eCAADe 27 465 - Session 13: CAAD Curriculum 2 Art and Literature as a Teaching/Learning Interface of Mathematics for Students of Architecture Arzu Gönenç Sorguç 1 , Semra Arslan Selçuk 2 1,2 Middle East Technical University Department of Architecture Türkiye 1 arzug@arch.metu.edu.tr, 2 semraarslan@yahoo.com Abstract: This paper discusses an educational approach emphasizing the changing role of mathematics and potentials of mathematical thinking in architectural education on the course of changing design paradigm: from designing the product to designing the process. In this context, randomly selected samples of student works, realized within the context of an elective undergraduate course, Arch 333 “Mathematics in Architecture” at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkiye are presented. It is shown that mathematical thinking provide not only to science people a solid ground for further explorations, but also new inspirations to people involving art and design and help them to overcome prejudices and fears related with mathematics in their minds. It is believed that this approach encourages them to discuss complex problems with meta language of mathematics and develop ability to consider the design process as a whole. Keywords: Mathematical thinking; mathematics in architectural education; multi-dimensionality of data; mathematics as meta language. communicate with other knowledge domains through their design process, and to be able to think parametrically to integrate huge amount of resulting data. Consequently architects should not only model “building” as an end product, but he/she should “well define” the multi dimensional ill defined design problems and provide design models incorporating all possible complexities and different actors of vari- ous disciplines in the design process. This rapid and incessant change in design paradigm also neces- sitates the revision of architectural education and practice. As Kuhn points out: “… communities who share a paradigm also share the belief that the kinds of problems they are prepared to address have solutions for which their skills are Evolution of design process in architecture and the role of mathematics In the last decades, architectural design has been continuously evolving not only with advent of rap- idly developing technologies, innovations but also with emerging environmental problems and as a result: the demand for sustainability and/or perfor- mance. While introduction of computational tech- nologies and tools providing new potentials to ar- chitects in dealing with these “new complexities”, it demands new learning and thinking skills. In brief, architectural design process has become more complex than ever before and architects should be acquainted with these continuously chang- ing technologies and related new terminologies,