Preface 3

Commemorating the centennial of the Faculty of Architecture edu.arh is more than just an
exhibition. It’s one of the ways and one of the tools that help us discuss the future of
architectural education, both in Slovenia and in the rest of Europe. Its purpose is to confront
the need to transform educational programmes for the future and explore the potentials of
new approaches to educating architects.

The exhibition looks at the history of the Ljubljana School of Architecture as a foundation with
multiple layers, elements, and building blocks on which we can build a new educational
programme for the future. It presents the views of those involved in contemporary education
and juxtaposes university classrooms with activist, cultural, and other practices that take
place outside the school walls. These are important because they evolved to tackle the tasks
that formal education has been unable to address.

Ours is the time when politics often questions the legacy of institutions, their legitimacy, and
the legitimacy of what they do. The need to discuss the importance of having institutions like
the Faculty of Architecture is not the result of feeling the need to defend it against politics. It
is here as the need to discuss future development of the school in the 21st century. For the
school to continue to develop on new foundations we first have to understand the social and
economic context in which architects operate today. New challenges confronting our society
in this day and age require, more than ever, active institutions, especially educational ones,
that are willing to embrace change. Society doesn’t need schools and museums to stand at
the side going through a routine that was programmed decades ago; it needs assertive
players ready to take the initiative, respond and act independently, past short-sighted
politicians and selfish capital. This was also the credo of the Museum of Architecture and
Design for the last ten years, when I was at the helm.

Architectural institutions, members of the Future Architecture platform, see changes in

architectural practice as one of the most defining trends in the development of architecture in
Europe. They relate them to urgent changes in education, where they have observed a turn
in the traditional model of architectural education, a stronger need for the development of
leadership skills and systemic approaches. Different specialisations are seen as a thing of
the past. They recognise the need for updated design tools as well as the cultural and
professional arsenals available to architects today. New professional alliances, collaborations
between different professions and joint, networked international architectural practices are
emerging across the world.

For a good while now the list of tasks that architectural studios perform today goes far
beyond architectural design. The established model of an architectural studio as we have
known it, competing for any design commission and delivering it in one way or another, is in
decline. An important transformation of the architectural profession is taking place across the
world now. Architects are testing new, joint strategies, establishing independent practices
that work on spatial assessments, mutual production of knowledge and critical awareness.
With knowledge and skills that are only just starting to make an appearance at architectural
schools, architects should be able to make an important contribution to the eradication of
injustice and inequality in the world. With different planning we should be able to make
concrete steps towards mitigating the consequences of climate change as well as reducing
waste and energy consumption. Architectural studios are already increasingly watchful in
analysing commissions and clients, they accept collaborations only under the terms of
responsibility to the environment and the community. In a parallel development we see the
growing significance of “other architects”, architectural studios whose goal is not necessarily
to build, but to conduct other projects in the field of architecture. They understand
architecture as a field of research, experimentation, advocacy, and professional support to
civil society.

I hope that the exhibition edu.arh will sharpen our view of what kind of architectural education
we need for the future, and will contribute to rejuvenating and refreshing our school on the
occasion of its centennial.

As the initiator of the exhibition I would first like to thank the dean Matej Blenkuš and
colleagues at the Faculty of Architecture for having accepted MAO as a partner in celebrating
the 100 years of their school. With this collaboration, the faculty and the museum forged
stronger bonds than ever before, while planning their common future together. I would
especially like to thank architect Boštjan Vuga for accepting and playing the challenging role
of curating the exhibition and opening up, without reservation, many important issues in the
education of future architects, building on his diverse experience as a student and professor.
A huge thanks to Maja Vardjan and Danica Sretenović for their expert guidance and
execution of the exhibition. Special thanks also to the Ansambel Group, which guided the
curatorial team through the complex process of exhibition evolution, providing its visual
image and layout design, which help narrate and understand the topics on show.

Matevž Čelik, edu.arh project initiator