Educational Alternatives, Volume 20, 2022

Abstract: The interdisciplinary course Smart Building Engineering combines the disciplines of architecture, civil engineering and electrical engineering and information technology into a new course that prepares students for the new and digital problems in the construction industry. For practical training, a real building was developed as a course-related planning project across all different involved trades that realistically depicts the interacting planning components of a larger construction project, just as the students would expect in their later professional life. The building was completely planned and developed during the course of study in six consecutive semesters. The complexity increases with each trade and the resulting interfaces and influences over the course, although they are always embedded in overarching questions and tasks relating to the "digital twin" and the entire planning process of a building. A central component is interdisciplinary and team-oriented project work in the different modules representing all involved trades, which becomes more and more complex during the course of study. This course-related project gives students the opportunity to use and practice what they have learned into a higher-level practical context and to apply it directly. Decisive skills for a future digital world of work are expanded, in particular process and system thinking and interdisciplinary skills such as project organization, teamwork and creativity, combined with special digital skills such as collaborative online work. The project is therefore also a good preparation for the thesis, in which the students should independently work on a real task within a given timeframe in order to show that they can practically apply the skills required for the engineering profession.