An innovative educational approach: Studying the convergence between environmental design and architectural form generationAn innovative educational approach: Studying the convergence between environmental design and architectural form generation Πλήρης Δημοσίευση σε Συνέδριο Conference Full Paper 2015-11-172010enOne of the fundamental vehicles for stimulating innovation in architectural education is questioning the predictable and the proved. Concrete fields of architectural design thinking and existing frameworks of tools and means should be redefined with an attempt to formulate the unexpected by overcoming the limitations of each system and creatively merging the competitive advantages of each component. At the School of Architecture in Crete (T.U.C.) during the spring semester of 2010 we took an innovative approach regarding the teaching of different subject areas of architectural curricula, by merging two different classes: “Digital Media in Architectural Design III” and “Environmental Architectural Design”. In particular, the students were asked to design a pavilion, placed on a specific site in the city of Chania, with one basic requirement: to embody and display through its architectural resolution a specific environmental system. As a conceptual tool at the initial stages of the exercise, the abstract devices of folding and conceptual diagramming were used. Innovation was achieved through the Convergence of Form Generating Mechanisms with Environmental Design Methods and through Analog – Digital and 2D-3D convergence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/EAAE Transactions on Architectural Education No.46: Educating Architects towards Innovative Architecture Parthenios Panagiotis Παρθενιος Παναγιωτης Malefakis Andreas Μαλεφακης Ανδρεας Mandalaki Maria Μανδαλακη Μαρια Vazakas Alexandros Βαζακας Αλεξανδρος Giannoudis Sokratis Γιαννουδης Σωκρατης European Association for Architectural Education EAAE Architectural education