Abstract
Architectural education often relies on conventional teaching methods that may hinder the development of essential spatial cognition skills. This study addresses a critical challenge observed among second-year architecture students during the "Architectural Design Principles" module, where the predominant use of two-dimensional representations to convey three-dimensional concepts has revealed a representational gap. To investigate a potential solution, the research examines the impact of virtual reality (VR) technology on enhancing spatial understanding. An experimental approach was adopted, involving two groups of students. One group engaged in a residential design project using VR tools, while the other utilized traditional methods. Both groups subsequently completed a set of assessment questions designed to evaluate their comprehension of spatial concepts. The results indicate that the VR-assisted group demonstrated superior spatial cognition and a more sophisticated understanding of internal and external spatial relationships compared to their peers using traditional techniques. These findings underscore the potential of immersive technologies to enrich architectural pedagogy.