Seyyed Kasra Mirpadyab - Ph.D. candidate in Architecture, Department of Architecture, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran (qiau)
Iraj E'tesam - Full Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, University of Tehran, Iran (AIA)
Jamal al-Din Soheili - Associate Professor of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran (qiau)

The authors believe that architectural design is a specialty that is composed of science, technique, and art, while the knowledge forming the basis for architectural design originates from anthropology. Since the formation of student’s thoughts from the beginning of specialized architectural education through the sketching course is important to all architects, this paper is penned to study the gender differences in the students’ perceptions when teaching architectural design through imagination. It is also an attempt to answer the following question: “Which design qualities of form and space are the bases for the gender differences in the students’ perceptions when thinking about design through imagination?” This study is conducted by reading texts and holding in-depth interviews. In another quasi-experimental test, ۱۲۲ members of a ۱۸۰-member statistical population are selected using Morgan’s table to indicate the sample size. Besides, the students who took the sketching course are asked to draw a sketch of a subject and provide it to the authors to analyze it. It is assumed that the gender differences in the students’ perceptions lie in the micro parameters (such as the circulation and geometry) during the design of the form and plan. According to the results, in the process of design through imagination, men’s imagination is considerably stronger than women’s imagination with regard to many of the form design and structure location parameters as well as three-dimensional visualization. However, women are more powerful than men with regard to some of the micro-processes of spatial design.

teaching architecture, gender differences in perceptions, imagination, architectural design, architectural thinking, Design Process