A knowledge-based space planning system
(Taylor & Francis, 1992) Demirkan, H.; Pultar, M.; Özgüç, B.
Knowledge-based systems are potentially powerful tools for improving the results of automated or interactive design procedures. Expert Space Planner is a prototype of such a system that uses production rules in the spatial planning of panel houses. © 1992 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Open Access
Learning styles of design students and the relationship of academic performance and gender in design education
(Elsevier, 2007-06) Demirbas, O .O.; Demirkan, H.
The study focuses on design education using Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and explores the effects of learning styles and gender on the performance scores of freshman design students in three successive academic years. Findings indicate that the distribution of design students through learning style type preference was more concentrated in assimilating and converging groups. Further study indicates that the first and third groups were found to be more balancing while the second group being mostly a southerner. The learning style preferences did not significantly differ by gender in all three groups. Although there is no consistency in all three groups, results indicate that the performance scores of males were higher in technology-based courses, whereas scores of females were higher in artistic and fundamental courses and in the semester academic performance scores (GPA). Also, it was found that the performance scores of converging and diverging students differed significantly in favor of converging students only in design courses. In design education, instructors should provide a strategy that is relevant to the style of each learner in design studio process.
Open Access
On-line critiques in collaborative design studio
(Springer, 2009-03) Sagun, A.; Demirkan, H.
In this study, the Design Collaboration Model (DCM) was developed to provide a medium for the on-line collaboration of the design courses. The model was based on the situated and reflective practice characteristics of the design process. The segmentation method was used to analyse the design process observed both in the design diaries and the redline files that were composed of the problem domain and the design strategies. In the problem domain, it was observed that high emphasis was given to the design abstractions in the level of details of a space or sub-space. Also, the critics were more interested in the solution space than the problem space. As a design strategy, rejecting a solution was more practiced than proposing alternative solutions. Since the performance score of the students was highly correlated to the number of segments in critiques, it is concluded that quality rather than quantity of critiques determine the success level of proposed design solutions.