Debate as Methodology to Learn Architectural Critics

Abstract

[EN] Among the capabilities distributed by knowledge areas belonging to the studies of Architecture, the capability of being able to express architectural critics is a specific one assigned completely to the Composition area, both by the Ministery and by the different curricula of the some thirty schools of architecture existing in Spain. Learning how to make an architectural critic is a complex process based upon some previous knowledge (history of architecture, theory of architecture, etc.), initially to be acquired by students in the first academic year and to be trained in different subsequent subjects in order to reach an adequate level in this capability. In the School of Architecture of the Universitat Politècnica of València, the capability of making an architectural critic is specifically worked in the subject of Architectural Composition during the fourth year and Architectural Restoration in the fifth year, both belonging to the Department of Architectural Composition. The same capability is worked with a level even higher in the subjects of Theory and History of the Preservation and Intervention Criteria within the master in Preservation of the Architectural Heritage. This capability is developed through a methodology based upon debates that the students organize in the classroom. Reduced groups of students prepare a topic previously agreed with the professor to become a kind of “experts” of it with the help of bibliography, articles, documents, etc. They make a brief presentation generating questions among the audience of their fellow students. After this presentation, this audience must try to answer those proposed questions that often have not a clear or definitive answer, but many possible critical interpretations. These debates allow the students to express personal visions of a topic founded on previous acquired knowledge in these or other subjects, having to argue a critical position. Besides, this methodology encourages an intense and active participation of all the students of the classroom, not to mention the development of the capabilities of reflection, oral exposition and argumentation.