From a Pedagogical Experience of a Photography Course on Architectural and Public Space into a Research Project focused on Communication of Public Space's State and Evolution, Architecture and Urban Cultures

Abstract

This paper will explain how, from a blended teaching experience1 in CFM (Communication,Photography and Multimedia) Course at FAUP (Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto) that lead to several didactic experiences and research projects on architecture and public space (seminars,workshops, publications and editorial projects), CCRE (Centre for Spatial Communication and Representation) Research Group has been able to interrelate a set of significant experiences and results coming from the former work andactivities with the on-going R&D project DARC, more specifically with its City Spaces|Culture module, directed towards the communication of content related to cultural events and spaces as architectural heritage, identity and historical places. All these projects, together with CCRE's communication philosophy, its online platforms and physical outputs - such as publications and exhibitions - constitute a blend between direct and "indirect" pedagogy strategies on architecture, public space and the way they are experienced by the general public. As we will explain in this paper, all these research projects were fundamental to assess the possibilities and limits of our pedagogic/didactic philosophy, as well as to trigger new and more effective ways of communicating and sharing substantial information between students and the general public. This paper will therefore explore the blended approach that we've taken in CFM classes, how it translated into the various platforms that we've used for it and for other parallel activities, and how this knowledge is being applied to the on-going DARC research project and to its set of communication and presentation operators. The goal will be to verify how the combined operators that we've used in our platform(ranging from geo-referenced maps, images and videos - focused on visual literacy - and social networking - focused on communication) allowed for a deeper involvement and participation of both academic community and general public.