Design, build, occupy, adapt: Critical considerations of architectural education in an ethos of upheaval

Abstract

[EN] Over the past century, as mobility increased and communication heightened, architectural education saw a shared vision gain uptake and adoption in many corners of the globe. Informed by an embrace of architecture as a regulated profession, schools pursued similar standards, structure, accreditation & assessment, albeit with local overlays and national policies dictating details and nuancing content. While numerous models developed in concert, all pursued the notion of education providing base competencies for the subsequent pursuit of professional registration/certification and associated modes of practice. In many ways curricula has been increasingly comparable between many international regions, which has resulted in benefits around legibility, reputation and value of architecture as both discipline and profession. Centered on the studio as a signature pedagogy, architectural education has tended, to date, to translate well across borders and boundaries. However, recent challenges such as climate change, health calamities, financial crises, and global conflict, to name but a few, have given cause to critically review architectural education, writ-large, in terms of content, delivery, value, efficacy and impact. The present project, driven by researchers in North America and the Middle East, examines and interrogates aspects of architectural education considering this ethos of upheaval. The work, which is exploratory in extent and preliminary in character, is intended as a provocation concerning the status quo. Included in the probe are factors that prove fundamental to our productively advancing the profession and practices of Architecture: namely technology, psychology, sociology, business, research, sustainability and ethics. Developing from an environmental scan, and drawing from extensive administrative experience (in numerous nations) of the two lead authors, the research then examines selected details for each of these factors - proposing new means and methods that promise to better prepare architecture students for a dramatically different world. Ancillary yet vital qualities, such as interdisciplinary engagement, leadership, intersectoral understanding, and holism, are investigated with respect to a curricular reset. The authors shape a novel model for higher education in architecture that resonates with emerging demands and equips students to survive and thrive given the changing global context and the transcendental ‘new normal.’