Virtual design studio (VDS) has been a part of the discourse of architectural pedagogy for the past two decades. VDS has been showcased as a potential educational tool in schools of architecture often in controlled, pre‐designed experiments. However, the global COVID‐19 pandemic has forced most schools to move their design studios into virtual space. This article aims to explore the potential advantages and shortcomings of VDS during the COVID‐19 quarantine from the perspective of students in a department of architecture. The study investigates three aspects of VDS namely, participating students’ evaluation of the virtual studio experience, the effectiveness of VDS in achieving the studio’s expected learning outcomes and the evaluation process for final design projects. Some 360 students from eight consecutive design studios participated in the study. The results indicate improvement in students’ ability to conduct independent research and in learning new computer‐aided design (CAD) software. Furthermore, the study finds VDS to be much more applicable for third‐ and fourth‐year students. The results also show a significant decline in background informal peer learning among students. Further studies are needed to address the implementation of a more immersive social experience in VDS.

中文翻译：

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面向所有人的强制性虚拟设计工作室：探索全球流行中的建筑教育变革

在过去的二十年中，虚拟设计工作室（VDS）一直是建筑教学论的一部分。VDS通常在受控的预先设计的实验中被展示为建筑学校中的一种潜在的教育工具。但是，全球COVID-19大流行迫使大多数学校将其设计工作室转移到虚拟空间中。本文旨在从建筑系的学生的角度探讨在COVID-19隔离期间VDS的潜在优势和不足。该研究调查了VDS的三个方面，即参与学生对虚拟工作室经验的评估，VDS在实现工作室预期学习成果方面的有效性以及最终设计项目的评估过程。来自八个连续设计工作室的约360名学生参加了这项研究。结果表明，学生进行独立研究和学习新的计算机辅助设计（CAD）软件的能力有所提高。此外，研究发现VDS更适合三年级和四年级的学生。结果还显示，学生在背景非正式同伴学习中的显着下降。需要进行进一步的研究来解决在VDS中实施更身临其境的社交体验的问题。结果还显示，学生在背景非正式同伴学习中的显着下降。需要进行进一步的研究来解决在VDS中实施更身临其境的社交体验的问题。结果还显示，学生在背景非正式同伴学习中的显着下降。需要进行进一步的研究来解决在VDS中实施更身临其境的社交体验的问题。