Teaching practices in architectural technology courses. An experiment and future perspectives in the Italian context

Architectural technology is a subject in constant evolution due to the specificity of territorial production, which is increasingly becoming more global. The constant change in the way of doing architecture requires the transmission of knowledge and skills that see an ever-greater weight in the acquisition of soft skills rather than hard skills, thus enabling to face situations with new complexities. The paper discusses the innovative teaching methodologies experimented with within an architectural technology course, at the Faculty of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome. It includes considerations regarding the classroom vs. online learning, experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown phases, elaborating on the results of a survey that collected 158 students' views. The results highlight the importance of active learning environments to support the preparation of architects able to manage emerging challenges and make use of information and communication technologies, that are rapidly changing, especially after the shift caused by the pandemic