Assessing the Effective Factors on Judging Architectural Design Projects of University Students

Since nature of architecture is quite different from that of other fields of study, the criteria used for judging projects in this field continuously undergo some changes. On the other hand, because of the undeniable role of human factors in judging the projects, there is always a percentage of deviation from the standard given the interests of the judging committee. The standards of judging architecture projects can be divided into these general classes: idea, process and technical issues. The standards of judging architecture projects can be classified as such: Selection, placement, relations of function, form, volume, internal arrangement and circulation; Considering the studies, analyzing and planning the body of the project; Considering the substrate of the project and recognizing the facilities and their limits; Engineering of the project: considering the relationship between technical knowledge and designing; Using imagination, innovation and creativity when it comes to the idea of the project and the quality of developing this idea; Providence: flexibility and variability of the design in the future; Being aware of the factors affecting the formation of the design (moral, tribal, and cultural); Being practically logical and realistic, paying attention to the applicableness of the design and its compliance with the topic; Taking into account the technical principles, structural systems and machineries; Graphic (visual) and oral (introduction and defense) presentation method. Reviewing previous studies that have focused on different methods for judging student projects shows that we can divide these methods into the following classes: Evaluation by the professors (throughout the project); Group display of the works; Evaluation by the classmates; Personal evaluation; Traditional methods of judgment; Written judgment of the professors; Evaluation by the professor (regarding the completed project)