AAE Portfolio V3 01042013 Bookmarked - Design Studio

AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Association of Architectural Educators
AAE Inaugural Conference

Nottingham Trent University – 3rd to 5th April 2013
Proceedings
1
Victoria Farrow : Editor + Chair
Conference Chair
Victoria Farrow
Conference Co Chair
Marisela Mendoza
Keynote Speakers
Reinier de Graf, OMA
Sir Peter Cook
Thomas Dutton
www.ntu.ac.uk/aaeconference2013
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
The Inaugural AAE Conference 2013, hosted by Nottingham Trent University and
Association of Architectural Educators UK, will interrogate the status of architectural studio and its
scope of enquiry pedagogically, professionally and culturally. The conference will look to illuminate
the How? What? and Why? of studio teaching, and its application and impact on architectural design
research and practice.
The aim of the conference is to raise issues in architectural education and bring academics together
to resolve problems, pose questions and explore further development in education. The AAE 2013
Conference will reduce this gap and allow for international connections to be made or reinforced,
thereby encouraging and facilitating benchmarking in architectural education through the generation
of awareness and commonality.
The conference's key aims:

• To develop, support and represent communities of practice and learning in architectural education in
the UK and Ireland.
• To foster inclusive dialogues between the AAE community, students and employers, and
educational and professional bodies.
• To encourage research and scholarship of teaching and learning in architectural education.
• To promote the value, richness, quality, and diversity inherent in architectural education.
Nottingham Trent Unviersity

ISBN 978-0-9576009-1-1
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Acknowledgments:
A great many thanks must be given to the many people who have contributed along the way to the
success of the Inaugural AAE Conference. The following organisations and individuals gave of their
time, funding and support through creative thinking and knowledge:
Special and warm thanks must be given to the members of the Association of Architectural Educators
(AAE) who have, from the very day the association began, continued to show enthusiasm and donate
their time to further developing and strengthening the roots of the AAE.
We would also like to thank Nottingham Trent University for encouraging us to pursue this conference
in order to both share our work and for supporting us with the marketing of this event. Special thanks
must be given to James Lazenby, who has been a wonderful support during the organisation of the
conference.
Along with the above, we would also like to thank the HEA (Higher Education Academy) for providing
funding for the event and support to the AAE from the very beginning in recognising our hopes in
terms of what the association could be and has since become.
Further financial contributions made by Laurence King publishing and our AAE partners, who
supported us on the days of the conference through their fantastic exhibitions and stalls, have also
helped us realise the event.
Conference Planning Team

Conference Chairs
Victoria Farrow, Nottingham Trent University
Marisela Mendoza, Nottingham Trent University
Conference Committee Team

Bob Brown, Plymouth University
Hannah Vowles, Birmingham City University
Peter Holgate, Northumbria University
Paper Reviewers and Additional Moderators
Among many others we would like to thank the following:

Bob Brown, Plymouth University
Katharina Borsi, Nottingham University,
Gul Kacmaz, Queens University, Belfast
Mohammed Gamal, Queens University Belfast
Raymond Quek, Bond University, Australia
Zoe Millman, Birmingham City University
Tracey Woods, Bond University, Australia
Helen O’Connor, University of Dundee School of Architecture
Jane Anderson, Oxford Brookes University
Guillermo Garma Montiel, Nottingham Trent University
George Epolito, Manchester Metropolitan University
Chris Heuvel, Nottingham Trent University
Trevor Elvin, University of Lincoln
Benachir Medjoub, Nottingham Trent University
Fidel Merez, University Campus Suffolk
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Conference Topic Chairs

Guillermo Garma Montiell, Nottingham Trent University
Benachir Medjoub, Nottingham Trent University
Paul Collins, Nottingham Trent University
Peter Holgate, Northumbria University
George Epolito, Manchester Metropolitan University
Dan Jary, Sheffield University
Chris Maloney, Manchester Metropolitan University
Leo Care, Sheffield University
Carolyn Butterworth, University of Sheffield
Ruth Morrow, Queens University, Belfast
Valeria Carnevale
James Brown, Norwich University of the Arts
Julian Williams, Westminster University
Yun Gao, Huddersfield University
Student Volunteers
Kamran Surizehi, Nottingham Trent University

Tobias Power, Nottingham Trent University
Sian Maycock, Nottingham Trent University
Marwa Derouiche, Nottingham Trent University
Jonathan Wren, Nottingham Trent University
Matt Kerrod, Nottingham Trent University
Jennifer Corbett, Nottingham Trent University
Joe Peake, Nottingham Trent University
Tom Adams, Nottingham Trent University
Katie Allen, Nottingham Trent University
Richard Newman, Nottingham Trent University
Supporters of the AAE
National Conference of the Beginning Design Student, USA

Laurence King Publishing
Wiley Press Publishing
Trada
Tata Steel
Vectorworks
Autodesk
Architecture Is
CIAT
HEA
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Table of Contents
0.1 Conference Themes
- Studio
- Studio Method
- Interdisciplinary
- Live Projects
- Studio Hierarchy
- Drawing and Representation
- Virtual Design Studio
- Studio Theory
- Professional Practice
- Responsible Design
- Integration of Technology
- Collaboration
- Beginning Design
0.2 Keynote Speakers
0.3 Papers
Collected papers are arranged by order of conference programme and into conference themes
accordingly.
0.4 Posters
Collected posters are arranged by order of conference programme and into alongside submitted
abstracts.
0.5 Contacts
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Studio – The Site, chaired by Chris Maloney & Guillermo Garma Montiel
This theme explores field study and its link into design studio projects and design studio practice.
Authors discuss the value learners obtain from field study visits and live sites and aim to
recognise the importance of equipping architectural students with the skills and knowledge for
designing with different cultures.
Studio Method , chaired by Dan Jary, George Epolito, Jane Anderson, Yun Gao
& Jullian Willams
This theme explores creative learning in the design studio and pedagogical techniques in
architectural education. Projects and hence methods of teaching architecture will be discussed
as papers explore the journey through the design process at both Undergraduate and
Postgraduate levels.
Interdisciplinary, chaired by Marisela Mendoza & Valeria Carnevale

This theme investigates the practice of architectural education in studio and acknowledges a
need. The shifts in modern day design and continuing cultural changes worldwide are recognised
as is the requirement for equipping our students with the skills to manoeuvre in the ever evolving
environment that is Architecture. But how do we do this? This theme explores potential gaps in
Architectural education and proposes ideas for how these may be filled.
Live Projects , chaired by Paul Collins & Leo Care

Using live projects is becoming ever more popular in the UK with educators recognising the value
of taking students out of the design studio environment and into the communities that surround
us. Authors explore the notion of ‘’live project’’ and investigate the opportunities this may bring to
architectural pedagogy.
Studio Hierarchy – The Unit, chaired by Peter Holgate & Victoria Farrow
Examining teaching and learning within the studio, the theme investigates the design studio and
the ‘happenings’ that occur in practice. The ‘’Unit’’ is explored together with aspects of
architectural education and their impact on the transformation of students into architects.
Drawing and Representation, chaired by Hannah Vowles & Victoria Farrow

Exploring the use of a variety of different media and techniques for the communication of
architectural and design based projects in the Studio. Papers include a range of investigations
into the need for communication in architecture, the profession and the built environment and
issues that arise in this pedagogy.
Virtual Design Studio, chaired by Benachir Medjoub & Chris Maloney

Paper presentations explore the links between the design process and electronic sources, media
and tools in the context of the design studio and beyond together with exploring the use of social
media.
Studio Theory , chaired by Marisela Mendoza, Ruth Morrow & Dan Jary
Investigating pedagogical theories, papers explore architectural education and the processes
involved in design studio. Exploring the design review or critique, peer learning, the unit amongst
others, a range of educational strategies are discussed.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Professional Practice, chaired by Ruth Morrow & Victoria Farrow

This theme explores the connection between architectural education and the design studio in
particular and professional practice and the Architect’s office.
Responsible Design, chaired by Marisela Mendoza & Valeria Carnevale

This theme investigates the need for the design studio and pedagogies practiced within the
studio, to adapt and respond to recent changes between academia and practice; training
students to become socially involved, environmentally responsible planners, harnessing
professional skills to conceive of just, viable solutions.
Integration of Technology, chaired by Chris Heuvel & James Brown

This theme explores the integration of technology, structure and construction into student design
projects. Papers explore a perceived disconnection between design work taking place in the
studio environment other taught modules. The dissociation of technology will be discussed and
presentations will explore how it may be possible to better facilitate the learning process for
undergraduate students in architecture to more intuitively integrate design and technology?
Collaboration, chaired by Leo Care & Carolyn Butterworth, Ruth Morrow &
Chris Maloney
Authors discuss the notion of providing collaborative learning experiences in architectural
education together with the associated benefits and challenges.
Beginning Design, chaired by George Epolito, James Brown & Victoria Farrow
Investigating the route of the beginning design student in architecture, paper presentations
explore the cultivation process for first year students, the process of making and inquiry and
methods for building up a design language for future study.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Professor Sir Peter Cook RA
Professor Sir Peter Cook RA is a notable English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural
subjects. Founder of Archigram, he was knighted in 2007 for his services to architecture and teaching.
He is also a Royal Academician and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French
Republic. His achievements with Archigram were recognised by the RIBA in 2004, with the award of
the Royal Gold Medal.
Cook is a director of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Bartlett School of
Architecture at University College London, and has been director of Art Net in London and curator of
the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
As a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London, Cook’s professorships also include those of
the Royal Academy, University College, London and the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste
(Städelschule) in Frankfurt-Main, Germany. His continuing work as a lecturer takes him to cultural
institutions around the world, where many have heard him expound (among other subjects) upon his
love affair with the slithering, the swarming and the spooky.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Reinier de Graaf
Reinier de Graaf is an architect and Partner of architecture and design office OMA, founded by Rem
Koolhaas, with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong and projects in over 30
countries worldwide. He holds an architecture diploma from Delft University of Technology and a
Masters degree in architecture from the Berlage Institute.
Well known and respected in architectural practice, Reinier also supervises the work of AMO, the
research and design studio established in 1998 as a counterpart to the architectural practice of
OMA and lectures frequently in the academic and professional realm. While OMA remains dedicated
to the realization of buildings and master plans, AMO operates in fields such as media, sociology,
technology, energy, fashion, publishing and graphic design.
De Graaf is currently overseeing AMO’s involvement in energy policy and in renewable energy
planning, notably through Zeekracht, a masterplan of offshore windfarms in the North Sea completed
in 2008, and Roadmap 2050, a masterplan for an integrated European power grid based on
renewable energy. He also led AMO’s contribution to The Energy Report, a comprehensive study
developed by the WWF, AMO and Ecofys claiming that the world can be 100% reliant on renewable
energy by 2050. De Graaf and AMO recently developed the curriculum of the Strelka Institute for
Architecture, Media and Design, a postgraduate school in Moscow, where he now teaches the
'Energy' Studio.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Thomas Dutton
Thomas Dutton is an architect and the Cincinnati Professor for Community Engagement at Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio. Dutton is founder and director of Miami University's Centre for Community
Engagement in Over-the-Rhine, which has offered opportunities for faculty, student, and community
learning in that inner-city, Cincinnati neighborhood. Since 1996, he and his students in the Over-the-
Rhine Design / Build Studio have designed and rehabilitated housing for
low- and moderate-income people. He has been active in the Over-the-Rhine People's Movement
for twenty-eight years. In 2006, Dutton started the Over-the-Rhine Residency Program, which
brings students to Over-the-Rhine for a full semester to work with the Over-the-Rhine People's
Movement.
Dutton's research focuses on the connections between critical pedagogy, architectural education,
and urban theory and social practice. He is co-editor with Lian Hurst Mann of Reconstructing
Architecture: Critical Discourses and Social Practices (University of Minnesota Press, 1996), and
editor of Voices in Architectural Education: Cultural Politics and Pedagogy (South Hadley, MA.:Bergin
and Garvey, 1991). Dutton has published in such journals and magazines as the Journal of
Architectural Education (JAE), Designer/Builder, Shelterforce, Rethinking Marxism, The Nation, The
Black Scholar, and Z Magazine.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
0.3 Papers
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
0.3 Papers
Collected papers are arranged by order of conference programme and into conference themes
accordingly:
Discovering Place
Carl Meddings, University of Huddersfield
Designing within a Different Culture – The case for designing overseas

projects and field studies in a school of architecture
Yun Gao, University of Huddersfield
Common Currency Between Water and Cities: Architecture Education in

the Era of Climate Change
Judith Reno, Savannah College of Art and Design, USA
Dialectical Currencies between Architectural and Theatre Pedagogy.

Establishing Dialogical Learning in an Internationalised Environment
Efthimia Papefthimiou, University of Plymouth, UK
Air rights by room + cities

Lorens Holm & Helen O’Connor, University of Dundee School of Architecture
Avoiding Seamlessness
Sallie Hambright Belue, Clemson University, USA
Studio Lab: Directed Experimentation Towards Focused Innovation

Genevive Baudoin, Bruce A Johnson, University of Kansas, USA
Poesis: The Missing Hyphen between the How and the What of Design
Hector La Sala University of Louisiana, USA
Detours and Denouements

Bradley Walters, University of Florida School of Architecture, USA
Four-in-One: A Democratic Approach to Diversifying First Year Design

Julia Gately, Andrew Barrie Use Rieger, Sarah Treadwell, School of Architecture and Planning,
University of Auckland
Architecture As Cabaret : From Genius Loci to Locus Genii

The Design Studio as Liminal Space

Jullian willams, Westminster University
Socialisation in Architecture Education

Mark Olweny, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Wales
Situated Learning in Architecture: The pedagogic benefits to practioners

and the improvement of place
Simon Bradbury, Plymouth University
‘An Output Value’ – Exploring the role of the live project as a pedagogical,
social and cultural bureau de change
James Benedict Brown, Norwich University of the Arts
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
A Live Currency: Introducing the Live Projects Handbook

Carolyn Butterworth, Sheffield University
Representational Imports
Brian Kelly, Nebraska University, Lincoln, USA
The Unrecognised Value of the Architects 6B pencil Sketch

Deborah Bentley, Nihal Al Sabbagh, School of Architecture, Abu Dhabi University
Translations from Mapping to Seeing (and Back Again)

Stephen Belton, University of Florida School of Architecture, USA
#TwitterCritter : Extending the Reach of Studio

Gill Armstrong, Ann Vanner, University of Central Lancashire
The Imperative of the Metastudio

Adrian Evans, University of Huddersfield
Rethinking Architectural education: a focus on creativity

Bzhad Sidawi, University of Dammam, College of Architecture and Planning, Saudi Arabia
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Architectural Education

Peter Holgate & Rachel Sara, Northumbria University and University of West of England
Demystifying the SCI-Arc Design Studio: 1972-1976

Benjamin Smith, University of Michigan, USA
The Interim Design Review

Jenny Marie & Nick Grindle, Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, University
College London
From Pedagogy to Didactics: looking at the theoretical presuppositions of

two of architecture’s didactic tools
Stavros Melissinopoulous, University of Edinburgh
Exploring the design studio as a social context for developing creativity

Rosie Parnell & Rachel Sara, University of Sheffield & University of West of England
The opportunities for inducing socially responsible design thinking in

architectural studio teaching and learning
Bobby Nisha Mohammed & Dr Margaret Nelson, University of Bolton
Unstable Currency: the ‘Culture of Learning’ architectural drawing

James Burch, University of West of England
Hand Craft and Computational Design Thinking in Basic Design Teaching

and Learning
John Abel, School of Design and Construction, Washington State University, USA
Design decision making as effected by differing models of human

perception.
Steve Temple, University of Texas, San Antonio, USA
Drawing thinking: a lost currency?

Federica Goffi, Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Carleton University, USA
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Learning Outside the Lecture Space

David Morton, Northumbria University
Making Arguments in Practice and in Studio

Richard Hoag & David Smit, Kansas State University, USA
Design Studio and the Potential Renaissance in Contextual Buildings

Bob Giddings, Northumbria University
Regionalising Architectural Education

Elie M. Harfouche, Lebanese American University, Lebanon
The Transdisciplinary final design studio – process, product and a

reflexive act
Shosi Bar Eli & Carmella Jacoby Volk, Interior Design Department, COMAS, Israel
Design —The Direct Revolution

Zivia Kay, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Fusing technology and design in the studio

Charlie Smith, Liverpool John Moores
Empowering Technology in the Creative Design Process

Ricardo Assis Rosa, Oxford Brookes University
Re conceptualizing the design studio: blending academia and architectural

practice
Marta Masdeu, Researcher in ARC Group
Educating the next generation of architects for interdisciplinary BIM

environments
Suha Jaradat, University of Reading
Looking to Otherness for a collaborative learning experience

George Epolito & Alessandra Como, Manchester Metropolitan University and Università degli
studi
Roark’s Shadow – Between Defiance and Docility

Mark McGlothlin, University of Florida, USA
THE EMERGENT STUDIO: A Paradigm of Transcultural Architectural

Design and Research
Roger Tyrell & Nicola Crowson, University of Portsmouth
Learning by doing: An immersive manufacturing experience with

undergraduate architecture students
Guillermo Guzman, Nottingham University
Integration in the design studio

Michael Devereux, Elena Marco & John Comparelli, University of West of England
Undercurrent: swimming away from the Design Studio

AAE CONFERENCE 2013
On 'beginnings' in design studio teaching, a Poetic approach. Arch

Amos Bar Eli, Institute of Technology, Holon, Israel
Making and Inquiry: Cultivating Process in the Beginning Design Student

James Eckler, Marywood University, USA
Maintaining the Indispensable: First Year Studio Fundamentals

Jeffrey Balmer & Michael Swisher
Simulation in Architectural Design Education -Report on, and assessment

of, an integral approach within the Design Studio
Stephen Roe, Feng Chia University, Taiwan
Architectural Design Pedagogy: Improving Student Learning Outcomes

Rokshid Ghaziani, Dr Ghaziani, Dr Azadeh Montazami, Fraser Bufton, Coventry University
Finding Value in Material Investigations and Innovations

Lisa Huang, University of Florida, USA
Learning in architecture: Students’ perceptions of the architecture studio

Harriet Tumusiime, Uganda, Martyrs University, Uganda
The currency of what remains unchanged Bruno

Bruno Silvestre & Noel Cash, Oxford Brookes University
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DISCOVERING PLACE
And whilst the field study visits cannot replicate a

Discovering Place long period of ethnographic experience of a
place, where researcher becomes participant in
Carl Meddings the life of a particular community, as well as
observer, the power of spending a period of time
University of Huddersfield in a place; of falling asleep and waking up day
after day in another culture provides an
experiential platform that cannot be replicated by
mere academic means. Students (and tutors)
are not able to switch off from the experience.
Introduction The senses are constantly bombarded with new
and different sounds and smells, ‘unusual’
This paper explores the dynamic social learning behaviour and unfamiliar, sometimes
experience of an extended field study visit to an inscrutable, events.
unfamiliar cultural context, and subsequent
dialogue and guided reflection within the design The peculiarities of a place are clearly apparent
studio. It builds upon an earlier paper by the in the formal or ritualistic events, but there are
author in the University of Huddersfield stresses and joys to be discovered in more
1
publication entitled ‘Being There’. commonplace events of day to day life. On a
study visit to Northern China in 2004, the group
The BA (Hons) Architecture (International) took a 27 hour train journey from Shenyang to
course at the University of Huddersfield offers an Shanghai, bedding down in triple bunk sleeper
opportunity for final year students to spend an compartments and watching the agricultural and
extended period of time experiencing an industrial scenery of The People’s Republic slide
unfamiliar cultural context. The course has been by. The sense of the sheer vastness of the
running for 21 years during which time visits country and the seemingly complete human
have been organised to cities in: India, Egypt, occupation of the landscape for example was
Jordan, Morocco, Malaysia, Malta, Vietnam and remarkable and not easily communicated without
China. actually being there.
Each trip has its own specific issues and The students’ experiences can be of a very
characteristics in relation to general organisation personal nature too, such as when invited back
and the emergence of local needs and to the family homes of local students to eat and
opportunities for choice of projects and to be cordially welcomed. The hospitality of the
processes of interaction with local agencies and locals is not an abstract idea, but a very real and
communities. The work undertaken by the tangible experience.
students during the visit is essential preparation
for design activity in the studio upon return to the What is really very apparent about the trips is the
UK. However, there are other less tangible, less strengthening of the ‘esprit de corps’ amongst
measurable benefits that students gain from the students and staff. The shared experiences are
whole experience of being there. In the first cohesive; from difficult and adventurous travel,
instance, perhaps the most interesting challenge such as ‘scary’ overnight coach journeys in
for students lies in the transition from a Vietnam, or mini bus excursions to distant
UK/western mind-set to the point where they temples in India; to the 5am site visit to a busy
genuinely begin to get ‘under the skin’ of the park in a district of Shenyang (which included
place. finding people engaged in tai chi, playing Mah
Jong, doing vigorous physical exercise, sword
This can manifest itself as fairly powerful and fighting, line dancing, hairdressing and
clear ‘culture shock’, for example on arrival in dentistry!) or the breathtaking arrival at the
India or China, the overwhelming sense of being monolithic carved facade of the Treasury in the
somewhere else, somewhere unfamiliar can be heart of Petra in Jordan; the shared experiences
immediately apparent and deeply affecting from are an endless sources of conversation and
the very start. reflection.
Peter Kellett writes “In our daily life we draw And therein perhaps lays the true value of
heavily on our experiential interpretations of the participation on such a visit. Our methods for
places we inhabit through our work and domestic teaching and learning always involve
lives. Such understandings draw directly from conversation. The development of design skills
the senses and our bodily engagement in space. and ideas runs in parallel and relies upon talking
In contrast, our analyses and interpretations of about the work; talking about ideas, possibilities,
the places and sites of others often rely on a realities, atmospheres, materials, life and
different range of skills in which ‘objectivity’ is inhabitation. The common experience of an
privileged over personal responses. Such international visit creates an enormous shared
approaches usually rely on short visits in which wealth of reference for reflection, abstraction and
hard ‘factual’ and visual data is collected proposition.
2
quickly.”
The conversations of course, begin before the

visit, but become deeply intense during the trip. In the 20 years since 1992, destinations have
Students and tutors are partners 24 hours a day. been varied both in scale of settlement and
There are no ‘normal’ timetable rules here. extent of development, which has also lead to
Interesting conversations (over a meal or a differences in the processes by which students
drink) or often actual tuition (over the drawing begin to assimilate the nature of the place.
board or computer) can carry on late into the
night and can last for days. The experience is In November 2012 the final year students
important during the visit, but has a really undertook a tour of Yunnan Province in South
powerful on-going legacy afterwards. The West China. The trip was organised in
relationship between students and staff can shift conjunction with the architecture department of
fundamentally. The sense that tutors are sharing Yunnan Arts University in Kunming, with which
the discovery of a developing design can be Huddersfield University has had a close working
enormously empowering. relationship for a number of years.
The actual projects emerge from a discovery of Yunnan is a fascinating place. There are 56
the nature of the place. They are not different ethnic nationalities in China, with 26 of
predetermined. Tutors and students will share these being resident in Yunnan. Each ethnic
the exploration of the cultural, climatic, social minority group has its own language, rituals,
and physical influences of the locations chosen clothing, architecture and so on.
for study. Projects are developed from a real
understanding of the place. Students begin to Part 1 – The trip
think about and talk about design by exploring
first principles, climatically, socially, spatially, This year the format of the trip was very different
materially etc. to previous years. Rather than staying for a few
weeks in a single town or city and carrying out
In truth, the visits are fairly short (at around only detailed urban and cultural analyses of various
4 or 5 weeks) and may seem too short for districts, Staff and students travelled around the
students to pay sufficient regard to the full region on a 10 day coach journey, staying in
cultural and environmental context of their study hotels and hostels en route and visiting some of
locations. the most remote mountainous regions of
Southern Yunnan.
On the whole, however, the participants try very
hard to ‘get it right’. They are often engaged in
an illuminating struggle to find a balance
between their western-influenced architectural
design thinking (particularly in terms of
architectural language and construction
technology) and a genuine desire to produce
schemes that are environmentally and culturally
responsive. Although, the emphasis has shifted
a little in recent years such that students do
explore the narrative of place and try to
determine the durability of place and social
interaction in the face of development and
change.
Yunnan Province, China 2012

Fig. 1. Students, academic staff and Yi villagers, Mou
There have also been changes over the years in
Shang
the way in which we engage with the field study
visits. Primarily these are driven by changes in
technology and the parallel phenomenon of a Twenty five architecture students from
rapidly globalising economy. When the first trip Huddersfield joined up with around 30 Chinese
took place to India in 1992 we did not have architecture students and their tutors to work
internet, email, mobile phones, laptops, GPS together on the study tour, which encompassed
devices, Google Earth or advanced CAD some larger ancient Chinese towns, such as
packages etc. Jian Shui and Shi Ping, as well as smaller
settlements such as Qin Kou village, home to the
Of course, there are advantages and Hani ethnic group high above the stunning rice
disadvantages. It certainly seems more difficult paddy landscapes, and Mou Shang village,
now to shake off the cultural bubble that is where the Yi minority group live in small farming
inevitably brought by a travelling group when communities (Fig 1).
they first arrive. On the other hand the ability to
maintain easy contact with local students and The Yi peoples are known for their colourful
tutors whilst on the visit and afterwards can be ethnic costumes and the famous Dragon dance,
enormously useful.
which they performed especially for the arrival of identity. Students stayed both in a nearby guest
the Chinese and UK students to the village. house and in the village with separate families
and, over 3 or 4 days, got to understand many of
The project locations were to be in the villages of the fears and hopes of the Yi people in this
Qin Kou and Mou Shang, both of which are region. Upon return to the UK the students from
undergoing fairly rapid change and are Huddersfield are now developing design ideas
experiencing a great deal of cultural pressure for Qin Kou and Mou Shang that will focus on
both from outside and from within. And in each the difficulties of maintaining an ethnic identity in
location the responses are different. a rapidly developing globalising economy.
The opportunity to travel through remote parts of

China with architectural staff and students from
that country was really very special. It was a
once in a lifetime experience for our students,
who will no doubt have many special memories
of the tour that they will carry with them, not only
into the studio and their final design projects, but
for the rest of their lives.
During the trip students were interviewed in a

relatively informal way to try to capture a sense
of their ongoing experience:
“It’s something we’ve never done before. It’s a

little bit scary, but it’s been a very good
experience”
Fig. 2. Hani villagers in Qin Kou working on new
“I’ve learnt a lot about the Chinese people and
thatched roofing
the Chinese culture. I’ve put myself in their
Over the last ten years the Chinese government shoes and afterwards will be able to design for
has supported development of the buildings in them”
Qin Kou, to the extent that much of the local mud
and thatch vernacular architecture has been “What I have found most interesting on this trip
replaced with concrete flat roofed buildings (far has been the Chinese culture and sense of
superior to the older dwellings and certainly community and how family and community can
more desirable to the locals, but really not of any affect architecture and places in a really good
significant architectural or historic qualities). way”
But the local government wants to develop “Although it has been difficult in many ways to
tourism in the region and have recently pumped work with the Chinese students because of
money into retro fitting mock thatch roofs to the language and communication, I’ve found that we
new dwellings to make them seem more ethnic. all share one idea and it’s the idea of designing
When the group arrived the whole village was and exploring design through different eyes and
engaged in construction activity (Fig 2) and there different views, which I’ve found really
was something of a sense of resigned interesting”.
resentment by the locals, who (besides wanting
better housing) would simply like to be left to get
on with attending to the rice paddy fields.
Part 2 – Upon return
In Mou Shang the villagers were similarly
exercised by the need to improve the quality of Students engage in design activity back in the
their homes and many had moved into dwellings UK. Initially they’ve worked together in groups to
a few hundred metres away in a new village. finalise their group study reports, which explored
However, here they were far more concerned all of the places visited in some breadth, but
about the loss of identity through the loss of their focused on Qin Kou and Mou Shan in greater
very specific local architecture and the pressure, depth, including the analysis of specific sites
particularly on younger people to leave the identified for a range of possible building types.
region in search of work and the consequent Conversations, begun in China and continued in
loss of cultural identity through the loss of the UK, have helped develop the project briefs
traditional techniques of construction, ways of for a variety of proposals.
making clothing, or musical instruments, and
activities such as dance, and various rituals and The working patterns for the group include
so on. tutorials in groups alongside students who were
on the trip, as well as other students who did not
The villagers of Mou Shang welcomed ideas to visit China and carried out a parallel UK study.
help them develop an industry of tourism that
might help protect and preserve their cultural
Some of the tutors taking tutorial groups have

not visited China and, to understand the
locations, rely on the good communications skills
of the students, both individually and as a group
to help to develop projects appropriately.
Projects are beginning to emerge as the final

gathering and collating and prioritising of
information happens and first ideas start to
become tangible objects for discussion, debate
and reflection within the body of the cohort.
To explore the nature of the experience and to

consider the discursive context within which
tutorials and design development take place
students were asked to join semi-structured
interviews to explore their thoughts and
Fig. 3. UK students and Chinese students preparing a
reflections at an interim stage. Five students
presentation
were interviewed, chosen at random by asking
for volunteers.
Whilst the project was set to help students to
All of the students were expressive of the value settle in to the place, and was designed to allow
of the experience to them as individuals and all for interaction in a number of ways, the real
observed the special circumstances to which impact of the task was far greater from the point
one submits when undertaking such a trip, of view of students than perhaps staff had
spending such a long time in each other’s anticipated. The UK students were taken by their
company and getting to know each other so Chinese hosts to parts of the city that they might
much more than they ever had before. otherwise have not discovered (certainly not in
such a short period of time), or that they might
Many of the students had got to know others on never have visited (as tourists, for example). The
the trip really for the first time, even though they process of communication (mainly via translation
had been in the same year group for over 2 apps on mobile phones) was extraordinarily
years, the enforced closeness meant that there intense, and the first opportunity to begin to see
were also social activities in which they shared how people in other cultures may think was both
and plenty of opportunity for casual rewarding and at times bewildering.
conversations and for observation of each other
within unfamiliar contexts.
After the initial design project everyone then
Some students expressed some surprise at the embarked on a 10 day tour of the province. UK
way in which certain colleagues were less able students were on one coach and Chinese
to deal with various cultural experiences, which, students on another and each had separate
through knowing them in the UK, one might have agendas for their work. Although, each group
expected them to handle differently. carried out detailed observations in Qin Kou and
Mou Shang, during which time there was great
By far the most important aspects that students opportunity for collaboration and conversation.
identified though were to do with: The value of this, from the students’ point of
view, was the opportunity to begin to try to look
a) Working with the Chinese students, and at the world through the eyes of others. To put
b) Having a common understanding of the themselves in ‘their shoes’
place/culture
Contact with the Chinese students has been
maintained informally via email since returning to
Working with the Chinese students happened in
the UK.
2 ways. In the first instance, in Kunming city the
Having a common understanding of a place and
students were asked to work in groups (3 from
the culture has been empowering on return to
the UK, 3 Chinese) to develop ideas (in a very
the UK as students are able to discuss places in
open ended way) for a new responsive
relation to experiences and events and to
intervention in the city. They had 24 hours, I
continue to broaden their understanding of those
which time they had to explore the city, agree on
places through interaction with others. Students
an idea and create a presentation to
also reported the usefulness of having others in
communicate the idea to their peers and the
tutorials who really understood the places and
tutors from both countries (Fig 3).
how this helped to explain and reinforce design
ideas and positions.
As one might expect students took dozens of

videos and several hundreds of photographs
each, of places and people and, formally and
informally, of study sites and of social events. You understand how people live, how they
The common understanding of a shared interact with the environment, what they need,
experience is also invaluable in reflecting upon what they want”.
and discussing these with others back in the UK.
“Being taken out of your comfort zone is an eye
For the interviews back in the UK students were opener
asked to consider the shared experience - the You need to consider everything you need to
process of becoming familiar with a very different look at the whole picture”
culture, and to consider their individual
experiences - the personal learning journey: “I am more sympathetic to another context. I
note differences. The spirit’s different”
“When we were working with the Chinese
students, they had their own way of designing “We’ve got a bond now. We talk about the
and we had our own way and it opens your mind experience and share the experience, it’s a
to thinking, is this way right or is it this way.” common bond.”
“My favourite part of the trip was learning from “The learning experience you have is quite
the Chinese Students. You could experience a intense when you’re in a social situation with
lot more when you were with them.” others for a prolonged period, all being in the
same boat.”
“They saw architecture differently and we saw it
another way, but we all sort of agree on one Themes that have emerged then include:
definition, but from different perspectives”
• The nature of becoming familiar with a
“Initially there was a wall between us and with very different culture.
the differences of thought processes we all felt it This seems to happen gradually and at different
might be too great, but there is a common
rates for different individuals. Some students
ground, through sketching, or getting an idea
across, any which way. You can work with become absorbed in the experience far more
anyone if you can establish one route to get your quickly than others, willing to try new
ideas through” experiences and to have a go. Others are more
reticent and reserved and took much longer to
“We always used to draw and communicate relax into being there. All agreed on the
visually. That was very special”. enormous and helpful boost given to this
process by engaging with local architecture
“Even coming back to the UK, I look at things in
a different way, like you’re seeing it through students.
different eyes.”
• Discovering places individually and as a
“When you get to know people, when you group/ Working together within an
experience their culture, their food and seeing unfamiliar location.
how they behave you realise that it’s just another
The study visits are quite intense and involve a
version of the same thing”
lot of work both as an individual and in groups. It
“When you’re coping with that unfamiliar culture, is very different to being a tourist, and students
it’s interesting to see, when someone who is have a very critical and focussed attitude to the
normally quite boisterous, but you take them work of becoming familiar with the place. There
completely outside their comfort zone – and they is value in the shared experience both on the
don’t cope” level of having someone else to talk to about it
and to reflect upon it, but also in the
“You learn a lot about yourself and how you
cope with things” simultaneous discovery of the place and the
observation of other people discovering the
“You get to know people better in a completely place, sometimes in very different ways.
different situation. When you’re in very close
proximity with someone for a month you get to • The value of the shared experience
know him better than you thought”
when later working alongside each
“The dynamics change and you take on different other in the studio
roles, you might take a leadership role where The value here seems not only to be about
you wouldn’t normally” reaffirmation of one’s experiences or
understanding of one’s ideas, but also about the
“It’s always better to experience something continuing process of looking at (or looking back
unique with someone else” at) and learning about a place through someone
“It’s a completely different take on travelling else’s eyes.
• Social cohesion and social learning. anchored around specific events/activities which
Spending an extended period of time with others allow for shared experience, and the processes
and getting to know them better, whilst by which students interact and reflect upon the
project and on the behaviour of themselves and
simultaneously getting to know a place seems to
others in the context of the project.
be a reinforcing aspect of the visit. The sense of
all being in the ‘same boat’ or all on a shared There are opportunities to identify and utilise a
journey makes the interactions between variety of formal and informal techniques of
students, both formal and social more collegiate. dialogue and guided reflection that draw upon
Students are more readily inclined to share their the resonance of the shared event, which exists
thoughts and share their projects with each as a kind of memory context from which the
design work emerges.
other.
Notes
• The personal learning journey.
Students learn an awful lot about themselves on
such a journey. Every day there are new 1
Gao, Yun (2010) Being There - Reflections on
discoveries and new circumstances and the way
in which one reacts to these can be a powerful 20 years of the International course at the
source of reflection and growth. Huddersfield Department of Architecture.
• The importance of informal dialogue University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.

during the visit ISBN 9781682180864
It’s almost impossible on a visit of this kind to
separate the formal (or work related) dialogue 2
Kellett, Peter (2011) Living in the field:
form the informal. But the developing sense that
tutors on the visit are sociable people, and that ethnographic experience of place. Arq:
they are discovering this place for the first time
Architectural Research Quarterly, 15(4), pp. 341-
and have no additional expertise about the place
means that conversations happen that might 346.
never happen back in the UK. This new
relationship amongst students and between
students and tutors changes the dynamics of
interaction upon return to the UK, such that
tuition can be seen as a continuing part of the
shared journey. The dialogue tends to be far
more reflective on the experience in a way that
validates decisions in the students’ minds in a
very real way. The students attitude to, and
ownership of their own work and personal
development matures.
In conclusion
At the time of writing the research is ongoing and

will continue at least until the end of the current
design project for this particular group of
students. There are opportunities for a more
longitudinal study, both with this group as they
progress beyond the degree and with others at a
lower level coming through to join a field study
visit of this kind.
Additional research in action may be valuable,

as lessons learnt from this particular visit are
considered as part of the design of future trips, in
particular the value in working with local students
and ways in which students’ reflective processes
can be engaged before, during and after the visit
through a more focused pedagogy.
There are also lessons to be learned in relation

to the structure of design projects (generally)
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DESIGNING WITHIN A DIFFERENT CULTURE
adjustments required to make the curriculum

more relevant and engaging in a global context.
Designing within a
Different Culture – The Introduction
case for designing To examine an architectural curriculum in a

global context, it is important to understand two
overseas projects and often blurred concepts: one is global education
and the other multicultural education. Davenport
field studies in a school argues that although these two share many
of architecture concerns, global education deals with issues in

the international or cross-national arena,
Yun Gao whereas multicultural education is based in a
domestic intra-national context.1
University of Huddersfield
More detailed definition about global education is
defined by Babich as “the socialization of
students into international citizenry, or as a
Abstract process of acquiring appreciation of human
diversity and cultures, and of the complexities of
Skills and knowledge required for designing
the international system”2. Multicultural
within different cultures should play an important
education attempts to address issues of diversity
part of the architecture curriculum, due to the
and the causes of inequality within a particular
increasing number of architectural offices
society. 3
engaging in overseas projects and more and
more international students studying in the UK. To understand the conceptual distinction
In order to investigate how architectural students between these two curriculum models is critical
perceive and value their learning experience in in architectural education as globalization has a
an unfamiliar context, this project was designed fundamental influence on both architectural
to explore field studies at Southwest China by a theories and practices. Architecture can be
group of architectural students from a university considered as the spatial planning and
at the north of England. It also exams their organisation which have connections to the
design decisions made for the project set in the cultural and social studies in different parts of the
region visited. The field study and design project world. Further research on designing and
provide students with the opportunities to learning in an unfamiliar place is also required
exercise the particular way of thinking that they because of the increased mobilizations of
formed in the university studio-based education. architectural practitioners and students who
Students from various background may use and design or study in overseas countries.
integrate their skills and knowledge differently
when confronted with an unfamiliar culture. King explains global cultures that have been
reflected in architectural practice in three ways.
The study takes the forms of an inquiry that use First, the global space is represented through
in-depth unstructured interviews of 3rd year the use of spectacular architecture by nations,
Bachelor Architectural students. It explores the cities and religions worldwide not only as
experience of the students who not only work as signifiers of power, but also as representations
navigators interpreting the unfamiliar or new of identities for nations and corporations.
situations, but also construct new Secondly the invention and selective
understandings in unfolding situations which appropriation, worldwide, of particular ‘signs of
may engender ways of thinking that inform and modernity’, and finally the spectacularly tall
reflect on action. The study argues that students’ buildings not only help to create new social
experience of learning and developing is not worlds, but also contributes to more widely
unified. There is the need for an inclusive culture disseminated conception of what ‘the world’ itself
in architectural education that can take into might be. 4
account of the personal, disciplinary and
community values in order to facilitate the From this perspective, studies about other’s
architecture not only deal with knowledge, skills,
and attitudes about building in unfamiliar places, set in the region visited makes learning about
they also relate closely to the deeper the culture relevant to the students in a given
understanding of one’s own culture and society. community. It provides an unfamiliar cultural
The global education treats one as part of the environment where students improvise with what
global village with limited resources and they have as determined by the circumstances
increasing interdependence.5 In architecture, of their study.
this understanding is reflected in the
understanding of sustainable design. The study takes the forms of an inquiry that uses
in-depth unstructured interviews of 3rd year
In addition to the increasing number of Bachelor Architectural students studying in a
architectural offices that are engaging in the university in the north of England. This group of
overseas projects, the impact of globalization on students from different cultural backgrounds
architecture is also illustrated by more and more carried out their field study in Yunnan province in
international students studying architecture in Southwest China for more than three weeks.
the UK. After graduation, those students will go During the field study they worked on the joint
back to their home countries to design and solve design project with Chinese students in a local
local problems. This raises question about the university. Following the field trip, a design
authentic architectural education system in the project was set for students from the UK in the
UK. This is the discourse ground much in region that they visited in China. The study aims
multicultural education which primarily explores to explore various factors that affect students
in two directions. First, they investigate the learning, both formal and informal, within certain
needs of international students underserved by cultural contexts.
the educational system.6 Secondly, the
multicultural education literature equates culture The trip
with knowledge constructed and possessed by
different groups of people. Further research on Yunnan province in China is famous for its 26
the subject also criticized the static conceptions ethnic groups and diverse traditional arts, crafts
of culture in multicultural education literature and buildings of each ethnic culture. The local
because “culture” is itself a culturally constructed university in Kunming, the capital city of the
concept.7 Yunnan province, has the curriculum to
reconstruct the cultural traditions of these ethnic
The methodology for designing the overseas groups, including the arts and crafts in the
trip school curriculum, inviting local masters into the
schools, and educating the young in the
This research about the overseas field trip traditional apprenticeship style. By working with
defines its methodology by considering the the Chinese students in the local university,
theories from both global and multicultural students from the UK had the opportunity to
education. A socio-anthropological approach experience the different curricular for design.
considers teaching as a form of social
intervention and the use of culturally responsive Participants’ accounts suggested that they had
pedagogy to create a more democratic little knowledge of the Chinese society, culture,
educational process.8 Study in multicultural art or education before beginning their studies.
education by Garber demonstrates that studying Upon arrival, they all experienced various
one other culture can lead to greater tolerance of degrees of reality shock, when the cultural
diversity because “the de-centralization of one’s patterns of the approached group do not have
own culture as ‘right’ will have a transferability to the authority of a tested system of recipes
learning about other cultures and cultural already formulated by the individual in his or her
artefacts.”9 first culture. Kunming itself has developed
rapidly as a metropolitan city over the last 30
This project is also developed from the idea that years. Participant Richard explained his
knowledge is shared because it is constantly, observation in Kunming:
dynamically and socially constructed. From this
perspective, to propose an in-depth engagement “Nobody seemed to rush anywhere; a lot of
with particular cultural forms the direct personal people drove extremely fast but people seemed
contact with members of the culture being to make the time to do things which were about
studied. The trip to China and design projects themselves. They went to parks or dancing or
something. On their dinner break they went to those would be interpreted differently by people
the park to meditate or dance and that was a big from different backgrounds.
shock to us. Everything was very social and
people spent time together. Other than that it
was difficult to really put your finger on what was
different because it seemed so similar to what
we do and yet so different but I can’t really
explain what the difference is.”
One of the many methods to encourage students

to learn and engage in the new context was for
students from the UK to work closely with those
in the local university. Projects were set up by
Chinese staff and students for joint team works
between students from both universities. Rather
than focused on the traditional Chinese culture,
forms, material and technologies, the urgent
problems raised by the local communities were
related to the conflict of rapid urban development
and people’s daily life, as follows:
• How modern urban facilities such as the

shopping malls and streets which hold
large amount of cars, cyclists and
buses were used in the local context.
Fig. 1. Traditional and modern buildings in Kunming
• How could mass housing provide

humanity to large urban populations Students experienced the mixture of the new
and immigrants? and traditional, and the planned and un-planned
and try to understand the unfamiliar based on
• How could local identity be established their knowledge gained in the university.
when there are 26 ethnic groups living Participant Chris felt that there should had been
in the province? more planning considerations for old and new in
the city. “The unplanned mixture of ‘tradition’ and
‘modern’ affected the design;” he commented:
• How could planning principles set up to
ease the conflict between existing
“Many old buildings and a church with a big spire
urban fabric and the huge demands of
were hidden behind high rises because they
the mass housing and transport?
were surrounded by very tall buildings. But I saw
the old buildings and I thought ‘this feels like
• How could differences be mitigated for
China’ or ‘this feels like the China that I thought I
housing designed for immigrants and
would find’. Like the old medicine shop just on
those for others in the same residential
the road from that new McDonalds”.
area?
Students were also overwhelmed by the large

The rapid transformations in the city were not
scale construction works carried out in the city,
simply brought about by one force or a single
and the international styles adopted on
piece of policy but reflected the conflict and
contemporary Chinese architecture. To employ
tensions of changing power groups and
traditional signs, symbols, materials or
negotiations over conflicting interests. It is not
technologies would not solve the problems
unusual to find a new building in the style of
mentioned above. To make the situation more
European modernism sit next to a modern local
difficult, some Western architectural signs and
“traditional” building in Chinese cities (Fig. 1).
symbols were interpreted and then restated with
The emergent built forms, meanings, and uses
signs and symbols in the local architectural
presented a different kind of ‘modern’ to that
language in Kunming. Very often those
which the students assumed before the trip, and
transcribed signs and symbols are used as
imported brand images. Contemporary

transformation of architecture and the built
environment in Kunming had been the re-
contextualisation and hybridisation of concepts
of modern/traditional, Western/Eastern,
Chinese/non-Chinese. Participant Alex said:
“I suppose you just have this image of this

traditional kind of place and you don’t realise
how it’s changed so rapidly. You don’t see that
side of it in the West.”
In the city, the familiar forms are designated with

new uses and meanings and strange elements
are incorporated into familiar arrangements,
such as two gates in Kunming and the new
Wuhua County Office Building that resembles
the form of the traditional pagoda (Fig. 2 & 3) .
The two gates were constructed in the 1980s
based on the historical recording in the literature
of the demolished original gates. Students felt
that their new identities should be valued
because “all the Chinese students were proud of Fig. 3. Wuhua County Office Building in Kunming
the spiritual aspects of these two gates
signified.” as John found. main outcome of learning is the creation of a
new set of relations in an environment”.10
Differently from what tourists do in a visiting Learning is characterized by and evident from
place, it is important to view the field study and the ability to make judgments.11 In the field trip,
design process for another place as a process of the students learnt to do things they could not do
participation in a new environment, where previously, in other words, by manage new
students need to make judgements. As Hager problems in different culture or society, the way
argues about workplace learning that “the of thinking and designing can be shaped by the
learning process in the new place. Sarah said:
“I think personally the attention to detail and to

creating the feeling of an internal space is the
thing that really came across to me. The spaces
that I enjoyed most were very well considered
spaces that weren’t necessarily in a beautiful
envelope and I think that is something that I am
going to try and bring to my architecture: that
attention to the feeling of place.”
After the visit in Kunming, the group travelled to

a number villages in order to understand the
differences between the rural and urban areas
Fig. 2. Traditional gate in Kunming
before they finally arrive in Beijing. In different
places, the sequence of the opened and closed
space through courtyards of houses, temples
and palaces has attracted much attention from
students. They were looking for different
narrative in spaces that they might not have
been familiar with before.
Tom talked about his experience going through Mary said: “One thing that really struck me about
the courtyards of Golden Temple compound in the ancient and beautiful old structures was that
Kunming: some of them were very beautiful on the outside
but the best ones, aesthetically, they weren’t
“I think I’ve always liked religious buildings and worried about the external and they were more
things like that and when we went round the worried about the internal space…. But in
temples. That was one of the things I got from western architecture there does seem to have
this trip: the idea of the approach to a building buildings like the Gherkin or even the Gaudi
and how the surroundings can completely buildings – they’ve got a very strong external
change the mood and that was how I felt about shell that really depicts the building but, inside,
this temple because the whole environment was they don’t necessarily translate that same level
very calm.” of detail and consideration. I think one thing that
really struck me about the best of traditional
The most impressive thing for Joe, architecture that I want to try and take on into my
architecturally, was the Forbidden City: “We own work is that the place you make inside is
walked through the Forbidden City…. it’s not more integral than the building as a whole. And
very high but when I was in there I kind of seeing a beautiful building and being in a
became lost in that world.” beautiful space isn’t necessarily the same thing.”
For Tony, the National Opera built in 2008 was Snodgrass and Coyne have clear analysis about
the inspiration, he claimed: “The amount of understanding the architecture of others and
modern buildings that were being built and how one’s own by exploring how Eastern philosophy
there was such a divide between the old and the understanding about the sense of ‘between-
new. … That (the National Opera in Beijing) was space’ (ma).12 ‘Between-space’ (ma) refers to
definitely the most impressive building I went to! the space between two walls. In this way,
I walked around it a couple of times trying to “design a building can be understood as
work out how to get in!” ‘grasping betweenness’, which is the inscription
of gap-patterns, rather than the manipulation of
Investigating how this modern building affected forms as objects having solid substantiality, an
him in the same way that traditional temples did, ‘essential’ reality in themselves”.13 They argue
he continued: that:
“It was amazing and it sat so well on the site “It should be emphasised, once more, that ma is
and, again, that was a very calm place where not primarily of interest for its formalistic and
you could lose yourself. You’re surrounded by aesthetic applications, nor even for the insights;
roads but you don’t really realize that and the it might give into what constitutes the distinctive
building is surrounded by water. That was the qualities of Japanese architecture and art. Its
nicest piece of architecture; it was very main relevance lies elsewhere, in the way it
impressive.” stands as an opposite to our own familiar and
accepted ways of thinking architecture.”14
Talking about the influence of the trip on their
design for the project set up in the visited places, Conclusion
Chris analyzed the difference when designing in
an unfamiliar place and a familiar place as: The study of students’ experience in China has
been informed by an anthropological perspective
“If you ask me to design something in the UK that culture is “dynamic, emergent and
then I would just design anything and I would interactional”.15 The unfamiliar place students
justify it because I am from the UK and I would visited doesn’t have a unified core of culture that
say that’s what I want and my opinion is valid can be discovered and embedded in the design
here but in China my opinion isn’t as valid as the process as students assumed before the trip.
people who are going to be seeing it and using it Therefore, their design shouldn’t aim to employ
every day and so it would have to be right.… I this authentic “cultural essence”, and combine it
wanted to create something that was with modern ideas to produce architecture for
architecturally interesting but subtle. At the the locals. Furthermore, the interview data
moment it seems that they are trying to build demonstrates the environmental influence where
huge iconic things and it doesn’t work.” students experience in the new place. The
purpose of overseas field trip was not to set Polishing the Lenses” " in Studies in Art Education
students into an unfamiliar place to learn about NAEA Press: Virginia, USA. 2000. p 364.
that culture. It explores the experience of the 10
Hager, P. "The conceptualization and measurement
students who engaged in unfolding situations of learning at work” " in H. Rainbird, A. Fuller & A.
which may engender ways of thinking that inform Munro Workplace Learning in Context. ROUTLEDGE
and reflect on action. The field visited can be Press: London and New York. 2004. p 246.
understood as a condition of design intervention 11
ibid: 248-9.
and resolution by individuals. Students’ 12
Snodgrass, A. & Coyne, R. Interpretation in
experience is not unified.
Architecture – Design as a way of thinking.
ROUTLEDGE Press: London and New York. 2006. p
As Snodgrass and Coyne’s analysis about the 224.
interpreting the architecture of others and one’s 13
ibid: 236.
own self, a inclusive curriculum, whether it is
global education or the multicultural education, 14
ibid: 239.
might provide students with a space between 15
Gonzalez, N. "Processual approaches to
cultures to communicate about shared human multicultural education” " in Journal of Applied
concerns. From this perspective, students can Behavioral Science. 31(2). 1995. p 234-244.
develop a new way of thinking and designing
and open up to what architecture might be.
Notes
1
Davenport, M. "Culture and Education: Polishing the
Lenses” " in Studies in Art Education NAEA Press:
Virginia, USA. 2000. p 361-375.
2
Babich, C. Global Education attitude and practices of
Iowa home economics teachers. Unpublished master’s
dissertation, Iowa State University, Ames. 1986. Cited
by Davenport, Melanie. "Culture and Education:
Polishing the Lenses” " in Studies in Art Education
NAEA Press: Virginia, USA. 2000. p 364.
3
Diaz, C., Massialas, B., and Xanthopoulos, J.. Global
Perspectives for Educators. Allyn and Bacon: Boston.
1999.
4
King, A. Spaces of Global Cultures – Architecture
Urbanism Identity. ROUTLEDGE Press: London and
New York. 2005. p 3.
5
Brown, S., & Kysilka, M. "In search of multicultural
and global education in real classroom” " in Journal of
Curriculum & Supervision, 9(3). 1994. p 313-317.
6
Trahar, S. Developing Cultural Capability In
International Higher Education – A narrative inquiry.
ROUTLEDGE Press: London and New York. 2011.
7
Davenport, M. "Culture and Education: Polishing the
Lenses” " in Studies in Art Education NAEA Press:
Virginia, USA. 2000. p 368.
8
Wasson, R. & Stuhr, P. & Petrovich-Mwaniki, L.
"Teaching art in the multicultural classroom: six
position statement” " in Studies in Art Education 34(4).
NAEA Press: Virginia, USA. 1990. p 90-93.
9
Garber, E. "Teaching art in the context of culture: A
study in the borderlands” " in Studies in Art Education
36(4). NAEA Press: Virginia, USA. 1995. p 218-232.
Cited by Davenport, Melanie. "Culture and Education:
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 COMMON CURRENCY BETWEEN WATER AND CITIES
Common Currency between water through the first two decades of the
Water and Cities Twentieth Century. The rapid growth of the city
Architecture Education in the Era of eliminated its flood plains; the 51-mile River was
Climate Change iii
also paved for flood control, exacerbating
Judith Reno, Professor of Architecture greater floods. The interdisciplinary topics for this
Savannah College of Art and Design studio investigation required that graduate
architecture students don the hats of landscape
architects, sociologists, and engineers. Through
Blurring the boundaries between the synthesizing interdisciplinary data, the
disciplines of landscape architecture, architecture studio has a process to model
urbanism and architecture is the order of the
design proposals for balanced reciprocities
day. The Netherlands has a long tradition of
cross-fertilization among the disciplines of between Water and Cities.
landscape architecture, urbanism and
architecture.
The enormous wave of urbanization, which is

sweeping across the world, is concentrated in
coastal regions and deltas, which to varying
degrees display a relationship with the Dutch
delta landscape. The relation between land and
water plays a key role for both. Climate change
and the rising sea level place this on the agenda
with renewed urgency. The connections between
urbanization and landscape development are
crucial for being able to face up to this task
i
– Frits Palmboom.
Introduction
This paper addresses the power of higher
education to prepare students for roles in
revitalizing natural reciprocities between the city
and its source of life, water. Hurricane Sandy’s
blow to New York was a wake-up call to United
States architects and politicians that water and
cities pose major challenges for cities and is a
primary global common currency in the era of
ii Fig.1. Los Angeles River1897
climate change. Flood control, clean water, and
public space must be integrated into architecture
education to engage a broadened understanding
of conflicts between urban growth and natural
water systems for the city.
My graduate architecture studio researched and

designed proposals for the downtown section of
the Los Angeles County Revitalization Plan for
the Los Angeles River. El Pueblo of Los
Angeles was founded a safe distance from the
River, with dedicated lands adjacent to the River
for agriculture. Its aquifer provided sufficient
tributaries as a natural protection from seasonal

flooding. This would compensate for insufficient
parks and green spaces in the city at a time
when the land and roadway construction was still
affordable. This comprehensive study was
shelved by the Los Angeles County Regional
Planning Commission and uncovered at the end
th
of the 20 Century.
Other initiatives for roles in revitalizing city

and water and appraisal of the theoretical
framework
Beginning in 2000 Pritzker Award recipient Thom

Mayne orchestrated collaboration between Art
Center, University of California at Los Angeles
(UCLA), Southern California Institute of
Architecture (SCI-Arch) and Cal Arts, and
Fig.2. Paved Los Angeles River Today bringing together the work of students from their
The relationship between river ecologies and respective film and photography, architecture
land use policies is a major factor in urban and graphic design departments for design
flooding. Cities exert a major impact on the investigations of downtown Los Angeles.
health of rivers and are the most vulnerable Published in L.A. Now, Volume One is a
locations for floods and water shortage. Urban compilation of extensive research of
rivers have historically been depositories of Metropolitan Los Angeles; Volume; Volume Two
human waste, toxic chemicals, storm water presents seven student team design proposals
runoff and agriculture waste. Land use policies for key districts of the downtown, including a
that favored real-estate development in flood Downtown River Park. Thom Mayne described
planes, destroyed riparian boundaries. To the value of these studies:
control seasonal floods in this Mediterranean
type climate, the United States Army Corps of Schools of architecture are necessary to the
Engineers has converted rivers to engineered production of much needed innovation and
inspiration in the planning of our cities. The
aqueducts, moving water more quickly to the intent of the L.A. Now design studies are to
ocean. Upstream reservoirs built by the Corp for invigorate interest in Los Angeles as a project,
promoting downtown as a territory for
flood control supported city growth and damaged investigation. We are concerned with projects
habitats. Living rivers were thereby transformed that instill this interest, from which other ideas
v
will follow.
to dead rivers. The Dutch water management
strategy now is to return space to rivers.
In 2006 Mayne’s architecture firm Morphosis was
commissioned to develop a design proposal for
In 1930 the Olmsted Brothers and Harland
Los Angeles State Historic Park at a former
Bartholomew developed a privately funded plan,
riverfront train yards near China Town. Mayne’s
Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches for the Los
Urban Design commission for the State Historic
Angeles Region: A Report submitted to the
iv
Park was triggered by the discovery that the
Citizens/Committee. This investigation
railroad was negotiating with a developer for a
proposed that linear parkways be constructed
factory to be built on this land. Mayne’s Preface
adjacent to the Los Angeles River and its
to Combinatory Urbanism links his research
studios at University of California at Los Angeles Architecture and Architecture, researched the
with his professional urban design commissions. Yellow and Yangtze Rivers in China; a “trashed”
river in Mumbai; Red Sea pollution and Riyadh
The graduate design studios allowed us to water conservation in Saudi Arabia; storm water
recalibrate an approach that was initially more
runoff in Atlanta, Georgia’s Chattahoochee
formal in its emphasis to something more
strategic and tactical in its thinking. We believe River; and cumulative agricultural pollution and
that it is the responsibility of architects to engage
flooding the length of the Mississippi River.
the most difficult urban problems, analyze them
objectively, and work uncompromisingly toward These investigations highlighted the global
the realization of practical and poetic urban
vi crises for flood control and clean water. In
solutions.
addition to this research, these students were
Another academic investigation of the Los assigned to provide potential solutions for these
Angeles River was initiated in a 1999 SCI-Arch environmental catastrophes. The dialogue
seminar taught by Kazys Varnelis, and was during this research reinforced the premise that
further developed through the Network “Water and Cities” is a Common Global
Architecture Lab of Graduate School of Currency. Three of these students are applying
Architecture, Columbia University. The the research in this seminar to their Masters of
Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies in Los Urban Design thesis through studio-based
Angeles expands concepts of urban modeling.
infrastructure to include Watershed, Los Angeles
Studio strategies as a formative experience
River, Telecommunications, and Props of the
movie industry. Varnelis explains that this book
ix
The Studio Model, described by Clark Kellogg
might be for a future kind of urban planner,
uses design tools and problem solving skills that
designer, architect, or resident.
are unique within the architecture design studio;
he argued that these processes can serve as
This kind of urbanism might very well resemble a
hacker, in the best sense, re-imagining how to models for creative thinking and problem solving
appropriate the codes, rules, and systems that
in other fields. Creativity, he said, consists of
make up the contemporary city and manipulate
them so as to create not a plan but a new kind of three important dimensions. The first is domain
urban intervention more appropriate for this
vii or field specific knowledge. The second is the
century.
ability to imagine new possibilities and
These academic and professional studies, along persistence at problem solving. The third is
with collective activism by ethnically and passion for the work. Kellog elaborated on the
economically diverse neighborhoods for tools as follows:
restoration of the River culminated in the
development and estimated budget for the LA Synthesizing Information
County Master Plan for Revitalization of the Los Design studio teaches one how to value and
make judgments about the different types of
Angeles River, now available on the Los Angeles
information. Designers understand filtering,
viii
County web site. valuing, synthesizing and ignoring information.
Comfort with Ambiguity is the tolerance for

In fall 2012, I also taught a research seminar,
uncertainty or multiple meanings – a key
entitled Water and Cities, to address flood component of virtually all-creative work. For
those who are comfortable with ambiguity new
control, clean water and public space on a global
insights and solutions are more accessible.
basis. Graduate students from China, India,
Saudi Arabia, and the United States with Visual and Spatial Literacy
undergraduate degrees in Planning, Landscape
Design is a process of creating things twice. The • The illegible organization of the
first creation is in the imagination. The second downtown plan. Reyner Banham
creation is in the real world. Visual and spatial attributed the difficult reading of the
literacy is essential. Spatial literacy includes historic plan to multiple shifting of the
relationships of space, time, and movement, Pueblo’s Plaza off of the traditional
including insights of how space and place cardinal axis, possibly due to flooding
x
influence human behavior, and this aptitude is a or earthquakes.
diminishing one in our era.
• Downtown Districts: Historic District,
Modeling/Prototyping/Changing Scales Bunker Hill, China Town, Little Tokyo,
Toy and Art Districts, and Boyle
Modeling, as a problem-solving tool, is a Heights’ Latino neighborhoods.
powerful process of informed seeing; the very
act of modeling is a process that very often • Economic and ethnic equity conflicts
reveals insights and meanings to the problem between two sides of the River: East
solver. The companion skill to modeling is Los Angeles and West Los Angeles.
working fluidly with the concept of scale;
changing scale or changing context is a stunning • Disconnection of Downtown from the
problem solving skill. River.
Working Collaboratively Transportation

• Pedestrian access and distances
The studio is the learning lab for collaboration between the River and downtown
within the professional world, and one, which districts.
increasingly is interdisciplinary.
• Sequence of the river park spaces and
bicycle paths from the source of the
The ten-week studio was organized into teams River in the northern suburb San
of two students. Foundational research for the Fernando Valley, from the Santa
Monica Mountains to the Downtown
studio included the Army Corps of Engineer 30 site, and finally to the Pacific Ocean.
year paving plan (1934-1964), County Master
• Transportation infrastructure: bridges,
Plan for Revitalization of the Los Angeles River,
freight train from Port of Los Angeles,
L.A. Now -- the publication of UCLA architecture metro and long distance train lines, light
rail, and train storage yards.
research studios directed by Thom Mayne, and
case studies of successful river restoration in the • Conflicts between terracing the
riverbank and maintaining existing
city.
passenger train lines.
• Tradeoffs between train storage yards

Understanding and Synthesizing Information:
and expansion of landscaped
Student research blurred the boundaries riverbanks required for restoration – to
give space to the river.
between the disciplines of landscape
architecture, urbanism and architecture. • Economic value of train freight lines
Analysis was undertaken at two scales. A from the Port of Los Angeles to inland
routes.
macro-scale investigation of the Los Angeles
River was focused on natural and some man- Watershed
• Percentage of paved surfaces
made features: topography, watershed area and surrounding the site.
former flood planes, nature of past riparian
• Topography and storm water runoff.
edges, green spaces and multi-modal
transportation. A micro-scale analysis focused • Comprehending the depth and width of
the Los Angeles River.
on land use in downtown Los Angeles
. Visual and Spatial Literacy: Student teams
Downtown prioritized how the reclaimed riverbank would be

• The historic footprint of El Pueblo and utilized for distinct team design concepts.
evolution of the city center.
• Social equity by providing an outdoor that have multiple benefits. Interface is about
concert park on the east bank of the amalgamating hardscapes with natural territory.
River. Blending these two seemingly opposing edges
allows the Los Angeles River to work with the
• Strategies for wetland restoration and environment rather than against it. The natural
wildlife corridors. riparian habitat, demonstrates the role of green
infrastructure within an urban context.
• Pedestrian and bicycle connections
between downtown districts and the By adding in a wetland edge condition and
river. expanding on the river’s width, this portion of the
Los Angeles River can begin to utilize natural
• Transit station for the approved methods of flood control. The river’s overflow is
California high-speed train. soaked up by wetland components through small
streams that subdivide the sloped terrain into
• Terraced riverbanks to filter storm water separate bays. Layered adjacent to the wetland
rather than direct discharge into the is another edge of river riff raff, with a graduated
River with multiple viewing platforms forest edge for the management of storm water
overlooking the River. run-off. These layers provide a transition
between the river and the city. The western
• Community gardens and a public edge of the site is dedicated to a green
market to bring the East and West Los promenade creates the gap of the bicycle trail
Angeles residents to the river for social between Griffith Park, in the Santa Monica
interaction and commercial gain. Mountains, to Long Beach. A foot trail provides
views to the newly restored Los Angeles River.
Modeling and Changing Scales: Team concepts The studio experience, in which students
were translated to designs for terracing and manage or not to incorporate other elements
and analogue cases within the project
landscaping the restored river edge through a
series of hand-built physical models and scaled The analysis of man-made features was
river section drawings. The building of physical analogous to site research for an architecture
models was a process of informed seeing, assignment, but the additional focus of natural
revealing insights and meanings unique to the features added a three-dimensional complexity
team. to the study. To achieve a feasible design within
a ten weeklong school term, teams were
Student Statement: Interface
Jonathan D. Brodheim and Luis A. Burgos selective with their focus. Student teams
designed the restoration of the River more
successfully than they described the rationale for
the urban connections, essential to an urban
design study. During the production of the final
presentation, team members divided tasks of
model building, perspective drawings, and
diagrams of the design logic. The design
required working at a large scale for the one-mile
length of the River designated in the Master
Fig.3. Interface at Downtown Los Angeles Plan, while considering details of park through
close up perspective drawings. Several teams
The channelization of the Los Angeles River by
the Army Core of Engineers has removed the accomplished this seamlessly; the other extreme
natural riparian habitat. By imposing an
was relatively incomplete or poorly crafted
intervention as a means to control flooding, the
City of Los Angeles has prevented riparian presentation boards and model. The majority of
wildlife from migrating to areas where resources
students praised the studio project for being one
necessary to their survival are available. By
creating a high-quality interface between a of the most exciting studios of their previous four
restored, natural riparian habitat edge and the
years architecture studies.
hardscape of downtown Los Angeles, the city
can resort to natural methods of flood control
Similar to constructed river restorations, partial featured restoration of rivers and reintroduction
concrete linings would be required and of wetlands adjacent to rivers in China and the
determined by Civil Engineers and Hydrologists. United States. Town planner, Iain White,
Urban design solutions were demonstrated characterizes river flooding and lack of clean
through sequential digital close up perspective water in the city to ultimately be the result of
xiii
sketches. irresponsible zoning decisions.
The significance of the studio as a teaching In the larger context of higher education, the
and learning instrument for the future
Smithsonian Institution sponsored an exhibition
architect
entitled The Phenomenon of Change. Harold G.
Over the past four decades, in spite of Ian An exhibition book contains an essay of
xi
McHarg’s urban ecology study , architectural educator Harold Shane, entitled “The Role of
commissions for restoration of urban riverfronts Education.” Shane polled obtained 132 widely
has been limited to public space and festive respected international scholars in the natural
retail. In practice, resiliency and risk reduction and social sciences who recommended the
for water management of cities requires urban following:
planners to regulate land use and reuse within a
geo-hydrological context, governments to It was the consensus of these well-informed men
and women that young learner - for their survival
calculate fiscal value of natural resources in
and for human living - should acquire substantial
relationship to increasing expenditures for knowledge regarding; the need to conserve
resources; global interdependence; the threat of
alternative water supply sources and hard flood
“ecocide” caused by pollutants, soil erosion, and
protection, and for an educated public actively pesticides; economic trade-offs and equity
problems; human vulnerability due to
engage in these discussions. A prime
increasingly sophisticated weaponry; problems
consideration for the public in restoration of of information overload, of “info glut” stemming
xiv
from the media.
urban rivers is: Will the restoration of rivers be an
Urban Renewal paradigm for diverse cultures as
In the 1970s an educator would have hoped that
the victims rather than the beneficiaries? The
studio content and strategies inspired by Ian
architecture design studio, as seen with Thom
McHarg’s would influence the values of the
Mayne’s U.C.L.A. teaching, can play a role in
future architect as public citizen and the architect
building momentum for these changes.
as a professional. In the Twenty-first century,
graduate students would be puzzled if
As an architectural educator my studios have
environmental issues, including flooding, clean
addressed Water and Cities in investigations of
water and public space, were missing from
landscape urbanism and rising sea levels, with
academic dialogue about the city and physical
subsiding land for coastal cities of the United
environment. The architecture design studio has
States. These studies within an architecture
the distinct advantage of hands-on evolution of a
program coincide with coastal cities actively
design, comparable to educational theorist John
investigating strategies to lower risk and engage
Dewey’s “learning by doing.” Scaled modeling,
the public through competitions and academic
as a problem-solving tool, is a powerful process
studies, such as the Dutch collaboration with
for informed seeing; the very act of modeling is a
New Orleans, published in Dutch Dialogues.
process that very often reveals insights and
Case studies of urban rivers in the United States
meanings its own to the problem entire solver.
and the politics of engineered rivers are
presented in Rivertown: Rethinking Urban
Notes
xii
Rivers. Landscape Architecture Magazine has
i Drawing the Ground – Landscape Urbanism Today: The Work of Palmbout

Urban Landscapes, Birkhauser GmBH Basel page 33, 2010.
ii Architectural Record, December 2012.
iii A History of the Los Angeles District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1898 –
1965, Anthony Turhollow, U.S. Army Engineer District, 1975.
ivEden By Design, Greg Hise and William Deverell, University of California Press,
2000.
v L.A. Now: Volume Two, Shaping a New Vision for Downtown Los Angeles,
University of California Press, 2002.
vi Combinatory Urbanism, Morphosis, Stray Dog Café 2011.
vii The Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies in Los Angeles, ed. Kazys
Varnelis, Actar 2009. page 16.
viii Los Angeles River, Ted Elrick and the Friends of
The Los Angeles River, Arcadia Publishing, 2007.
ix Learning from Studio, Clark Kellogg, “Design Intelligence Knowledge Reports”,

January 2006,Greenway Communications, LLC, Design Futures Council for the
American Institute of Architecture for Students.
x Los Angeles: Architecture of Four Ecologies, Reyner Banham, Pelican Books

1973.
xi Design with Nature, Ian McHarg, John Wiley and Sons 1976.
xii Rivertown: Rethinking Urban Rivers, ed. Paul Stanton Kibel, MIT Press 2007
xiii Water and the City: Risk, Resilience and Planning for a Sustainable Future,
Iain White, Routledge Press, 2010.
xiv The Phenomenon of Change, “The Role of Education: Curriculum content for
changing times,” ed. Lisa Taylor, Cooper-‐Hewitt Museum, Rizzoli, 1984.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DIALECTICAL CURRENCIES BETWEEN ARCHITECTUAL AND THEATRE PEDALOGY
multidisciplinary architectural pedagogy, there is

“Dialectical Currencies Between limited literature on theatre as a supporting
discipline to architecture. Concurrently, the
Architectural and Theatre impact of its pedagogy on students learning and
Pedagogy: cross-cultural setting has not been effectively
evaluated. The research identifies the valuable
Establishing Dialogical Learning synergy between theatre and architecture for an
inclusive architectural pedagogy, understanding,
in an Internationalized
appreciating and responding to students’ various
Environment” cultural backgrounds. In the present and
increasingly internationalized environment of
Efthimia Papaefthimiou
education, what is needed is further examination
University of Plymouth of this condition.
The paper examines the above condition by

combining Augusto Boal and Jacques LeCoq’s
Introduction critical theatre pedagogy with interactive
performance practices, integrating them to
This paper is part of a currently funded research architectural pedagogy. This approach creates a
project at the University of Plymouth entitled learning community that empowers participants,
“Language and Cultural Meaning: Establishing which generates critical understanding, and
Dialogical Learning in an Internationalized which promotes transformation. According to
Teaching and Learning Environment”, involving Boal, “theatre is “the art of looking at ourselves;
ten BA Year 1 Architecture students; six native all human beings are actors (they act) and
English speaking and four having English as spectators (they observe)”i. Through the two
their second language in order to reflect main theatre educators’ theory and praxis,
approximately the percentage of native English students start to initiate critiques of cultural and
speakers to non-native English speakers in the linguistic norms and develop a richer
school. The project utilizes this paper’s understanding of the design process. According
methodology on performative pedagogy to to the critical pedagogy paradigm based on
investigate how the understanding of language is Paulo Freireii, education should encourage
informed by cultural background as well as its students to think critically, to analyse social
impact on the teaching and learning experience. conditions, and to evaluate received information.
The students’ involvement happened in two key To establish this kind of critical pedagogy
ways; via five, two hour research sessions educators must create an educational culture
distributed throughout the academic year, with that empowers students by levelling the teacher-
performative exercises being the part of the core student hierarchy and reflects a re-imagining of
agenda and via weekly reflective journals where the academic’s hegemonic communication
students recorded their thoughts on their patterns, and institutional structures. As a
personal experience of learning, related to psychosocial exploration, performance is a
issues of language and culture. Although this method of self-understanding or a tool for
paper is focusing on architecture students, the personal changeiii . Performance provides
research has begun to explore the potential individuals with an experiential and
impact of the suggested methodology to other communicative tool to express what might
pedagogical disciplines such as the Finance and otherwise be inexpressible.
Accounting students of the University of
Plymouth. By placing the educator as the facilitator,
promoting dialogue and the students as the
Currencies with Theatre Pedagogy spect-actors, both observing and creatingiv
during the teaching and learning process; the
The paper aims to address the dialectical proposed pedagogical model emerged from this
currency between architectural and theatre dialectical currency between two disciplines,
pedagogy in order to establish dialogical and revealing significant critical learning for both
creative learning in an internationalized parts. The information raised from this synergy
educational environment. Although there is a gives useful insights, which are analyzed further
plethora of literature focusing on the need for a in the paper, on the various ways to engage with
the information and allow students to have thinking, as well as enhancing cultural
autonomy in the learning environment. awareness among the group, named as ‘states,
passions, feelings’xii . “The experiences through
According to Gibsonv, people from different the exercises, ranging from silence and
cultures and linguistic backgrounds not only immobility to maximum movement, taking in
speak different languages but, what is possibly innumerable intermediate dynamic stages,
more important, inhabit different sensory worlds. remain forever engraved in the body of the
Therefore, what is perceived through one set of player. They are reactivated in him/her at the
culturally patterned sensory views is quite movement of interpretation. During these
different from the experience perceived through exercises the player speaks from full physical
another. If one wants to speak of an architectural experience. For in truth nature is our first
education based on the ethics of productive language, our bodies remember”xiii . The term
dialogue in a multicultural and multilinguistic ‘player’ is deliberately used instead of the ‘actor’,
environment, then first one needs to recognise, because it is more neutral and all-embracing. It
understand and appreciate these diversitiesvi . describes a state rather than a function.
I would argue that the language we speak is The performance of the exercises is considered
more than just a medium of expressing thought. to be all-inclusive, respecting and appreciating
In fact it is a major element for the formation of unique individuality as well as physical and
thought. According to Merleau-Ponty, the logos mental disabilities. The exercises vary on group
of the cultural world is the recuperation of all the size according to the nature of the game; it may
acts of expression – this logos is their history, start off working with the whole group, and then
their memoryvii . Thus, to reflect on culture, on divide into smaller groups or even to an
that inter-world which occurs by means of individual level and then back to the whole group
symbols (and of which language is only one in order to work on individual student needs.
particular, even if privileged, instance), is to
reflect on history, on a logos which develops and Warm up
makes its advent in the simultaneous and
successive community of subjectivitiesviii . In order In a circle elementary gymnastics are used, for
to understand the idea of a thought, without approximately five minutes, such as swinging the
words within which speech itself gives rise to, arms, forward or sideways bends, swinging legs,
one must begin by putting language back among etc. These are all exercises generally used in
expressive phenomena in order to see how it physical warm-ups, with the aim to create a
expresses. As part of this, a closer look should feeling of wellbeing for the players by being all-
be taken at the relation between meaning and inclusive and requiring nothing but basic
expression, between the visibility of the sign and gymnastic skills.
the invisibility of meaningix.
Games
Physical Exercises - Games
These exercises act as support material to the
The methodology used for this research, based whole process, meaning they do not reflect
on the theory and praxis of Jacques LeCoqx, is directly on the teaching and learning outcome,
outlined as a series of successive, scaffolding but rather through a prolonged ricochet effect.
exercises. One of the most important currencies They are usually placed in between the
between architecture and theatre pedagogy is ‘mimodynamics’ and ‘states, passions, feelings’
the notion of play as a core principle of critical exercises and they usually last from 10-15
pedagogy. The methodology includes warm up minutes. The structure of these exercises is
exercises to prepare the body for the next steps. around the notion of play, which is considered to
Exercises to promote participation, team work be a very vital aspect of architecturalxiv and
and collaboration as well as general spatial theatre pedagogyxv .
awareness, named as ‘games’. Exercises
intended to allow students to recognise, One example of the games is the “balancing the
understand and analyse critical information stage”xvi . It consists of a game of balancing or
behind the meanings within language, named as unbalancing the floor by moving the players
‘mimodynamics’xi . Exercises to empower around. The playing space is rectangular with
students and promote critical and lateral the players surrounding it allowing for all the
major dynamic movements: right angles, An example of these mimodynamics was

parallels, diagonals. Participants are asked to performed as part of the research project, using
imagine that this space is balanced around a first year students’ project 0 (their first design
central axis. A player, who takes up a position studio project), where the students were asked
alone, in the central zone, maintains the balance to bring one photograph of their significant place
of the stage. If he moves outside this zone, he and building with a brief annotation for each of
unbalances it and causes it to tilt. So, a second the two. Taking this project forward, the players
player is necessary to rebalance it by choosing a were asked to write a key word for each picture
position in relation to the first actor. Once this is they have chosen and then to use their bodies
established, more players are encouraged to by making gestures reflecting the meaning
step in the space when they feel the floor starts behind these words. After this initial task which
to become unbalanced. The point of the game is lasted about 30 minutes, the exercise built up for
to achieve a harmonious relationship with time, the second part (equally length to the first part)
space and all the participants on and around the and the players were asked to get in pairs and
“balanced floor”. decide on one key word to improvise it together.
This was a great challenge for both the
Through these series of games, participants participants who were acting and the ones acting
begin to experience life as part of a company. as audience, as this was the time where cultural
After, a certain time, players know one another and linguistic interpretation convergences or
well, they choose with whom they want to work divergences become visible.
with, and any tensions diminish. It is suggested
nevertheless, that the players should not always During the exercises, the facilitator’s role should
work with the same companions but allow be particularly attentive to the quality of players’
themselves to be stimulated by contact with movements. He/she should tell whether the
other personalities as well. movements arise from players own bodies or
from an external image that they are trying to
Mimodynamics illustrate, or again if they are doing a symbolic
movement, giving an external representation of
These set of exercises are based on Jacques the place / building / notion they are trying to
LeCoq’s poetic sense and mimodynamicsxvii . describe for the rest of the group. This
The poetic sense deals with an abstract challenges the player and takes him beyond the
dimension, made up of spaces, lights, colours, fixed perceptions of a construct and what can be
materials, sounds which can be found in expressedxxi . The pedagogical task is to isolate
everyonexviii . Mimodynamics is a dynamic digressive movement without ever indicating
emotion combining rootedness with an upward what should be done. It’s up to the player to
surge, having nothing to do with the temptation discover what the facilitator already knows. But
to give a picture of the actual physical building, at the same time, the facilitator must be
space, ritual, word, etc. (a figurative mime)xix . It’s prepared at every moment to question his own
more than a translation: it is an emotion. approach, to get back to seeing the world with
Etymologically the word ‘emotion’ means ‘setting freshness and innocence, to avoid imposing
in motion’. According to Jacques LeCoq, clichésxxii .
recognition precedes understanding and
creationxx . The paper argues that one can see States, Passions, Feelings
neither the form nor the movement of a colour;
nevertheless the emotion which they arouse may The point of these exercises is to reveal
set a person in motion – even in emotion. participants sociocultural perceptions about the
Through these exercises the aim is to try world around them; how they perceive the social
expressing this particular emotion through and built constructs through the interaction with
mimages, through gestures which have no other people from different cultural and linguistic
reference point in the real world. This exercise backgrounds. An example of these exercises
offers opportunities to translate / represent / starts by prompting players to allocate
present a construct / building / place / notion themselves at a random position in the space
through the mimodynamics, putting them into provided. At this point there is a short discussion
motion in a way the verbal way can never attain. on the participants’ emotions by being in that
position. After that, players are asked to start
move around the space shuffling around and
changing the pattern in the space. The players encouraged to think in a broader scale and
stop to move when one of them takes the analyze the different meanings that words and
initiative – making himself/herself the enabler of constructs may have, depending on the
participants’ origin, cultural and linguistic
the game - to stop and start speaking, sharing background. “Through the format of small group
one passion of his/hers. At this point the rest of sessions which are regular occurrences, I feel
the group is asked to respond to the player’s my vocabulary has increased and knowledge of
passion according to the tension they felt by architectural language widened, I feel my
watching him/her expressing it. The word confidence is scaling and I am now constructing
thoughts into sentences. I feel we are to think for
‘tension’ is deliberately used instead of ourselves and be molded by our tutors edifying. I
‘attraction – repulsion’ which could have the feel I am almost analyzing foreign aspect and on
potential to dictate specific movement. When all a very minimal level, beginning to de-and-then-
players complete their performance, the pattern reconstruct them into my malleable mind and
is changed again as another player takes the manifest the infancy of an individual ideologyxxv ”
initiative to express a passion. When all players
Students received the physical exercises in a
have been the enablers of the game, discussion very positive way, commenting that with the
follows. The second part of the exercise perfect combination of movement and language
continues in a similar manner as the first part, they could express ideas perfectly and clearly
with the difference that this time the participants while constructing new thoughts along the way.
express a fear instead of a passion. The whole “So far we have viewed at a vast range of
mediums in an aid to assimilate architecture;
exercise is scheduled to last approximately an theatre, movement, mimage etc. A suggestion of
hour. that is that we should be inquisitive and curious,
unafraid to study unknown and alien subjects in
Student Outcomes a hope to produce a product of thought. An
education that can have no normal outcome, we
won't all graduate as UNI-fied robotsxxvi ”
There have been some very revealing results
regarding students’ perceptions of language and
cultural meaning, through the discussions during Very important for the research was the fact that
the exercises and their reflective journals. A students start recognizing and understanding the
synopsis of the main outcomes is that students fact that language is not static, it is alive and
feel they are involved in a cyclical learning act dynamic, it is embedded in our culture, and most
because of their participation in the research importantly, that architecture has its own
project and the nature of the architecture course language creating a sub-culture around it. As
itself. “I am in a constant state of learning new very poetic a student expressed it “if language is
ways to see, think, and communicate and ever alive then words are its water, if language is
so much more. But one of the most important alive then experience is its air, if language is
things I have learnt through my participation on alive than longevity is its light”xxvii .
this project is that communication has many
forms and does not have to be through Teacher – Student Relationship
conversationxxiii ”.
Brazilian artist and director Augusto Boal’s work,
Moreover, the use of mimodynamics as a way to like his fellow countryman Paulo Freire, has
express their emotions, on specific key words focused on creating opportunities for people to
helped them to understand and reflect on the enliven their capacity to resist oppressionxxviii . In
meaning behind the words they were using so his Theatre of the Oppressed (TO)xxix he has
far, reflecting back on their previous projects in suggested the terms ‘spectactor’ referring to the
design process. “After the session I realized that students and ‘facilitator’ referring to the teacher.
there is a very distinctive difference between The students are both spectators who observe
‘gesturing’ through pantomime to communicate the performance, but they are also actors who
literally a concept and trying to explain the act on the performance. There is a distinct
concept that we had chosen through a difference to what Hegel calls master – slave
performance. I felt that this was a very similar conditionxxx , or what Freire refers to as banking
comparison to a criticism of my previous project systemxxxi , where the students remain observers
and the literal conceptualization of my of the received information without feeling they
narrativexxiv ” have the power and the right to actively engage
and even question the teacher.
Also, students begin to engage with the
interdisciplinary approach and start feeling a The suggested exercises follow similar
sense of autonomy. They understand their hierarchical principles to Augusto Boal’s TO;
vocabulary is being extended and they start although they are facilitated by someone who
creating their own language. Students also knows the structural forms of the exercises and
commented on their experience of being who can promote discussion, there is no
‘director’, and anyone can suggest changes to Arguing the perception that first year students
the way an exercise is played. are perceived to be like empty vessels and tutors
as full vessels holding the powerxxxiii , the theory
The above facilitator – spectator relationship has and praxis of Augusto Boal and Jacques LeCoq
proven, during the research sessions, to
overcome issues of students’ shyness and lack perceives players having a history, a past, a
of engagement in the games. It is an essential context and passions which all feed into their
Freirean teacher/student approach, being design process. Based on the notion of
critically aware of one’s social conditioning, observation and discovery of life as it is through
constructing meaning from inquiry, and bearing replay, the exercises raise the levels of playing
witness to the world with humility, empathy and
hope. Students are encouraged to really by means of mimodynamics and gestures.
perceive these exercises as a play, and allow Exploration of the poetic depths of words and
themselves to remember what it was like as a constructs, resulting in the invisible act of
child, when everything seemed new, and a time students removing layers of the fixed social
when they did not know, but found themselves in constrains they live in, unmasks them. The
a constant process of discovery. As children, this
is a natural condition of existence; as adults it exercises have no intention to make students
becomes a radical act. Students by being equal express what they think the tutor would want; the
players of the game, are given the permission to main intention is to allow students to try to be
depart from conventional modes of prescribed honest with themselves and with the others. In
behaviour and to reflect on the ways they are that way, students can gain the ability, at some
located within those structures of convention and
prescription. However, even though there was point in their learning process, to create their
not such an occurrence in the performed own language, having understood and distilled
exercises so far, for those who are present but the meanings of the words and constructs they
have no intention to actively participate in the live and interact with. Human beings, according
exercises, the simplest advice is to remain to Merleau-Pontyxxxiv , are considered to be born
engaged with the process of the exercise and
join in when they feel like it. and live in a logos, a cultural world. Therefore,
language and the way people think and express
Conclusion themselves is a person’s “element as water is
the element of fishes.” The suggested embodied
The paper recognises the fact that architecture act of pedagogy gives the possibility to students,
as a subject, as well as academia and theatre, as well as to tutors, the ability to achieve self-
belongs to a sub-culture, has its own language consciousness which eventually leads to
to communicate and express thoughts and sociocultural awareness. Participants also gain
ideas. It becomes understood that for someone the ability to perceive their normalized patterns
to join this culture, like a first year student in of expression as one of many possible
architecture, it may become problematic to configurations, rather than a given, inexorable
understand the language embedded within this state. According to Freire “we know ourselves to
culture. What this paper is suggesting, is a be conditioned but not determined”xxxv .
possible route to make students recognise this
sub-cultural condition, by making them aware of All the information used during these exercises
their own cultural and linguistic conditions and has been facilitated by the various experiences
the others around them. Concurrently, to and sensations that students (and tutors) have,
understand the meaning within language through influenced by everything they have seen, heard,
the critical performative pedagogy’s theory and touched, tasted. All of these elements are inside
praxis has been a key to the research. According them and constitute the common heritage, out of
to Dutton in Voices in Architectural Education, which springs dynamic vigour and the desire to
design studio should give students the allowance create. In this way, through the suggested
to claim their personal history as part of an interdisciplinary synergy, students are
understanding of larger political and social empowered to gain autonomy in an
processes. The multicultural and multilinguistic internationalized teaching and learning
aspect of the group should be seen as a bonus environment.
by embracing diversity, by pushing students
beyond comfortable cultural stereotypes. The
students were encouraged to make the personal
cultural and the cultural personalxxxii . Notes
i xxiii
Leigh Anne Howard (2004): Speaking theatre / doing Focus group student, participating in the research
pedagogy: re-‐visiting theatre of the oppressed, xxiv
See endnote 21
Communication Education, 53:3, 217-‐233
xxv
ii See endnote 21,22
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. Myra
xxvi
Bergman Ramos. New York: Continuum, 1970 See endnote 21,22,23
iii xxvii
Leigh Anne Howard (2004): Speaking theatre / doing See endnote 21,22,23,24
pedagogy: re-‐visiting theatre of the oppressed, xxviii
Kate H. Brown & Diane Gillespie (1999): Responding to
Communication Education, 53:3, 217-‐233
Moral Distress in the University: Augusto Boal’s Theater of
iv
Boal, Augusto. (1985). Theatre of the Oppressed (C. A. & the Oppressed, Change: The Magazine of Higher learning,
M. L. McBride, Trans.). New York: Theatre Communications 31:5, 34-‐39
Group. (Original work published 1979) xxix
Boal, Augusto. (1985). Theatre of the Oppressed (C. A. &
v
Hall, T. Edward. The Hidden Dimension. London: The M. L. McBride, Trans.). New York: Theatre Communications
Bodley Head Ltd, 1969, p177 Group. (Original work published 1979)
vi xxx
Hall, T. Edward. The Hidden Dimension. London: The Maria Dasli (2011): Reviving the ‘moments’: from cultural
Bodley Head Ltd, 1969, p2 awareness and cross-‐cultural mediation to critical
vii intercultural language pedagogy, Pedagogy, Culture &
Madison, Gary Brent. The Phenomenology of Merleau-‐
Society, 19:1, 21-‐29
Ponty: A Search for the Limits of Consciousness. USA: Ohio
xxxi
University Press, 1973, p108 Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. Myra
viii Bergman Ramos. New York: Continuum, 1970
xxxii
Ponty: A Search for the Limits of Consciousness. USA: Ohio Critical Pedagogy and Architectural Education
University Press, 1973, p126 Author(s): C. Greig Crysler Reviewed Work(s): Source:
ix Journal of Architectural Education (1984-‐), Vol.48, No. 4
(May, 1995), pp. 208-‐217, ACSA
Ponty: A Search for the Limits of Consciousness. USA: Ohio
University Press, 1973, p107 xxxiii
See endnote 30
x
LeCoq, Jacques. The Moving body: Teaching Creative xxxiv
Theatre. USA: Routledge, 2001 Ponty: A Search for the Limits of Consciousness. USA: Ohio
xi University Press, 1973, p107
LeCoq, Jacques. The Moving body: Teaching Creative
Theatre. USA: Routledge, 2001, pg46 xxxv
See endnote 29
xii
Theatre. USA: Routledge, 2001, pg60
xiii
xiv
Robert Brown and Patrick Clark, (2013) 'Facilitating
Creative Thinking Through Play', University of Sheffield
(currently under review)
xv
xvi
xvii
See endnote 12
xviii
See endnote 16
xix
xx
See endnote 12, 17
xxi
xxii
See endnote 12, 17
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 AIR -‐ RIGHTS
their choice) and their significant relation(s) to it.
Air- Rights Air-rights thus also explores the path from

individual to collective and from particular to
Lorens Holm, Helen O’Connor abstract.
University of Dundee Rooms+Cities is a research unit within the

M.Arch program at the University of Dundee.
There are two overarching aims within which the
unit’s students are asked to develop their
Introduction
individual theses. The first is to define the
intimate space of the individual so that it can be
put into relation with the public space of the city,
what Frampton called the space of public
presentation. Although each student may define
this space in different ways, for everyone, there
is an intimate space and there is a public space
to which it is in dialogue. The second is to
develop an approach to thinking through
making, to base the – at times, rather rarefied -
speculations about individual and collective
space upon a material practice, and an
engagement with process. The student’s thesis
includes a spatial and a textual component: a
design project and a writing project. Although
writing is a material practice, and hence counts
as engagement with material, it is important that
this practice is also spatial.
Of all the units in the school Rooms+Cities is

fig 1: Room 16 in-situ
perhaps the most open-ended in its methods
and outcomes. Up to this point in their education
Imagine a 2 metre cube-shaped steel frame
in every major project students have worked
erected in the void space of the atrium in the art
with a given site and an outline breif defined by
and architecture building. This space –
their tutors. Year 5 was memorably described by
sandwiched between the board-finished
th one student as ‘taking the stabilisers off’. It is
concrete up-stands overlooking the 5 floor
imperative that each years’ group quickly
gallery of the art school – is the only exhibition
develop a framework within which they can
space available to the school of architecture. At
discuss their emerging theses; that they
46 metres long and 2.5 metres wide, it is the
establish a common territory. This first task
most aesthetically charged and paradoxical
given to the students is as much about creating
space in the school; It has never been occupied
a structure for shared discourse as it is about
except by the gaze.
consolidating the direction of individual thesis
projects and the thematic approach of the unit.
Air-rights is a group project with real clients (us),
site (the void), budget (undisclosed), Individual + Particular: 15 Rooms.
subcontractors (steel fabricators, scaffolding),
permissions (Estates & Buildings, Health & “Drawing is a process that interprets the object
Safety), politics (institutional land grab). It that is perceived, and makes it
explores questions about the occupation of accessible…copying in this sense is a form of
space. It challenges the status of the floor as the careful observation, sharpening the eye and
necessary condition for occupation, and the creating a personal visual archive”.
1
status of enclosure as the critical condition for

interiority. Air-rights is the summation of a The students were first asked to select a room,
project to develop an architectural language for survey it and document it in images and words
the intimate space of the individual, in which and other means. The room had to be significant
each student was asked to document a room (of to them, and it had to be interior. The drawings
that the students produced had to document Particular to abstract 1:

what was significant about the room for them,
and what was interior about it for them, in “Each drawing is an answer to a question,
addition to being accurate and detailed. We did which in turn poses the following question. If this
not prescribe format or scale. process of questions and answers runs
according to certain rules, and as a result a
certain order arises, one can speak of research
In selecting an appropriate room, students were by drawing.”
2
asked to consider in what way the space was

'interior'; what/how were its boundaries and
surfaces; in what way it might be occupied; what
relationship existed between the inside and the
outside; what aspects of it were intimate,
intermediate, or distant; how they might position
themselves within it; and finally how the space
might be considered a tool for exploration.
fig 3. The Typanum: Window; Beer; Machine.

Tom Rainey.
Having completed this recording exercise,

students were then asked to make a second
series of studies, which attempted to (literally)
draw-out those characteristics of ‘roomness’
which they had identified and which had
fig 2. Apartment Room: Surface; Image; Object.
intrigued them. Beginning from a conventional
Tom Rainey. architectural projection, but then specifically
designed to pose, explore and answer specific
The rooms chosen ranged from the highly questions; the drawings were treated less as a
personal: grandmother’s attic; to the means of communication and more as an
analytic exercise.
architecturally and historically significant: John
Soane’s house. Some challenged the idea of an Figure 2 shows one of the chosen rooms, a
‘interior’: an underpass; and some the definitions domestic room in the Swiss city of Chur. The
author here used the analytic drawing exercise
of what might be ‘architecture’: a coastal cave
(figure 3) to consider the visual and spatial
accessible only at low tide, and a fictional space relationship with the urban space beyond his
which exists only in the imagination of a writer. window; the condition of being ‘in the window’ as
opposed to either the room or the plaza, and the
window as ‘screen and transmitter’.
Individual to collective 1: A Catalogue of Rooms.
In parallel with the development of individual

analytic drawings, and the final representation of
the original survey data to an agreed format,
(the unfolded surface drawing as used in figure
2); the students were asked to use the
conversations these images provoked to
develop a method of classification and a means
of defining type, with a view to compiling a
catalogue which might define ‘roomness’. They
were required to consider both of the terms they
might use, and to develop a common graphic
language which might then be used to The site:

communicate their findings.
The site is defined by the intersection between
Figure 4 shows one such drawing, Context.
the vertical space of the gallery on level 5, and
Other themes examined included footprint, the horizontal space of architecture studios and
volume, and porosity/enclosure. review space on level 6. It has clear horizontal
boundaries – walls - in the concrete up-stands,
the upper and lower edges of these define the
vertical limits of the site, but the space has
neither floor nor ceiling and hence will never
have a stable brief.
fig 5: The site in section
By placing air-rights within the void space we

fig 4. Context: Rooms set in relation to their
reclaim a part of the gallery space for
containing building and reciprocal public space. architecture within a building dominated by the
art school.
Particular to abstract; individual to
Room 16 is also a marker of certain obvious but
collective: Room 16.
never acknowledged characteristic of the
building. The Art and Architecture building is a
As a conclusion to this introductory project, the
linear plan type and this is where its aesthetics
students were asked to make an
lie. The atrium space is the one place in the
exhibition/installation in the atrium space which
building where the concrete is exposed with a
communicated ‘the roomness of rooms; and the
horizontal board marked finish. This marks it as
cityness of cities’. The installation was intended
a special sensuous surface. It is also the one
as an opportunity to carry forward the theses
developed in the room drawings, in a new place where the linear plan type of the building
context and with a greater attention to the is announced. It is for these and other reasons,
collective thinking of the unit. Students were a critical space.
asked to think about the difference between
room and city in terms of the insideness of the The programme: object, surface, frame.
inside, and the outsideness of the outside; or in
terms of the selfness of the self and the Discussion of the fifteen individual rooms
otherness of the other. revealed three common elements and
preoccupations that defined their ‘roomness’
despite their diversity: object, surface and frame;
While each M.Arch unit has a distinct agenda,
or what the room holds, how the room holds,
rarely are they announced in a public space. Air- and how the room holds the occupant in relation
rights, and the student’s response - Room 16 – to its exterior. Having established these
exists within and as public space. In being asked parameters the students organized an informal
to present and compile their room studies as a competition which allowed them to quickly test
ideas and strategies for the occupation of the
catalogue, and to make a structure which could
void space against the practical considerations
be articulated as a definition of ‘roomness’, the of cost, timetable, buildability.
students were required to articulate a position
Key to the development of the final structure
and to engage in discourse with the wider was access to the space below. The students
community of the school. were forced to work within tight timetable
constraints having negotiated with the Art
college the necessary access for scaffolding and
agreed a detailed method statement which had mechanically fixed by four bolts to angled
to consider both their own health and safety and sections which linked them together. This tactic
that of other occupants (the space below is not allowed the students to separate the frames, in a
only a gallery but a primary circulation route
through the building). As a result of these manner reminiscent of their unfolded surface
constraints, the structure was designed to allow ‘room’ drawings, creating a gap of 3mm between
for maximum pre-fabrication, while ensuring that each frame and each linking angle (figure 6).
the individual elements remained small enough The space now framed was not only the ‘interior’
to pass through the standard size door to the but the ‘gap’.
space and, light enough to assemble in-situ by
hand.
While these considerations might appear
obvious or mundane, this challenge of balancing
the theoretical and aesthetic aspirations of a
project with the detailed pragmatics of its
construction is an invaluable one not often
experienced by students. While the students all
had practice experience, and all had participated
in a live-build project much earlier in their
studies; they had never before been asked to
independently design and execute a project
where the site was so contentious, and the brief
so self-directed.
The Outcome
“an assembly of six welded flat bar mild steel
frames each connected to four others at right
angles to form a box frame. Each angle is
separated from its two attached flat bar frames
by a 3mm gap with the connection made
between each adjoining frame by four bolts. The
frame is suspended 2.6metres above the floor of
a communal atrium between the surfaces of its
two concrete balustrades, spanning the open-to-
below space. A standard light fitting hangs by its
electrical cable, off centre, into the interior
3
described by the frame”
Having defined the overall form and dimensions fig 6: Developing the corner
of the frame, conversations focused on the detail
of the junction which would form the corner. The ‘Air-Rights’ frames a gap, an imperceptible
students again identified both pragmatic and surface. Simultaneously it incloses an interior
aesthetic parameters. The corner had to create and excloses an exterior. The inside is in the
enough rigidity to prevent distortion during the outside and likewise, the outside is in the inside
4
construction process and it had to allow for easy and yet here is a third space which is neither.’
assembly on site, but in order to best translate
their ideas of ‘object, surface and frame’ the Collective to Individual: Emerging Thesis
junction should be identical in the X, Y and Z Projects
axis.
Air-rights, including the preparatory investigation
of rooms ran between September and early
Early proposals considered the possibility of a
November of 2012. It was designed to facilitate
simple square section which relied on a welded discourse, in other words, to build mutual trust
detail to form the corner junction, however this and respect, dialogue, and a common territory
was rejected in favour of a more complex within which they could discuss their individual
assembly of welded flats (large square ‘frames’ thesis projects. The room studies have in all
cases, but in a variety of ways, informed the
which formed the walls, floor and ceiling)
development of their theses.
fig 7 Incremental Space: Re-densifying Blackness. Euan Russell
Those questions and preoccupations identified room and the piazza beyond, becomes a study
by the students in their first analytical drawings of the tympanum as both a surface and a site;
have informed thesis design projects in both and a study of the common room at the derelict
direct and in abstract ways. The drawing shown St Peters Seminary (Cardross) becomes a study
in figure 6 attempts to identify and ‘explode’ the of material and urban permanence.
complex interlocking spaces of John Soane’s
house at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. A similar logic; that Conclusion
of an accreted, incremental development; is “There are two important aspects to the physical
being used to develop an urban strategy for the act of ‘making things’; firstly the profound sense
densification of post-industrial landscapes of accomplishment when ‘finished’, which in
(figure 7). itself forms a central part of any educational
In a similar manner, a study of an attic becomes process, and secondly the possibility of ‘craft’,
a project which attempts to capture the qualities that is the refinement which is made through the
of the ‘sublime’ and translate them to the context physical and repetitive engagement with the
5
of the city; the window between an apartment specific material itself” .
How do we measure success: an ability to work ‘Air-Rights is not an exhibition, it is not an
independently; to creatively define and to solve installation, a sculpture or other, it is not a
problems; to make something considered, which lesson or demonstration. We understand air-
meets a brief? Room 16 exists (although for how rights as architecture in that we understand
long is unsure), the book of drawings made to architecture as spatial, we have created a
6
accompany it has been published. Both these space.’
things exist in the physical world and as such can
be seen as an ‘accomplishment’. But perhaps the
most useful outcome has been a far deeper
understanding of the potential of drawing and
making as a means of exploring complex 1
Steenbergen, Clemens. "Composing Landscapes: Analysis,
architectural ideas, an understanding which as a
Typology and Experiments for Design” Birkhauser: Basel, 2008.
result of the public nature of Room 16, extends
beyond the confines of the unit. p24.
2
Ibid p.23
3
Rooms + Cities 16 Rooms Student Publication 2012
4
5
Walker, Charles.“Phenomenal Pedagogy, Learning by Doing”
in Making Pavilions AA publications: London, 2011 pg 24-‐29
6
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 AVOIDING SEAMLESSNESS
function of structural systems and environmental
Avoiding Seamlessness systems, the proper placement of a building on a

particular site, and the adherence to zoning and
Sallie Hambright-Belue code requirements. Architecture is undoubtedly
more than the successful completion of a list of
Clemson University requirements. In a semester that is focused upon
one of the more mundane requirements of
architecture, the functional distribution of program in
a building, this studio project attempted to re-think
and propose an alternative way of teaching
program.
Introduction Why Mixing?
All architects must have an understanding of Mixing various materials offers limitless possibilities.
program – it is one of the necessities of building. It is also inherently different from programming.
Presented here is the work of one beginning Programming is clean, organized, precise, and
graduate architecture studio at the Georgia Institute orderly. Mixing is messy, imprecise, and physical.
of Technology which was developed and Treating program like a material offers a
implemented by the author. The studio focused on fundamentally new vantage point.
understanding program through material mixing
investigations. Greg Lynn’s theoretical framework Re-thinking program through material mixing is not
presented in The Folded, the Pliant and the Supple a seemingly natural fit; but seamlessness was not
was used as the basis for the design process: the ambition. The studio attempted to teach
program with a hands on approach placing making
“Neither the reactionary call for unity nor at the core of the process. Proposing an alternative
the avant-garde dismantling of it through way of teaching program concepts was the goal.
the identification of internal contradiction
seems adequate as a model for The Project Proposal
contemporary architecture and urbanism.
Instead, an alternative smoothness is The students were divided into pairs that worked on
being formulated that may escape these the design proposal for 10 weeks. The students
1
dialectically opposed strategies.” began with a material mixing, moved on to a
program analysis, developed a site-less building
The students used the process of proposal, and finally chose a site and developed a
mapping/diagramming/drawing/modeling to final building design.
investigate material, program, and site as separate
entities in order to understand each. Only then did Proposed Program
the students begin to combine them. This fusion of
material, form, fabrication, and understanding was The studio used a juvenile courthouse as the focus
the project objective: combining disparate elements for the project for two reasons. First, the
to make a new thing. The project highlighted the courthouse is mid-sized and a complicated
struggles which arise in architecture from trying to organization of different uses and circulation
reconcile differing requirements like program, patterns. The building brings three user groups
function, material, and site. The objective was to together and is very specific in terms of space
teach that designing “does not eradicate differences requirements. The program had requirements of
but incorporates full intensities through fluid tactics separate and shared space which allowed the
2
of mixing and blending.” The studio was not about students to use all aspects of their mixing studies.
seamlessness in architecture but about the seams.
Second, the juvenile courthouse has an inherent
Problem Statement relationship to site and the surrounding community.
Juvenile courts serve many purposes including
Architecture for most embodies the creation of protecting, restoring, redirecting, and supporting
something more than functional space, the proper children and families. The students were asked to
take a position relative to these varying missions in knowledge of the site. The site was chosen with
order to ground their understanding of the program. only 2-3 weeks left in the semester allowing
students to see how a site can change architecture
Design Process and how architecture can change a site. Just as
two materials are mixed and create interstitial
The process was prescribed for the students in relationships, the architecture and site are mixed to
order to deliver certain learning outcomes. First, create new interstitial conditions: “Folded, pliant
the students mixed two materials – any two and supple architectural forms invite exigencies and
materials. The students were asked to document contingencies in both their deformation and their
5
the mixing process through photos, two- reception.”
dimensional diagrams, and three-dimensional
diagrams. The mixing was presented using the Four Projects
framework described by Greg Lynn which is based
in culinary theory: Below are four projects completed by pairs of
graduate students from the Georgia Institute of
“The first involves the manipulation of Technology School of Architecture in the
homogeneous elements; beating, whisking Architecture Options Studio I.
and whipping change the volume, but not
the nature of a liquid agitation. The Merged Towers by Matthew Belt & Mats Nilsson
second method of incorporation mixes two
or more disparate elements; chopping, Merged Towers began with a material study
dicing, grinding, grating, slicing, shredding involving expanding foam insulation and a shower
and mincing eviscerate elements into loofah. The mixing was characterized by the force
fragments. The first method agitates a exerted on the expanding foam by the shower loofa
single uniform ingredient, the second mesh. The mixture began with the foam only
eviscerates disparate ingredients. Folding, existing within the loofah then expanding and
creaming and blending mix smoothly squeezing through the mesh separating the foam
multiple ingredients ‘through repeated into linear modules. In the end, the students found
gentle overturnings without stirring or that the foam enveloped the loofah completely. The
beating’ in such a way that their individual students analyzed the process of change and
3
characteristics are maintained.” chose to focus their attention on certain moments
within the mixing process (Fig. 1).
Second, the students diagrammed the program.
This portion of the process was meant as an The program for Merged Towers was understood
introduction to the ideas of program. Koolhaas’ as vertically separated programs connected by
Delirious New York was used to explain program large connection spaces which would double as
diagrammatically where the formal strategy of circulation and used space. The program was
stacked dissimilar programs is made possible by stacked with the most public space located at the
the use of the elevator in the The Downtown lowest level and the most secure spaces located at
Athletic Club. The text also touched on the cultural the top. With this understanding was a desire to
landscape the building draws upon and enables. make the surrounding streetscape (whatever it may
The students were asked to do the same in their be) a part of the building hence the public space on
4
projects. the first floor. The vertical connection spaces
included the lobby, courtroom spaces, and prisoner
Third, the students used the material mixing as a staging spaces.
way to develop the program diagram. They mixed
the material ideas with the program ideas. The
culmination of this part of the process was a site-
less building.
Last, the students were asked to choose a site in

the city of Atlanta. Previously in the semester the
students had completed a four-week mapping
project of the downtown, so they had working
Fig. 1. Merged Towers Material Mixing
The mixing of the program analysis and material

analysis worked quite well in that the material
investigation provided a formal strategy of spatial
division that could accommodate the vertical
program strategy. The forms the students worked
with morphed from large shared spaces into smaller
cellular spaces hence the defining element of this
project being merged tower forms (Fig. 2). Fig. 2. Merged Towers Final Design
The site for the proposal had a similar organization Non-Newtonian Courthouse by Will Gravlee &
as the building program. The building was placed Barbara Nowak
at a fork in the road where two roads converge into
one. The towers were able to be placed as a Non-Newtonian Courthouse began with a material
cluster which allowed the ground plane to be investigation mixing cornstarch and water which
divided where needed and ooze at the edges so created a non-Newtonian fluid. The students
that the public program could blend with the noticed that without resistance the mixture flowed
surrounding city spaces. and was flexible; but, when pressure was applied,
the mixture became firm (Fig. 3). The constantly
changing relationship between pressure and no
pressure fascinated the students and affected their
way of interpreting the program into form.
The students’ program analysis began by dividing

the spaces up by user group: public space,
employee space, judge space, and prisoner space.
Certain shared program spaces could not be placed
within a particular user group such as the
courtroom, court library, court clerk, and parking
space. Instead of understanding these spaces as
separate program blocks, the students understood
these as void spaces made visible by the other
program spaces organized around the shared
space. In many ways, these shared spaces were
given form by the pressures applied by the other
programs just like their mixture was able to create
form through outside force.
Fig. 3. Non-Newtonian Courthouse Material Mixing
The site chosen for the project was a very large lot
with seemingly disparate identities. On one side of Fig. 5. Structured Reticulation Material Mixing
the site was a power facility, on another was a
residential neighborhood, on another was a church, The program analysis the students developed
and on another were a couple of retail stores. The understood the courthouse as a mutually
students saw their project as the space that could dependent space just as the material mixing was
connect all of these different types of programs just based upon mutual dependence. The students
like the shared spaces within the building. With the wanted to reinforce the idea that the court serves
lessons the students learned from the material the public and the defendants equally. They viewed
mixing, they were able to employ soft edges, hard the juvenile court as a rehabilitative space instead
edges, and all the conditions in-between fitting into of a punitive space. The students understood that
the site and addressing all of the various conditions only through the involvement of the public and
found (Fig. 4). surrounding community can rehabilitation take
place; therefore, much of the program falls outside
the secure courthouse proper and in the public
space. Only those programs where security is of
high priority are located within the courthouse.
In the end, the students sited their building in the

heart of the city on a corner lot that created a grand
city plaza surrounded by other buildings. The
courthouse supported the exterior space
programmatically and formally but only with the help
Fig. 4. Non-Newtonian Courthouse Final Design
of the surrounding city. The lacy structure which
dominated the interior space held important
Structured Reticulation by Kelly Darby & Robert program elements just like the original mixing study
Woodhurst (Fig. 6).
Structured Reticulation began as a material

investigation using spackle and a dryer sheet. The
students were focused on the dependence each
material had on the other in order to give form. For
instance, without the spackle the dryer sheet was
limp and formless and the spackle without the dryer
sheet was the same. Only when the two were
combined could the materials hold a shape (Fig. 5).
Fig. 6. Structured Reticulation Final Design
Suspended Spaces by Travis Hampton & Emily

Marvel
Suspended Spaces began with a material

investigation mixing oil and water. The students
were focused upon the process of pouring the oil
into the water instead of the static end mixture.
Their analysis involved understanding the
suspension of the oil masses within the water which
floated and flowed through the water volume (Fig.
7).
These students analyzed the program as a series of

spaces which support the juvenile. Just like the
water supported the pockets of oil in the material
mixture, the spaces in the building supported the
juvenile spaces. These students proposed adding
additional spaces which were not only for juveniles
charged with crimes. These spaces allowed
additional support for community children and teens
such as activity spaces including music rooms and
art studios.
Fig. 8. Suspended Spaces Final Design
Reflection
Several observations can be made about the work.

The greatest short-coming of the studio was the
unresolved nature of the technical aspects of the
projects. Most of the projects were unable to get to
a technical resolution that would make the proposal
believable. All of the projects could have
addressed the incorporation of building systems
and would have benefited from the process. While
this was a short-coming, below are the some of the
successes of the studio.
First, the project was successful in delivering an

Fig. 7. Suspended Spaces Material Mixing understanding of program that was more than a
mere distribution of space. The students were able
The project was sited within close proximity to other to understand program from its cultural implications
community facilities which support the community’s and through a more tactile mixing. These lessons
youth including a school, The King Center, and were easily communicated and grasped by the
several churches. The students were attempting to students because it followed a material
make the courthouse a place of support for local investigation. The projects all had an
children rather than only a place of punitive understanding of program that transcended a
judgment. The building inhabits a corner of a park functional arrangement of space.
which is anchored on opposite corners by the
school and the Visitor Center for the King Center. Second, the process encouraged the development
The courthouse provides a covered entrance to the of an idea that ran through material, program, and
park and King Center showing its physical support site development. Many times, young designers
of the local community (Fig. 8). have a plethora of ideas in one project. The
process used in this studio kept this tendency at

bay because the students were led in a particular
direction. The students learned that the idea for a
building should be supported on many levels, in this
case material, program, and site.
Third, the project required the development of the

project through models and drawings. These were
used throughout at each stage of development.
While in some studios students are left to choose
their medium, in this studio the medium was given.
The process required students to develop both
skills, drawing and modeling, not just the one they
felt most comfortable using.
Fourth, the studio encouraged the use of atypical

modeling materials. The modeling exercises
encouraged students to use methods and machines
they had never used before expanding their
knowledge of material and techniques that hopefully
helped them in their upper level studios.
Finally, the diversity of projects in the studio was

refreshing. Because the students began with
diverse material mixings, the proposed final designs
were quite different. The site selections the
students made were also diverse considering they
were all within the downtown of Atlanta. Some of
the sites were in the extremely dense urban core,
others were at the periphery of the downtown where
the city is beginning to unravel into a more
suburban condition, and still others were in the in-
between. The sites were in-fill, open, and a
combination of these.
Overall, the studio was successful in delivering a

well-rounded understanding of program which
ensured students could meet the functional criteria
of program distribution as well as the ability to
create a conceptual framework for a building
program.
Notes
1-3, and 5
Lynn, Greg. “The Folded, the Pliant and the
Supple,” Folds, Bodies & Blobs (Brussels: La Lettre
Volee, 2004).
4
Koolhaas, Rem. “Definitive Instability: The Downtown
Athletic Club,” Delirious New York: A Retroactive
Manifesto for Manhattan (New York: Monacelli Press,
1994).
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 STUDIO LAB

Academy with a confluence of the Beaux-Arts
Studio LAB: Directed tradition and rugged American industry. This

combined influence helped generate the first ‘big
Experimentation Towards ideas’ of American Architecture - the steel-frame
and the skyscraper by way of the Chicago School -
Focused Innovation which would ultimately dominate a profession that
was grappling with emergent materials and
Genevieve Baudoin and Bruce A. Johnson structural systems. These ideas reciprocally
University of Kansas necessitated the re-scripting of American Schools
of Architecture.
At the same time, the governmental regulation of

architecture began its coming of age, and with it a
Introduction
more stringent licensure/apprenticeship procedure
For nearly 20 years, a crisis has been building in precipitated the need for a more disciplined training
American studio education by misguiding the of architects by the academy. Conversely,
generation of ‘big ideas.’ Students that under invest architecture schools prepared designers for the
in their own ideas exacerbate this crisis. Many of realization that not all of the legal training to
these students’ ‘big’ ideas actually become small, become an architect could be completed in the
and the parts of the design used to support the idea university setting. In the end the academy began to
become weak or ignored. This crisis stems from consider how the profession could ‘complete’ this
where ‘big ideas’ originate. We can view the increasingly expansive training during
American Academy through the lens of ‘big idea’ apprenticeship in an office. The lynchpin for
generation - from Wright, Kahn, Fuller and SOM connecting the profession and the academy
using technological innovation in structure as a became institutions like the National Architectural
prime generator to Venturi, Tschumi and Accreditation Board, the National Council of
Eisenman, using representation/abstraction as the Architectural Registration Boards, the American
privileged source. More recently the American Institute of Architects, and the Association of
Academy has shifted the investigation to skin Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), all
systems as the central focus. As part of this working to sort out how to deliver architectural
lineage, studio has embraced the skin not through instruction in a timely and relevant manner to a
innovation, but as a way to make architecture profession in flux. This complex mix of institutions
salient to a world seeking to locate blame for became simultaneously incestuous and
climate change. In studio, this reduces the practice paradoxically disjointed, in what often could be
of architecture to product placement and material seen as un-orchestrated attempts at a unified
investigation that is ‘skin’ deep. To regain currency professional and academic direction.
in the world, the profession and academy must
recognize that architecture is built upon The ‘work in progress’ curriculums of the American
experimental innovation and ‘big’ ideas. What was Academy emerging after the Chicago School were
a synthesis of idea and structure/technology or idea faced with the additional dilemma/opportunity of
and representation/abstraction is being lost. The adapting or rejecting the evolving European
interplay of structure and abstraction is what Academy’s approach to the interdisciplinary
produces innovation, and this paper will seek to combination of manufacturing, art, graphic design
reground studio by re-introducing direct and building technology as exemplified by the
experimentation to the studio laboratory. This paper Bauhaus. There was also a directed push away
will trace the history of the Academy in America, from the representational methods of the Beaux-
outlining this lineage of ‘big idea’ generation and Arts. In 1930 the ACSA reported: “The analytique
will postulate a new kind of capstone studio as a device to inculcate a realization by the student
focusing on the Gothic idea of the ‘part-to-whole’ of three-dimensional forms, this type of work and
integration of design. the usual instruction that goes with it would in the
1
great majority of cases seem very questionable.”
The American Academy In response, as historian Hyungmin Pai writes;
“The study pointed to a growing number of schools
Through their built work, pioneers of American that had begun to forgo the study of elements,
Architecture like H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, approaching… architectural education with
and Frank Lloyd Wright, embedded the American problems that ‘involve the totality of architecture in

simplified form rather than artificially amputated was a response to this fragmentation, but it also
2
parts of a complex whole.’” devalued the experimentation in representational
systems inherent and essential to design. In
In the midst of these pedagogical debates, there addition, the profession was simultaneously
were key figures that shaped a model for a modern compartmentalizing and fragmenting the various
American Architectural curriculum. Mies van der skills to obtain licensure to more effectively test
Rohe at IIT worked to create a curriculum to those skills. This combined with the
replace the original institutionalized Beaux-Arts institutionalization of Modernism ultimately confined
program with one that better aligned with the architecture to emulation, not re-invention,
structural prevalence of the ‘Chicago School’. His replicating many of the dilemmas seen in the
new curriculum involved delivering architectural Beaux-Arts. As a general reaction against what
education based on a sequence in three parts: 1) would become derivative and ill-proportioned
The study of the ‘crafts of drawing and Modernism, the academy and profession ironically
construction’, 2) the honing of ‘planning skills’, and sought redemption from the public through a
3) the refinement of the first two segments by way renewed interest in surface-applied Classicism. At
of the understanding and development of the its best, this produced the conceptually based
3
‘theory of architecture’. Similarly, but with a works of Venturi. At its worst, architecture became
devout interest in functionalism honed through an applied skin, i.e. Michael Graves or Robert
collaboration, fellow ex-patriot Bauhaus leader Stern. In the end, all of this attention to the façade
Walter Gropius was helping to develop the revised effectively reduced the role of the architect (to
curriculum at Harvard. These programs can both designing skins) and ushered in the era of
be seen as a new American model, embedding the consultants (structural, landscape, lighting,
discipline of architecture within the merged liberal programmers, acoustics, etc.), radically
arts and science programs developing around the compartmentalizing, fragmenting, and reassigning
country. design to various experts. As a result, both the
profession and the academy lost ground in terms of
Because these programs were embedded within a holistic design and the integration of site, structure,
larger university framework, the curriculums in technology and materials, and ultimately ‘big ideas’
these programs typically grew to include a broad became confined to an iconography of the façade.
foundation of liberal arts and sciences training – the
math, physics, writing and western civilization As a reaction to the lack of larger professional and
classes included in architecture curriculums today academic vision beyond façade-making, the work
can be seen as a byproduct of this merging. This of architects like Eisenman, Hedjuk and Libeskind
foundation, combined with the push to separate can be seen as an attempt to return to ‘big ideas’
apprenticeship from the academy due to the through an attention to the craft of drawing and the
duration to matriculation effectively transformed the valuing of abstract conceptualization. This
basic pedagogical method in American schools. representational ‘big idea’ movement led to the rise
of firms like Morphosis and to the interest in the
Changing Emphasis international work of Hadid, Koolhaas, Tschumi and
Coop Himmelblau. Experimental and sometimes
In the history of American Architecture programs, it esoteric representational systems produced an
is difficult to place ‘blame’ or to locate the moment almost alchemical transformation from drawing to
where things began to go awry. Choosing to embed form and these architects’ work generally
architecture school within a broader liberal arts supported the belief that structure was secondary
education has merit, because students will to content.
ultimately be working in the world and should in
some measure understand that world. This took Once again this generated a reaction from the
time away from the study of design and began the profession and the academy, returning to the
compartmentalization/fragmentation of the aesthetics and the commercial accessibility of the
curriculum into constituent parts (a kind of you- Modern project, evidenced by hugely popular
learn-this-over-THERE attitude). Programs like publications like Dwell magazine that capitalize on
those of both Mies and Gropius can be seen as a the commodity base of Modern Design. This
holistic re-collecting of constituent parts to generate reaction also reveals the trivialization of ‘big ideas’
whole design, refocusing on ‘big ideas.’ The choice through a carefully crafted set of sustainability add-
to move away from representational methods ons that serve to validate this new re-visioning/re-
specific to the Beaux-Arts such as the analytique packaging of Modernity. Both the academy and the

profession seem to support this return to a shallow previously to bear on their current work. A sample
‘sustainable’ version of Modernism when they of student portfolios covering work from their first
promote the wholesale revision of curriculums to year until graduation will expose the inevitable
include sustainability as a new skill set and treat it smorgasbord – many students even realize this
as the new ‘big idea’. The over-articulation of and will try and tailor their portfolios to introduce a
louvered walls or skin deep ‘green’ overlays to common form of representation that will tend to
mask glass curtain walls, seen in so many unify the work. Students tend towards satisfying the
contemporary student and professional projects, instructor as opposed to challenging them, seeking
are in reality simply glorified systems components a list of deliverables to work toward that is at odds
and should rightly be classified as such. The with the creative process itself. Worse still, the
current emphasis on design-build can also be seen Academy lacks an emphasis on the individual
as a distancing from the representational designer and has promoted or amplified the belief
experimentation of Eisenman and others, further in service learning through collaboration. In this
advocating for the loss of ‘big ideas’ and model, any and all contributions are considered
advancement of ‘green’ skins. In addition to this, equal and the healthy competition of ideas is lost or
traditional schools of architecture have quickly diluted. Paul Rudolph has said; “Architecture is a
moved from the once standard, five-year personal effort, and the fewer people coming
professional bachelor’s degree (the BArch) with the between you and your work the better…. If an
potential for a student to attain an additional architect cares enough and practices architecture
4
professional master’s degree (the MArch), toward a as an art, then he must initiate design…”
single five-year professional master’s degree Collaboration must be hierarchical to judge the
(again the MArch) to reduce the time to licensure, relative value of ideas. If architecture is to survive
creating curriculums that resemble spreadsheet as an art it must also be both critical and
deliverables of skill sets accomplished. experimental and thus be allowed to fail as much it
succeeds. Experimentation is essential to the
Dilemmas evolution of designers and to the scale,
components and materials of a design.
All of the preceding factors have culminated in the
current crisis of the American Academy by creating Consider Kahn’s City Hall Project of 1953-57,
students who are not fluent in modes of where he initially experimented with a steel space
representation or the integration of structure, form, frame structural system as a manifestation of his
5
and idea, and thus they are unable to articulate or ‘big idea’ of hollow structure and a system/material
develop their ideas. Students today cannot readily that he abandoned in favor of concrete. Similarly,
move from computer drawing to the sketch, to Kahn’s 1953 visionary downtown plan for
physical models, to hand or digitally fabricated Philadelphia examined and experimented with
details, or to abstract notational systems of larger traffic flow patterns and street development
representation and back to conceptual/big ideas. under the ‘big idea’ banner of the city as a ‘room’
Students are more often taught ‘lifelike’ super- where services (servants) were positioned to
renderings (a throwback to 1960’s-70’s support a larger civic space (the served). This plan
architectural illustrations done to deter public further revealed his interest in hollow structure
opinion or to assuage clients) to illustrate only what (‘hollow stone’) through the cylindrical parking
it will ‘look’ like. Big ideas are now limited to what structure hubs that operated to relieve the ‘served’
can be modeled in computer programs. These city of cars/traffic within the larger ‘servant’ zone.
programs require students to literally ‘construct’ These hollow garages in tandem with their required
their designs, choosing from a standard set of street infrastructures were a kind of ‘hollow’
architectural details like windows and doors that conceptual structure in that they supported the
6
mask the fact that many students simply lack the larger ‘served’ civic space. Kahn would continue to
ability to mentally project space three-dimensionally explore this ‘big idea’ through various scale
from conventional two-dimensional plans and changes but it was first manifest in built form in the
sections. hollow concrete masonry unit columns of the
Trenton Bath house (structural components), and
The median American Student today also tends to later as the hollow ducting at Richard’s Medical
think design studios are each a kind of ground zero Labs and via the interstitial floors at the Salk
– when they move from the completion of one institute where the structural floors (hollow
studio under a specific instructor into another, they structure) become service rooms and where the
fail to bring the tactics and strategies learned courtyard (a hollow/void space) frames the ‘big

idea’ of directed view. In this manner Kahn’s work select part of the profession actually entered the
is exemplary in terms of part to whole and whole to studio directly as an outgrowth of the Rudolph’s
part. ‘ideal’ office, and the studio evolved to become a
conjoined laboratory where both the academy and
Without the freedom to experiment we would not as the profession benefited from the exchange. These
a culture collectively own, the Kimbell, the Salk, or benefits included not only the research generated
the Yale Center for British Art. Without by students relative to larger civic/programmatic
experimentation in his early years through his needs that would have been more difficult to define
series of Glass Skyscraper projects in the 1930’s, in an office setting, but also what the students
Mies would not have produced the Seagram gained relative to focused ‘big idea’ innovation as a
Building, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive, or IIT as steady refinement of the architecture removed from
manifestations of contemporary structure through a the day-to-day demands of the office.
mature and subtle experimentation with steel and
glass. Closer to our present era, Steven Holl began Rudolph’s vision at Yale was not however a new
tinkering with the linking of housing typologies and one. In 1946 Kenzo Tange initiated what became
infrastructure in such hypothetical projects as his known as the Tange Lab. Starting life as a modest
Stitch Plan for Cleveland and his Bridge of Houses studio within Tokyo Imperial University, it ultimately
for New York, all of which clarified his spatial formed what collectively became known as
developments as related to his ‘big idea’ of Metabolism. In a recent interview Rem Koolhaas
parallax. This produced seminal works such as the said: “Compare Archigram [the British experimental
Cranbrook Institute of Science, the Bloch Addition architecture group active during the 1960s and
to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Stretto early ’70s] in the UK to the Metabolists in Japan: in
House and the Chapel of St. Ignatius with its part to Europe similar ideas were doomed to remain
whole surface textures, door details, and overall unrealized; in Asia those very ideas were
building to site massing. implemented by an industrial culture that really
9
believed in them.” In Japan architecture schools
Design Laboratory were attached specifically to engineering schools
and professors ran their studio as an extension of
In a 1980 interview with James Stewart Polshek, their practice. Notable Tange Lab members include
the dean of Columbia at the time and a leading Kisho Kurakawa, Arata Izosaki and Fumihiko Maki.
practitioner, Barbaralee Diamondstein asked: Amelia Groom and Nick Currie write about
“What do you think of the current level of Metabolists: “Mentored by the great Modernist
architectural education, not only at Columbia but in architect Kenzo Tange at Tange Lab… their
the country in general?” Polshek responded by imaginative and sometimes impossibly ambitious
saying: “It’s not terrific…. I find myself somewhat of proposals advocated kinko tochi or ‘artificial
a conservative in the sense that these accrediting ground’ (to be built on the sea and in the sky), plug-
10
people come to you and they tell you’ve that you in megastructures and prefab modular capsules.”
got to teach handrails for the handicapped. You’ve Many students In the Tange Lab went on to
got to have a course in that…. And you’ve got to develop their own clear visions of architecture at
have course in waterproofing and solar energy. By the level of the ‘big idea’ from the detail to the
the time you get done, you don’t have any time to whole, lending credence to the model.
draw…. I think that the way we do that is to say that
7
you learn those things later.” In 1961 Norman Foster came to Yale to study with
both Paul Rudolph and Buckminster Fuller because
Discussing the American approach to architectural of the structural and experimental nature of their
training, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy explains: “The work and their vision of what architecture was
American custom of including architectural becoming. Foster states: “During his leadership at
education in the humanistic-scientific framework of Yale, Rudolph created a network of international
the university is a questionable tradition…. The talent. There were always surprise visits by
new chairman at Yale [Paul Rudolph] was aware of distinguished architects who would give lectures,
8
this and ran his school like an ideal office…” . hold impromptu crits and join juries to argue and
11
Yale’s program at the end of the 1950’s can be debate with staff and students alike.” At this
seen as a kind of divergent track to the typical historic juncture, Yale and the American Academy
American architectural program model that was were privileging a structural presence punctuated
then emerging, and as one that was more closely by an interest in infrastructure that ranged from the
aligned to Wright’s Taliesin. At Yale, only a very street scale to the scale of the globe. This structural

and infrastructural presence became the trajectory The studio vision begins its focus on invention
upon which Foster and Partners built their career through a key component. In a recent interview
and upon which so many of their renowned works conducted while teaching at Yale Greg Lynn stated;
of architecture were based, all grounded in Foster’s “I think it’s my job to get all of you… to develop
structural and integrated systems ‘big Idea’, again your ambitions for design. And so that’s why I say
giving testament to the studio approach. that you need to develop a contemporary language,
something that you would continue to pursue….
13
Studio LAB Architecture is about components.” What if a
studio could simply ask what a column could be?
Studio LAB (LAB) proposes a reversal of the where What else could it carry? Other components could
big ideas are generated. This can also be seen as form the focus of the studio – the window, the
a return to earlier programs like that of Mies and fastener, the stair, or the duct are all potential
Gropius by seeking a holistic attitude towards examples – but the direction of the studio would be
design. Historian Philip Steadman summarizes this towards refinement and transformation. Consider
idea of holistic design: “The qualities of wholeness, the column at the scale of the building, then
and integrity, of a unity in structure such that parts consider the column at the scale of the city: what is
all contribute to the effect or purpose of the whole, its purpose? How is it integral to both scales of the
and no part may be removed without some damage built environment? Can the column generate the
12
to the whole.” What is needed now, however, is a building? At the 1960 Tokyo World Design
kind of retraining for students in response to the Conference (WODECO), Louis Kahn expressed
compartmentalization of the typical curriculum this potential: “We should not have to rip up the
today. The LAB proposes to accomplish this by street every time a pipe goes bad and disrupts
utilizing the Gothic notion of part-to-whole ordering. traffic. You should go inside the building and
Ironically, we see the potential to reformulate big correct your pipes and let traffic go on. The street
ideas through the re-invention of the part, its really wants to be a building; it’s come to that
14
integration into the whole, and the reciprocal design point.” The process of scaling components
relationship to its parts. introduced in the LAB would promote radical
prototypes grounded in conception.
Borrowing from the precedents set by Rudolph and
Tange, the LAB is a synthetic approximation of an These prototypes would lead to direct fabrication at
office, while attempting to be free from the a scale that could be tested for all aspects of
pragmatic constraints of a typical practice. The design: proportion, feasibility, structure, economy,
design tenets and previous work of the directing flexibility, constructability, and application to name
architect(s) are directly folded into the lab for a few. The projects would necessitate the output of
students to refine by design extension. Studio LAB a full-scale demonstrable amalgam – this is not to
would be structured over the course of a full year, be confused with a fabricated building, but rather a
taking the place of a typical capstone studio, portion of the design: abstracted or literal. As
occurring in the fourth or fifth year depending on a Siegfried Gidieon writes: “Architecture when built,
school’s existing curriculum. The intent of the LAB must create a unity from a number of different
15
is to create an environment where students can parts.” The process of fabrication would promote
learn to explore and articulate formative ideas – the refinement of the individual component and
‘big ideas’. It confers and redeems the design generate the potential aggregation or
leadership of the architect guiding students towards transformation into a holistic condition (either open-
innovation through a central architectural vision set ended or closed in form).
by the studio. The LAB would be structured over
the course of the year as semester one – part-to- The documentation and refinement of the prototype
whole, semester two – whole-to-part. This restores the potential of representational strategies
reciprocal relationship is key to rethinking the to conceive and conceptualize the design as a
studio as a laboratory - testing solutions, making whole. From the Bauhaus on, architects have used
refinements and retesting - and to the creation of a composite techniques to borrow meaning. For
holistic big idea where all scales are designed. James Corner, American landscape architect and
Each semester would be broken down into three author, “Composite montage is essentially an
main segments: one-third invention, one-third affiliative and productive technique, aimed…
fabrication, and one-third documentation and toward emancipation, heterogeneity, and open-
16
refinement. ended relations among parts.” While analytical,
composite montage carries a multiplicity of

meaning, essentially the opposite of reductive
simplification. Composite techniques of Notes:
representation could be called Modern phenomena,
1
but they are also derivative of techniques such as Hyungmin Pai, The Portfolio and the Diagram: Architecture,
Discourse and Modernity in America, (Cambridge: MIT Press,
the Beaux-Arts analytique. The abstraction in these
2002), 104.
kinds of representation, forcing the viewer to re-
read and question the nature of the drawing, is 2
Pai, The Portfolio and the Diagram, 104.
essential to conceptually building the bridge from
3
part to whole. “Mies van der Rohe,” last modified on March 3, 2013,
http://www.iit.edu/arch/about/history/mies.shtml
The second semester reverses this process, 4
Mildred F. Schmertz, “Paul Rudolph” in Contemporary
however the aim is not to arrive in the same Architects, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980), 693.
position. This semester encompasses the testing,
5
refinement, and revision essential to proving the Kahn states: " In Gothic times, architects built in solid stones.
inherent value of a ‘big idea’. The LAB is not an Now we can build with hollow stones. The spaces defined by
the members of a structure are as important as the members.
esoteric venture for the sake of formal interests:
These spaces range in scale from the voids of an insulation
graduates would succeed only if they achieve an panel, voids for air, lighting and heat to circulate, to spaces big
encompassing design at several scales and a enough to walk through or live in.” Louis I. Kahn, “Toward a
tempered reconciliation of form, material, structure, Plan for Midtown Philadelphia,” in Perspecta: 2 the Yale
Architectural Journal, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1953), 23.
space, site, program and systems, with an
appropriate economy of means, and as visualized 6
Louis I. Kahn, “Toward a Plan for Midtown Philadelphia,” 10-‐
by representations and not mere renderings. 27.
7
The current crisis in the American Academy calls Barbaralee Diamondstein, American Architecture Now, (New
York: Rizzoli, 1980), 205.
for a return to fundamentals. Timeless architectural
precepts that emphasize materials (traditional and 8
Sibyl Moholy-‐Nagy, “Introduction,” in The Architecture of Paul
emergent), systems (mechanical, sustainable, Rudolph, (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), 14-‐15.
infrastructural and civic) and modes of
9
implementation (fabrication strategies as Amelia Groom and Nick Currie, “Past Futures,” in Frieze, Issue
analog/digital) should all work to articulate a larger 145, March 2012, last accessed on March 3, 2013:
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/past-‐futures1/
concept, a big idea that maintains a hierarchy of
design, present at every level of a built work, from 10
Groom and Currie, “Past Futures.”
the component to the whole and back again. Such
11
a hierarchy would be readily apparent at the level Tony Monk, The Art and Architecture of Paul Rudolph, (New
of structure/detail, in the plan/program, and through York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), 4.
the concept/culture or cultural conception. It would 12
Philip Steadman, The Evolution of Designs: Biological
also parallel Mies’ IIT curriculum, defined by an Analogy in Architecture and the Applied Arts, (Cambridge and
understanding of the craft (by way of New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 9
building/drawing as a manifestation of the
13
technological integration of structure, materials and John Capen Brough, “A Conversation with Greg Lynn,”
Perspecta 43: The Yale Architectural Journal, (Cambridge: MIT
systems), by way of space (as an appropriate
Press, 2010), 17-‐18.
attention to plan/program and thereby the creation
of spatial flow/sequence), and of content (by way of 14
Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Olbrist, Project Japan:
the understanding of theory both historical and as Metabolism Talks…, (Koln: Taschen, 2011), 194.
personal to the designer). Studio LAB would seek
15
to embed these criteria in students not by Sigfried Giedion, “On the Limits of the Organic in
Architecture,” in Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of
overvaluing specific and divided skill sets or the a New Tradition, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991),
parsing of the discipline into knowledge silos, but 875-‐76.
through the evolution of a concept that translates
16
(by way of representational and fabrication “Eidetic Operations and New Landscapes,“ James Corner,
Recovering Landscape, James Corner ed., (New York: Princeton
strategies) from scale to scale and that resists
Architectural Press, 1999), 166.
being subsumed by outside forces and thus made
illegible or small. The intent is that big ideas stay
BIG, but first students of design must learn to
understand what constitutes a BIG idea.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 POIESIS: THE MISSING HYPHEN
architecture at the onset was intrinsically

Poiesis: The Missing identified with Eros, and that Eros'
agency was to lure the architectural response.
Hyphen He also asserts that this originating and
organizing impulse was named poiesis by the
Between the What and early Greeks as a way of identifying the poetic
as the instigator and the intentional primacy of
How of Architecture the architectural act.
Hector LaSala University of Louisiana Pérez-Gómez further asserts that Eros' musings
were understood as a kind of madness. In one of
his epigraphs, he has Plato claiming: "The
“Architecture today exists in a peripheral poetry of the sane man is utterly eclipsed by that
of the inspired madman." And another one by
condition. It is dispensable. Due to expense, to
Giordano Bruno, who declared that "poetry is not
ineptness, to chivalric attitude, to aloofness, to born from rules ... rather it is the rules that derive
4
precious elitism, to liability, to a design method from poetry."
that amounts to choosing from catalogs–the
practice of Architecture has become expendable. Thus Pérez-Gómez assembles his contention
The world all too readily eliminates architecture that at its origin Western architecture was
from the 'real world'. The cost is our lives.” – identified with Eros' creative and libidinal powers,
William Tate
1 with Daedalus–the emblematic architect–being
“the one who harnesses the power of the poetic
image to engage others in a communion with
5
Architecture takes time for other worlds within our world.” It goes without
incubation, cultivation, experimentation (and saying that these provocative thoughts offer us
blind alleys), playing, coordinating, celebrating, an opportunity to examine what and how we
risking, cooperating, meandering. These words teach our future architects, in particular at their
are not soft: intensity and diligence are embryonic stage.
paramount. But they are inviting the
subconscious to play. And the And lastly, he warns us of our peril if our practice
intuitive. Wondering and musing are such words fails to reconnect to architecture’s originating
when it comes to time. They are real process source: “A partial or total ignorance of the deep
words. Not about schedules, but about ripeness. relationship between [Eros] and architecture has
Bearing fruit. Architecture is an organic act, not a dire consequences, perpetuating the modern
2
mechanical one. Treat it as one. –William Tate epidemic of empty formalism and banal
functionalism, condemning architecture to
Eros’ Creative Powers passing fashion or consumable commodity, and
destining the cultures it frames to their present
The above observations delineate the contours dangerous pathologies.”
6
of the two concerns of this paper: the
indisputable and tragic failure of our built world,
and a reassessment of what and how we teach Crawling Comes Before Walking
our future architects, in particular at the early
stages of their development. "Babies have to go through a crawling period
and should not go straight from scooting to
While the causes behind the breakdown of the walking, because in the crawling period they're
architectural project include economic, social, learning how to coordinate both halves of their
7
and political factors, the one culprit upon whom brain." -Richard Rohr
we design educators have any control of is our
pedagogy, and thus it will be the focus of my While most schools of architecture, if not all,
argument. offer their students studios which purpose is to
introduce them to the design process and the
Alberto Pérez-Gómez in his book, Built upon principles of design, it is my observation
Love, summarizes and synthesizes both issues however that these fail to consistently offer
thusly: “Throughout modernity architecture therein an atmosphere that is unreservedly
sought the origins of creation in rational conducive to the suppleness and openness,
frameworks … Contemporary building design plasticity and playfulness that precede the poetic
generally operates on the premise urge; to follow Rohr's assertion: we do not let
them crawl enough. One obstacle I have
that the process of planning must be thoroughly observed is a premature insistence to formalize
rational ... [Such a method] creates novelty by explicit rules; ones that function as decision
without love [Eros], resulting in short-lived procedures and which inevitably lead to the
seduction, typically without concern for right-or-wrong realm with its attendant
embodied cultural experience, character, and apprehension and dread. All of which is
3
appropriateness.” His thesis is that Western
countered to Bruno’s suggestion of letting the Piaget and Maria Montessori; they provided us
poetic derive its own rules. with useful insights. These educational pioneers
helped us in our search of new possibilities for
At our school, since the mid-80s, we have been structures, content and conduct in the design
continually exploring and developing a pedagogy studios. Throughout this arduous process, one
that identifies as our most important objective to fundamental component always directed our
facilitate a deeper yet playful engagement search and strengthened our resolve: the
between our students' creative capacities and conviction that any pedagogy worthy of its name
the semantic impulses of their germinal ideas had to aim its focus solely on the site of learning:
and themes. The core of this instruction happens the student.
in the first two years of our students’
undergraduate education. The paramount Throughout the push-and-pull of acquiring a
objective of these four studios is a sustained position, a conviction, a framework from where to
encounter; one that is not compromised, teach, Jerome Bruner has been by far the most
truncated nor abridged due to other competing stimulating and influential guide; in particular, his
objectives and curricula constrains: For this insights that address how young children's
encounter to be genuine and for its concurrent instinctive will-to-learn can best be stimulated,
process to remain in flux, a tolerant and directed and amplified. We came to believe that
generous letting be needs to prevail. his assertions were pertinent and easily
transferable in the designing of a pedagogy that
Such an approach acknowledges the importance was aimed at our very own beginners.
of time in the creative process. Too often
capricious timing constrains are allowed to In his landmark book, Towards a Theory of
interfere with the flow of an idea, preventing it Instruction, he provided us with a core thesis:
from remaining vigorously and daringly true instruction is the assisting and facilitating of
underway. Mark Taylor puts it this way: “Thinking the processes whereby human beings go from a
has rhythms of its own–it must simmer and state of utter helplessness to one of control.
cannot be rushed. It is impossible to know how Bruner sees the process through which this
much time is required for thought to gel because takes place as a staircase with rather sharp
I am not in control of this process … Thought risers, and the dynamic as being a matter of
thinks through me in ways I can never fathom … spurts and rests: The spurts ahead in growth
The dynamics of thinking eludes seem to be touched off when certain capacities
8
consciousness.” begin to develop. And some capacities must be
matured and nurtured before others can be
Rigor and Tolerance: A Venture in Dichotomy called into being. This observation–coupled with
our own awareness that in most of our beginning
"To teach design, one must be intolerant but design studios, students differ greatly in terms of
patient." rate of growth and level of competence–caused
9
–Olivio Ferrari us to examine the critical role that time and
pacing play in facilitating the proper integration
The origin and generator that drove most of our of the long sequence of acts that must take
initial pedagogical explorations was Virginia place if learning is to happen.
Tech’s architecture program. My colleague Alan
Hines had recently received his master’s degree Once we became cognizant of the decisive role
at that institution, and I had just returned from a time plays in learning, particularly complex skills
visiting teaching position there in 1982. such as designing; we decided to structure the
Architecture education at Virginia Tech has been first two years as a Foundation Program: a
consistently recognized as one of the most generous and hospitable time and space that is
innovative and unique sites for studying deliberately and intentionally dedicated to
architecture: Its pedagogical roots can be traced fostering the gradual and progressive
back to the Bauhaus. development of each of our students. The
Foundation’s main objective became to provide
Charles Burchard, founding dean of the school, each student with a studio environment that was
was a student of Walter Gropious; and Olivio most conducive for the complex and delicate
Ferrari was a graduate of architecture at the internalization of skills to occur in its totality. To
Hochsule fur Gestaltung (an offspring of the this day, the aims and intentions of the
Bauhaus) in Ulm, Germany. Both were Foundation have proven themselves to be a
responsible for the architecture department at decisive factor in the consistent success of our
Virginia Tech in the 1960s. These two program.
individuals, established a new teaching model
for the design profession. It was out of this Cognitive Wonder
exposure and our very own dissatisfactions with "The major condition for activating exploration ...
our school's methodology that provoked us to in a task is the presence of some optimal level of
initiate changes at our university. In addition, we uncertainty. Curiosity, it has been persuasively
initiated an extensive investigation on the argued, is a response to uncertainty and
10
education-as-process theories of John Dewey, ambiguity." –Jerome Bruner
Alfred North Whitehead, Jerome Bruner, Jean
So far my writing has been mostly about the Most importantly, it has always encouraged and
mechanics, the structural changes that had to supported each faculty member's initiative to
take place. But, at an even more fundamental exert his or her own particular way for enacting
level–at its very core–our collective endeavor this in his or her studio. In my view, this is one of
throughout the last twenty-plus years has been our strengths: we have been able to articulate a
about activating, exploring, and stretching the worthwhile common objective, while soliciting
transformative capacity of design as didactics, each faculty member to experiment as to how
as discipline, and as practice. Our shared that is best achieved and improved upon.
conviction has been that design, as a particular
path of thinking; it is a daring, tenacious and Modifying our Habits
audacious act, one that pursues questions
regardless as to where they lead. Thus, we can
assert that design thinking comes into its own "Certain poets have the ability to remain in
only when it is located in the ambiguities and uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any
unresolved tensions of life. irritable reaching after reason." – John Keats
Positioned in what Alvaro Siza calls the interior We have also benefited immensely from
of doubts, the creative process then becomes a philosophers of science as well as others who
contained chaos, or a chaos that contains order. have criticized the myth that rationality alone has
It is only there that the design instinct displays its directed science and the scientific method. One
primal, creative force, since, by its very nature, of these being Paul Feyerabend, who in the
the wild and furious force of a germinal-idea-at- quote below, from his book Against Method,
work moves, grows, and accrues complexity and captures not only a more truthful depiction of a
clarity by repeatedly falling apart. But, under our scientific investigation, but also captures the
previous methodology, we preempted this kind heuristic character of a design process released
of search and thereby concluded projects from our very own methodological constrains:
prematurely, settling for solutions that did not “Creation of a thing, and creation plus full
deserve to be called conclusions. understanding of a correct idea of the thing, are
parts of one and the same indivisible process
Our new position changed all that. A single and cannot be separated without bringing the
project was now allowed to exhaust and process to a stop ... The process itself is not
transform its creative force into the serendipitous guided by a well-defined programme, and cannot
events of the search. For us, this was worth be guided by such programme… It is guided
12
immensely more than two or three truncated rather by a vague urge, by a ‘passion.’ “
ones executed in the same length of time. We
firmly believed that this is what every design This approach works on the premise that one
student must experience at the onset of his or must try to design a ‘thing’ in order to know how
her design education, that this alone deserved to design that ‘thing’ or even to know what that
our unreserved generosity. It was our ‘thing’ might possibly be. This heuristic process
foundational conviction that, in our school, it had operates as a cyclic and nonlinear network
to hold primacy over any other objective. wherein a designer seeks to synthesize whole
yet incomplete formulations during all of the
A Supplement, Always phases of a project. This dynamic is similar to
Marco Frascari’s assertion that construing and
“For a process to begin, something must constructing are inseparable. It is characteristic
happen. What there already is–the situation of of this approach that throughout the entire
knowledge as such generates nothing other than process, product and content are entwined,
repetition. For a [process] to affirm its newness, interacting continuously.
there must be a supplement. This supplement is
... beyond what is ... It interrupts repetition." – Margaret Wheatley echoes such perception
11
Alain Badiou when in her book on the new physics quotes
Werner Heisenberg: “A lucky guess based on
Since the shift in the way we teach was initiated, shaky arguments and absurd ad hoc
one thing has not changed deliberately, one assumptions gives a formula that turns out to be
thing has remained a constant by choice and right, though at first no one can see why on earth
13
practice by the entire faculty: the primacy of its it should be.” Wheatley’s insights into the
heuristic orientation; an educational approach by quantum world ask us to be more patient and
which the student is stimulated to make his or tolerant toward the innate uncertainties of the
her own investigations and discoveries. creative process. She comments that quantum
Moreover, at the end of each academic year the reality “teaches that there are no prefixed,
whole faculty reviews, assesses and adjusts definitely describable destinations. There are,
what has been previously constructed; the instead, potentials that will form into real ideas,
essential task remains: to continue to seek ways depending on who the discoverer is and what
to better arouse and engage the intellectual and she is interested in discovering. Only by
creative process of each of our students. venturing into the unknown do we enable ideas
to take shape, and those shapes are different for
14
each voyager.” This describes our very own
experience of the design process, whereby the –Each student works at his or her own pace;
trajectory that eventually yields the conclusion of each student’s temperament and learning style
a project is rarely like a pine tree pointing in a is respected
single direction. At its best, it is more like a live
oak with a dozen of branches going in all
–The desk critique has been replaced with group
directions.
reviews
The next writer is John Caputo, whose radical

–No grades are given except at the end of the
hermeneutics is the equivalent to the path of
term. Moreover, we give no long range due
thinking of the creative act. They share the same
dates, instead students are required to bring new
tenacity and audacity to pursue a question
and updated work each time the studio meets
regardless as to where it leads. Just as Caputo
claims that radical hermeneutics arises “when
15
reason is cut adrift;” so also design thinking –No digital media in foundation studios just
comes into its own only when it is located within models, multimedia drawings, constructs and
ambiguities; it is there that the creative process full-scale constructions.
becomes a contained chaos, or a chaos that
contains order. It is there that the design instinct
displays its primal, creative force. Thus, by its –The faculty's effectiveness in participating in
very nature, the generative force of a germinal this process is dependent upon a stance that is
idea at work moves, grows, and accrues both critical and intentional yet remaining open
complexity and clarity by frequently falling apart. to all the diverse interpretations unfolding
There is no substitute for the genuine pleasure –All studios are team-taught. This arrangement
felt by a student who, once she has been lured offers the students multiple points of view. Also,
and energized by the uncertainty of a task, is the interaction between the faculty models the
allowed to sustain her attention over the long language and the way our discipline questions
and loosely connected sequence. This is what and reasons
every design student must experience: This
alone deserves our unreserved generosity. This space is not unlike a maternal matrix that
harbors our beginner's initial fumbling; that
A Cloud not a Clock "configuration half-perceived, a relation faintly
16
grasped, or a concept newly emergent." This
rigorous-but-patient approach accepts this
It has been my intention through these vignettes embryonic ‘thing’ and nurtures and challenges,
to persuade you that one thing alone is truly invites and stimulates, orients and dares it, until
necessary to know, and that is what Maria it undergoes the full range of the push-and-pull
Montessori discovered through her own of the evolutionary havoc that is required for
exposure to another set of beginners: education yielding that which is worthy of being considered
and learning are innate processes, which can be designed.
developed spontaneously in every human being.
Her approach has much to teach us, and it is
one that is easily transferable to a college level “A world without sensuality is also a world
condition. We have found ourselves without sense.“ –Dorothee Soelle
inadvertently creating in our four foundation
studios, a learning space similar in its aims and
conditions, for instance:
–The fostering of a sustained engagement with

compelling and provocative ideas and themes is
vital. Such is not allowed to be subverted by
any extrinsic requirement or constrain
–Projects are theme driven, and not skill

acquisition, as important as they are; it is our
view that skills are merely the vehicles for the
explorations and are not ends in themselves
–We have reduced the number of projects per

semester to 3 or 4: depth is preferred over range
(See Figure 1 below for an example of our first
year studios’ seven-project sequence.)
–Process is privileged over product

Fig. 1. A seven-project sequence of our first year studios, organized clockwise from upper left corner: 1) Self-portrait
collages, 2) Mask, which further explores self-portrait, 3) The Pretty-Ugly Project, where student finds or buys an
ugly, offensive object and transforms it into a well-designed, well-built artifact, 4) Poster of a song selected by student
from a list of forty rock & roll songs, 5) Mapping the selected song, 6) A fashion garment based on the selected song,
and 7) A Civil Rights Memorial.
Notes
1
Tate, W. (1992). On Risk. Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture, Southwest Regional Conference, 68.
2
Ibid, 71.
3
Pérez-‐Gómez, A. (2006). Built upon Love: Architectural Longing
after Ethics and Aesthetics. Cambridge: MIT Press, 28.
4
Ibid, 11.
5
Ibid, 11.
6
Ibid, 5.
7
Rohr, R. (1999). Everything Belongs. New York: The Crossroad
Publishing Company, 128.
8
Taylor, M. (2003). The Moment of Complexity. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 197.
9
From a conversation with Olivio Ferrari at Virginia Tech, 1982
10
Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge:
Belknap, 43.
11
Badiou, A. (2005). Infinite Thought. London: Bloomsbury
Academic, 46.
12
Feyerabend, P. (1975). Against Method. London: Atlantic
Highlands, 26.
13
Quoted without citation by Wheatley. M. J. (1994). Leadership
and the New Science. San Francisco: Berret-‐Koehler.
14
Ibid, X.
15
Caputo, J. D. (1987). Radical Hermeneutics. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 34.
16
Corradi-‐Fumara, G. (1995). The Metaphoric Process. London
and New York: Routledge, 12.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DETOURS AND DENOUEMENTS
spaces for occupation, spaces within which subtle
Detours and Denouements change and differentiation become legible because

of the shadows. “The beauty of a Japanese room,”
Bradley Walters he writes, “depends on a variation of shadows,
heavy shadows against light shadows—it has
University of Florida nothing else. Westerners are amazed at the
simplicity of Japanese rooms, perceiving in them
no more than ashen walls bereft of ornament. Their
reaction is understandable, but it betrays a failure
“The bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, to comprehend the mystery of shadows.”
and arise from two causes, either from coming out Reflecting on this work, Guy Horton notes that “In
of the light or from going into the light, which is true Praise of Shadows reminds us of other realms,
of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily other feelings that architectural space can evoke,
eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any ways of designing for repose, reflection, and
one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not solitude in a world that places emphasis on striving,
be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that action, and noise. It presents a different way of
soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and envisioning space, less ‘hot’ and dynamic and more
is unable to see because unaccustomed to the deep and subtle.” 3
dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is
1
dazzled by excess of light.” – Plato, The Republic But it is exactly this “hot and dynamic” condition
that shapes the lives of young people today. Many
of our university students do not recognize or
appreciate the subtle territories of the shadows, the
Spaces of Inquiry richness of margins between light and darkness, or
the time required to probe such ambiguous
The spaces that we occupy between light and dark conditions. Many see higher education as an
as well as our movements from one extreme to opportunity to move from the darkness of Plato’s
another remind us at once of fundamental cave into “the light” as they gain knowledge,
relationships between the mechanics of bodily experience, and/or skills. They seek to move as
perception and the mind’s understanding of space. quickly as possible from what they see as a place
These liminal moments make time physically of darkness to a place of brilliant and never-failing
present, binding together the space of experience light.
with the biological time required for the body’s
response to change. At edges between the very Education in design and architecture today,
bright and very dark, we recognize how each however, is about more than simply the illumination
extreme has the ability to cloak and conceal certain of hitherto unknown territories through the
nuances of space within it. Where these marginal conveyance of pre-formed knowledge from one
edges expand to become broader in-between generation to another. In contemporary post-
zones, our occupation of them can be prolonged. industrial educational models, students have
The physical movements of the body are then able become more than empty receptacles to be filled in
to better synchronize with our adaptive vision, serial fashion. And, at the same time, the problems
allowing us to discover some of the secrets of of our discipline are simultaneously both more
shadows and to appreciate subtle interplays of light complex and less clearly defined. As Donald
and dark. Schön wrote in Educating the Reflective
Practitioner, “the problems of real-world practice do
Junʼichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows, extols not present themselves to practitioners as well-
the role of shadows in the shaping and perception formed structures. Indeed, they tend not to present
of space. Writing specifically from within a themselves as problems at all but as messy,
Japanese cultural context, he describes the role of indeterminate situations.” 4 The shift from problems
shadows as fundamental to placemaking: “In (to be solved) to complex situations (in which to
making for ourselves a place to live, we first spread operate) is a fundamental and defining
a parasol to throw a shadow on the earth, and in characteristic of practice today. It requires students
the pale light of the shadow we put together a and future practitioners to be able to navigate
house.” 2 Subsequent to this initial act, he speaks unstable intellectual grounds, constructing
about the importance of shadows in providing individuated and highly variable frameworks within
which each project can be developed. It also specialized professional training. Schools are
requires us to be adept at deploying non-linear increasingly pressured to provide students with
design strategies to study a problem from multiple marketable technical skills that can be applied
points of view concurrently. immediately. This has created a deepening debate
surrounding education and training.
Challenges
It is too simplistic to simply posit these positions as
As a result of economic difficulties and varying diametrically opposed, with the scientist and poet
degrees of austerity in both private equity markets (or technician and theorist) battling one another for
and public budget allotments, those in practice and students, funding, and/or validation. The
in the academy have been challenged to do more indeterminacy of contemporary architectural
with less. With increasing costs and diminishing discourses, in particular, requires professionals
fees, firms deploy digital tools and/or outsource skilled in the kind of “rigorous artistry” promoted by
work to more efficiently deliver design services. Schön. To educate students for both the near- and
For many, digital tools and integrated, purpose- long-terms, we must develop both refined technical
driven models have become a panacea for greater skills and broad-based reflective thinking that
efficiency. together can sustain and fuel a lifelong love of
learning through making.
The charge is to develop educational models that

allow students to answer direct quantifiable
questions with great precision and specificity, while
also developing the ability to ask open-ended
questions. Nonlinear studio practices begin by
providing students with the clarity of certain known
goals, while consciously interrupting their paths
with meaningful detours and/or denouements along
the way. Of particular importance are those
exercises that may change the terms of the
argument, unsettle formerly known territories, or
create unexpected synergies amongst unlikely
partners. The work requires planning, intensive
coaching, management of students’ expectations,
and a certain willingness of students to suspend
disbelief along the way.
On Education and Training
In casual conversation and political discourse in the

United States, it is common today to hear
education and training used together or
interchanged in seemingly synonymous ways. In
Fig. 1. Displacements of introductory design. As the first his most recent State of the Union Address, for
project in the studio design sequence, the Cube example, President Obama referred to the need for
challenges students to shift their focus from objects to “our citizens have to have access to the education
space. Preconceived images of architecture are
and training that today’s jobs require.” Elsewhere
displaced by new spatial languages and resultant formal
in the same address, he referred to the need to
constructions. Student work by Adam McCollister for
Architectural Design 1, ARC 1301, Fall 2010. Instructor: “equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill
Bradley Walters. those jobs.” He continues, noting that “most young
people will need some higher education. It’s a
Schools are similarly streamlining processes, simple fact the more education you’ve got, the
responding to charged professional and political more likely you are to have a good job and work
environments. With constrained funding, curricula your way into the middle class.” Later, he referred
at many schools are being abridged, shifting to the need for value-based comparisons of
programs progressively further from a broad-based different schools, such that you would know “where
liberal-arts education and towards highly
you can get the most bang for your educational educational and experience requirements, in
buck.” 5 particular.
On the opposite side of the political divide, we hear

similar echoes from the current Governor of
Florida, who has advocated for an increase in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) programs to respond to increased job
openings in these fields. He notes that “we have to
ensure we make STEM education a priority for
Florida children so that more Florida families have
the tools they need to pursue the American
Dream.” 6 Architecture, by the way, is considered
to be one of these much-needed “STEM”
disciplines.
When the objective is to provide students with

“tools” and “skills” for filling current job openings, it
becomes clear that the conflation of “education”
and “training” is more than simply a question of
semantics. It underscores a changing emphasis,
one that shifts from a broader (and longer-term)
educational mission towards more precisely
delimited (and more immediate) training objectives.
In seeking to clarify the differences between these

terms, Peter Rickman writes that “training is about
practice, about skill, about learning how to do
things. Education is about fostering the mind, by
encouraging it to think independently and
introducing it to knowledge of the physical and Fig. 2. Rapid and extreme scalar oscillations. These
cultural world. It’s about theory, understanding and paired one-week studies of edge at the scale of the city
(1:9600) and the body (1:24) were developed for projects
a sense of values.” 7 Framed thus, it is possible for
in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A. Image: student
us to advocate for one of the terms over the other.
work by Alexander Thomas (top) and Jonathan Fidalgo
Intellectuals and the more philosophically-inclined (bottom), prepared for Architectural Design 6, ARC 3321,
(Rickman included) may argue in favor of Spring 2013. Instructor: Bradley Walters.
“educational” processes that frame ways of
thinking, and that may in turn allow for innovation in The separation between that which is traditionally
methods by which specific tasks are completed. learned in formal education (at the academy) and
But others may suggest that “training” and the that which is learned through direct experience (in
disciplined development of skills may allow for a the profession) is seen as contributing, in part, to
more direct engagement with matter necessary for this protracted process.
innovation.
One response, as promoted by Renée Cheng,
Within the discipline of architecture, these debates Professor and Head of the School of Architecture at
have been revived recently with publication of new the University of Minnesota, advocates the
data on the length of time required to attain evolution of academia in service to the profession.
professional licensure in the U.S. Including She suggests that a closer and more beneficial
completion of required education, experience, and relationship can be developed, based on “a
examination components, this process now knowledge loop in which the profession would
stretches to an average of 14.5 years from identify problems in the course of practice, and
completion of secondary/high school to licensure. 8 academics would research and communicate
For some, this long duration is seen as evidence of useful results back to practitioners.” 9 In this close
a broken system, one that requires revaluation of dance, it is the profession that leads, with
academia providing a supportive, if submissive,

role. While such suggestions are considered disciplined processes of making developed in the
heresy in many schools, they reinforce a more academy serve as important anchors and/or
broadly-based idea that it is the schools, not the rudders for the discourse of architecture.
profession, that should be re-calibrated and/or Speculative work, arising out of these careful,
reinvented. discursive practices, claims territories for
architecture that may go beyond extant practices,
suggesting new trajectories to be pursued by the
profession.
Between these positions is the bright line that

separates licensed professionals from unlicensed
faculty. It creates a particularly charged
environment, with those on one side often
undervaluing and/or feeling threatened by those on
the other side. The skills and positions of each
extreme provide useful ways forward, although they
can obscure nuanced approaches that incorporate
aspects of both.
Detours and Interruptions
Fed by practitioners and academics alike, certain

mythologies of architecture promote the possibility
of designing from the concept to the construct, or
from the seed to the tree, allowing one decision to
inform the next, unfolding in a sequential and/or
linear progression that develops over time. But to
isolate the design process to the tree, as in this
example, is to overlook the roles of many other
factors at work (water, light, climate, nutrient
cycles, wildlife, context, etc.).
As we acknowledge the complex and often

contradictory nature of practice today, we often find
that this monocular and linear development of
projects is often either not tenable or not desirable.
Sometimes projects that begin as singularly-
focused and clear ideas are consumed by the
many other drivers that impact them, obscuring
Fig. 3. Eidetic images, mapping and marking site through and/or obliterating the initial design concept. Even
frames of bodily experience. Drawings prepared by in the hands of seasoned practitioners, networks or
Dijana Milenov for Architectural Design 5, ARC 3320, Fall fields of motivators interact to shape portions
2012. Instructor: Bradley Walters. and/or aspects of the work, and can diminish the
role of a singular “big idea” along the way. But if
An alternative position is outlined by Robert Somol we abandon ideas of hierarchy and/or the
in his descriptions of the ETH in Zurich. He refers specificity of more singular/important design
to the program as harboring the development of motivators altogether, architectural responses can
critical, self-reflective processes of “disciplining,” become fragmented and undifferentiated. They
within which architecture emerges principally as a can lose the ability to synthesize, combine, and/or
discursive practice. He writes that “today, this construct complex relationships that benefit from
project of disciplining is more important than ever the many disparate drivers. At the core, the work
as architectural education—seduced by new can lose meaning and relevancy.
technologies that provide answers before the
significance of questions can be formulated—risks In the design studio, one strategy for addressing
being reduced to mere technique, to a species of this paradox is to set in motion certain formal or
vocational training.” 10 He suggests that the spatial motivators, pursuing these in tandem with
non-sequential and/or concurrent studies that move

across a wide range of scales. The design process
proceeds in an interrupted manner, as students are
asked to shift their focus and approach the project
in different ways.
In the architectural design studio, there is almost

always a degree of uncertainty at work, but these
intentionally interrupted processes require a greater
degree of trust, and a willingness on the part of the
student to yield some of his or her autonomy to
follow the prompts of a coach or teacher. This is
akin to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s call for readers
of his poetry to exercise a “willing suspension of
disbelief for the moment” to allow “shadows of
imagination” to come alive in their minds.11
On the part of the educator or coach, there is a

heightened responsibility for pedagogical
frameworks and careful sequencing of projects that
force students to approach their work from multiple,
concurrent viewpoints.
In recent years, we have been testing this strategy

Fig. 5. Large-scale (1:12) building sections and elevations
by introducing interruptions in the curriculum. The
developed early in the design process, while concepts
first and longest running of these interruptions were still fluid and indeterminate. Student work by Martin
occurs at the beginning of the first year of our Fernandez for Architectural Design 6, ARC 3321, Spring
program, as we introduce students to a completely 2013. Instructor: Bradley Walters.
unfamiliar territory of space. The cube project (Fig.
1) unsettles students, challenges their
preconceptions about architecture, and introduces
them to a new language of operations and spatial
relationships. With time and considerable practice,
students acclimate to this new language and
process of learning through making, eventually
growing comfortable and even at times complacent.
The vessel project introduced in the second
semester (Fig. 4) forces students out of their newly-
acquired comfort zones, requiring them to work at
full scale (1:1). This project engages their bodies
directly, developing a new appreciation for matter,
mass, and weight through hands-on work with
building materials.
Fig. 4. Full-scale (1:1) constructions in a first year design
Recent experiments in the fall of the third year studio, to engage the body and frame interpersonal
displace physical site conditions through the relationships. Student work by Paul Stanley and Caitlin
construction of “eidetic images” (Fig. 3). These Geis for Architectural Design 2, ARC 1302, Spring 2009.
drawing constructions are challenged to stitch Instructor: Bradley Walters.
together phenomena and measure through the

Ongoing work (Figs. 2 and 5) is challenging
interplay of line and tone. They require students to
students to design proposals while shifting from the
both engage the physical site and at once
scale of urban mappings (1:9600), to the scale of
transcend it through their drawing constructions.
the body (1:24), to the scale of the building (1:192).
This was followed by speculative work on material
assemblies (1:12), before returning to the scale of

4
the building (1:192). This work was accompanied Schön, Donald A., Educating the Reflective Practitioner:
by unscaled perspectival studies. These scalar Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the
oscillations allow students to study issues at Professions (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987), 4.
multiple scales simultaneously, rather than 5

Obama, Barack, Remarks by the President in the State
telescoping from macro concepts to micro details.
of the Union Address, 12 February 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
Denouement office/2013/02/12/remarks-president-state-union-address
(accessed: 2 March 2013).
By introducing a series of interruptions and detours
within the design process, we seek to develop 6
Jordan, Gina, “Governor Says Job Openings Show The
within students the capacity for integrated, multi- Need For More STEM Graduates,” from StateImpact, 14
dimensional thought. It is also a conscious attempt December 2012.
to bring speculative concepts together with material http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/12/14/governor-
says-job-openings-show-the-need-for-more-stem-
consequence, introducing students to the possibility
graduates/ (accessed: 2 March 2013).
that these things grow more interesting the more
closely they are aligned. We seek to occupy and 7
Rickman, Peter, “Education versus Training,” in
probe the unsettled and shadowed territories of Philosophy Now: A Magazine of Ideas, Issue 47,
architectural education that exist between blinding August/September 2004.
light and the emptiness of space. http://philosophynow.org/issues/47/Education_versus_Tra
ining (accessed: 2 March 2013).
Acknowledgements
8
Cheng, Renée, “A Better Path to Practicing,” on Design
At the University of Florida, the curriculum is a Intelligence, 1 February 2013. http://www.di.net/articles/a-
better-path-to-practicing/ (accessed: 2 March 2013).
shared project of the faculty. The present work is
developed within the context of a thoughtful 9
Ibid.
curriculum that benefits from the work of many
hands. The curriculum continues to evolve, and it 10
Somol, R.E., “Operation Architecture,” in Inchoate: An
is hoped that this document furthers that mission. Experiment in Architectural Education, ed. Marc M.
Particular thanks are due to Mark McGlothlin, who Angelil (Zürich: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
initiated the third-year project involving construction ETHZ, 2003), 11-12.
of eidetic images, and to Martin Gundersen for his
11
thoughtful reflections and input on teaching and Coleridge, Samuel Taylor and William Wordsworth,
curricular structures. Special thanks also to the Biographia Literaria or Biographical Sketches of My
Literary Life and Opinions (London: Rest Fenner, 1817),
students whose work is included herein and to the
174-175.
many others who contribute every day to the
vibrancy of the discourse at the University of
Florida School of Architecture.
Notes
1
Plato, The Republic (Book VII, 360 B.C.E.), trans.
Benjamin Jowett.
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.8.vii.html (accessed:
2 March 2013).
2
Tanizaki, Junʼichirō, In Praise of Shadows (New Haven,
Conn: Leete's Island Books, 1977).
http://dcrit.sva.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/In-Praise-
of-Shadows-Junichiro-Tanizaki.pdf (accessed: 2 March
2013).
3
Horton, Guy, “The Indicator: In Praise of Shadows,”
from ArchDaily, 9 January 2013.
http://www.archdaily.com/316262/the-indicator-in-praise-
of-shadows/ (accessed: 2 March 2013).
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 FOUR IN ONE -‐ A DEMOCRATIC APPROACH TO DIVERSIFYING FIRST YEAR DESIGN
would develop a short project, with the four groups

Four-‐in-‐One: A Democratic Approach of students rotating through the various projects
during the twelve week semester.
to Diversifying First-‐Year Design
Julia Gatley, Andrew Barrie, Uwe Rieger and The use of senior staff demonstrates to first year
Sarah Treadwell students that they and their education are highly
valued within the school. The emphasis on the
School of Architecture and Planning, The divergent approaches of the four staff members
University of Auckland recognises that different students have different
learning styles and work differently in generating
1
and developing architectural designs. By exposing
the students to a range of approaches from the
Introduction outset, we hoped to demonstrate that their different
ways of working are all valid: there is no such thing
Tiny white paper models of houses resting on stacks as a ‘right’ way of designing.
of wooden boxes; mutated cubes of bold colour
jumping out from square bases; trussed bridges, The four staff were our then Head of School, Assoc
towers and arcs made of straws; dreamy montages Prof Sarah Treadwell; Deputy Head, Assoc Prof Uwe
and collages seemingly defying reality. In June 2012, Rieger (who was also course coordinator); Dr
these four components made one exhibition at The Andrew Barrie, Professor of Design; and Dr Julia
University of Auckland. It was the best of the work Gatley, senior lecturer. We also experimented with
produced in Design 1 – first year, first semester using senior architecture students – second year
studio. Among the first year students, the pride in MArch(Prof) students – as tutors, two working with
their collective effort was palpable; among students each staff member.
from other years, there was real interest in the work
and the recurrent comment, ‘I wish we’d done that This paper presents the experimental teaching
when I was in first year.’ For us as teachers, the work structure and a summary of the four design streams.
produced and the responses to it elevated this It analyses each in terms of the syntax/semantics
studio to one worth writing about. duality proposed by Peggy Deamer in a 2005 article
on first year studio teaching in Perspecta. Deamer
Studio teaching underscores the entire architecture posits that some first year studio programmes
programme at The University ßof Auckland and is privilege the telling of a story (syntax/grammar/the
premised on a belief that design is only learnt by teaching of a language), while others emphasise plot
doing, by experience. Studio courses comprise one (semantics/meaning/the use to which language is
third of the credit points in first year (nine hours put). In architecture, she linked the former to
contact time per week), rising to half the points in function and/or concept, and the latter to form and
second and third year (twelve contact hours per poetic license. She concluded that the strongest
week), and half the points in the first year of the design programmes avoid allegiance to one or other
Master of Architecture (Professional). The second approach and, rather, expose students to both.
2
year of the MArch(Prof) is then filled with a two

semester design thesis. The paper shows that rotation through four very
different teaching staff in first semester, first year
First year design differs from subsequent studio studio facilitates, to paraphrase Deamer, striking the
courses in that each cohort of up to 120 students is right balance between conceptual thinking and
taught together, led by one staff member supported formal dexterity; between material manipulation
by tutors, all working to the same brief. Different and cultural critique; between precedent and
staff members lead these big studios from year to innovation; between sensitivity to site and
year, rather than either semester being the preserve interrogation of the functional program; between
of a first year specialist. abstraction and reality; and between large-‐scale and
small-‐scale. Thus the paper presents the four-‐in-‐one
In 2012, we experimented with something new: four
approach as a valuable model for future Design 1
senior staff, with diverse approaches to design,
teaching.
teaching Design 1 in groups of 30. Each staff member
Small Staff emphasised that students need not continue to

employ the specific technique beyond this stream,
This stream, taught by Andrew Barrie with Melanie but that they should seek to develop a way of
Pau and Anya Bell, emphasised the development of working that allowed them to develop and explore
skills and work habits. More specifically, it their ideas quickly – to learn how to work fast. In the
emphasised working at small scale and at high speed stream, each model presented in the final session
to develop a design through multiple iterations. was the seventh produced during the development
4
of the design. The design process was not the linear
The set of exercises involved a specific model-‐ or layered development of a single scheme but the
making technique: a “net” (a developed surface systematic exploration and refinement of options.
drawing) for a design idea was digitally drawn, laser
printed onto heavy paper, and then cut and folded In terms of Deamer’s syntax/semantics duality, this
to create a three-‐dimensional form. This technique approach is one that avoids separating out aspects
can be used to create models that range from bare of the design or dealing with them in sequence – the
volumes to detailed depictions of site, materials, stream modelled an approach in which dualities of
texture and spatial composition, all at low cost (each concept and poetry, function and form, must be
model uses materials costing only a few cents) and a addressed simultaneously. The emphasis on speed
relatively high speed (even a beginner can produce a and multiple iterations prevented students from
detailed 1:200 model from scratch in an hour or stalling in conceptual exploration before addressing
two). Further, the technique allows design options or form, function or aesthetics; it forced them to
refinements to be created quickly by altering the produce a complete design. Similarly, the collapsing
drawing, re-‐printing and folding up a new model. of drawing and modelling was advantageous in
preventing fixation with planning: all drawings were
The stream comprised seven three-‐hour sessions. In folded up to become volumes and the complexities
the first session, students undertook a series of of three-‐dimensional form were necessarily dealt
rapid-‐fire skill-‐building exercises – a cutting exercise with.
to familiarise themselves with hand tools; a folding
and gluing exercise to get used to handling paper; Deamer also argues that the specifics of the
and a drawing tutorial to introduce the software programme or the brief are less important than the
(Rhino) and learn the printing process. In the second network of teachers, peers and outputs to which
5
session, students produced a model for a house students are exposed, and that the key role of the
based on a supplied rectangular plan, the third design teacher is to act “as model for how [students]
6
session being similar but working with a more should engage with the outside world”. According
3
complex plan. Students then began their design to this view, the role of the teacher might be as
exercise, producing two models for a simple hiking much in letting students see how they think and act
hut, the designs being based on two distinct – that is, in being a role model – as it is to be
planning strategies. In the fifth session, each student delivering education. The approach being role
selected one of the options from the previous modelled in this stream is that of a designer who can
session and produced models of two distinct design generate multiple ideas and quickly explore their
refinements. Students designed and modelled two potential.
more refinement options in the sixth session, and
one further refinement in their own time. The final Medium
session included a group presentation, photography
of the final models, and the creation of individual This stream, titled ‘Permutations of Cube’, is
boxes in which students could store their models. premised as ‘Medium’ on the basis of scale: follies
with maximum dimension of 9 metres in any one
An explicit theme of these exercises was speed. direction were modelled at 1:50. The stream was
Students completed each exercise within the taught by Julia Gatley with Rebecca Green and Paul
allocated three-‐hour session. This was very Lelieveld. Gatley is an historian of twentieth-‐century
demanding for first year, first semester students, but architecture. Emerging out of her expertise in
they were responsive and rose well to the challenge. history, the topic had three main aims: to develop
student awareness of the use of precedent in
architectural design; to expose students to the
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 F OUR IN ONE -‐ A DEMOCRATIC APPROACH TO DIVERSIFYING FIRST YEAR DESIGN
reality of working within tight constraints; and, at a the models be strong enough to survive the duration
more pragmatic level, to develop skills in model-‐ of the semester; the only functional consideration
making. was that the follies generate a spatial experience (to
keep them in the architectural rather than sculptural
This stream was tightly programmed across the realm). Recurrent new themes emerged, a kind-‐of
seven sessions: (i) to analyse an existing building; (ii) updating of Ching: floating, exploding, collapsing,
to make a 1:50 scale model of a white cubic building colliding, fragmenting, pointing, pulsating, flowing,
on a sloping site; (iii) to learn about Bernard slipping, sliding, slicing. Colour research helped to
Tschumi’s Parc de le Villette, Paris (1983-‐89) and make the follies more meaningful and also
analyse its follies in terms of actions such as demonstrated the multiple meanings that abound in
addition, subtraction, rotation, repetition, cantilever, our postmodern world. In the best follies, one or
etc.; (iv-‐v) to design a folly within a series of tight more meanings associated with the colour of choice
constraints; (v-‐vi) to model the folly at 1:50 and was also embedded in the architectural form.
produce three photographs of it; and (vii) to present
the model and photographs for review. Because the dimensions of the models were limited
to specified maximums and those of the bases were
Each student was asked to use a 5.4 x 5.4 x 5.4 metre fixed, groups of models could be laid out in grid
cube as a starting point for their own design. This is formation. When this happened, the regularity of
half Tschumi’s starting dimension, to keep the Tschumi’s red constructivist frames was replaced by
project manageable. The starting cubes were new forms, spaces and surprises. Jittering orange
imagined as tripartite in base, width and height. frames popped off a grey hillside; a sombre charcoal
Students then pursued possibilities for the mutation building with subtle kinks demonstrated attention to
and rupture of their cube, with the requirement that detail; a glistening yellow platform hovered five or
something of the original 5.4 x 5.4 x 5.4 metre form six metres above the ground; multiple coloured
and its tripartition must remain legible. Additional cubes appeared out of cave-‐like openings. The follies
height, width and depth were all limited to 1.8 together showed that tight constraints do not limit
metres beyond the envelope of the original cube, creativity; to the contrary, they produce
including below ground. Steel was the presumed extraordinary diversity.
building material (mostly modelled in card). The
follies were to be largely monochrome, and Large
embedded into a base of set dimensions which was
to be comparatively neutral in colour. The intention With a focus on wide-‐span structures, the stream
was not to replicate Tschumi’s follies, but to push ‘Large’ pushed structure to its limits by testing,
the ideas of mutation and rupture further and in analysing and refining architectural models. The
more radical ways. stream was taught by Uwe Rieger with Esther
Mecredy and Howie Kang. Rieger’s research is in
In terms of Deamer’s duality, the actions produced design technology and performance-‐based
in the analysis of Tschumi’s follies can all be architectural design. He has introduced 1:1
considered as forms of syntax: they are tools (like fabrication studios into our school, working with
grammatical devices) available for both analysing groups of students, teaching them to work
existing precedents and, in studio, manipulating collaboratively, to develop ideas through discussion
architectural form. They form the substance of with each other and to realise large-‐scale projects by
Francis Ching’s classic book, Architecture: Form, allocating smaller tasks amongst the team members.
7
Space and Order. They can be used individually or
layered together. This stream had three main aims: (i) to give students
an understanding of how technical thinking can be
In seeking something beyond Tschumi, the project used as a driving motivation for architectural design;
aimed to push students beyond syntax and into (ii) to demonstrate that through a process of
semantics. Students were to put their newly learned optimisation, an initial architectural concept can be
tools to new uses; they were encouraged to take strengthened; and (iii) to introduce students to
poetic license; they were free to imagine possibilities working collaboratively in a team.
beyond the built environment with which they were
familiar. The only structural consideration was that
In the stream, teams developed wide-‐span project – in her language, using “sticks” – as one that
structures using only plastic straws, a light tube teaches students “to attack a problem with a certain
profile material that is both inexpensive and easily set of contrivances foregrounding not the solution,
accessible in large numbers, important in but the poetic tropes applied to the solution,
encouraging experimentation and allowing for contrivances that are essential … to telling a
8
failure. persuasive story.” In this stream, the persuasive
story was in the form and aesthetics of the three-‐
The stream was taught in three stages. First, dimensional models: it was not just the getting from
students developed an architectural concept for a A to B across the 3 metre span that mattered, but
linear element spanning 3 metres. They presented rather “the words, the sounds, the punctuation and
9
their structures as a self-‐supportive 1:1 model, with pauses” (the length and positioning of each piece of
drawings explaining the underlying architectural material in relation to all others and the spaces
idea. In most cases, this first outcome barely between), the connections (the system for joining
achieved the required span, unless the choice was a consecutive pieces) and the crafting (the care taken
variation on a triangulated beam structure, carefully with making).
fabricated but without architectural content.
Deamer’s reflections on defamiliarisation – discussed
In the second stage, students refined their designs, in more detail in the next section – are also relevant
distilling their architectural concepts to a few key here, in the change of scale between the second and
aspects and optimising the overall structural system third stages, which made the linear structure
10
and profile. Attention was now directed to the joints “unfamiliar via authorial manipulation”. Such
between the individual straws, often weak in the manipulations encourage students to learn to see
first models. Students started to use the medium of things in a range of different ways.
drawing to identify precise measurements for the
components. The second models were much Media
improved in terms of structural integrity and overall
elegance, stimulating confidence and excitement in The media stream, ‘Space and Measure’, taught by
the students. Sarah Treadwell with PhD candidate Sara Lee and
senior student Frances Cooper, focused on media
In the third stage, the aspects of scale and spatial and making, with an understanding that drawing (of
quality were introduced. Students now extended all types) is an active component of design, not
their point-‐to-‐point constructions in a third merely a representational tool. The group worked
dimension, moving to a structure that offered a with the assumption that images participate in the
spatial experience. By introducing small model formation of the field of architecture in particular
figures, the structural model shifted towards a ways with precise effects.
scaled representational architectural model. The
third dimension also meant an increased number of In the media stream, students were initially
structural members were required. Efficiency in presented with an array of six images that had been
fabrication became an important factor, as did a well cropped away from accessible meaning.
functioning team. Conventional assumptions about the subject of the
images were suppressed and instead their formal
Structure and technology are often far from the nature, at a variety of scales, was discussed. The
minds of beginning first year students, who might relationships between the media, the mark making
come to architecture with visions of plans and and spatial qualities presented in the images were
elevations rather than interests in loadbearing, considered and each student made their own
spanning and detailing. To teach structure and version of selected sections of the array of images.
technology in studio is to emphasise their potential The focus from a teaching perspective was on close
to inform and influence architectural design, and to reading of the images. Students were asked to use
do so in first year is to emphasise them from the only material that came from the array; changes
outset. could occur but only in terms of the source; shifts in
scale, in emphasis, in dimensionality were
It is a recognised approach. In her article on first year manipulated to produce individual ‘design
studio teaching, Deamer identifies this kind of documents’, which in turn became the formal
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 F OUR IN ONE -‐ A DEMOCRATIC APPROACH TO DIVERSIFYING FIRST YEAR DESIGN
prescription for the subsequent design. The The media group felt that students need to be
teachers’ role was to tip the readings into conscious participators in their own education. As
architecture and no reading was ‘wrong’ even Paulo Freire argues, they have the option to either
though it was, at times, clear that some readings follow prescriptions or to have choices, acting or
were more architecturally productive. having the illusion of acting, between speaking out
15
or being silent. In pursuit of students engaged in
Underpinning the teaching was a deliberate strategy their own education, we encouraged dissention,
of defamiliarisation, the aim of which was to make rotated roles of critic between students and staff
the everyday world both strange and visible. Deamer and allowed for personal histories and skills to shape
points out that for the Russian formalists, the design strategies.
estrangement was “to bring language to life, waking
11
it from the slumber of overuse and habit.” Such The interpretation of images and text was seen in
formalism “was not equated with the composition of terms of aesthetics as a discursive practice,
the object or our perception, but …[on] the devices respecting differing alignments of theory and
used by the author to ‘defamiliarize’ the material; to practice, image and text. W. J. T. Mitchell has noted
make the viewer simultaneously aware of the that “A verbal representation cannot represent –
author’s manipulation of the object/story … and its that is, make present – its object in the same way a
12
visibility.” The initial construction of the image visual representation can. … Words can ‘cite’ but
16
array by the teachers involved cropping, multiplying, never sight their objects.”
reversing, re-‐colouring etc.; visible techniques that
were redeployed by the students in their own design The media stream emphasised the ‘laying bare’ of
document. the formal devices activated by close reading and
the students’ previous art training. It attempted to
In the media stream, defamiliarisation was practised open up the architectural potential of the formal
consciously with two mechanisms: the literal and world by including programme as a formal and
expansive reading of images; and, secondly, the temporal condition. Pushing the visibility of form
introduction of the aesthetics of the plan. For through defamiliarisation, the media stream was
literary theorist Meir Sternberg defamiliarisation aware of the problems of arid, formulaic formalism
involved temporal deformation and with the and worked consciously with the formal conditions
introduction of a functional programme temporal of the students’ own material and social practices.
13
conditions became prominent in the studio. Following Deamer, the team discouraged separation
Students were asked to select one of four between the telling of a story and the plot. Working
rudimentary programmes – a weigh station, a pigeon with an open account of the representational nature
house, a moon watching platform, or an instrument of their work, the students were encouraged to
maker’s live/work studio – a plan as a site for an value the collective production across the studio and
imaginative occupation was made. The brief was to allow themselves to find both a closeness to and a
minimal and was to be formally articulated at a distance from their own work.
selected scale with an accompanying text.
Five and Six
Temporal issues also informed production in that the
design document had required slow, careful making In the final teaching week of the semester, the
and so, prior to the introduction of the programme, students were asked to bring the best of their work
an accelerated component was introduced, with six together on twelve 300 x 300 mm sheets. This was a
small spatial models to be extracted from the new design task, a graphic design task in which
document. Translation from 2D to 3D was required students could present all four of the earlier projects
to retain the formal properties previously identified. equally or focus on two or three of them. Some were
The drawings and models were seen as Donald pragmatic, showing each project as per its original
Kunze’s “thinking machines whose surpluses and design intentions; others transformed the earlier
gaps create openings for ingenium, metaphoric work in surprising new ways, particularly those who
constructs that involve not just witty ideas but amalgamated the twelve sheets into one giant
structural duets between subjects and objects, heres composition and treated it like a poster.
14
and theres, now and thens.”
Then, instigated by course coordinator Uwe Rieger,

came the exhibition, perhaps an unusual move for Kolb’s categories: accommodators, divergers, assimilators
Design 1, but one which Rieger, the MArch(Prof) and convergers. They refer to David Kolb, Experiential
tutors and volunteers from the first year class Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and
Development (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-‐Hall, 1984).
pursued with enthusiasm. It showed, as outlined in
the introduction to this paper, the high standard of 2
Peggy Deamer, “First Year: The Fictions of Studio Design”,
the work produced during the semester. Perspecta, 36, 2005, pp. 10-‐16.
This paper has presented the experimental structure 3

At the ends of the respective sessions, the plans were
within which the work was produced, and has revealed to belong to significant New Zealand houses: the
reflected on it with reference to the Group’s Rotherham House, Auckland (1951) and Warren &
syntax/semantics duality proposed by Peggy Deamer Mahoney’s M.B. Warren House, Christchurch (1960)
in 2005. In that paper, Deamer states that “the respectively. The students were also shown images of each
house to compare with their designs.
possibility of the right program is a myth, and the
belief that the program is the essential carrier of a 4
17 Some students made additional models to further refine
pedagogical position … is a fiction”. It is
their design.
nonetheless our conclusion that the four-‐in-‐one
approach – quartering the class and rotating the 5
Deamer, “First Year”, p. 10.
students through four very different approaches to
6
design – is a valuable way to strike a balance Deamer, “First Year”, p. 16.
between syntax and semantics; between learning a
7 rd
language and learning to making use of it; between Francis Ching, Architecture: Form, Space and Order, 3 ed.
(Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2007).
using tools and generating meaning; between
learning rules and taking poetic license. Consistent 8
with Deamer’s assertions, we agree that the detail of
the four projects matters less than the diversity 9
generated across them. We also acknowledge the
important input of our eight tutors, whose youth, 10
skills, energy and generosity were all appreciated by
11
staff and students alike. Thus, the four-‐in-‐one Deamer, “First Year”, p. 11.
approach is being used again in the first semester of 12
2013, but with different staff teaching four new
projects. It is in the diversity of these approaches 13
Meir Sternberg, “Telling in Time (III): Chronology,
and the conviction with which they are taught that Estrangement, and Stories of Literary History”, Poetics
the majority of the students in the class are likely to Today, 27, 1, 2000, pp. 125-‐235.
find an approach that works for them.
14
Donald Kunze, “Concealment, Delay and Topology in the
Creation of Wondrous Drawing” in M. Frascari, J. Hale and
B. Starkey (eds.), From Models to Drawings (London & NY:
Routledge, 2007), p. 137 (pp. 137-‐45).
Notes
15
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (NY: The
1
See, for example, O. O. Demirbaş and H. Demirkan, “Focus Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000), p. 48.
on Architectural Design Process through Learning Styles”,
16
Design Studies, 24, 2003, pp. 437-‐56; and Thomas Kvan and W. J. T. Mitchell, “Ekphrasis and the Other”, The South
Jia Yunyan, “Students’ Learning Styles and their Correlation Atlantic Quarterly, 91, 3, Summer 1992, p. 696.
with Performance in Architectural Design Studio”, Design
17
Studies, 26, 2005, 19-‐34. In both articles, the authors Deamer, “First Year”, p. 10.
analyse the learning styles of architecture students using
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 ARCHITECTURE AS CABARET
discovered, engaged in animated conversations

ARCHITECTURE AS CABARET: at tables around the edge of the space. T
therefore had to spread his group through the
FROM GENIUS LOCI TO LOCUS middle of the room, and to locate himself
GENII somewhere near the centre. Some of his
students were almost out of earshot (hardly
Chris Heuvel
audible above the general hubbub in the room),
Nottingham Trent University School of some had difficulty seeing the small TV-screen
Architecture on which he was displaying photographs taken
the previous week as prompts for discussion,
and all seemed to be distracted by the presence
and chatter of the other students. Instead of
Thomas travelled eastwards to spread his encouraging his students to volunteer
ideas in the domain of a chief Square-Pusher, discussion-points, T felt himself obliged to move
who commissioned him to develop and point-by-point through a check-list he had
deliver a new and academically rigorous prepared earlier, raising his voice in ways that
training course, and provided him with tend to discourage response (especially from
impressive resources for the purpose… quietly spoken students). Almost every time a
student did speak, T had to ask them to repeat
themselves, and then had to re-phrase their
observations for the benefit of their colleagues at
Start-Up Capital the other end of the room.
The research and insights offered in this paper Inflation

originate in observation of a particular teaching
session at NTU in 2011, when T (part-time As T hastened through his ‘list’ (aiming now to
lecturer’s name withheld in the interests of complete the activity and move on to the next
confidentiality) was due to run a studio-based exercise as quickly as possible), the students
seminar for first-year architects as part of their found they had less and less opportunity to
‘Construction Technology’ module. The students speak for themselves: it was clear that the
were to suggest / discuss parallels between their authentic learning that spontaneity can generate
experience / observations in a practical (Piaget, 1974; Gardner, 1991) was being
materials-based ‘workshop’ run the previous inhibited. Instead of the session being centred
week and practices/situations related to the on the students’ reflections (fulfilling one of T’s
building industry in general. The day had begun intended learning outcomes), it seemed to
well, T reported afterwards, with a stimulating consist almost entirely of one-way feedback from
keynote lecture about the classification of the tutor. The students, in only their second
construction materials, followed by a laboratory term at college, were no doubt unaware of T’s
visit where they had seen and handled actual frustration that the session was not going to plan
samples. Now, back in what they had come to – they may have thought he was accustomed to
regard as their ‘home’ base, the students were having to operate in this manner, or even well
reflect on what they had learned to date, before prepared for it (with his pre-prepared ‘list’). From
being introduced to the first of their main T’s point of view, however, he was “embarrassed
assignments for the year. T was feeling that such an inferior educational experience had
pleased, as the students had been responding been inflicted upon them” (to quote his own
with interest and enthusiasm to all the ideas to words again).
which he had exposed them. To T’s
disappointment however, the ‘seminar’ seemed … While the Square-Pusher was occupied with
quickly to “dissolve into chaos” (as he reported in external affairs however, Thomas promoted his
a de-briefing after the session). preferred project-based approach, and used all
the resources for the open-ended improvement
Crisis of research, analytical and creative skills instead
of simply providing the required information and
When T entered the room (‘Studio 101’), he guidance…
found that it was partially occupied by others
already – architectural technologists, he Borrowing Requirement
A number of features in this ‘critical incident’ characteristic of architecture, being – almost by

might merit analysis in terms of pedagogical definition – a constructivist (or rather,
theory, aiming to provide practical ‘constructionist’ – Papert, 1991) discipline.
recommendations for preventing or handling
similarly disturbing situations in the future: All the above approaches (and no doubt others
too), each stemming from separate aspects of
● T’s problem might be identified in terms the ‘uncommon currency’ situation, may be
of group size (on the grounds that 50 is far too underpinned by highly respectable bodies of
many for a ‘seminar’). In fact, the School has educational theory, characterized generally by
subsequently introduced a timetabling ‘policy’ of the rationalist conceit that survey/analysis/plan
maximum 15 students in a seminar, although it (Geddes, 1915) is an eminently (if not
has been observed that even groups of 7-10 “are exclusively) valid methodology: “culture shapes
only really viable if a really substantial task is to the mind… it provides us with the toolkit by
be undertaken and if considerable support and which we construct not only our worlds but our
advice is given on project and team very conception of our selves” (Bruner, 1996: x)
management” (Race, 2007: 128). Timetabling – selection of ‘perspectives’ is itself an operation
details such as the split between lectures, grounded in cognitive theory. This paper must
seminars, tutorials etc (or the division of students begin, therefore, by rejecting any functionalist
into different groups) need to be driven by the notion that the best way to understand the
teacher given responsibility for delivery, rather original incident would be “a careful survey…of
than by managerial or administrative staff. all attainable considerations which will define
and clarify the problem in hand” (Dewey, 1916:
● T’s problem might be attributed to 88) in the hope of discovering a ‘best fit’ solution
insufficient use of technology (or use of capable of resolving a maximum number of
insufficient technology): deployment of more anomalies associated with the situation. It would
sophisticated IT facilities, for example, might perhaps be more productive to focus instead
have permitted more effective methods of upon a single aspect of the circumstances (going
interacting with large groups – perhaps in for depth rather than breadth): as an architect,
conjunction with e-Learning exercises designed one is instinctively inclined to regard a situation
to achieve similar objectives: “increasingly, tutors such as this as an opportunity to explore the
are discovering the advantages of relationship between learning and environment,
supplementary forms such as the virtual in the hope of deriving recommendations for (or
seminar, which provides the opportunity for insights into) the best use of spaces such as
students to reflect on points in the discussion, NTU’s new Studio 101.
read, research and think, before replying” (Fry et
al., 2003: 317). Such a session would no longer Exchange Rate
need to be based in a design studio, of course.
With their claim to be professionally committed to
● T’s problem might be related to the promotion of the built environment as a positive
nature of the activity proposed for his students: influence upon human behaviour/experience, it
alternative exercises could be devised, so long may seem entirely predictable that architects
as the principles of ‘constructive alignment’ should identify the physical surroundings as a
(Biggs, 2003: 27) are respected in order to potentially significant contributory factor in
maintain congruity of learning outcomes and relation to the problematic Studio 101 situation.
their assessment: “if students are to learn But how significant? When – for the purposes of
desired outcomes in a reasonably effective this paper – architecture students were asked to
manner, then the teacher’s fundamental task is rank factors influencing their design education in
to get students to engage in learning activities order of significance, it was found that they
that are likely to result in their achieving those located “clarity and stimulation provided by the
outcomes” (Shuell, 1986: 421). The problem is project Brief” and “enthusiasm and effectiveness
that over-prescriptive pre-definition of learning of the studio Tutors” ahead of their studio
outcomes may be considered to inhibit the environment (and the latter only equal in
‘discovery-learning’ (Bruner, 1961) or research- significance to “external circumstances such as
based education (Bransford, Donovan, & other programme pressures and personal
Pellegrino, 1999; Marzano, Pickering, Blackburn situations”). For an architectural educator
& Arrendondo, 1997) that needs to be however (having drawn the students’ attention to
the irony of their response to the survey in the that he had originally entered Studio 101 (like his
context of their chosen degree-subject), the students) with “not the slightest” sense of
opportunity to explore the relationship between trepidation or anxiety about the location for the
effective learning and environment was proposed activity – certainly, with none of the
considered particularly valuable, as “there is only antipathy that used to be robustly expressed in
a limited literature that aims to relate space occasional full-time staff team meetings. Quite
issues to teaching and learning, or to research” the opposite – T expressed the view that the
(Temple, 2007:4). One of the legacies of new NTU studio environments represent good
Modernism is that most architects today operate exemplars of the kinds of flexible working
on the premise that certain characteristics of a environment for which the School should be
space can have a beneficial impact upon the training the professionals of the future.
quality of its occupants’ activities: T’s experience
in NTU’s Studio 101 might therefore serve ...The Square-Pusher was bitterly disappointed
profitably as a basis for reflecting upon the when she found out that her investment had
effectiveness with which teachers of architecture been squandered on process rather than
use their students’ learning time. product, and not at all consoled by arguments
that this represented a sounder strategy in the
Credit Squeeze long term...
Herman Hertzberger, himself an internationally Cash Flow

respected teacher of architecture, has designed
more than 30 schools and has written For further verification that T’s ‘critical incident’
extensively (1991, 2000 & 2008) about the was neither a one-off nervous reaction to being
interaction between architectural context and observed (subjective), nor an isolated instance
educational effectiveness: “the most basic of an atypical problem (objective), some initial
physical conditions for education: four walls, research was conducted informally in order to
some openings to let in light, a roof… new forms establish to which there was (ontological?)
of learning will require new spatial conditions evidence of ‘real’, ongoing conflict in relation to
alongside the traditional teacher-fronted lessons” studio use. In the context of such evidence,
(Hertzberger 2008:8). Whereas Hertzberger greater pedagogical value might be claimed for
seeks to associate new forms of learning with this study’s conclusions – for NTU in the first
correspondingly appropriate spatial instance, and perhaps now for the AAE, as a
arrangements, however, the NTU case-study guide to potentially appropriate teaching/learning
must proceed in the opposite direction, activities to organize within such spaces,
beginning with the space as a ‘given’ (in underpinned (of course) by notions of strategic
conjunction with a managerial system that direction. Having considered such evidence, it
determines the nature, if not the activities, of its will then be appropriate to draw also upon a few
occupants) and identifying modes of learning other sources in an endeavor to organize T’s
that will either suit the context or be determined unfortunate experience into a narrative with a
by it. moral – making it capable of yielding some
useful conclusions and recommendations.
Quantitative Easing
Equities and Bonds
In selecting this facet of a specific (and perhaps
non-typical) ‘critical incident’ for analysis, it is not Justification for identifying the Studio 101
the intention to deflect attention from T’s situation as an issue meriting attention was
possible inadequacies as an architectural relatively easy to find: heated discussion of the
educator, nor from the clearly mistaken best use of NTU’s new design studios is
assumptions or inflexibility in his session plan, regularly minuted in course committee meetings
nor from the unwisdom of his self-conscious associated with every programme across the
haste to escape a situation he found School (invariably recording students’ negative
uncomfortable. It would be inappropriate to description of ‘problems’ in advance of positive
attribute all T’s difficulties to one ‘external’ factor suggestions for ‘solutions’ offered by hopeful
– namely, the physical environment allocated as teaching staff). To evaluate the extent of
his teaching-space. In the debriefing after consensus however, some minor research was
observation of his session, T himself claimed undertaken into various users’ characterisation
of the spaces in question, in order to allow drawing equipment, CAD programs, and
comparison of different stakeholders’ modelling materials” as the very least significant.
perceptions of the physical environment:
Such convergence of views suggests good
visitors’ impressions: as recorded in grounds for identifying T’s ‘critical incident’ as
External Examiners’ reports, NTUs’ new studio indicative of at least a school-wide issue, and
spaces are hugely admired as professional- therefore meriting closer analysis of its precise
quality facilities, on the grounds that they appear nature as a basis for drawing conclusions about
well equipped in terms both of furniture and effects on the students’ design-learning.
technology, attractively clean, light and airy (new
Securities
members of staff often express surprise to hear
their more experienced colleagues suggest that
In assessing the philosophical validity of
the studio spaces might not be completely fit for
identifying the physical environment as a
purpose).
significant factor in T’s ‘critical incident,’ it might
be asserted ab initio that inert context should not
lecturers from other disciplines: in order
be mistaken for instrumentality. Following
to avoid possible bias due to views expressed Wittgenstein or Chomsky, the focus should be
only by members of staff particularly associated less upon the environment, and more upon the
with the teaching of architecture (arising, uses to which it is put. First, one might consider
perhaps, from nostalgia for older studios no what thinking lay behind NTU’s decision to
longer in use), informal interviews were create such spaces – what kinds of ‘learning
conducted with teaching staff from other parts of experience’ were originally intended to take
the School. The findings involved consistent place within the studios? The School’s ‘Learning
expressions of antipathy to the new studio and Teaching Coordinator,’ who was responsible
spaces (very similar to those occasionally for leading the NTU users’ team in consultations
overheard in the School of Architecture staff- with Hopkins Associates (the architects for the
room). refurbishment of this part of the campus), has
confirmed that NTU considered a substantial
the students themselves: two separate body of literature supporting the creation of
opinion surveys were conducted - at the mid- ‘social learning’ spaces – most significantly, a
point of the year for both first-year and second- HEFCE study on ‘Designing Spaces for Effective
year undergraduates (admittedly, with neither Learning’ (JISC, 2006). Much of this discussion
group having any alternative experience with relates to open-access resource areas, of a kind
which to compare the learning-spaces they were usually associated with ‘libraries’ and ‘IT
allocated). In both surveys, the difficulty of facilities’ rather than with design studios. The
having to share their studio environment with strategy of providing a generally ‘sociable’
others was identified as a major issue (second environment for learning may well have certain
only to their all too familiar complaints about lack merits in terms of flexibility and future-proofing,
of access to the space after 8pm in the evenings but – for that very reason – may fail to suit the
or at weekends – an issue that really is in the more specific needs of architecture students.
hands of our managerial and administrative An institution that proposes to embed a School
colleagues). of Architecture needs to facilitate the
development of not just a broad but a deep
the college management: further to ‘culture’, extending far beyond the provision of
exhortations before each year begins that staff even a high quality and well equipped studio
should “manage our students’ expectations,” the environment (an argument, perhaps, for only
College Dean (accompanied by the Vice- appointing managers with a strong architectural
Chancellor) happened to pass through the studio background themselves). Following the
spaces T was using for his seminar that assertion by Race (2007:13) that “any learning
particular morning. In addition to asking the experience is likely to involve several” of the
students how they were enjoying the course, he facets into which Gardner (1993) subdivides
drew their attention to “the quality of the studio intelligence, it would seem to be ‘interpersonal
space and how well-equipped it is.” Ironically, in intelligence,’ rather than the ‘intrapersonal’ kind,
the survey of factors influencing their design that is cultivated by the new studios. NTU seems
education, students ranked “availability of to have mistaken ‘open access areas’ for ‘design
studios’ – the two ought rather to be recognised administrative or managerial reasons – or, more
as very different kinds of environment. What the likely, out of institutional blind habit, they are
NTU team should have sought instead, in the required always to be formally ‘timetabled’ as
interests of the School’s architecture students at teaching spaces (ie associated with specific
least, were studies on ‘learning spaces for taught sessions) rather than for ongoing and
effective designing.’ It is therefore appropriate to open-ended design activity in what are mostly
consider an altogether different body of classified as ‘non-directed’ teaching hours.
literature, related to the nature of design Perhaps this is another consequence of being
teaching and to the traditional location of such required to operate within a higher education
activity in the specialist kind of environment system centred around the evidence-based (tick-
identified as ‘studio.’ box) achievement of prescribed ‘learning
outcomes.’
...When some neighbouring chiefs came to visit
the Square-Pusher however, they complimented Stewardship
her on the wisdom of such a strategy, and
confirmed that this kind of approach exactly NTU’s endeavour to operate a design-related
reflected their own aspirations... curriculum within a ‘social learning’ environment
needs to rest upon conflation of the two
Gold Standard associated bodies of literature. The resultant
compound will then have implications both for
The key text analysing the nature of the nature of the design teaching and for the
teacher/student interaction within the traditional management of the space. As the literature on
design studio environment is undoubtedly studio space reveals, problematic situations
Schön’s ‘The Design Studio’ (1985). Schön has such as that encountered by T (albeit in the
identified two distinctive features of effective context of another part of the curriculum) will
studio-teaching situations – first, the discussion impinge significantly upon the quality of design
must keep switching between the processes of education – an effect which may be observed
actually designing and of learning to design; and with even sharper clarity in the context of an
secondly, the only effective mode of familiarizing architecture course that is deliberately envisaged
oneself with such processes (as either student or and operated as a humanities discipline rather
teacher) is through actually engaging in them – than as part of professional training. On finding
through project-centred action rather than himself obliged to operate in what T, and his
through talk. For this reason, the design studio students, and his staff colleagues, have all
has to be the locus of production, the main place identified as an unsuitable environment for
where students actually strive to originate and proper design education, the natural response –
develop their designs, the environmental hub of stemming from vocational commitment to
their creativity. If the aim is to teach how to architecture as a discipline – is to fight all the
design rather than merely about design, the harder to provide the richest possible
studio cannot simply be the place where educational experience for every student
students pin up their work-in-progress for encountered. To some extent, such a response
discussion with tutors. And there can be even might represent unwitting avoidance of the real
less educational benefit in using the studio issue however.
simply for the display of already-completed
design work. Architectural educators need to be …The Square-Pusher then realised the merits of
able to catch their clients in the ‘live’ act of Thomas’ ethos and agreed to promote it strongly
designing, in order to explore ways forward across the whole of her domain. Thomas was
together with them – showing them not just encouraged to continue developing his ideas
design alternatives but (more importantly, in the and to apply his techniques more widely than
very act of showing them) demonstrating how before, until his approach was suddenly
designers think. This requires constant recourse denounced by the quality police, who had
to a variety of what Schön calls ‘normative secretly edited his kind of activities out of the
design domains’ – ideas that can make no sense mainstream documentation.
to a student except through reflection upon
successful practice. Perhaps the ‘problem’ with Depreciation
the Studio 101 space may therefore be identified
as an outcome of the way in which, for
Because Studio 101 is not set up and operated Fiscal Policy

as their main locus of creativity, NTU students
are obliged to develop their designs mostly ‘at The above discussion suggests two specific
home’ and to use the School’s facilities primarily actions for consideration by an Architecture
for ‘show and tell’ sessions. Being unable to School’s management team (assuming they
interact with their students while they are actively understand that architecture – which may be just
engaged in the design process, tutors are one of many programmes run by the School –
obliged continuously to respond to concepts and merits special attention):
schemes in which the student has (it is hoped!)
already invested significant effort. Educators a) in order to overcome possible trends
need to be careful to avoid retracing the towards the privileging of form over content (ie
student’s design thinking too far (for fear of presentation over practicability) – advise
discouraging them with calls to ‘start again’); architecture students that their educators (in any
looking forward instead, the tutor has simply to ‘spare’ time they have) are always ready and
help the student make a decent case for willing to give them personal tutorials to help
whatever design they have developed. Having them resolve ongoing design problems. This
worked out their ideas in isolation, the students suggests the inclusion of an ‘on duty’ rota in the
can interact with their tutors only while timetabling of staff hours – a demand likely to be
presenting them, with the consequence that the resisted strongly, of course, by staff who lack
discourse tends to be more concerned with commitment to the development of a strong
presentation than with content. culture within the School.
Investment b) in order to reduce the possibility of

specific taught sessions (except for tutorials)
Having expressed commitment to do one’s best being timetabled for a studio space, allow each
for the students within the context in which they course team to request continuous use of a
are required to be taught (ie coping as bravely particular studio by students from all years of
as possible with the symptoms), it would be their programme during all non-directed learning
professionally negligent to ignore the causes of hours.
such unfortunate circumstances for our students,
seeking above all opportunities to remove them. Through such a combination of tactics, it might
Educators need to be enabled to provide become possible not merely to prevent
treatment rather than palliative care. The real unproductive and disheartening situations such
origins of T’s ‘problem’ (irrespective of the as T’s ‘critical incident’ recurring in the future, but
suitability of Studio 101 for design education) to improve the quality of design education in any
may be traced to the university’s timetabling School of Architecture that possesses a ‘Studio
system. It was a great achievement last year (in 101’.
terms of instilling a greater sense of
camaraderie, if not culture, within student Notes
cohorts) to have begun allocating specific studio
spaces on a regular basis to separate The Acts of Thomas is an early 3 century apocryphal
rd
programme groups (although the Architectural text, describing the work of the patron saint of
Technologists have yet find a home of their architecture. Other references are available on
own). Such progress has more recently been request from the author.
undermined however, with the timetabling of
studio-space for formal ‘lectures’ on the grounds
that some cohorts are so large, or some
activities so demanding in terms of space (for
example, certain Review sessions, or the end-of-
year degree-show), that there is no room for
other students to progress their design-projects
‘in the background’ – the space is sometimes
taken over entirely for specific taught sessions
rather than simply (and continuously) available
as the main location for students’ creative
endeavour.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 THE DESIGN STUDIO AS LIMINAL SPACE
Extensive research on working with threshold
The design studio as concepts in other disciplines demonstrates that a

student’s grasping of a threshold concept brings
liminal space a transformation of their understanding of the
subject, and furthers their progress towards self-
Julian Williams directed learning. We can learn from this
research, particularly in allied fields of
University of Westminster engineering and design. It has provided the
basis for a number of initiatives described here.
The outcome of this research supports a

Introduction clarifying of the curriculum to identify threshold
concepts and troublesome knowledge; a need to
This presentation outlines a reappraisal of
focus and innovate teaching and learning to
design studio teaching at level 4 using the idea
achieve positive outcomes in these areas, and a
of ‘threshold concepts’. The relevance of this
need for the studio environment to actively hold
idea is demonstrated through the adoption of
students in their liminal state- this means an
three new strategies. It is the outcome of
improvement of physical space and its extension
research into teaching and learning practices in
in virtual form.
design studio at University of Westminster.
Threshold concepts in design studio

The current approaches to teaching design
studio centre on the tutorial and the crit (or
So what’s missing from design studio teaching?
presentation). These have become the orthodox
A good first step would be to focus less on what
models of teaching and gain credence from both
we do as tutors and instead consider the
antecedents and more recently the model of
effectiveness of our teaching: We need to
architectural teaching that seeks to mirror the
understand the challenges of learning from the
practice-based learning. This model has been
student’s perspective. Shuell explains that “what
heavily criticised- as based on superficial
the student does is actually more important in
parallels and embedding poor practices when
determining what is learned that what the
qualitatively assessed by teaching and learning
teacher does” (Shuell 1986) (p429).
benchmarks.
The parallel drawn between design studio and

Design studio teaching is a discipline specific
the professional office of the architect has been
approach that has largely avoided academic
held up as a means of understanding design
scrutiny as a form of pedagogy. Examining
teaching as a form of reflective practice
studio practices from a teaching and learning
grounded in professional practice (Schön 1983,
scholarship perspective can be very revealing
Schön 1985). This view located today’s
however. In particular, we can examine our
architectural education as an heir to articled
teaching through our students’ eyes: what are
pupillage system and so presented it as a
they doing, how are they learning, where are
natural and ‘tested in practice’ form of teaching.
they having difficulties and how do they
overcome them.
A study of existing research into studio tutorial
teaching reveals that whilst purporting to be
In the context of a ‘stuffed to the brim’ curriculum
student centred, its effectiveness is limited
can we identify the key nuggets of learning that
without prior disciplinary knowledge. For the
will unlock new ways of seeing for the student?
student, the fickle, elusive tutorial is the single
These are not likely to be knowledge based:
most useful source of knowledge and feedback
Meyer and Land’s research calls for an
(Webster 2004). Dependency on the tutor limits
identifying, agreeing and sharing of what they
the development of a community of learning and
call ‘threshold concepts’.
militates against the development of
metacognitive skills.
The research engages in this process and
examines the implications for design studio
How might we better our role as discourse
teaching and learning practice.
guides? And furthermore, how might we better
identify the key skills and concepts that students For most tutors it will have been many years
struggle to master. since their own rite of passage through design
studio. Furthermore, the difficulty of a threshold
Clearly we face a daunting task given the concept will be quickly put behind a student as
lengthy nature of our proscribed curriculum: they forge ahead. So we cannot rely on our own
Eleven key criteria at RIBA Part I, helpfully memory of difficulties and triumphs of these
broken down into a further list of thirty-three thresholds.
points: no hierarchy and no recognition of
fundaments. We need a means to identify the This leads me to discuss the first strategy we
transformative elements of this curriculum: adopted: identifying threshold concepts by
concepts which once understood allow arrays of listening out for trouble. We may feel that our
knowledge to fall into a meaningful structure. teaching invites regular feedback- module
feedback, NSS and so on. These all give us a
It is worth noting that existing studies of our general sense of, ‘are we doing okay?’ But we
prized disciplinary teaching methods, notably by are looking to ask ‘did you get that’, ‘are you still
Gurung, Chick and Haynie (Gurung, Chick et al. confused?’ or even more generally ‘what’s
2009) acknowledge the uniqueness and troubling?’ We can be assured that there will
completeness of our model of teaching and always be students who can stride across
learning. Their study gives good reason for thresholds but however large a proportion these
others to explore our signature pedagogy, but students represent, we cannot overlook those
little by way of scrutiny from a teaching and that struggle, not least because they represent
learning scholarship perspective. the distressingly large number of students on
courses of architecture who fail at first attempt.
This research questions the entrenched
signature pedagogies of architectural teaching I will now summarise the first and simplest
by accepting that the conveying of disciplinary listening out strategy that we trialled. The end of
knowledge is not only means of achieving a workshop session provided a useful moment to
successful learning outcomes. poll students. Each student was given a post-it
note and was asked to write on it two responses:
Meyer and Land state the importance of the ‘From the session today, what did you grasp
identifying, agreeing and sharing what they term and, what’s still a bit confusing?’ No long winded
‘threshold concepts’ within disciplinary form or set of boxes to tick- a simple, quick,
knowledge (Meyer and Land 2006). In brief, rough and ready snapshot in a form (the post-it
threshold concepts are those difficult to grasp, note) reminiscent of a reminder, memo or
yet central ideas that once mastered have a shopping list. The student’s even self gathered
marked effect on how the student sees all them together at the end- stacking them up in a
subsequent learning. They are transformative at neat satisfying pile. The session in question
an ontological level, but once grasped the involved a collage workshop, with a tutor
struggle of mastery is quickly forgotten. Moving demonstration followed by student practice and
through such a threshold allows the student to concluded with a twenty-minute exhibition of the
make connections that were previously hidden works achieved. Students then peer assessed it
and to unlock new meanings. by posting a note with their name against the
work they felt had worked most successfully.
Listening out for threshold concepts Some works attracted many notes- others few.
The studio filled with the loud buzz of students’
How can we identify threshold concepts in conferring- justifying their choices, arguing their
design studio? To the learner they are likely to case. This final step sought to remind students
be the awkward, contrary or counter-intuitive that whilst their drawings grow from personal
moves that are cause anxiety and uncertainty. values and engagement, they are ultimately read
They may challenge common sense views or cold by others. The students could quickly draw
involve challenges to personal values. The on what was working and reflect on where they
struggle to overcome the barrier may lie not so had struggled.
much with the complexity of the concept as with
the change in outlook required by the student in The post-it notes provided a valuable insight into
order to progress. the day- giving a picture of what they saw their
successes to be, and what they struggled to
achieve. Specific difficulties included problems So how and indeed can students of architecture
understanding how to integrate two images really adopt ‘surface approaches’? Only by
using perspective and problems of sourcing looking out for clues might we identify them.
images. I had intended to make a summary of
the session for online reference, so the feedback A recent example illustrates this point. Students
helped shape this, focusing on what I had in the first semester at University of Westminster
thought be a fairly straightforward aspect of the undertake a short project to select, measure and
technique. It involved identifying the horizon line make scaled drawings of an object using
in an existing photograph or painting and ‘orthographic projection’. This may sound familiar
matching it in with the horizon line and vanishing to tutors in similar contexts across the world. We
point of the emerging collaged image. Areas see this as a simple first step in the acquisition of
where I had imagined trouble – creative architectural skills, and one that therefore
endeavor, getting started, spatial depth and so requires minimal explanation. Orthographic
on- were not worries for these students. drawing does however embody a very
fundamental principle- that three or four ‘two
Here we have identified a threshold concept dimensional’ representations can work together
through listening to students- focus can now be as a suite of information to build a three
given on providing multifarious and accessible dimensional picture of the object or building in
guidance to them. the mind of the viewer. Linking the individual
drawings together are the ‘projection lines’.
I have often listened to tutors complain during These allow each drawing to line up together,
marking moderation that students up to final year with dimensions carried from one to the next.
undergraduate level make simple but They assist in making the drawings and in the
fundamental errors: surely they say, such basic reading of them afterwards: Those of us
principles have been taught over and over? educated before the universal application of
CAD talk about the elevation being ‘projected up’
These students may have been taught but have from the plan. During our formative review of
not learned. And the reason for this, I would student work, we noted that for a small number
argue, is that these key elements of learning of students, there were small errors in their work.
have been buried in amongst a whole welter of The elevations and plans etc looked complete-
other seemingly vital pieces of knowledge. The but they did not quite align. Projection lines had
follow up online summary from the session been drawn in but more as a ‘style’ than to serve
described above was specifically focused: any concrete purpose. These students had not
structured as a one-to-one tutorial with an really understood the principles underlying
imaginary student- eager and questioning yet orthographic projection and saw each drawing
struggling to grasp something. Such a student is as a discrete picture. Closer inspection also
of course rare: More often than not students revealed that drawings in the set didn’t quite
who struggle are the ones who keep their heads match each up either.
down and adopt survival strategies allowing
them to keep up with coursework. They use what I would argue that these students, under
Biggs and others have described as ‘surface’ pressure to achieve a complete submission had
approaches to learning (Biggs 1999). The eager adopted a surface approach to learning. They
and questioning student by contrast uses a had worked hard to make the work appear
‘deep’ approach, driven by curiosity or correct, masking what Biggs has described as a
determination. Such a student is always looking “genuine inability to understand particular
out for conceptual structures and guiding content at a deep level” (Biggs 1999). Of course
principles. not all students had made the work look right in
lieu of being right. A significant number had
Helena Webster, has called for the tutor to take carefully edited out the errors of their colleagues;
on the role of a ‘liminal servant’ rather than sage. using projection to assist the correct alignment of
Perhaps this involves both listening out and forms, generate curves and so on.
looking out (Webster 2004, Quinlan, Corkery et
al. 2007). It would be easy to blame these errors on the
students’ lack of care, or to overlook them as
Looking out for threshold concepts simple, unfortunate errors. Examining the
teaching approach reveals a much clearer
picture. The design of the task actively denied Blended learning ‘spaces’ provide the means for
students’ deep understanding of the principles of students to help themselves: they offer what
orthographic projection and failed to emphasise Cousin refers to as ‘recursiveness’, ‘holding the
the importance of understanding the principles messy journey back forth and across conceptual
involved. terrain’ (Cousin 2006). Through our VLE we
have monitored students accessing basic
The students, working in groups, had assigned podcasts and slideshows repeatedly- through
roles to each other (you do the plan, I’ll do the the night even!
elevation) in the true spirit of collaboration. This
immediately gave the message that, for Activities to date have included live and online
example, the plan was a ‘picture’ quite separate studio demonstrations. The live demonstration
from say the elevation. Although students were provided feedback from students as above;
asked to collaborate on the task, the principles ‘what’s clear’, ‘what’s still a muddle’. This
were not demonstrated or built into the feedback was then used to plan an online
methodology. demonstration.
The learning activities did not focus on the key These activities started an interesting trend: with
skills through instruction, demonstration and other demonstrations, students planned the
practice. Resources were not made available to recording and editing themselves for, as they put
students for revision or reference purposes. We it ‘absent friends’`; recognising with some relief
might understand this episode as an example of that others too can be confused.
a threshold concept: grasping the fundamentals
of orthographic projection may seem simple to A further demonstration session has been made
us ‘experts’ but the evidence (see above) solely for online use by filming drawing board
suggests that students who adopt a surface activity. I see this as crucial difference with past
approach to learning it, remain hampered at later attempts to explain our threshold concepts:
stages of their learning. students, who struggle to understand through
‘definitions’, may more readily grasp them
In parallel with the hand-drawn exercise, through observing practice.
students were introduced to computer aided
drafting. The same drawings were prepared and Glynis Cousin has emphasised the subjective
rather surprisingly, the same mistakes appeared. and shifting nature of threshold concepts: unlike
Not only were students missing the practical key concepts they do not pertain to the facts of
advantages of linking say plan and elevation; knowledge but to the prior experiences and
they were also skating over the embodied emotionally engaged frontiers that charge new
conceptual framework. boundaries in learning (Meyer and Land 2006)
These observations were made at formative It should be acknowledged that the assigning of
feedback stage, so there was scope to feedback labels does not confer a permanent definition.
into our teaching. A basic instructional video on Cultural and educational backgrounds play a key
YouTube provided the background for further role in determining areas of confidence… and
guidance on our Virtual Learning Environment. difficulty. Last year’s trouble spot might be
skated over by next year’s cohort.
In summary, where do threshold concepts take
design studio teaching? A survey we carried out
in January 2013 (Scott and Williams 2013)
allowed us to reflect on the increasingly diverse Liminal spaces for passing thresholds
range of teaching approaches: more blended
learning and a definite focus on the Up to this point I have described the activities of
‘troublesome’ knowledge that might constitute the design studio, but what of the spaces
our threshold concepts. In the survey, 18 themselves?
separate activities were listed: Of these only 5
would have been offered in previous years. The The direct physical consequences of considering
new elements include 4 delivered wholly on-line, the studio as having the appearance of an
and 4 with on-line support. ‘architects office’ are multiple and not overt. The
studio space offers very little to comfort the
student- bare walls (stripped of last years efforts- Computer stations have been relocated and with
perhaps a few lingering models) give the air of the possibility of a data projector facility we will
an artist’s studio. be able to introduce structured whole group
teaching (eg. talks, demonstrations, workshops).
The impact of Schön’s design studio model has This reflects the need to consider that students
been a systematic depletion of its rich potential are not recalcitrant employees or articled pupils,
as a holding space for learners. but require basic disciplinary knowledge and
skills to be taught in a manner informed by
Arriving students do not know where they can current teaching and learning scholarship. The
sit, where and when the teaching will occur, spaces need to both suggest and allow for this
when to attend and leave. The impact of this is and celebrate past success (Duggan 2004).
not even: les confident students or those with There is a genuine need therefore to review the
limited family experience of HE, are more deeply appropriateness of where we teach and to
impacted (Anthony 2006). The arrangement become more explicit about the teaching and
does not make students feel welcomed or settled learning activities that come under the vague
in an academic sense. umbrella of ‘design studio’.
In schools where there are no space constraints, Most of this research has focused on design
st
it is often possible to organize studios such that studio at 1 year undergraduate level, however
each student has a permanent workspace. Such the work of Sibyl Coldham reflects a similar
arrangements alleviate the problems identified reading. She describes the criticism of the
but do not clarify the teaching and learning aligning of studio with practice at post-graduate
model, limited perhaps to a peripatetic tutor and level. In her research, employers and students
a one-to-one tutorial system. agreed in their understanding of studio as a form
of liminal space for speculation and reflection: a
The studio needs to play an active role in kind of private study for the making of new
supporting students through troublesome meaning (Coldham 2009). This reveals an
knowledge. To accompany Webster’s (Webster understanding of the need for both professional
2004) liminal servant they deserve liminal and academic discourse in design studio.
spaces: The studio should not reflect the
anonymity of the office- like the library, the art Conclusion
room of school, or even the V+A (as this was
originally designed as a design studio resource The process of defining our disciplinary
for students!), it should be a visual feast of threshold concepts should be an active and
knowledge, ideas and exemplars. collaborative one, because the definitions are
relative and shifting. Cousin warns against the
A study by Cai and Khan’s into ‘hot-desking’ in permanent labelling of threshold concepts- in
st
1 year design studio supports this position: order to keep our teaching alive to this we need
‘under the transient environment of the hot- to listen out, watch closely and build a supportive
desking studio it is important to use environment that allow successful mastery via
artefacts/displays wisely to sustain and distribute multiple routes. The anxieties faced by students
knowledge (Cai and Khan 2010). are not inevitable or to be dismissed: they are
signposts to a better understanding of how they
In our research, how far have we moved towards are learning.
this? Progress on this front is somewhat slower:
however we have started with the easy wins. Clarifying our approach to teaching and learning
Students have built rows of coat hooks and a in design studio can benefit students and tutors.
reading area: journals donated by staff (the likes This research has demonstrated that greater
of Building Design) are wired down in to chairs in focus on what the student does, through finding
a reading corner. Staff are interested in means to identify and ‘hold’ threshold concepts,
displaying examples of work on the walls: part of enables us to build a revised understanding of
a recognition that every opportunity needs to be what design studio can provide. It allows us to
taken to engage students as peripheral tread with care through our weighty curriculum,
participants in the discourse. ensure deep rather than surface engagement
with its key elements and provide unique
learning spaces that can be justified as such.
References
Anthony, K. H. (2006). "Designing for Diversity:

Implications for Architectural Education in the
Twenty-first Century." Journal of Architectural
Education 55(4): 257-267.
Biggs, J. B. (1999). Teaching for quality learning at

university: what the student does. Buckingham,
Society for Research into Higher Education : Open
University Press.
Cai, H. and S. Khan (2010) "The Common First Year

Studio in a Hot-desking Age: An Explorative Study on
the Studio Environment and Learning." Journal for
Education in the Built Environment 5, 39-64.
Coldham, S. (2009) "Learning to be an Architect: The

office and the studio." 6th International Conference on
Researching Work and Learning.
Cousin, G. (2006) "An introduction to threshold

concepts." Planet Special Issue on Threshold
Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge 17, 4-5.
Duggan, F. (2004) "The changing nature of the studio

as an educational setting." CEBE Transactions 1, 70-
76.
Gurung, R. A. R., N. L. Chick and A. Haynie (2009).

Exploring signature pedagogies : approaches to
teaching disciplinary habits of mind. Sterling, Va.,
Stylus Pub.
Meyer, J. H. F. and R. Land (2006). "Threshold

concepts and troublesome knowledge." Overcoming
Barriers to Student Learning: Threshold concepts and
troublesome knowledge
Quinlan, A., L. Corkery and N. Marshall (2007).

Positioning the design tutor's presence in the design
studio for successful student design learning.
ConnectED 2007 International Conference on Design
Education, 2007, July Sydney, Australia University of
New South Wales,Sydney, Australia.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner : how

professionals think in action. New York, Basic Books.
Schön, D. A. (1985). The design studio : an exploration

of its traditions and potentials. London, RIBA
Publications for RIBA Building Industry Trust.
Scott, D. and J. Williams (2013). Survey of teaching

activities: level 4 BA(Hons) Architecture semester 1,
University of Westminster (unpublished)
Shuell, T. J. (1986). "Cognitive conceptions of

learning." Review of educational research 56(4): 411-
436.
Webster, H. (2004). "Facilitating critically reflective

learning: excavating the role of the design tutor in
architectural education." Art, Design and
Communication in Higher Education 2(3): 101-111.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 SOCIALISATION IN ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION
Socialisation in Architecture Education
Socialisation in According to Strickfaden and Heylighen,

Architecture Education architecture education is where “ … students
gradually take on language codes, stylistic
Mark R.O. Olweny preferences and rituals of architects, while
becoming increasingly remote from the way
Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff laypeople describe and prioritise architecture.”2
University In effect, they are socialised into the profession,
taking on codes, preferences and rituals,
associated with the knowledge, skills and
experience of faculty, and to a lesser extent,
Introduction fellow students.3 For Stevens (1998)
socialisation is “… an integral part of
Architecture education is an engaging process;
architectural education,”4 given it is through
long hours in the design studio, a high level of
education that the culture of the profession is “…
one-on-one instruction, and intense peer review.
slowly absorbed from those who are already
The process, which extends over the years of
cultivated.”5 Socialisation, to an extent, also
formal education, is instrumental in the
provides an historic link to the origins of the
transformation of students into architects. This
profession, providing a “… sense of kinship with
transformation, or more appropriately
centuries of traditions, thoughts, and
‘socialisation’, defined by Bragg as “… that
personalities […] the true tie that binds those
process by which individuals acquire the values,
who practice architecture with those who teach it
attitudes, norms, knowledge, and skills needed
and study it.”6
to perform their roles acceptably in the group or
groups in which they are, or seek to be,
Attention to the nature of socialisation in the
members.”1 Through this process, in addition to
education of architects has been made
garnering the knowledge and skills required of
necessary as part of efforts to understand
them (explicit curriculum), students are initiated
architecture education, which has been
into the [cultural] norms of the profession; norms
described it as ‘a black box’, whose inner
that are not explicitly stated in the curriculum, but
operation many have failed to decipher. These
are nevertheless important for anyone seeking to
inner workings are so elusive that Banham
participate as a member of the profession
(1996) states, “Anthropologists have already
(implicit curriculum). With architecture education
gone a long way in penetrating the inner
having no defined pedagogy, no specific
workings of societies far more remote than the
curriculum and no instructional manual, it can be
tribe of architecture.”7 The transformation that
hypothesised that the implicit aspects of
occurs has formed the basis of a number of
architecture education may be significantly
studies on: Design Studio Pedagogy and Studio
influential in the transformation of students into
Culture8; the Setting and Programme9; and, the
architects.
Context10 .
This paper presents on some of the findings of a

Dutton (1987), among the first to seek to quantify
study that investigated the nature of socialisation
socialisation within architecture education, based
within architecture education in East Africa. The
his work on the concept of the hidden curriculum
lack of any significant research on architecture
put forward by Jackson (1968).11 Dutton
education in the region, necessitated a broad
(re)defined socialisation as, “… those unstated
based study, undertaken through a mixed
values, attitudes, and norms which stem tacitly
methods approach, including: a review of
from the social relations of the school and
published information on the programmes; visits
classroom as well as the content of the
to schools of architecture, to conduct interviews
course.”12 This definition acknowledged that not
with students and faculty; a review of validation
all that is taught is, or can be explicitly stated.
documents (where available); and, Focus Group
Further, education is not only learning about
Discussions (FGDs) through which qualitative
‘things’ (gaining explicit knowledge), but is also
data could be gathered, providing descriptive
about our participation in society, garnered
experiences of participants. The findings of the
through observation and learning how to learn
FGDs are the focus of the current paper.
(implicit knowledge).
While generally positive, socialisation can take the distinction between ‘socialisation’ and
on sinister qualities, as pointed out by Till (2005), ‘professionalisation’, the latter defined as “... the
citing Jacques Lucan, in reference to Miroslav process by which students learn the skills,
Sik’s atelier at the ETH Zurich, “ … whose values, and norms of the occupation or
members ‘black uniforms and deliberate isolation profession ...”16 Socialisation, on the other hand,
bore overtones of a clan’ …”13. This invites is the acquisition of elements that make an
comparison with more extreme notions of individual a part of a professional group. While
socialisation, such as indoctrination, as socialisation and professionalisation can occur
presented by Bobel (2006),14 or even [cultural] together, the distinction is significant:
cloning, described by Essed and Goldberg professionalisation is about ‘learning’, while
(2002) as the “… systematic reproduction of socialisation, is about ‘acquiring’; an
sameness.”15 At the extreme, socialisation can acknowledgement that in education, there are
be dangerous, creating sub cultures and creating some aspects that are ‘taught’ and others that
social injustices that could impact negatively on are ‘caught’.17 Socialisation thus addresses
society, as depicted in the 1981 Todd Strasser those aspects of the curriculum that cannot be
novel, The Wave. conveyed or garnered through books or lectures,
but through experience and immersion in
With socialisation commonly linked to specific activities.
professional education, Bess (1978) emphasises
Fig. 1. Aspects of Socialisation in Architecture

Education
It is evident that the contribution of faculty to two-tier curriculum, incorporating a pre-

socialisation of students in professional architecture undergraduate programme and a
education is particularly significant, graduate entry professional programme. The
acknowledging that education is a social Uganda Martyrs University is the only private
process, and does not occur in a vacuum.18 university offering a professional programme in
Indeed, in architecture education, as “… architecture.
educators are already encultured into design,
they logically represent a major contributing More that 65 students and faculty participated in
force towards enculturing new designers-to- the FGDs, documented in more than 15 hours of
be.”19 This suggests that architecture education audio recording, which were analysed using
is not so much an insulated ‘black box’ but may Template Analysis as used by Sang et al.
be viewed as a process so intertwined with its (2009)24 Specific highlights that reveal elements
specific social and cultural setting that the two of socialisation were identified through this
are difficult (or at times impossible) to separate. process, beginning with an initial template based
Indeed, as Lloyd (1983) suggests “… it is on the open ended questions, and adding to this
extremely difficult to teach without cultural as part of the analysis process.
reference ...”20 As such, understanding the
nature of socialisation may give us clues of the This paper presents key findings related to three
nuances specific to architecture education in areas that emerged in relation to socialisation in
particular settings. architecture education in East Africa: the place
of the design studio; how students relate to
For Weidman et al. (2001)21 the process of faculty; and, how contemporary issues are dealt
socialisation comprises of four stages: with in architecture education. These serve to
Anticipatory; Formal; Informal; and, Personal, highlight how socialisation is manifested in
each stage relating to the transformation that architecture education in East Africa.
occurs in individuals. Sang et al. (2009)22, who
look at Anticipatory Socialisation in relation to Place of the [D]esign studio
the bridge between formal architecture education
and entry into architecture practice. For this The design studio, and its connection to support
paper, the concern is for the nature of courses, is particularly significant, given that the
socialisation as and how it occurs within the design studio is regarded as a quintessential
institutional setting of the architecture school, part of architecture education. This is where
presented by Weidman et al. (2001)23 as students tend to spend much of their time,
incorporating: Knowledge Acquisitions (learning regardless of the credit weighting of course,
about the profession); Investment (taking on dedicating far greater time to design studio
elements of the profession); and Involvement project work that for support courses:
(participating in activities related to the
profession), as presented in Figure 1 above. FG2_4 - A maximum of 8 hours a week of
theory, the rest is design portfolio and
graphics.
Socialisation in Architecture Education in
East Africa
FG6_2 – [...] Truth be told, um, the theory
and the studio don’t quite relate, yea, don’t
This study sought to understand the nature of quite relate. If, if, if they do, it’s on a very
socialisation in the context of architecture small scale, yea, there’s not much
education in East Africa. It was prompted by relationship [...]
anecdotal evidence and experience that
Separation of design studio and support
suggested socialisation in the context of East
courses, was the norm across the region, a bias
Africa was having negative impact on the
that relegating support courses to the periphery
education process.
of what is perceived to be architecture. Design
in architecture was thus presented as an activity
Five schools of architecture were included in the
in space planning, and façade design and to a
study: two in Kenya - Jomo Kenyatta University
lesser extent about design integration of aspects
of Agriculture and Technology and University of
of design, building performance, theoretical
Nairobi; two in Uganda - Makerere University,
agendas, structural adequacy and delight. In
and Uganda Martyrs University; and one in
effect, this focus appears to socialise students
Tanzania - Ardhi University. Two schools have a
into a belief that architecture design is more Africa, which negates collegiality, a primary
about imagery, than about the process. element of contemporary architecture education.
Student - faculty relations Digital divide: Computers in architecture

education
An important part of architecture education, is
the privileged relationship between students and Engagement with contemporary issues in
faculty. Discussants in the FGDs were aware of architecture and architecture education was a
the importance of this relationship, and the further area where socialisation was particularly
potential impact this could have on student prominent. It had been established that
progress, growth and outcomes: computers were rarely used beyond drafting and
computer enhanced presentation. While two
FG3_2 – […] in School A it’s still the same schools did make use of the building
old traditional kind of institution like performance simulation and analysis tools,
arrangement, where there are gods and Autodesk Ecotect, this was only a recent
servants, subjects and slaves, you know,
masters and slaves. […] addition. Further, there was little evidence of the
use of computers as design tools. For the most
FG3_1 – […] you find that, … there’s an air part, computers were not considered as part of
of, ... the atmosphere is very thick, it’s, … the architecture curriculum.
people are very tense, especially the person
presenting. It takes of course a lot of time to
FG3_2 – CAD is taboo, despite CAD being
get used to, after some time you get used to
taught as a course unit for the first three
that kind of environment, and maybe find
years, using it for an assignment or
ways to counter it. But the mood is, is, is a
anything is taboo.
very tense one, it is not relaxed, as such it
limits the creativity. […]
FG1_1 – […] Whereas I was born in a
generation where everyone is carrying an
The description of faculty - students’ relations as
iPod, my lecturer was born in the 1960s,
a ‘master-slave’ relationship, suggests a power and all they could do is hand draw […]
relationship in which instructors wield power,
inculcating their values onto (unquestioning) FG2-4 – […] there was a person who did
students. This inkling of enforced socialisation use CAD and they were disqualified as well.
was hinted at in a separate discussion: If one way or anther the school caught up, it
opened its eyes to what is happening out
there, maybe, maybe it could be considered
FG2_1 - The only thing I would want to add a change [...]
on to that, is that the rigidity of the tutors
[…] at times shuts our innovative, […] at Lack of knowledge and experience with
times you get to fear them so much, that
you fear that they can mess up your marks, computer packages was a primary factor in the
so you end up having to take their low penetration of computers in architecture
suggestions. education, with few faculty having been exposed
to computers as part of their own education, and
FG4_3 – […] we had a lecturer, ok an ex therefore not engaging with it as part of their
soldier or something […] sincerely this is a practice or teaching. Faculty were therefore
guy, who, … it was like you were competing
with him […] of course you don't know, he unable to offer needed instruction, thereby
knows, he is the instructor. And they’re dissuading students from using them. This
pumping their own ideas into your head problem is no doubt set to continue given
[…]. computers, and other contemporary issues are,
effectively barred from the design studio
FG5_6 – […] you identify which of your
environment, as strongly stated by one faculty
tutors is the boss, because even though
there are four of them, there is one whose member:
opinion matters […] So when you are given
a crit and they conflict, you listen more to FG10_4 - ZERO! Ok, Zero in the sense
the person who you know will have a bigger that, even when I want, ok, even when the
say in awarding you marks. And you do students what, sometimes the academic,
what it is they are telling you. fellow academic staff can be the obstacle,
ok. […] these people are not interested in
These statements highlight the extent of the sustainable building design.
teacher-centred approach to education in East
The relegation of contemporary issues to the East Africa, and particularly significant in the
periphery of architecture education could relate formulation of ideals of students in architecture
back to the broader dislocation of support education.
courses from the Design Studio, highlighting the
traditional boundaries in architecture education, Although a key purpose of architectural
as presented by Piotrowski and Robinson.25 education is to ensure that those entering the
This no doubt has consequences for graduates, profession understand and appreciate the
contemporary and potential directions of the
and the profession; socialising students into architecture profession, it is evident from this
what may be a false reality of what constitutes study that this is not always the case, with
architecture. students socialised into only dealing with ‘tried
and tested’ approaches.
Discussion
Understanding the nature of socialisation reveals
The findings suggest a teacher centred that implicit aspects of professional education
approach; reinforced by seniority traditions, may be of greater significance in the educational
giving instructors significant authority over process than often acknowledged. This could
students. This indicates a high level of have a significant bearing on the evaluation of
‘enforced’ socialisation that negates the teaching and learning in architecture education,
experiences and memories of students to the and may suggests a rethink of the current
background. It is therefore firmly established approach that reviews content (knowledge
that the dominant view prevails, not because it is criteria), and not teaching, which is at times
a better option or approach, but solely as a more presumed to be a neutral factor in the education
influential proponent has put it forward.26 process.
The nature of architecture education is such that, While this paper has reported only on the
it is perceived to be ‘studying about’ rather than findings of the socialisation process in
‘participating in’ the profession. Students, architecture education, further details relating to
therefore, come into architecture education to pre-socialisation and the socialised stages
learn all they can to make them experts in their gathered as part of the wider study could not be
chosen field.27 The educational process thus presented in this forum. These are to be
tends to casts the learner as if they were tabula presented in separate publications.
rasa, 28 with education effected as “ […] the
Notes
transmission of packaged, or pre-digested,
information - education as instruction
administered to the ‘ignorant’ by experts […]”29
1
Bragg, Ann Kieffer. " Socialization Process in Higher
Education. Eric/Higher Education Research Report No. 7.".
In this regard, socialisation in the context of
Washington, D.C.: Publications Department, American
architecture education in East African may be
Association for Higher Education, 1976, p6.
akin to inculcation, serving to reinforce the a
2
particular view of architecture, which appears to Strickfaden, Megan, and Ann Heylighen. "Cultural Capital:
concentrate on current, rather than future A Thesaurus for Teaching Design." Journal of Art and Design
requirements of the profession. Socialisation Education 29, no. 2 (2010): p122.
therefore it seems is a means by which the 3
See Anthony, Kathryn H. Design Juries on Trial: The
establishment reinforces the prevailing state of Renaissance of the Design Studio. New York: Van Nostrand
affairs, a finding that supports Dutton’s thesis Reinhold, 1991.
that the ‘socialisation’ can be ‘corrosive’ to 4
Stevens, Garry. The Favored Circle: Social Foundations of
faculty-student relationships, and affect the
Architectural Distinction. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press,
growth of architecture discourse, by reinforcing
30 1998; p196.
and entrenching the status quo.
5
Ibid. p196.
Conclusion 6
Boyer, Ernest L., and Lee D. Mitgang. Building Community:
A New Future for Architectural Education and Practice.
This research study explored socialisation in the Princeton, New Jersey: The Carnegie Foundation for the
context of architecture education in East Africa. Advancement of Teaching, 1996; p4.
The findings suggest that socialisation is a
significant aspect of architecture education in
7 21
Banham, Reyner. "A Black Box: The Secret Profession of Weidman, Twale and Stein, op cit.
Architecture." In A Critic Writes: Selected Essays by Reyner 22
Sang, Katherine, Stephen Ison, Andrew Dainty, and
Banham, edited by Mary Banham, Paul Barker, Sutherland
Abigail Powell. "Anticipatory Socialisation Amongst
Lyall and Cedric Price, 292-‐99. Berkeley: University of
Architects: A Qualitative Examination." Education + Training
California Press, 1996; p299.
51, no. 4 (2009): 309-‐21.
8
See Dutton, Thomas A. "Design and Studio Pedagogy." 23
Weidman, Twale and Stein, op cit.
Journal of Architectural Education 41, no. 1 (1987): 16-‐25;
24
Anthony, op cit.; Shannon, Susan. "The Studio Critique in Sang, Ison, Dainty and Powell, op cit.
Architectural Education." University of Adelaide, 1995; and, 25
Piotrowski, Andrzej, and Julia Williams Robinson. The
Wilson, Margaret A. "The Socialization of Architectural
Discipline of Architecture. Minneapolis: University of
Preference." Journal of Environmental Psychology 16
Minnesota Press, 2001.
(1996): 33-‐44.
26
9 See Webster, Helena. "Facilitating Critically Reflective
See Stevens, op cit.
Learning: Excavating the Role of the Design Tutor in
10
See Roberts, Andrew, Martin Pearce, Oren Lieberman, Architectural Education." Art, Design and Communication in
and Walter Matsika. "The Development of Values in the Higher Education 2, no. 3 (2004): p111. See also Dutton,
Studio: A Hidden Curriculum?" In Changing Trends in Thomas A. "Design and Studio Pedagogy." Journal of
Architectural Design Education, The International Architectural Education 41, no. 1 (1987): 16-‐25; See also
Conference of the Center for the Study of Architecture in the Inkarojrit, Vorapat. "Developing a Problem-‐Based Learning
Arab Region, edited by Jamal Al-‐Qawasmi and Guillermo Course for First-‐Year Architecture Students: A Perspective
Vasquez de Velasco, 469-‐82. Rabat, Morocco: CSAAR -‐ The from Thailand." In ConnectED 2007 International
Centre for the Study of Architecture in the Arab Region, Conference on Design Education, edited by Robert Zehner
2006; and, Webster, Helena. "Architecture Education after and Cark Reidsema. Sydney, Australia: The Unversity of
Schön: Cracks, Blurs, Boundaries and Beyond." Journal for New South Wales, 2007.
Education in the Built Environment 3, no. 2 (2008): 63-‐74. 27
See Olweny, Mark R.O., and Connie V. Nshemereirwe.
11
Jackson, Philip Wesley. Life in Classrooms: Teachers "Educating Built Environment Professionals: Perspectives
College Press, 1968. from Uganda." In Built Environment education Annual
12 Conference (BEECON). London, 2006.
Dutton, op cit. p16.
28
13 Matos, Narciso. "The Nature of Learning, Teaching and
Till, Jeremy. "Lost Judgement." In Writings in Architecture
Research in Higher Education in Africa." In African Voices in
Education: Eaae Prize 2003-‐2005, edited by Ebbe Harder,
Education, edited by Philip Higgs, Ntombizolile Vakalisa,
164-‐81. Copenhagen: European Association for
Thobeka Mda and N'Dri Thérèse Assié-‐Lumumba, 12-‐38.
Architectural Education (EAAE), 2005, p165.
Lansdownw, SA: Juta & Co. Ltd., 2000.
14
Bobel, Chris. "“Take This Class If You Like to Be 29
Mills, Glenn, and Alan Lipman. "Society and Architectural
Brainwashed”: Walking the Knife’s Edge between Education
Education in South Africa — Are Universities Appropriate
and Indoctrination." Human Architecture: Journal of the
Venues for Schools of Architecture?" Environment and
Sociology of Self-‐Knowledge 4, no. 3 (2006): 359-‐64.
Planning B: Planning and Design 21 (1994): p215; See also
15
Essed, Philomena, and David Theo Goldberg. "Cloning Pido, J. P. Odoch. "Mismatch in Design Education at the
Cultures: The Social Injustices of Sameness." Ethics and University of Nairobi." In Art -‐ Design -‐ Education -‐ Exchange
racial studies 25, no. 6 (2002): p1067. with Africa Seminar, 20-‐29. . Helsinki: Department of Art
16 Education, University of Art and Design, 2002.
Bess, James. "Anticipatory Socialization of Graduate
30
Students." Research in Higher Education 8, no. 4 (1978): Dutton, op cit.
p292.
17
Kibor, Jacob, Gregg A. Okesson, and Kimberly Okesson.
"Shaping the ‘Hidden’ Curriculum for Engaging Power,
Poverty and Wealth in Africa: A Case Study from Scott
Theological College, Kenya." In Third Lausanne Congress on
World Evangelization. Cape Town: The Lausanne
Movement, 2010, p6.
18
Bragg, op cit.
19
Strickfaden and Heylighen op cit.
20
Lloyd, Michael. "Design Education in the Third World."
Habitat International 7, no. 5/6 (1983): p368.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 LIVE PROJECTS DON’T WORK. SO WHY BOTHER?
that is of value (a particular output) the other to
Live projects don’t work. provide a pedagogic benefit to the student. In

the USA, where the idea of live projects was
So why bother? initiated over 40 years ago through the
establishment of Community Design Centers,
Simon Bradbury and Efthimia these two elements are described as ‘service’
Papaefthimiou and ‘learning’ 3. They are bound together with a
recognition that the pedagogic benefits should
Plymouth University not be a bi-product of the service being provided
or indeed that the communities being engaged
should not be exploited as a laboratory setting
for Universities.
Introduction
In addition to these two elements and imbedded
The use of live projects is gaining interest in the
in much of the work undertaken in the USA by
UK due to both the pedagogic benefits for
educators such Kenneth Reardon 4, was the
students but also as a way of developing project
explicit reflection and questioning of issues
ideas for organisations and communities who
relating to economic, political and social
have limited resources or for less well defined
structures. This is linked to the activist pedagogic
projects. The relationship that is set up between
philosophies of Paolo Friere 5.
th e external organisation and students assumes
both will benefit from this collaboration either
Although live projects (or serviced learning) have
pedagogically or through services provided.
been around for some time it is only recently
there has been a much more critical focus on the
The challenge is striking the right balance
problems and challenges of working in live
between pedagogic benefits versus providing a
projects and not simply describing them as
service, particularly where projects are large in
successful collaborations 6 Specifically an
scale, difficult to define and politically sensitive.
emerging concern is how to deal with boundaries
This paper discusses why it is difficult to achieve
that separate these groups when trying to
this balance without a reconsideration of the role
evaluate the effectiveness of projects 7.
of student projects within a professional context.
It uses as its basis a large scale live urban
In the UK, literature that evaluates the pedagogic
project undertaken by Plymouth Master of
benefits have primarily focused on the students’
Architecture Students that has been running
experience and learning 8 and although effective
since September 2011.
have not interrogated the wider impact of
projects on communities and practitioners or
Understanding the live project and its challenges
been able to interrogate the nature of the
boundary between the two. This paper is
Live projects can take a number of forms
interested in understanding the pedagogic
although Rachel Sara provides a helpful
benefits and the value of the service being
definition:
provided as a way of interrogating the boundary
between these two contexts. It aims to achieve
“a type of learning project which is distinct in its
this by studying what students and practitioners
engagement of real ‘external collaborators’, such
learn and how they benefit from this type of
as clients or users. This external involvement
collaboration.
tends to result in students producing something
that is of value to the external collaborator, which
Case study
might range from ideas, feasibility reports, or
research, to a completed design scheme, a
Over the last two years the Plymouth University
construction or other intervention. The remit of
Master of Architecture program, Plymouth City
the project is typically worked out in collaboration
Council and the newly formed Waterfront
with the external collaborators, rather than being
Business Improvement District (BID) have set up
imposed by the lecturer.” 1
an informal partnership to support the
development of the waterfront of the city. This
This definition as well as others 2 emphasise the
arrangement uses the 1st year Master of
dual context of the live project endeavor. Firstly
Architecture students design projects to develop
to provide something to the user or community
both urban strategies and building designs for a Methodology

range of areas on the waterfront of the city as a
way of supporting both the Council and the BID The aim of this project was to understand the
to develop and implement projects. boundary between these two communities
(students and practitioners) through
This collaboration comprises of two elements: understanding the benefits of engaging in the
firstly an internal working group at the city project and what students and practitioners
council which includes officers from Economic learned. One of the challenges with trying to
Development, Planning and Estates, academics understand what people learn is that they are
from Architecture and Planning and is chaired by very often unaware of what they have learnt or
a board member of the BID. even if they are aware are unable to articulate it.
Therefore reflective and indirect methods were
This working group is responsible for developing used to interrogate the learning journey through
development strategies for the waterfront of the year. Reflective data were gathered through
Plymouth that can then be adopted by the city semi-structured interviews where students and
council and the BID, particularly in the context of practitioners discussed their work around the
a revision to the current planning policy in the following themes:
city. The working group meets once a month.
• their understanding of how projects emerge
st
Secondly, the Master of Architecture 1 year and are delivered in the city
students are asked to undertake a study of the
waterfront developing initially an urban strategy • their perceptions and aspirations for engaging
and then a building proposition for a site. The with the collaboration
urban strategy considers not only the spatial
issues but also the social, political, • their perception of how student work alters the
environmental and economic contexts. These live project
ideas are then fed back to the waterfront working
group (directly by students and the tutor) to Indirect data were gathered by looking at student
influence and develop the thinking of the working projects, minutes from meetings and council
group, the council and BID. documents. Interviews were held with 8
students and 6 practitioners.
The collaboration was set up in September 2011
with the first co-hort of students developing Interviews were recorded and transcribed and
projects that were completed in June 2012. In this along with the indirect data was organised
June 2013 a second group of students into themed areas which are presented in this
undertook the project which was coupled with a paper.
research programme aimed at understanding the
effectiveness of the process. This paper draws Research findings
primarily on data gathered as part of the second
phase of work. This section discusses first the learning and
boundaries identified from the student
There were a number of key points in the project perspective before describing some common
where students and practitioners came together. themes in student projects. This is then
An initial symposium in September organised by compared to the practitioners’ perspective and
the University on behalf of the BID aimed at the development of the live project.
bringing together a range of parties including
councilors and resident groups who were Student learning
involved with the waterfront to discuss issues
and challenges that related to the waterfront. If a live project is to be successful it needs firstly
This was followed by periodic engagement with to provide pedagogic benefits to students. There
the project by the working group (who attended were a number of characteristics identified by
studio reviews) as well as a range of other students as valuable and of benefit including:
stakeholders who the students contacted connections to future and previous professional
directly. At the end of the year students practice:
presented their work to the working group.
“I see this project as a progression of my set and way of working to practitioners which
working experience during year out and I really when embedded into their projects (no matter
enjoy it. I feel like I have to work and how real they were) would mean they were
communicate in two levels: public and unlikely to be developed:
professionals”
“I think our proposals are going to seem quite
“I see it as I am still working on my year out, I challenging to practitioners. We are proposing a
feel that I have to act very professionally and very holistic approach, very technologically
responsible to meet people’s needs” driven with great social and environmental
impact. It is very ambitious, but it is very realistic
improved motivation and enthusiasm: as well”
“I am very excited to participate in this project; it What is interesting is they believed their values
will give me the opportunity to learn more were shaped by the Master of Architecture
through the engagement with different people, programme, and the primary importance was to
professionals and the community” answer to the academic context first not the real
context.
“It is the first time I have participated in a live
project. It’s quite early to comment on my “when I say I am positive for the outcome of my
experience, but I am really excited about it. I urban strategy, I mean that I hope my tutors will
can’t wait to start working for it” appreciate the approach we took. As far as the
practitioners are concerned, I think that they
and finally a sense of importance with regard to might find it interesting or challenging but they
what they were doing by working with a real will not act on it.”
client:
“I don’t think they are going to implement our
“[the symposium] made me feel more realistic ideas, since the core agenda of the school is
about the project, I felt that what we are doing is socially and politically skewed on a broader
actually quite serious and responsible.” scale and the city council seems to be narrow-
minded”
“it is very positive to have grounded ideas, it
helps us to think realistically” Common themes in student projects
Similar observations have been identified by There were a number of common themes in
other authors 9 student projects that ran through both years
which are helpful to discuss in the context of
Perceived boundaries by students what emerged in the live project. Firstly ideas
around the politics of projects and their delivery.
Interestingly from the student perspective they One of the challenges when working on large
believed that despite the reality of the projects complex urban projects is connecting a vision
they were producing they would not have an with a viable proposition for how it would be
impact on practitioners. This was due to two key delivered. Prior to the start of the project the
issues. Firstly because they believed that the majority of students were interested in how a
council was only interested in specific solutions bottom-up process in opposition to a council-led
for the short term: approach would be necessary to solve the
problems of Plymouth’s waterfront.
“I think there is an issue of time scale with the
practitioners involved in the project. I have the “I think that people don’t have to rely on the city
impression that they require direct and quick council. People are strong enough to make a
solutions for the waterfront, whereas we propose change for themselves.”
long term projects, with greater economic,
political and social impact not just for the As projects developed there became a much
foreshore but for the wider area of Plymouth.” clearer understanding of the importance of
alliances between institutions, alongside
The second more challenging issue was a community engagement as mechanisms for
perception that they had a very different value delivering projects. This was coupled with
strategies for phasing of projects and delivering theoretical one. It creates more mature and
them in the short as well as long term. It responsible students”
resulted in a number of student projects
including the development of new organisations Perceived boundaries by practitioners
and business plans to facilitate the delivery of
their urban strategy and a strong focus on With regard to boundaries with working with
process. However this did not prejudice the type students they were identified as relating to
of project that was produced that included both timescales of projects in the city not matching
small scale temporary interventions to much with the academic calendar as well as struggling
larger projects that would require significant to find time to be involved in the studio
capital investment. environment. Unlike students there was not a
question of the nature of the projects being
This shift in understanding of the complexity of produced being too difficult to implement.
the urban environment and the need for a However, as will be discussed below, there was
political and institutional dimension to projects little evidence of student projects directly
arose out of a reaction by students to the first influencing the live project.
symposium where there were a range interested
parties. In the discussion there was what some The live project
may have perceived as a lack of leadership and
direction from the city council and other As has been discussed the live project in the city
institutions. was ill defined at the start of this process. At the
end of the first year of undertaking the project
Secondly there was a strong oppositional the city council and PWP asked the University to
approach to neo-liberal models of regeneration develop a report detailing a 3 year strategy for
focusing in particular on themes around re- the waterfront. This was undertaken by a small
industrialisation and other industries (outside of number of students from the studio overseen by
tourism, retail and food) to redevelop the academics. This report did not directly use
waterfront. student projects in developing its
recommendations but did build on some general
Thirdly projects attempted to understand the themes that were emerging from the design
interconnected environmental context studio projects (discussed above). These
particularly resource flows in cities and how included:
these could be restructured (food, fuel, waste
etc). • How to bring together a range of
institutions to start development in the
Finally, the projects also looked to understand short term through temporary uses.
how they were supporting and helping the
existing disadvantaged communities of the city, • Using derelict and vacant council
particularly in the context of a waterfront that is owned land and buildings to facilitate
subject to regeneration policies that are likely to regeneration.
gentrify and displace many of the existing
communities. • Looking at uses that were not just
tourism or retail based.
Practitioner learning
This report and ongoing work has led to the
The practitioners believed there was a value in inclusion of strategies for bringing forward sites
undertaking the project in order to bring “fresh and projects in a number of city wide strategies
and challenging ideas, free from limitations”. such as the Plan for Jobs. A clear link between
However, unlike for students, there was limited the report and the council strategy can be seen:
evidence of other pedagogic benefits although
there was recognition by practitioners of the “Temporary uses offer an opportunity to deliver
benefits students would have through engaging change quickly in an area overcoming many of
in the project. the legal and financial constraints of larger
projects. Using the vacant sites and buildings for
“it is very good to allow students to have a more temporary uses provides an opportunity for new
practical and realist project instead of just a enterprises to emerge which will quickly enliven
the area while providing some short term projects focused on small scale changes at a
revenue to land owners.” Report 2012 grassroots level – and as such can have at least
a chance of realisation at some level. However
“We will also seek out opportunities for the projects focusing on larger scale issues,
proactive utilisation of “meanwhile” uses for involving a greater number of actors and large
under occupied land and buildings, including the capital expenditure can really only act as
creation of a list of commercial premises that prompts for discussions on certain issues such
could provide social enterprises and new as reindustrialisation.”
businesses a head start in Plymouth.” Plymouth
Plan for Jobs 2013 Implications for pedagogy and practice
Discussion, did the live project work? This model of mediation between student project
and live project has a number of implications for
If a successful live project, as defined at the start both pedagogy and academics.
of this paper, needs to have both a useful
service or output from the studio for the With regard to a pedagogic model for how live
community and a pedagogic benefit to students, projects, they projects have been linked to
then this project could be deemed as a failure. learning theories such as situated learning 11 ,
problem based learning 12 , learning as peripheral
This is because the critical and reflective process participation in communities of practice 13 and
that is part of the pedagogic structure of an action learning. It also fits comfortably with
academic environment and fundamental to the community activist’s ideas from Freire and
success of a live project 10 is too challenging for Dewey and others grounding the process in an
practitioners to use directly especially on large idea of transformative learning for both the
urban projects. This is particularly difficult when, students and communities.
as in Plymouth, the socio-political underpinning
of the studio (which is a strong influence on Wenger’s theoretical framework, learning as
student projects) questions the fundamental neo- peripheral participation in communities of
liberal model of regeneration currently being practice 14 offers one way of conceptualising the
used in the city. This questioning of the socio- relationships between communities of practice
political context of regeneration however should and is helpful. However it has been widely
not be cast aside in order to provide a better criticized as a framework for understanding more
service to practitioners as this has been an complex work relationships in institutional
important part of the more activist elements of contexts 15 . A more appropriate theoretical
live projects and should continue to be so. framework in this context is to consider each
community of practice as an activity system
Despite the apparent failure of students outputs where:
to influence the live project the engagement of
students and academics was still able to “An activity system is a complex and relatively
influence and change policy in the city and is enduring ‘community of practice’ that often takes
continuing to do so. This was because the the shape of an institution. Activity systems are
studio outputs were mediated through enacted in the form of individual goal-directed
consultancy projects and on going dialogue with
actions.”16
academics allowing concepts and ideas to cross
boundaries. This does not undermine the
Each activity system (in this context it would
student work or their pedagogic value of live
include the council, the BID, Academics and
projects. Indeed on completion of the project
students) have their own rules, political
one student when asked if student projects were
structures and ways of working but come
‘real’ responded:
together to solve a single problem. In this
context each activity system would develop its
“Yes and no, it was produced first and foremost
own solution (object) to this problem that would
as a student project as part of my Master of
then be mediated and transformed between
Architecture course at the University. However
each system.
[…] the student projects have varying degrees of
realism, and varying degrees to which they may
The important outcome therefore is not the
or may not be able to be implemented. Many
object from one activity system (the individual
design project) but the mediated object that

9
arises as a result of these coming together. The Sara and Sara, “Learning from Life”; Watt and Cottrell,
argument in this paper is achieving this mediated “Grounding the Curriculum”; Ombretta and Uzzell,
object becomes the role of the academic to “Community Design Studio: a Collaboration of Architects
facilitate if live projects are going to have impact and Psychologists.”
and be of value to practitioners. 10
Hardin, From the Studio to the Streets.
11
This of course places a number of additional Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Situated Learning:
pressures on academics which has been Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Cambridge University
Press, 1991).
helpfully discussed by Siemiatycki 17 . Academics
in planning contexts need to undertake a number 12
David Boud and Grahame Feletti, The Challenge of
of different roles including independent outsider, Problem Based Learning (Routledge, 1998).
public planner, contractor, community based 13
Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice: Learning,
planner, and activist.
Meaning, and Identity (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1998).
This necessarily means that Academics will
14
enter the political sphere where “the power Ibid.
dynamics and points of tension between the 15
Alison Fuller et al., “Learning as Peripheral Participation in
partners can become increasingly unclear” 18 . Communities of Practice: a Reassessment of Key Concepts
However if academics are truly to enter the in Workplace Learning,” British Educational Research
sphere of live projects along with their students Journal 31, no. 1 (2005): 49–68,; Jason Hughes, Nick
offering critical insight into the future of our cities Jewson, and Lorna Unwin, eds., Communities of Practice:
with the ambition to improve them it will be Critical Perspectives, New edition (Routledge, 2007).
necessary to accept this challenge. 16
Yrjo Engestrom, Learning by Expanding: An Activity-‐
theoretical Approach to Developmental Research (Orienta-‐
Konsultit Oy, 1987), 327.
1
R. Sara and R. Sara, “Learning from Life: Exploring the
17
Potential of Live Projects in Higher Education,” Article, Matti Siemiatycki, “The Role of the Planning Scholar
Journal for Education in the Built Environment, December Research, Conflict, and Social Change,” Journal of Planning
2011, 11. Education and Research 32, no. 2 (June 1, 2012): 147–159.
18
2
Mary C. Hardin, From the Studio to the Streets: Service-‐ Ibid., 157.
Learning in Planning and Architecture (Stylus Publishing,
LLC., 2006).
3
Ibid.
4
Kenneth M. Reardon, “Empowerment Planning in East St.
Louis, Illinois,” City 9, no. 1 (2005).
5
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary
Edition (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000).
6
Hardin, From the Studio to the Streets; Tom Angotti,
Cheryl S. Doble, and Paula Horrigan, Service-‐Learning in
Design and Planning: Educating at the Boundaries (New
Village Press, 2011).
7
Angotti, Doble, and Horrigan, Service-‐Learning in Design
and Planning.
8
Romice Ombretta and David Uzzell, “Community Design
Studio: a Collaboration of Architects and Psychologists,”
CEBE Transactions 2, no. 1 (April 2005): 73–88; Rachael
Luck, “Learning to Talk to Users in Participatory Design
Situations,” Design Studies 28, no. 3 (May 2007): 217–242,;
Kathleen Watt and Derek Cottrell, “Grounding the
Curriculum: Learning from Live Projects in Architectural
Education,” International Journal of Learning, 2006,; Sara
and Sara, “Learning from Life.”
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 “AN OUTPUT OF VALUE”
exchange rates offered by one in an airport
“An output of value” - departure lounge, creating better value in terms

of price, but the airport bureau offers greater
exploring the role of the convenience for imminent travellers, creating
greater value in terms of quality.
live project as a
The values of architectural education
pedagogical, social and
Helena Webster has described how in the
cultural bureau de twentieth century translation of architectural
change apprenticeship into architectural education, the

spaces, pedagogies and methods of the
architect’s studio were relocated to an
educational setting with relatively little
James Benedict Brown 4
adaptation. Spatially, the architectural office
became the design studio; pedagogically,
Norwich University of the Arts
architectural design problems became simulated
architectural design problems; and
methodologically, learning the art of design
through coaching by an architect became
Introducing the live project
learning the art of design by coaching from
This paper suggests an analogy between the tutors. This situation is compounded by the
bureau de change and the live project. A live tendency for the majority of architectural
project engages students with a ‘real’ project, a educators to be drawn from practice rather than
5
‘real’ client and sometimes a ‘real’ budget with the academy. Normative architectural education
which to deliver “an output of value to that remains centered on the simulation of design
1
client” as part of their university studies. It re- projects in a simulation of the architect’s studio,
introduces to architectural education’s simulation simulating the value systems of professional
of professional practice the contingency of a practice. Responsible for setting the brief,
client. This paper builds upon recently completed architectural educators become simulated
doctoral research to explore how architectural clients.
educators and students make exchanges
between academic and non-academic value Similarly, in an academic context the work of a
systems. student is typically valued according to a
predetermined set of learning outcomes.
Introducing the bureau de change Assessment provides the mechanism and
objective value system that can articulate the
If a currency is a monetary value system in use quality of a student’s knowledge, skills and ability
in a particular region, a bureau de change is a relative to other students on the same course.
commercial establishment at which customers The Validation procedures and criteria of the
2 Royal Institute of British Architects, for instance,
may purchase and sell different currencies. As a
commercial enterprise, a bureau de change provide a supplementary framework for the
exists to create stakeholder value by comparison of the relative strengths and
6
manipulating the differences between the ‘spot weaknesses of different courses. In a live
price’ for interbank currency transactions and the project, however, architecture students are
exchange rates at which its customers may buy introduced to alternative value systems. Whether
and sell currency. Stakeholders include not only constructing a playground shelter for a school or
shareholders, but also employees and writing a feasibility study for a community, the
customers. Hax and Majluf distinguish these outcome of a live project has both an academic
values, including but not limited to: earnings per value to the students and a non-academic value
share for shareholders; job satisfaction, salary to the client. The academic value of a live project
and security for employees; and price and may be objective to ‘grade hungry’ students, but
3 it is highly subjective to the client. How can
quality for customers. As stakeholders,
customers pay for the value created by the price architectural students and educators be
and quality of the service. For instance, an supported to make exchanges between these
online bureau de change may undercut the alternative value systems?
The multiple values of the live project This paper now presents two particular themes
that emerged from the aforementioned research
This paper has been written in light of recently that indicate possible ways for students and
completed doctoral research into the live project educators to satisfy these different currencies.
7
in British and Irish architectural education.
During this research, twenty-one architectural Making explicit the difference between
educators at seventeen Higher Education architectural practice and the live project
institutions were interviewed to solicit their
opinions regarding the live project. These Respondents suggested that live projects offered
respondents were selected following a postal a more dialogic, collaborative relationship than
survey of every school of architecture in the two that in normative architectural education, one in
countries. All respondents had some current or which staff, students and clients are co-
11
previous experience in the delivery of live learners. To that extent, clients are invited to
projects in architectural education. The research understand that “they’re not commissioning
began by determining what is understood to students in the way that they would commission
constitute a live project and in what terms it is an architect” and that “they could be questioned
described. In spite of the tendency of more than they’re used to being questioned, in
mainstream architectural media to celebrate and more direct contractual relationships.” Another
8,9
valorize those live projects with built outcomes, emphasized that clients “must understand that
the research found that the majority of this is an academic thing, it’s not necessarily
respondents describe live projects not in terms professional, it’s academic.” The assumed
of hands-on construction, but in the engagement authority of a client (as commissioner of a
with and participation of a client external to the project) to accept or reject the work of an
academic environment. Seventeen out of twenty- architect does not apply in a truly collaborative
one respondents described the live project in live project. Power is dynamic and fluid between
terms of the involvement of an external client, as live project stakeholders. A respondent noted
opposed to just two who stated a live project that “a lot has to be done at the preparation
must involve hands-on construction. stage, so that the client is very clear from the
start that our aim is to educate and to help this
It was widely reported by architectural educators community with their project, but the primary aim
that the client is not a passive partner in a live is to educate our students.” There must be in the
project, but an active and engaged participant in client “a willingness to understand that a live
the process who will find value in the project’s project might not work … it’s much riskier than
10
outcome. A respondent explained that “a live working with an architectural practice.” There is a
project is one where there is a client, who wants widespread agreement that it is the responsibility
a real output that they will value,” while another of the architectural educator to highlight this
stated that “the output doesn’t necessarily have distinction between normative architectural
to be a structure, but the output has to be practice and a live project.
something that is potentially useful to that
external environment.” The client’s valuation of a Valuing diverse skill sets
project exists in addition and contrast to the
academic value. A respondent described how Respondents to this research reported that live
the live project requires that the student describe projects tend to nurture skills other than just
their work in terms understood by both those design, allowing students to play to their
within and outside the academy, saying how respective strengths, potentially re-engaging with
“you’ve got to hand your report in and get your students who are less successful at the design-
marks, but the actual project is about how you centric nature of normative architectural
engage with somebody else and explain education, and perhaps more closely replicating
yourself, how you understand them, how you the realities of architectural practice. One
manage to give them something that they need respondent explained that “studio tends to teach
whilst at the same time having an educational you that design is everything when you’re an
experience.” The live project is seen as an architect, and you spend all your time designing,
opportunity for students to describe and critique and that everybody is going to go out and
their work according to two value systems: that become the top designer in the firm, whereas the
of the academy and that of the client, which reality that most of us who have been in practice
might alternatively be understood as currencies. know is very different. You spend very little of
your time designing and most of your time is concern. Garry Stevens has argued that
spent arguing for and progressing and upholding architectural education is less about educating
that idea.” Another reported that “maybe different students for practice, but inculcating them into a
14
students succeed than the ones that succeed professional value system. The live project
typically in the studio. So you get students, offers educators and students an opportunity to
usually emerging as excellent project managers. become aware of and even subvert the influence
Where in the [traditional studio] does a project of these value systems, developing instead
manager get valued?” There is a supplemental pedagogies that are situated in the communities
15
suggestion, therefore, that the normative design they serve. Students’ work is judged not only
studio alone does not accurately reflect the according to the academic value systems of the
diversity of skills required in architectural university or the cultural value systems of the
practice, nor does it adequately valorize the work educators and practitioners who assess their
of those students who may be disposed towards work, but also by the value systems of the client
those skills. As architectural educators, we are and communities who receive it.
well aware of the huge diversity of roles and
skills required in architectural practice. The Currencies are manifestations of distinct value
normative model of architectural education has systems that come face to face in a bureau de
been found to place a disproportionate emphasis change. In a live project, academic capital and
on the role of the lone designer. Live projects architectural capital are the manifestations of
can not only subvert that imbalance, but also distinct value systems that meet alternatives
encourage and celebrate the roles of a wider from outside both the academy and the
range of students, potentially contributing to profession. It would not be sufficient to conclude
increased student engagement and retention. this paper by simply re-stating that analogy. After
all, it is a not unreasonable criticism that a
Discussion bureau de change is a commercial enterprise
and therefore incomparable with live projects
Give or take the effects of inflation or deflation that are frequently defined by their altruistic
on relative buying power, the citizen of a country agenda. Milton Friedman has famously stated
or region can purchase goods and services that “the social responsibility of a business is to
16
using an objective unit of currency. It is at the increase its profits.” If the analogy is to remain
intersection between different currencies that useful, it is more important that we remember the
one is exposed to the relative value of our underlying mechanism by which a bureau de
respective currencies. The digital displays of a change creates value for one important group of
bureau de change advertising the “buy” and stakeholders, namely its shareholders. It does
“sell” rates are the explicit manifestation of the so by manipulating the differences between the
relative daily fluctuations of these monetary exchange rates at which its customers may buy
value systems. The bureau de change is a and sell currency. If, for example, £1 buys you
reminder that our currency fluctuates in value $1.40 at an airport bureau de change, one would
relative to other currencies. Whereas the most not be surprised to see a returning tourist selling
memorable realization to a student of $1.60 for just £1 (regardless of the level of
architecture of field trips to Sweden or Slovakia commission charged on top of the transaction).
may not be the respective nuances in regional Notwithstanding the value created for customers
modernism but the relative costs of a bottle of by the convenience of these transactions, a
beer in different economies, perhaps the most bureau de change creates value for its
valuable pedagogical outcome of a live project is shareholders in this $0.20 difference. Although
not the finished outcome but the revelation to live projects do not operate with the same
student and educator of the subjectivity of our nakedly capitalist profit motives as a bureau de
own academic and professional value systems. change, what is vital for the successful curation
of live projects is by making as transparent as
When students engage with live project clients, possible the difference between the rates at
they experience a disruption to the typical value which one may “buy” and “sell” different
systems of normative architectural education. currencies. Like the customer of a bureau de
12,13
Studies have shown that students often change, we must ask who initiates the live
become fixated on the apparently objective value project, and who sets the exchange rates?
of academic assessment, and many
respondents to this research echoed this Notes
1 16
This and all further unreferenced citations were made Friedman, M., 1970. The Social Responsibility of
by architectural educators who participated Business is to Increase its Profits. The New York
anonymously in the research. Times Magazine, September 13.
2
Oxford Dictionary of English. 2010. 3rd edition.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3
Hax, A.C. and Majluf, N.S., 1996. The Strategy
Concept and Process, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey, NJ.
4
Webster, H., 2008. Architectural Education after
Schön: Cracks, Blurs, Boundaries and Beyond. Journal
for Education in the Built Environment, 3(2), pp. 63-74.
5
Webster, H., 2004. Facilitating critically reflective
learning: excavating the role of the design tutor in
architectural education. Art, Design & Communication
in Higher Education, 2(3), pp. 101.
6
UK validation. 2013. UK validation. [ONLINE]
Available at:
http://www.architecture.com/EducationAndCareers/Vali
dation/UKvalidation.aspx. [Accessed 02 March 2013].
7
Brown, J.B., 2012. A Critique of the Live Project, PhD
thesis, Queen’s University Belfast.
8
Ibid.
9
Real, P.D., 2009. “Ye Shall Receive”: The Rural
Studio and the Gift of Architecture. Journal of
Architectural Education, 62(4), pp. 123-126.
10
The mass noun value describes the regard,
importance, worth, or usefulness that something is
held to deserve by those different stakeholders. Oxford
Dictionary of English. 2010. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
11
With Ruth Morrow, I suggested elsewhere that live
projects may, therefore, be conceptualized as
examples of Critical Pedagogies. See Morrow, R.,
Brown, J.B., 2012. ‘Live Projects as Critical
Pedagogies’ in Charles worth, E., Dodd, M., Harrison,
F. (eds) Live Projects: Designing With People.
Melbourne: RMIT, pp. 232-247.
12
Prowse, S., Duncan, N., Hughes, J., & Burke, D.,
2007. ‘...do that and I’ll raise your grade’: Innovative
module design and recursive feedback. Teaching in
Higher Education 12(4), 437-45.
13
Millar, J., Davis, S., Rollin, H., Spiro, J., 2010.
Engaging Feedback. Brookes eJournal of Learning
and Teaching 2(5) [ONLINE]. Available at:
http://bejlt.brookes.ac.uk/article/engaging_feedback/
[Accessed 05 March 2013].
14
Stevens, G., 1998. The favored circle : the social
foundations of architectural distinction. Cambridge MA:
MIT Press.
15
Brown, J.B., Morrow, R., McAllister, K., 2012a.
Situated knowledges: theorising the live project. Paper
delivered to the Architecture Live Projects Pedagogy
International Symposium, Oxford Brookes University.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 A LIVE CURRENCY
Live Projects at SSoA
A Live Currency: Live Projects have been core to the curriculum at

introducing ‘The SSoA Sheffield School of Architecture (SSoA) for
Live Projects Handbook’ twelve years and are of key importance to our
MArch (RIBA Part 2) and taught masters
courses. Their impact is felt well beyond those
Carolyn Butterworth particular courses, however, and Live Projects
have become central to the reputation of SSoA
The School of Architecture, The University because they embody, demonstrate, develop
of Sheffield and disseminate the pedagogical ethos of the
school so effectively, exemplifying the
importance we place on collaborative, socially-
engaged and participatory practice.
Introduction
Live Projects are contingent upon real life

situations and so, by their very nature, are
complex conditions, offering students rich
learning opportunities of a type not generally
encountered in the design studio. At Sheffield
School of Architecture (SSoA), with many years
of Live Project experience, we have the
opportunity to unpick these complexities and
reflect upon the value that Live Projects bring to
our students’ learning experiences, skills
development and employability. An important
part of this reflective process is the production of
1
‘The SSoA Live Projects Handbook’ , a new
resource for our students that will demonstrate
the value of Live Projects in their encounters
with architectural education and practice.
This paper will describe how, through The SSoA

Live Projects Handbook, we will make explicit to
our students the skills that they develop through
Live Projects and the currency of these skills in
their ongoing education and future practice as
socially-engaged and enterprising architects.
Fig. 1. Wincobank Village Hall, SSoA Live Project
The SSoA Live Projects Handbook will be an 2012.
important addition to the support we offer our
students not only in making the most of the
immediate learning that Live Projects afford but
also in appreciating their value as critical tools Live Projects at SSoA are fifteen credit modules
with which to reflect upon their architectural that run for the first six weeks of every academic
education and their expectations for practice. year. Groups of students from different years
and courses work full-time with client
Featuring excerpts from the Handbook this organisations external to the University
paper will describe how involvement in Live producing design work that should be of value to
Projects has prompted many at SSoA to the client. We define the projects as ‘student-
interrogate the traditional design studio model led’, placing the responsibility on the students to
and the skills learnt there in relation to the shape, develop and steer their projects, in direct
distinct nature of the learning environment that collaboration with their clients. Members of staff
Live Projects offer. act as observers to the process, offering
guidance when necessary as ‘mentors’, in
contrast to the role of ‘tutor’ that is usually taken amassed a huge amount of project material we
within a design studio. now feel that it is important to strengthen the
research and pedagogical opportunities inherent
We actively seek Live Projects that give the in Live Projects that up to now we feel has been
students the opportunity to explore agendas of somewhat lacking in communication and
social and environmental sustainability and to discourse about the subject both at SSoA and
initiate creative participation with people in other schools of architecture.
disadvantaged communities. Beyond that the
scope and outcomes vary from project to project; The SSoA Live Projects Handbook is specifically
some result in actually building something, set up to aid this process of unpicking and
others are more strategic, proposing visions, scrutiny and this paper describes how this
participatory toolkits and development teaching aid will capture the expertise that we
frameworks on a building, local, city-wide, have developed over so many projects into a
regional, national or international scale. publication that will benefit our students and
staff, develop our methodology further and
Over the years we have built up an extensive disseminate best practice to other institutions.
database of student work from 132 projects
delivered by approximately 1200 students, the
majority are local to Sheffield or situated in other
parts of the UK, but many are international
projects with students working in or with clients
from other countries including Romania, France,
Senegal, Zanzibar and Pakistan.
The SSoA Live Project Handbook
Being involved in Live Projects tends to be very

fulfilling for all concerned; clients are generally
thrilled with the project outcomes, we get
positive feedback from our students about their
experiences, examiners and validation panels
invariably praise the programme. We have
worked hard over the years to develop the
programme so that the quality of the projects we
offer and the framework that supports them have
improved year on year. After so many years we
have become clearer about how we choose Live Fig. 2. EcoRoof Paris, SSoA Live Project 2009.
Projects, developing a robust network of existing
clients and initiating focussed relationships with The Higher Education Academy through a
new clients. We have reached the situation Teaching Development Grant is funding the
where Live Projects are fully sustainable within SSoA Live Projects Handbook. Our intention is
the school, attracting excellent students and to make it available to all new students, teaching
clients alike. staff and clients as they embark upon Live
Projects. Until now, information on Live Projects
This extremely positive context has afforded us for new students has been fairly minimal, with
the opportunity recently to become much more limited information available on the website,
critical of our Live Projects both in relation to the knowledge was mostly transferred by word of
quality of our students’ learning outcomes and mouth informally between staff, students and
also in the wider context of current debates in alumni. This was remarkably effective in
architectural education and practice. We are transferring knowledge and preparing new
actively nurturing a culture of critical reflection students for the pragmatics of Live Projects but
from staff, clients and students with the express we felt that it did not communicate the
intention of unpicking the complex learning overarching methodology and learning
experience that is the Live Project in order to objectives of the programme to the students.
make its impact and effects explicit to a degree
that we have not managed before. Having
It was this desire to make the methodology and As more and more schools offer them as part of
learning objectives of Live Projects more explicit, the curriculum, Live Projects have gained
coupled with a call from the students for better currency as a pedagogical model in
feedback and the nature of our student body contemporary architectural education. The SSoA
changing as it becomes more diverse and Live Project Handbook gives us the chance to
international, that prompted the identification of a define the SSoA Live Project in relation to other
student handbook as necessary. Beyond the schools and make explicit why we think Live
needs of the school there was growing interest Projects are important at SSoA, while setting
from other schools of architecture and from our Live Projects within a wider context of learning
own University’s focus on Live Projects as a and practicing architecture now and in the future.
good example of civic engagement and
encouraging enterprise in our students. The Handbook should also trigger debate as it
inevitably holds a mirror up to other ways of
learning architecture in the school, such as the
design studio and to other ways of practising
architecture that students have and will
encounter.
This paper will quote from the Handbook as a

project-in-progress with accompanying
illustrations also taken from the Handbook. The
presentation at the AAE conference will give a
more extensive insight into the Handbook than is
possible in this format. The paper will also
highlight aspects of the handbook that illustrate
one of its roles as both complement to and
critique of the design studio.
A Live Currency Made Explicit
The SSoA Live Projects Handbook intends to

make explicit why we place such importance on
Live Projects and why we consider them as
useful for our students' learning and future
careers in architecture. Equally important is
making the processes of Live Projects
Fig. 3. SSoA Students presenting Live Projects at a
civic event 2012 transparent to the students; our criteria for
choosing them, our terms of agreement with
So, the SSoA Live Projects Handbook has been, clients, the reasoning behind their organisation
to a large extent, the recording of all the tacit and their assessment.
knowledge that the school has accumulated over
the years and is a product of the ongoing debate This clarity is vital if the students are to value
about the role of Live Projects at SSoA amongst their experience of Live Projects and to
staff and students. It combines a ‘how to’ guide, appreciate the currency of the skills they learn
a full description of learning outcomes there as they move into their design studios and
associated with key themes that arise from Live then into practice. Until now we have relied
Projects, an explanation of assessment criteria perhaps too much upon this understanding being
and a listing of formal and informal support, tacit within our students but, on reflection, this
resources and references available in the school privileged our more able students, and now the
and elsewhere. The first draft is now complete handbook will ensure that the currency of the
and this will be the subject of a number of focus skills learned through Live Projects is
groups of students who have experienced Live communicated to all our students, whatever their
Projects, undergraduate students who may do course, cultural background and ability.
them in the future, should they stay at the school
and alumni now in practice.
The handbook attempts to give a general These key skills are developed through the
definition of Live Projects in contemporary engagement and exploration of key themes that
architectural education as follows: are inherent in the SSoA Live Projects. We
dedicate a sizeable section of the handbook to
“they connect the world of academia with the the consideration of these key themes,
‘real’ world outside…engaging directly with the highlighting the learning opportunities intrinsic to
complexities of real-life situations as a way of them.
learning and critiquing the theory and practice of
2
architecture” These key themes include: the social production
of architecture, developing ‘soft skills’,
It then goes on to define Live Projects collaborative working, participatory practice,
specifically at SSoA: professionalism, the expanded role of the
architect, social and environmental sustainability,
“At SSoA we have developed a clear definition of affecting real communities, policy and people,
what we mean by a ‘Live Project’, even though research by design.
all our projects are different. Connecting them all
is the relationship with an external client, their We demonstrate to the students the currency of
strong participatory nature and their emphasis these skills in their ongoing education and future
on the processes of the project as well as its practice using quotes from employers, clients
outcomes. The way we do Live Projects at SSoA and ex-students, and locating the skills within a
is closely connected to the way we teach wider professional, economic and political
architecture across the school. Live Projects give context. For instance in the section ‘the
students the opportunity to explore an expanded role of the architect’ we include the
architecture that is both socially and following:
environmentally sustainable.”
“A report published by the RIBA, ‘The Future for
3
It is important for us to communicate to the Architects?’ highlights ‘pre-project’ services as a
students the very particular nature of Live growth area in the profession. Both public and
Projects at SSoA so that they understand the private sector clients are increasingly aware of
connection between the way we teach Live the valuable role that community engagement
Projects and the ethos of the school. This sets a and analysis, brief development, strategic
context for learning that is joined up across thinking and careful early preparatory work can
modules and courses and which enables play in the development of a successful built
students to develop skills in depth. project. This is an expanding area of work that
requires many of the skills that Live Projects
We identify three types of skills that the students develop and you will be well placed to take
can develop through their involvement in Live advantage of opportunities in this area.”
Projects:
In the section ‘affecting real communities, policy
“Design skills: spatial design, design through and people’ we quote an ex-student who works
construction, writing a report, putting a document with Architecture san Frontières:
together, running participatory events &
workshops, making presentations and “A successful Live Project team enables the
exhibitions for your design studio. client to view their context, both challenges and
opportunities, from a different perspective. The
Management skills: organising a project team, team does this by combining their skills, with the
client communication, programming, resourcing, knowledge and understanding the client brings,
running meetings, managing expectations, to trigger the process of change their client
delivering on time. wants…the big challenge for the group is to
achieve a shift in mind-set from that of being a
Critical skills: understanding your project in the provider to an enabler. - Sarah Ernst (MArch
wider context of architectural education and 2010/11)”
practice, reflecting upon the impact of the
projects on your clients, reflecting upon what you In making explicit the learning opportunities
have learnt and drawing out lessons for your intrinsic to Live Projects we are equipping our
design studio.” students with a clear knowledge of what they
can offer employers and clients when they move

into practice. We are also raising their
awareness of current challenges to the
profession and highlighting opportunities where
their Live Project-based skills can be useful in
meeting these challenges.
Live Projects/Design Studios
Fig. 4. Furnace Park, SSoA Live Project 2013, Fig. 5. SSoA Lunchtime Specials Poster
Reflective Review
The value of Live Projects goes well beyond the
The Live Project culminates in two forms of benefits they bring to our students’ learning
group review. The first is the ‘public because this ongoing debate and reflection is
presentation’, a celebratory event for the whole also incredibly useful for us in our teaching. The
school and clients. Groups are marked feedback we get from the students on the
according to the clarity and professionalism of relationship between Live Projects and the
their presentation and the quality of the design studios requires us to keep questioning
outcomes produced. The second review is the and developing both.
‘reflective review’ where groups meet with their
mentor and another reviewer and interrogate the Distinctions are easily drawn between Live
processes and outcomes of the project, Projects and the design studios; the differing
assessing its challenges, successes and what roles of the mentor/tutor, the differing emphasis
they might have done better. We actively on process/outcome, the degree to which
encourage them to vocalise what they have research content is acknowledged, the balance
learnt from the project experience and in the light between group/individual work. In consideration
of this learning reflect upon wider issues in of Live Projects the benefits are too often
architectural education and practice. perceived as being solely vocational and
professional, whereas the design studio is too
We place a great deal of importance upon the often considered the only place where students
reflective review, giving it 70% of the mark. This can explore a theoretical and disciplinary
weighting signals to the students that critical approach to architecture while honing their
thinking is a valuable skill, equipping them to be design skills.
adaptable and resilient in their ongoing studies
and in practice beyond. As they move quickly All too aware of the tendency to polarise
4
from the Live Project into their design studios discourse on ‘Live Projects’ and ‘Design Studio’
they invariably focus this critical thinking upon we actively seek more creative ways of each
the differences between the two as illustrated in informing the other through exploring potential
this poster for an event organised by students on for crossovers in both methodology and
completion of their Live Projects. pedagogy.
In response to student feedback asking whether specifically prompting further questions about
their design studio experience could be more the role of each.
‘live’, we have for a few years now strengthened
the connection between some design studios Perhaps our attention should turn to the
and ‘live’ situations. Live Projects in Paris, production of a SSoA Design Studio Handbook
Pennine Lancashire and Sheffield have been next…
picked up by design studios and evolved into
theoretical, ambitious, but still extremely Notes
5
relevant, individual thesis projects . We haven’t
1
yet run a year-long Live Project as a design ‘The SSoA Live Projects Handbook’ funded by the
studio where students continue to work on a real HEA through a Teaching Development Grant, due for
completion July 2013 and to be published by The
brief in collaboration with their client, although
University of Sheffield.
we are actively researching possibilities for this
for next year. 2
Quotes are taken from ‘The SSoA Live Projects
Handbook’ unless stated otherwise.
Emphasising the importance on process in the 3
This refers to ‘The Future for Architects?’, a report
assessment of Live Projects has led students
published by RIBA and Building Futures in 2011.
and staff to question the emphasis we place
4
upon outcomes in the design studio, and vice As evidenced in Jeremy Till’s keynote speech to the
versa. This has led to discussions regarding how Architecture ‘Live Projects’ Pedagogy International
Symposium at Oxford Brookes University in 2012
we assess the quality of design work produced
where he delivered a polemic on ‘live’ and ‘dead’
amongst the complexities and compromises of a
projects in schools of architecture.
‘live’ brief and how we assess the effectiveness
5
of processes generated by an individual student This year, for example, the majority of Live Projects
within a hypothetical project. were based in Sheffield and my design studio ‘5 Live’
is developing this situated knowledge and research
further into more ambitious thesis projects still in the
Year on year we are all learning about the
context of the original client briefs.
research potential that Live Projects bring,
especially when coupled with the longer-term
explorations of the design studio. Live Projects
generate knowledge through active and situated
research, this knowledge can then be developed
further in scale and depth in the design studios
and then applied back to later Live Projects
where the cycle starts again. This realisation has
led us to cultivate ongoing relationships with
particular Live Project clients, some of whom are
ex-students who can then communicate the
value of Live Projects to the current cohort.
Conclusion
The SSoA Live Project Handbook is an active

tool in the development of Live Projects at SSoA,
making the learning opportunities and the skills
to be gained explicit to our students but also
triggering further debate between staff and
students on the role and the future of a ‘live’
pedagogy.
This process naturally involves scrutiny of the

design studio, thereby shedding light on the
ways in which the two mechanisms, Live
Projects and Design Studios, are already
developing in response to each other but also
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 REPRESENTATIONAL IMPORTS
sources outside of the profession as a means to
Representational Imports better clarify architectural form and space while

serving to enhance its legibility, complexity, and
Brian M. Kelly, RA precision. This modus operandi has extended
into contemporary practice where we continue to
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA seek inspiration and appropriation testing its
potential through the lens of design. With varying
degrees, techniques have been borrowed from,
for example, cartography, engineering, literature,
Introduction art, industry, military, mathematics, film, music,
space travel, fashion, weaving/quilting, biology,
The Renaissance architect played a significant
and medical imaging.
role in the formation of the architectural
profession, as we know it today. During this A considerable amount of scholarship exists
period in history, the initial separation of the regarding the influences mentioned above
architect from the process of making architecture including film, music, mathematics, and biology.
began. Master craftsman became master
draftsman and the task of the architect moved For the purposes of this argument, the lens will
from building architecture to crafting its be focused specifically on the influence of
representation. Prior to this period, the medical imagery and scientific illustrations on the
representation of architecture would most likely profession of architecture. The exchange of
have been limited to a plan and an elevation, techniques between the architectural and
giving the locational and proportional specifics of medical professions is many-fold and has had
the edifice while the architect addressed the significant influence on the design and
process and details of its construction on-site. As representation of architecture.
the architect progressively withdrew from the
construction site, the need for communication Medical Profession
became ever more paramount. Architects relied
upon projections of future construction as a Concurrent to the development of the architect
means of instruction to builders manipulating proper, many other professions were
and assembling materials on the construction institutionalizing themselves within this new
site. Stan Allen writes: society. The medical profession was attempting
to gain public trust and to better understand how
“By the translation of measure and proportion to diagnose, treat, and improve the human body.
across scale, architectural projections work to This was done partly through a process of
effect transformations of reality at a distance documenting the specimen with illustrations and
from the author. Projections are the architect’s diagrams explaining the complexity and
means to negotiate the gap between ideas and connectivity of the interior of the body. Scientists,
material: a series of evasions, subterfuges, and artists, and scholars were dissecting cadavers
ruses through which the architect manages to while drawing what they saw. These illustrations
transform reality by necessarily indirect means.”1 were highly detailed and, although often
incorrect, served as a means to establishing the
This condition necessitated more sophisticated profession as experts in the treatment of
techniques of projection as the distance from sickness and injury. From this formative phase,
marking to making grew. This transition of ‘doing the medical profession saw the use of the image
it’ to telling someone else ‘how to do it’ called for as a means of communicating the objectivity of
an expansion of communication in ways that its subject – dehumanizing to remove the identity
could imbed more information within a drawing; and personality outside of codified notational
information of materiality, connection, and systems within the margins. Although the
sequence. As a result, architects looked outside illustrations were masterfully crafted and
of the profession to expand this knowledge base rendered, the overlay of explanatory information
and range of technique. extended these representations beyond mere
visual effect to the realm of professional
For the greater part of the post-Renaissance reliability. This progression has seen medical
profession, architects have appropriated imagery be continually developed from the
techniques of documenting and projecting from category of illustration or image (meant for
looking at) to the category of instrument, where modeling” became prevalent. Object snaps were
the medical images of today are essential to the not effective and input of precise data for
diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. processing form was not available to the mass
constituents. Architects were using software
platforms to produce realistic imagery, assisting
in communication of the final construction to
external parties such as clients.
While precision may have been a desire and

was supported in drafting software platforms
such as AutoCAD, most modeling programs
were not equipped to deal with precision in a
manageable way. This was predominantly due to
a lack of demand for the software to do more.
This relegated digital modeling to a category of
luxury and embellishment where the output did
not significantly assist or alter the construction in
any way. As digital modeling entered the
Fig. 1. Rembrandt, The Anatomy of Dr. Tulp, 1632. mainstream of the profession it focused on the
generation of image-based results. The software
There exists a readily apparent lineage of was an endpoint without output beyond the
architectural documentation techniques intended pixels within the image.
for communication of tangible specifics –
dimensional data that relates to the
arrangement, configuration, and manipulation of
material. These are measurable, quantifiable
representations useful in the construction of
architectural form and material. These
documents are most often the type used in a
condition where contractual and legal
implications exist and they can be judged
objectively. They also often operate in the same
manner as the medical image, meant to assess, Fig. 2. Various medical images (CAT and x-ray)
communicate, and be instrumental in
professional processes. Medical to Architectural Exchange
Parallel to this type is a group of image-based In order to establish a context for discussion, the
techniques that are meant to communicate following cross-referential typology positions the
qualitative, perceptual conditions relative to role of various medical imaging types and how
space, place, and essence. These are inherently they have assisted in the development of each
subjective and difficult to quantify. They rely on profession.
perceptual conditions of how people experience
space, which is unique per individual. Many Notational systems
architects would argue these are the
representations that manifest the difference Medical and architectural imagery incorporates
between architecture and mere building in that the use of notational systems that might
they are simultaneously expressing form, augment the pictorial content supplying
material, and idea. information such as context, identity, dimension,
and proportion. Within the medical profession,
Due to the architectural profession’s obsession these systems might identify an adjacent organ,
with the theoretical and aesthetic for a period of register the dimensional data of an abnormal
time in the late 20th century, it moved along a growth, or identify biometric data relative to a
path favoring the visual and resulted in a specific system such as flow rate or pace. This
sacrifice of precision. This movement produced information is highly useful in the documentation
a period of architectural practice where the of sickness or disease. The aim of the notational
rendering was the output, and the term “slop
system is clarity, and remains objective in its cathedral dome to convey simultaneously the
delivery. spatial, proportional, and constructional
properties of the design. This also extended the
Within the architectural profession, this system of architectural dialogue to include interior to
notation might perform similarly in its desire to exterior relationships exploring how the space of
objectively communicate information and do so the interior might relate to a context outside of
with a level of clarity. A primary difference is the itself, and ultimately to the constructional
potential of this system to communicate arrangement of an architectural detail. The cross
procedural instructions outside of the image. The section has been deployed at all scales and has
medical image is typically reflective conveying become irreplaceable as a tool from the design
information that ‘is’, while the architectural image to detailing stages of architectural conception
often is projective, conveying information that and production. In the same way it reveals that
‘could be’. Stan Allen cites philosopher Nelson which is unseen in the human specimen, the
Goodman and his theory of an allographic constructional systems within the architectural
system defining it as one “capable of being poche are brought to the light of day.
reproduced at a distance from the author by
means of notation.”2 He uses the example of the Exploded three-dimensional illustration
musical score as one that, with its system of
notation, can be replicated outside of the original In a similar way to the cross section, the
with a great level of accuracy. The ability to exploded 3d drawing allowed the medical
communicate a material and formal condition in illustrator the ability to give the viewer better
architecture, and its potential to be replicated association of the arrangement of the body in
regardless of place and time is a significant regards to a larger whole. This type primarily
subtext to the charge of architectural developed out of need to communicate the
representation. complexity and overlap of multiple components,
systems, or connections within one ‘body’. Most
This is also important as it relates translation and often this was a three-dimensional drawing,
authorship. The architectural image is authored although it can be used in two-dimensional
and thus, often subjective. Decisions have been orthographic projections as well. These drawings
made in regards to a diverse set of parameters were often focused in on a specific region where
where value is assessed. The medical image is the technique was deployed while the balance of
most often objective communicating the facts of the body remained intact.
its subject without bias or preference. This
objectivity allows the medical image to achieve a The architectural profession has taken this
level of authority where content is valued over technique and elevated its ability to
authorship. communicate both arrangement and
sequencing. While the medical illustration
Cross section typically uses exploded drawings to dissect and
analyze the already conjoined body, the
The cross section was used as a technique to architectural drawing is typically done before
document the arrangement and sequencing of construction and offers instructions for
the human body as scientists and artists began completing the assembly. Often done in a
to better analyze its physiology. Several paraline format, it is also a measurable drawing
illustrations from the Renaissance period show and can assist in the placement of materials in
parts of the human body cleanly sliced in a ways that are objectively instrumental.
lateral or transverse means, thus clarifying the
arrangement of internal systems kept private by Monocular/binocular
the skin. The cross section provides referential
information of body’s associative qualities in Renaissance vision theory declared the ways in
regards to its internal ‘construction’. which the human eye(s) collects and processes
information. These claims were developed
Architects borrowed this technique as dialogue through a series of treatise illustrations showing
progressed regarding the similarity of the body both monocular and binocular conditions with
as it relates to medicine and that of the body of indications of connections to the nervous system
architecture. Architects harvested the potential of and brain. Notable scholars such as Descartes,
the cross section through, for example, a Desargues, and da Vinci created illustrations
stating how the human eye digests its view. photographs of Eduard Muybridge used multiple
Some were obviously more accurate than images sequencing as a way to explain bodily
others, most notably as shown in da Vinci’s movement while the medical profession used it
drawing where the eyes are anatomically part of as a means to diagramming variable change and
the brain. Da Vinci, supporting a monocular interaction within internal bodily systems. This
condition, also drew correlations between sight technique is most dominantly seen in
lines moving through the lens of the eye and radiography technologies such as magnetic
lines of light projecting shadow from a single resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized
point light. And although Descartes’ illustration axial tomography (CAT) scans, where the
shows a pair of eyes looking at an object technology captures a succession of images that
(binocular vision) the claim remains that visual are analyzed both individually and combined to
information is overlaid and processed as one flat reach diagnosis.
image directly behind the eyes which is then
moved to the brain to process content. Many architects, including Morphosis and
Foreign Office Architects (FOA), have used this
Initially, Renaissance perspective theory technique of multiple sequential sectional
proposed no separation between the ways we drawings to explain spatial and formal
see and how we represent what we see – they sequencing in architectural form. This is most
were one in the same. Brunelleschi first often deployed through architects who are
developed the technique of linear perspective by interested in the sequential manipulation of form
employing the tool of the picture plane, which to create a spatial narrative. Farshid Moussavi
became a depository where distortion and of FOA, in her book The Function of Form,
collection of the perceived depth was deposited. discusses a transversal system as one in which
For a period of time this was seen to be a system’s “base unit is not geometrically fixed, it
accurate, truly mimicking the human eye. The is versatile and can vary as it repeats, or even
exposure of linear perspective as an artifice mutate, when hybridized with other base units.”3
surfaced in its inability to accurately represent The documentation of this condition through
stereoscopic vision. This was manifest through multiple sections, possibly animated, becomes
the sacrifice of formal distortion and the deletion irreplaceable to communicate both change and
of one of the viewer’s eyes. At the same time, time.
techniques like anamorphic projection attempted
to accentuate the discontinuity between these Additionally, simulation occurs within medical
two and expose the artifice of perspective by procedures where a doctor’s eyes are not
challenging its ‘laws’. sufficient assistance or where diagnosis might
occur with less invasive means. Additionally, the
Sadly, this is an area in which the exchange medical profession has been fully invested in the
between the two professions has seen little use of digital tool extensions that assist in the
development outside of the margins of movement of the hand or tool in delicate
mainstream practice. Although we may be operative procedures where the slightest
looking at a digital model on the computer movement in the wrong direction can cause
screen, we still look at a perspective view that is extremely detrimental effects. Doctors can now
deposited on a picture plane shown in pixels on perform surgical procedures where the
the monitor. Some development has occurred in surgeon’s hand is digitally navigated once the
regards to virtual reality and stereoscopic tool is calibrated for location. This is a significant
imagery, but this has had little effect on the increase in the ability of an image to go beyond
profession at large. mere communication into the realm of
instrumental action and performance. Similarly,
Animation/simulation/augmented reality Frank Gehry is well known for his involvement in
the formative years of complex digital modeling
While the injection of animation and film into and formal exploration. His use of a digitizing
architecture came primarily from the Hollywood arm to translate points from analog to digital
film industry, the use of a continual progression space was pivotal in the exchange of the
of images through a specimen as a means to physical hand and digital tools. This process
comprehending the ways in which the combined began to actively break down the separation of
systems are arranged and altered in relation to the analog and digital worlds for beneficial use in
form is prevalent in the medical field. The the design and documentation of architecture.
The trajectory has resulted in the development of embracing the use of digital fabrication in a
meaningful images that are data-rich and contain parallel but discrete trajectory. Design fields are
essentials to a communication of designer to challenging the future and limits of fabrication,
software to tool to artifact. imagining the potential of these technologies to
shape material and, in turn, the built
Architects are now beginning to explore environment. Medical professionals are using
appropriating augmented reality where the technology to print living tissue, bones,
occupation and navigation of the space of the organs, and devices to assist natural functions.
city and its built environment can be enhanced One could argue that the use of digital
through the use of data-rich spaces. This will fabrication is, again within the medical field,
eventually allow participants to interact with an being absorbed and deployed to attack real
image that is captured, analyzed, and enriched problems in an objective, effective manner.
with up-to-date live data regarding its identity. While this is also the case within the design
This is poised to have a profound impact on the professions, the ability to speculate on the
design of the built environment from the part to potential of these media to create new types of
the whole. spaces and forms coupled with the lack of it
jeopardizing human life in its initial phases give
X-ray/Radiography/CAT/MRI the design fields more leverage to explore.
Fabricated elements in the medical field have life
Developed and used in the medical profession, depending on them.
x-ray technology allows for non-invasive imaging
of the interior of the human body. This technique From Image to Instrument
uses electromagnetic radiation to penetrate the
body being absorbed in varying degrees based In her article titled “Skinless Architecture”,
on density of material – bone versus tissue Beatriz Colomina discussed how early 20th
density for example. This varying level of century modern architects, such as Mies van der
attenuation results in degrees of contrast Rohe and Le Corbusier, as well as contemporary
producing an image that can show the structure architects, including OMA and FOA, were
and skin of the body. The appeal of this image is inspired by medical imagery and allowed it to
the simultaneous availability of the structural influence their design process. She elaborates
components (bones) existing with ghosted on modern architects’ fascination with medical
envelope of the body (skin). The Computer Axial imagery, namely the x-ray stating:
Tomography (CAT) scan uses x-ray technology,
but does this through a series of x-ray slices “X-ray technology and modern architecture were
through the body. born around the same time and evolved in
parallel. […] While the X-ray exposed the inside
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a of the body to the public eye, the modern
technique that utilizes magnetic fields that building unveiled its interior, subjecting what was
activates cellular structures that are then previously private to public scrutiny.”4
detectable through the imager. This image can
give incredible amounts of information about the This relationship between the two professions
internal structures of the body and be adjusted to resides in a more conceptual nature, drawing
detect fluids, active dyes, and various other parallels based on the idea of the image and
systems. These contrast mediums can increase less on its performative potential. The image and
the legibility of a specific target increasing the its novelty in some fashion encouraged a
potential of the image to assist in diagnosis. divergent viewpoint and architects did what they
While at first this technique may seem quite have done for centuries – appropriated it for use
similar to the x-ray, the MRI extends the imaging within the lens of architecture. They made
potential to capture additional data over time images that looked like x-rays. They removed
such as flow and systems exchange. the skin of architecture to reveal its skeleton.
They even cast shadowy silhouettes of activity
Digital fabrication onto the skin of architecture as a way to elicit the
voyeuristic acts that are ingrained within medical
While a large degree of experimental use of this imagery. Beatriz Colomina contends that
technology finds itself in the architectural and architecture has always followed the medical
design fields, the medical profession is profession.
“Today, there are new instruments of medical talk about the potential effect of an edifice on its
diagnosis, new systems of representation. So if context, or the process in which it is made. The
we want to talk about the state of the art in static image as an endpoint is losing its
building envelopes, we should look to the very influential power in a younger generation that is
latest techniques of imaging the body and ask savvy in the collecting, processing, and
ourselves what effects they may have on the manipulation of data for its use in addressing the
5
way we conceive buildings.” issues that we face today and tomorrow.
She continues stating that the imaging technique Notes

deployed in the medical profession has
significant effects on the design of architecture in
1
the future, possibly seen most in the erosion of Stan Allen, Practice Practice: Architecture,
the building envelope. I would suggest that Technique and Representation (London: Gordon and
perhaps the influence might be also be seen in Breach, 2000), 2.
2
the techniques we use to conceive and Ibid., 33.
communicate these future designs – that the 3
Farshid Moussavi, The Function of Form (New York:
image itself might become more instrumental in
Actar and Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2009),
its conception AND its execution. Colomina’s
28-‐29.
assertion halts at the medical image’s influence
4
as a conceptual device alluding to its ability to Beatriz Colomina, Skinless Architecture. (Weimar:
have a significant effect in its conception and Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Bauhaus-‐Universität
projection. Weimar, 2003), 123.
5
But to what real effect has this history had on our Ibid., 124.
cities and built environment outside of what it
looks like? At a time when the relevance of the
architectural profession is being questioned and
we are being charged with establishing our place
in the future shape of the our cities, do we find
ourselves in a similar place to that of the medical
profession of the Renaissance needing
reestablish our reliability and viability in a
contemporary debate?
The ‘image’ of architecture needs to be

refocused to become more instrumental in
establishing this position. How can the tools we
use, and they way they communicate become
more instrumental in the issues we are facing on
a global scale? Software platforms are no longer
an endpoint, but rather a mediator or pipeline to
output. This is being seen in software that can
communicate outside of itself to other software,
fabrication machines, analysis tools, or web
sources. The forms we are making in the
computer must become more useful as tools
both internal and external to the profession.
Modeling is no longer a term which equates to
scaled projective mockups of scaled material,
but is much more inclusive of modeling
scenarios, contexts, phenomena that can
illustrate, for example, change to a region over
time or better negotiation with ecological
systems already in place. A perspective, for
example, is not enough to communicate the
essence of a project. It should also be able to
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 THE VALUE OF A 6B PENCIL SKETCH
THE VALUE OF A 6B PENCIL Abu Dhabi University

SKETCH Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab
Deborah Bentley & Nihal Al Sabbagh Emirates. The city is smaller than it’s more
famous sister city Dubai, however in the last five
Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. years has become home to many iconic
buildings including the zero carbon city Masdar,
by Foster + Partners. The Department of
Architecture and Interior Design was opened at
the university in 2008, and now teaches across
Abstract two campuses in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. The
university follows an American University
Recently there has been a discussion on the Curriculum with all lessons taught in English.
”1
“Lost Art of Sketching within the architecture
profession, insisting that hand drawing is vital to The Programme
the design process. The left side of the brain
gets a work out every day with computer use,
After establishing the undergraduate courses,
while the right side, the creative side languishes
the Department of Architecture noted that the
like a long forgotten toy. The design studio
students taking the course needed additional
should be “the gym” for the creative mind,
education to boost their graphic and analytical
however if the student is unprepared, and has
skill, so recently added a ‘Graphic Thinking and
not been taught to utilize design tools the
Freehand Sketching’ course as part of the
experience will be wasted. The study compares
foundation year. Older students were allowed to
the different methodologies that the authors
take the course as an elective. English is the
practiced at Abu Dhabi University in the United
second language for the majority of the students,
Arab Emirates, to enhance the student sketching
and people living in the United Arab Emirates, so
and analytical skills for the studio, while using
the ability to communicate through the universal
the same learning objectives. The study utilizes
language of drawing rather than verbally is
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory to analyze 6
crucial .
the success of the different teaching paths.
The university is gender segregated at
Introduction
undergraduate level thus all the students were
female mainly aged between 18 and 25. The
Students worldwide have been discouraged to majority of the students are not Emirati’s. They
continue with Visual Arts in secondary schools are children of established expats from the
2
education since the 1960’s . Academically it is Middle East, East Africa and the Indian Sub
harder to achieve good grades in the visual art Continent and have been born and raised in the
subject and, as it becomes more competitive to Emirates. The students were a mixture of Interior
gain university places, students are discouraged Design Students and Architecture students.
to risk the time and effort on a subjective subject.
In England art education has also been
The Classes
devalued, the government introduced an “
English Baccalaureate” as a performance
indicator in 2010, in which art is excluded. The The learning objectives included being able to
Russell Group, which represents the twenty-four draw architecture and landscape, think
leading research universities in the United graphically and express thoughts through
Kingdom, has stated that art is not a “facilitating sketches, solve problems through abstraction
subject” for university entrance.
3 and analysis, and communicate ideas
graphically.
Teaching in secondary schools in Arab states is
renowned for being teacher driven, where The classes were scheduled to be a teaching
students learn by rote, and memorize facts, studio, with an hour lecture followed by 3 hours
rather than learning through experience and of studio work. The students, regardless of how
activities. Rarely are students being asked to long they had been studying at the university
4
question what they are being told. The majority displayed a variety of drawing ability. The
of the higher learning institutes in the United instructors tested the students without their
Arab Emirates are Western based universities knowledge for their art skills and graded them
that demand analytical and critical thought, were very good- poor.
students are expected to think “out of the box”
and creatively solve problems. Instructor 1 is a British Architect, who has taught
in the UK, and practiced globally. She had
The UAE Ministry of Education is addressing this recently returned to teaching. Instructor 2 is
issue in their secondary schools, however there Middle Eastern and she has worked and taught
is a “time lag” of students that have been taught in the Middle East.
the old fashioned way entering into the higher
education system without critical thinking skills .
5 Styles of Teaching
Class A: (Instructor 1). The class was taught with The instructors agreed to add a final written
formal lectures, class work, homework and four exam to ensure that all the learning objectives
field trips. Videos were not utilized, and there had been accessed, especially focusing on
was an emphasis on drawing from life. 2-d solving problems through abstraction and
architectural graphics were emphasized at the analysis.
beginning of the semester. There was no lecture
given on field trip days. The class had twenty- Spatial Awareness.
five students, the majority being from first and
fourth year. Thirty three percent of the class had The first task was asking the students to draw a
good-very good basic art skills. map of Abu Dhabi for a Japanese student who
did not speak either Arabic or English. Abu
Class B (Instructor 2). This class was taught with Dhabi has many Iconic and unique buildings,
lectures, class work, homework and one field and like New York is laid out on a grid, however
trip. Videos were utilized regularly, and students unlike Tversky’s students at Stanford University,
were allowed to utilize photographs as well as none of the students in the any of the classes
drawing from life. 2-d architectural graphics were 7
could even start to draw a map accurately .
introduced in the middle of the semester. This Women have been found to have less spatial
class had twenty-one students the majority being 8
nd
connotation , but the fact that few of the students
in 2 year. Fifty five percent of the students had drive, and culturally they are not encouraged to
good-very good basic art skills. explore the city may have also been a factor in
our students apparent lack in spatial awareness.
Class C: (Instructor 1). The students were taught
with lectures and class work, however the class Instructor 1 sought to redress this apparent in-
structure was more informal. From the start of balance by adding field trips to her course.
the semester the students discussed amongst
themselves where they would go on a site visit The students were introduced to Kevin Lynch’s
9
that day. This allowed the students to practice Way-finding techniques that allowed them to
what had been taught in the class that day, but think sequentially, relating element to each
also meant that the class acted in a collaborative other. They realized that they did in fact know
manner. At the end of the semester the class their city, however in the students case the
decided to complete an independent project. The landmarks and nodes were shopping malls and
class work concentrated drawing from life first, the Corniche, not iconic buildings.
and then followed up with architectural 2d
graphics. This class had ten students, split
rd st Visualizing in Three Dimensions
between 3 and 1 year. Twenty percent of the
class had good-very good basic art skills.
Architects and Interior Designers unique skill is
to be able to mentally inhabit a 3 d space while
The initial reason why class A and C were taught 10
drawing it in 2d . This technique is usually
differently were logistics and climate. Class C
learned and honed in university. The advent of
was scheduled in the afternoon and evening
3-d Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) programmes
when it is more pleasant to be outdoors.
including Sketch-up has allowed the student to
instantly jump into designing in perspectives and
Assessments axonometric on the computer. One of the issues
that the studio tutors face is that a student will
Homework assignments counted for 30% of the loose the concept of scale and proportion when
final mark. Class A with 25 students, had looking at the screen. The complaints arising
reduced individual tutorial time, therefore the 11
from the design tutor are akin to Kwan’s
instructor allowed students to resubmit 12
research and Lawson’s comments in regarding
homework assignments to encourage CAD, when novice designers with little design
improvement. Class B’s instructor was strict with vocabulary attempt to create 3-d objects at
deadlines and submission of class work. concept stage.
Students had the option of resubmitting once.
Class C did not have office hours as the The architect’s ability to draw a straight line is a
students were in a different city, so they too skill sets that amazes the general public,
could resubmit assignments as many times as however as with any skill it come with practice.
they wished, and be tutored by email. To do this most architects will have penned more
13
than 10,000 hours drafting . Each week the
Final Project and Exam: The final project students were expected to draw lines and
consisted of visiting a building and recording it in squares free hand again and again, along side
3 different ways: perspective, elevation and another activity till they were perfect.
detail. The students were also asked to complete
a zoning diagram and critically analyze good and Our students were set tasks where they would
poor design features of the building and produce practice drawing in proportion, not scale, and in
a schematic drawing how they could improve the 3-d from the outset to boost their confidence in
design. drawing architecture. During the second lesson
the students learned how to draw an
axonometric by hand as shown in Figure 1 from In Gill’s paper “Visualizing Continuity Between 2-
first principals based on drawing a cube using d and 3-d Graphic Representations “ she states
tell tale lines and straight lines. that students may find difficulty in “translating a
static explanation into a dynamic concept”, as
the students have to reconcile the differences
between two different drawing languages; “one
that uses projection systems to represent
qualitative information and the other that uses
the same conceptual elements to communicate
14
and represent quantitative information.”
The authors’ approach was that students have to

be taught how to be able to switch between the
two drafting languages seamlessly as this is how
architects design, and this will be how the
students will have to work when they start in the
design studio and then move on to utilize CAD.
Fig. 1. Practicing architects use many drafting
Axonometric of a Mosque languages at one time, including computer
software. “Sketching plays an important role in
the early conceptual stages of architectural
The students in Class A continued to work on 15
design” , so the issue facing teachers today is
freehand 2d architectural graphics, for another to make sure that the student prefers to use a
week while Classes B, and C were taught one pencil, pen or even a stylus, rather than CAD to
point perspectives including at least one field start designing.
trip. Classes B and C then progressed to 2d
architectural graphics, while class A started on
perspectives. After grounding the students in copying 2-d
architectural graphics and teaching them how to
draw one point perspectives the authors tested
As part of the 2d architectural graphics lesson
Class A students were asked to copy and render
a historic house plan and elevation, however
they had to amend the elevation in line with the
current renovations to the house. Only 8% of
the class submitted the homework on time and
th
all of these students were in the 4 year.
Identical homework was allocated to Class C two
weeks later, after completing the Perspective 1
lesson and having visited other historic buildings
of a similar nature. 70% of the class submitted
their homework on time.
Class B started by looking at existing drawings

of perspectives and then practiced drawing the
plan that it was derived from it. Their instructor
had them repeat the same task numerous times
till they gained the sense of freehand sketching.
The drawings that students in Class B and C
were being asked to complete were more
realistic drawings that the students could
the students with our hypothesis. The students
understand. Around the same time Class A was
were instructed to follow the instructor’s verbal
given a still life to copy in pencil in order to
instructions. They did not know what they were
practice hatching and shading. This homework
being asked to draw. They started by drawing
was the one assignment that was resubmitted
two conjoining squares, and then added another
numerous times, by most of the students
square within one of them. This was the plan of
because they wanted to be good at ‘art’, to the
a teahouse with a garden. They had to add
detriment of the historic house architectural
drawing submission. windows and doors and furniture, in plan. Then
they were asked to transform the plan into a 3d
Drawing architectural plans, sections and perspective as shown in Figure 2. Within 3 hours
elevations is an abstract realization that only the the students had designed a room in 3-d that
educated in our field can understand. It is the they had just sketch-designed in plan. Several of
construction industries hidden language, which it the students then changed the design when they
could be argued, is quickly going to disappear discovered there was something they did not like
with the advent of Building Information Modeling or had not previously considered. The students
(BIM). We cannot separate working in 2-d and 3- were visually thinking, and developing their
d any more. ideas.
Fig.2 Perspectives from a plan lesson Kolb and Kolb’s 2005 revised research on the
LSI indicator suggests that Architects falls into
21
Goldschmidt stated, “A design problem is solved the Assimilator quadrant , however the papers
22
when a satisfactory visual representation of a by Demirbas and Demirkan from Turkey, and
23
drawing concept is produced. To deal pictorial Kvan and Yunyan from Hong Kong both
properties of the design concept, the designer illustrate that architects and designers learning
utilizes visual thinking, which is represented styles can fall in all of the four quadrants. The
through sketching. In serial sketching the students were tested using Kolb’s Learning Style
designer systematically transforms images of the Questionnaire (LSI) 1996 and asked to
entity that is being designed: each sketch preference their abilities most like themselves in
provides feedbacks that informs the generation a row of 4 words, for 9 questions. The students’
16
of subsequent representations” . results were analyzed and mapped onto Kolb’s
LSI Grid (figure 4). The results showed that our
Grading students fell within the four quadrants, and there
was no discernable difference between the
learning styles of the students in each class.
At the end of the semester the two instructors
This result closely follows the other two recent
collated and compared the marks of the three
research papers. It should be noted that in the
classes and realized that after taking into
United Arab Emirates, architecture and interior
consideration the different starting abilities of the
design are seen as female professions. 80% of
students, Class A results did not quite align with
our architecture students and 100% of our
the other two classes.
interior design students are women.
The question was posed “ Were the varied
results due to the students different learning
17
styles , or was it down to the teaching
methodology?”
Analysis
One of the most frequently utilized learning

18
analyses is Kolb’s Learning Theory. Kolb
developed his model through the formulas
19
generated by Dewey and Piaget. Dewey stated
that the learning process integrates experience
with concepts, observations and action while
Piaget viewed it as a four-stage cognitive growth
20
cycle . Kolb has a four-staged cycle that
facilitates learning as shown in (Figure 3)
comprising of Abstract Conceptualization, (AC),
Fig. 4. Students Learning Style Type Grid.
(lectures), Active Experimentation, (AE), (class
work), Concrete Experiences (CE), (site visits)
and Reflective Observation, (RO) (discussion). The lesson plan was then analyzed using Kolb’s
The CE is dialectically opposed to the AC as are Learning Cycle of Concrete Experience,
the AE and the RO. Kolb then suggests four Reflective Observation, Abstract
learning styles that students can be classified as, Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation
by utilizing his learning style indicator. was completed for each lesson, and each class.
Convergers are problem solvers, Divergers
prefer to brainstorm, Assimilators prefer abstract With Class A it was difficult to complete the Kolb
ideas, and Accommodators learn from hands on learning cycle on field trip days due the number
experience. and diversity in skill sets of the students. No
lectures were given on that day, and if a student
missed the lecture class before or the post trip
discussion at the next class after they would not
complete the learning cycle.
The option of resubmitting homework worked for

the students that wished to improve their
drawing skills but for others it meant that they
were completing homework out of sequence with
the lessons.
However the students that attended all the

classes did complete the learning cycle and had
the benefit of visiting and reviewing buildings.
Fig. 3. Kolb’s Learning Cycle.
Class B had fixed deadlines for class work and

homework submissions. The instructor also value too.

checked on their portfolio to ensure that they
were following up in a timely manner. The Notes
students were encouraged to learn to draw at
home through watching videos. The class had 1
Graves, Micheal. "Architecture and the Lost Art of
fewer site visits and reviewed buildings through Drawing” " in The New York Times Sunday Review:
taking photographs independently. Princetom, N.J. 2012. p SR5.
2
Barkan, Manuel. "Visual Arts in Secondary School
With Class C the learning cycle was completed Education” " in School Review The University of
at each lesson apart from one occasion, where Chicago Press: Chicago. 1962.
the reflective observation discussion was held 3
the following week, and all students attended. Russell Group. "A Russell Group Guide to Making
Decisions About Post 16 Education” " in Russell
The students were very inspired by the videos of International Excellence Group The Russell Group:
the First Year students at the Bartlett School of London. 2011.
Architecture in London available on YouTube, 4
and decided to do their own project and each Farour, Muhammad and Muasher, Marwan.
created a personal interactive book about the "Education and Citizenship in the Arab World” " in The
Carnegie Papers Carnegie Endowment for
semester. International Peace: Washington, D.C. 2011.
5
Discussion and Conclusion Kirk, Daniel and Napier, Diane. "The Transformation
of Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates:
Issues, Implications and Intercultural Dimensions
Our experience illustrates that all students, nation-Building, Identity and Citizenship Education” " in
regardless of their learning style and spatial Globalization, Comparative Education and Policy
awareness can be taught to draw and think like a Research Volume 3 Springer Link: U.A.E. 2009. p
designer. The student may not yet have the 131-142.
ability to take a concept, abstract it, and incubate 6
Doll, W.E. " Beyond Methods? Teaching As an
it to come up with a complex design, or have an Aesthetic and Spritful Quest” " in Mirochnic, E.,
extensive design vocabulary, but this can be Sherman, D. C. (Eds.) Passion and Pedagogy
instilled in them through other courses. At Abu Relation, Creation and Transformation in Teaching,
Dhabi University, there is a second foundation Peter Lang: New York. 2002 pp. 127 – 152
course that concentrates on this aspect. 7
Tversky, Barbara., Suwa, Masaki., Agrawala,
Maneesh., Heiser, Julie., Stolte, Chris., Hanrahan,
Through our observations, it appears that Pat., Phan, Doantam., Klingner, Jeff., Daniel, Marie-
students may find it easier to be taught to draw Paule., Lee, Paul. and Haymaker, John. "Sketches for
using perspectives and then abstract the Design and Design of Sketches” " in Stanford
information to draw 2-d architectural drawings, University Stanford: CA, USA. 1985. p 39-86.
rather than learning traditionally to draw 2-d 8
Lawton, Carol. "Handbook of Gender Research in
plans sections and elevations and then trying to Psychology” " in Chapter 16 Springer Link: IN, USA.
create a perspective. These observations need 2010. p 371-341.
to be researched further in a setting with fewer 9
Lynch, Kevin. "The Image of the City” " in
variables to confirm if this is the case. Massachusetts institute of technology and the
President and Fellows of Harvard College Library of
The students continued to practice the art of Congress: USA. 1960. p 46-91.
designing in 3d for another two weeks. The 10
Goldschmidt, G. and Smolkov, M. "Variance in the
students were drawing complicated perspectives Impact of Visual Stimuli on Design Problem-Solving
faster than they could have drawn them in CAD. Performance” " in Concurrent Engineering Approaches
When surveyed at the end of the course 70 for Sustainable Product Development in a Multi-
percent of the students who preferred computers Disciplinary Environemnt Springer: Germany. 2006. p
initially said they would rather sketch a freehand 549-569.
concept because it’s faster for them. The authors 11
Kwon, J., Choi, H., Lee, J. "Free-Hand Stroke Based
intend to continue to track the students’ progress NURBS Surface for Sketching and Deforming 3D
to see if this is the real outcome. Contents” " in PCM Springer Link: Berlin, Heidelberg.
2005. P 315-326.
With the advent of 3-d computer visualization 12
Lawson, B. "How Designers Think- the Design
architects have lost track of the value of the of Process Demystified” " in Elsevier Architetcural Press:
our ability to comprehend social and physical Oxford. 1997.
problems, analyze them and produce a sketch 13
Gladwell, Malcolm . "Outliers” " in The Story of
schematic drawing in a short space of time. Success Allen Lane: London. 2008.
There is a magical quality to this hand drawn
14
skill as can be seen by the publication of Renzo Gill, C. "Visualizing Continuity Between 2d and 3d
Piano’s sketch ‘The Shard’ in London. Sketching Graphic Representations” " in DS 33 Proceedings:
is one of the principal means of recording Delft, Netherlands. 2004. p 569-576.
creativity in an architect and we should be 15
Luen Do, Ellen Yi. "Design Sketches and Sketch
passing on this skill set to the younger Design Tools” " in School of Architecture Elsevier:
generation. It is a unique ability that architects USA. 2005. p 383-405.
need to value, and then the client and others will
16
Goldschmidt, G. "Serial Sketching: Visual Problem
Solving in Designing” " in Cybernetics and System
Taylor and Francis. 1992. p 191-291.
17
Ruslin, Amir and Jelas Zalizan. "Teaching and
Learning Styles in Higher Education Institution: Do
They match?” " in International Conference on Learner
Diversity Elsevier: Selangor, Malaysia. 2010. p 680-
684.
18
Kolb, A. and Kolb, D.A. "Experiential learning theory
Bibliography” " in
http://www.learningfromexperience.com
19
Dewey, J. Oinne Roe. "Art as Experience” " in
Perigee Books New York. 1934.
20
Piaget, J. "Genetic Epistemology” " in Moithsn
oijcneht Oimn Colombia University Press: New York,
London. 1970.
21
Kolb, A. and Kolb, D.A.” The Learning Style
Inventory-Version 3.2 2005 Technical Specifications”
Experience Based Learning Hay Group, p27
22.
Demirbas, O. and Demirkan, H. "Focus on
Architectural design Process Through Learning Styles”
" in Bilkent University Elsevier: Ankara, Turkey. 1985.
22
Kvan, Thomas., Yunyan, Jia. "Students Learning
Styles and their Correlation with Performance in
Architectural Design Studio” " in Department of
Architecture Elsevier: Great Britain. 2005. p 19-34.
23
Kreber, Carolin. "Learning Experientially Through
Case Studies? A Conceptual Analysis” " in Department
of Educational Policy Studies Elsevier: Edmonton,
Canada. 2001. p 223-224.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 TRANSLATIONS FROM DRAWING TO SEEING
“On Exactitude in Science,” is a single
Translations from paragraph parable by Jorge Luis Borges in

which the conflation of a map with the territory it
Drawing to Seeing describes is taken to represent the hubris of the
analytical mode of discovery over knowledge of
Stephen Belton the world gained through direct experience and
perception:
University of Florida
...In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained
such Perfection that the map of a single
Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the
Introduction
map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In
time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer
This paper discusses a methodological
satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a
approach to bridging the gap between analytical
Map of the Empire whose size was that of the
and perceptual approaches in the understanding
rd Empire, and which coincided point for point with
of site and context by 3 -year undergraduate
it. The following Generations, who were not so
architectural design students, using the moment
fond of the Study of Cartography as their
of the site visit as a hinge point between these
Forebears had been, saw that that vast Map was
two modes of thinking, documentation, and
Useless, and not without some Pitilessness was
discovery. If abstraction is a challenge for
it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of
beginning design students in matters of design
Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still
composition, it is perhaps an even greater
today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map,
challenge for them when addressing analytical
inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in all the
thinking applied to the understanding of concrete
Land there is no other Relic of the Disciplines of
sites. For much of the students’ first two years
Geography.
at the University of Florida this challenge is
largely addressed in the studio curriculum by
-J. A. Suárez Miranda, Viajes de varones
giving them conceptual, or rather unvisitable 1
rd prudentes, Libro IV, Cap. XLV, Lérida, 1658
sites. The challenge often in the 3 year is to
balance the appreciation of the site visit as the
In a passage from his book Simulacra and
opportunity to provide new understandings of
Simulation, Jean Baudrillard upends Jorge Luis
site and context with the further development of
Borges’ tale: “The territory no longer precedes
their skills in analysis and abstraction, now
the map, nor survives it” Baudrillard writes,
applied to an urban context.
“Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the
territory – PRECESSION OF SIMULACRA – it is
The approach to site analysis herein described
the map that engenders the territory and if we
and documented came about due to a change in
were to revive the fable today, it would be the
the class schedule necessitating one project
territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across
instead of two for the semester with a site visit in
the map. It is the real, and not the map, whose
the third week. Given the delay of the site visit
vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts
to the beginning of the project, the change
which are no longer those of the Empire, but our
presented an opportunity to rethink how students 2
own.”
understand site and learn larger lessons of
urban context, in this case a medium-scale
The studio pedagogy revisited this historical
Eastern US coastal city – Charleston, South
dialectic in reverse: students began by
Carolina – with a pre-industrial past and complex
analyzing the urban context from their studio
history and development. In previous years the
through research and documentation. The
site visit was made at the very initiation of the
research led to a mapping construct of the
second project, and while a preliminary project
various systems and structures of the urban
gave them an introduction to the concepts and
fabric, heightening their abstraction in order to
ideas of urban issues, students made the trip to
draw out patterns and interrelationships. Only
visit the city and the site of intervention armed
after this process was completed did the
with their camera and sketchbook, but little
students undertake a trip to visit the site itself.
conceptual framework to guide them in their
The direct observation and documentation
understanding of the particular context.
gathered during this visit provided a counterpoint
to the previous larger scale analyses, provoking

alternative mapping techniques that sought to
represent qualities as directly perceived. Rather
than becoming diametrically opposed, the two
approaches became complimentary and
interdependent: in visiting the site and returning
to the studio students were able to better
speculate on the effects of urban systems and
the built environment as they related to
perception; at the same time there was the
opportunity to understand, document, and map
direct observations as part of larger systems of
experience rather than isolated moments.
Mappings / Two-Dimensional
Fig. 1. Two-Dimensional Mapping: Spatial Porosity.
To begin the process students were assigned to Elizabeth Cronin.
produce a first mapping at 1:800 scale or
smaller. In introducing the assignment, space
and edge were presented as underlying
concepts around which students might frame
various questions regarding the urban context.
Beyond these two concepts various “strata” were
presented as suggested entry points for
investigation: scale, datum, module/ repetition,
axes, apertures/thresholds, movement (mode,
speed, trajectory, itinerary, path), views
(orientation, proportion, distance), and
public/private. Presented and discussed in
parallel were a variety of graphic techniques:
processes of abstraction, color, tone, line weight,
transparency, contrast, gradation, framing, and Fig. 2. Two-Dimensional Mapping: Car + Pedestrian.
spatial and physical realignment or juxtaposition Dijana Milenov.
(Fig. 1,2).
Mappings/Two+ Dimensional
The term “diagram” was specifically eschewed in
studio discussions due to both the tremendous With the first mapping complete students were
baggage the word has accumulated over the asked to produce a second mapping at 1:500 or
past decades in architectural theory, and the larger, and to move beyond two dimensions. In
tendency for beginning design students to view addition to the three-dimensional conventions of
the diagram as something definitive, something axonometric and perspective, alternatives of
that explains what is already known. Instead the time, variables, and layered information were
drawing investigations were termed just that – discussed as the possible added dimensional
“investigations” – or alternatively “analytical information. At this stage students were
drawings”. The emphasis was important: encouraged to be more speculative and
students were asked not to prove a particular proactive in their techniques of analysis and
hypothesis about the city but rather to set in representation, recalling Delueze and Guattari’s
motion an investigative process by asking invocation of the power of the map:
questions and developing a graphic vocabulary
for recording observations. Through successive Make a map, not a tracing… What distinguishes
iterations interspersed with individual and group the map from the tracing is that it is entirely
discussions students developed their own oriented toward an experimentation in contact
graphic analysis and language. with the real. The map does not reproduce an
unconscious closed in upon itself; it constructs
the unconscious… The map is open and
connectable in all of its dimensions; it is
detachable, reversible, susceptible to constant Furthermore, the reliance on this means of

modification. It can be torn, reversed, adapted analysis at once extended an understanding of
to any kind of mounting, reworked by an site remotely while furthering the scopic
individual, group, or social formation. It can be hegemony of the visual over other methods of
4
drawn on a wall, conceived of as a work of art, experience.
constructed as a political action or as a
3
meditation (Fig. 3,4).
Fig. 3. 2+ Dimensional Mapping: Street Edges.

Tessira Crawford.
History became an important question in the

development of the analysis. Charleston is the Fig. 4. 2+ Dimensional Mapping: Centripetal Space.
Sasha Leon.
second-oldest city in the southeastern United
States. Because the students generally come
The Territory and Post-Site Visit Perceptual
from geographies – various parts of the state of
Mappings
Florida - with comparatively less history, the
potential was for the students to become
After two weeks of analysis and several
overwhelmed by specific historical facts at the
mappings produced, the trip to visit the site and
expense of systemic observations. In light of
urban context was highly anticipated. If, to
this background, students were neither
continue the metaphor, the map preceded the
encouraged nor dissuaded from investigating
territory, it made the direct experience of the
history at the beginning of the analysis, but left
territory even more highly anticipated. The site
to their own inclinations. A lecture was then
visit itself was interesting for the experience of
given following two weeks of their initial analysis
the uncanny the students experienced: a
and closely before the site visit that provided an
dissonance was expressed by the students
historical overview to the city and its
between what they thought they knew about the
development. The lecture provided confirmation
site and their actual experience of it. Two
for some students’ analyses and new trajectories
principle impressions resonated with the
for others.
students based upon their (pre)conceptions:
one, the dimensions and distances of the urban
As students were asked to investigate at a larger
fabric were smaller; and two, space was more
scale and beyond the plan view they
contiguous and less contained than what they
increasingly came to utilize online maps and the
had ascertained from their mediated
attendant perspectival street views offered
interpretation.
through online databases to verify and make
further inferences of planimetric data. Their
Once arrived at the “territory” with a divergent
reliance on this imaging construct became the
understanding, some students sought alternative
most potent manifestation of the map preceding
ways of documenting the city and its fabric.
the territory, or rather not the map, but a
Interestingly, the work tended towards ever
simulated reality through the perspectival lens of
greater abstraction, but in ways that sought a
the street view locked to the 16:9 aspect ratio of
more direct documentation of experience. Many
the computer screen. The map not only
of the students expressed dissatisfaction with
preceded the territory, but advanced it.
the spatial documentation of the photographic Fig. 6. Perspectival Construct: Street Edge Study.
lens, finding the format suspect. Instead, a Colin Cobia.
number sought documentation in sound,
wanderings, or textures. Nevertheless, their
documentation while at the site in some cases
became highly mediated, relying not only on
photographic recording but video, sound
recording, and GPS mapping which they
developed and analyzed further upon their return
to studio. The work produced a third analysis,
described this time as a perceptual map or
construct (Fig. 5).
Fig. 7. Perspectival Construct: Urban Performance.

Sasha Leon.
Conclusions
The practice of architecture involves the skill and

development of vastly different modes of
thinking and visual production. For the
beginning design student and the instructor
tasked with this pedagogical goal the breadth of
this scope can be rather daunting. The
preceding documentation has been an
Fig. 5. Perceptual Map: Sound Transect. Adam experiment and speculation on the breaking
Mahardy. down and sequencing of such pedagogical goals
as they relate to analytical and perceptual
Prospective/Perspective Constructs understandings and documentations of site and
context into sequential frameworks for students
As a further extension of their observations and to explore.
as a bridge between analytical and prospective
modes of thinking and working, students were By preceding the site visit with extensive
assigned to produce perspectival constructs for analysis through abstract yet directed graphic
the specific site. As a transitional exercise, the techniques, students achieved a much greater
mission of the design intervention was presented yet more nuanced understanding of the site and
to the students – an arts institute – without the its’ context. Nevertheless, no one-to-one
specifics of the program. The intention was for relation between the analytical artifact – or map
students to act upon their analytical and – and the phenomenon – or territory – occurred.
perceptual work before being bombarded by the Rather a slippage occurred between the map
specifics and minutia of program (Fig. 6,7). and the territory that became the basis for
further constructs that in general sought to
document the immediacy of the site and context.
The question arises as to whether an

unmediated experience of site may be
obtainable or even desirable in the current age
of technology. Rather than an either/or
proposition, recent technological developments
suggest the dialectic may resolve itself in the
further collapse of the map into the territory to
the point that the two may soon no longer be
distinguished. Borges and Baudrillard become
simultaneous in how reality is perceived and
5
documented.
Notes
1
Jorge Luis Borges. “On Exactitude in Science” in
Collected Fictions. Viking Penguin: New York, NY.
1998. p. 325. Translated by Andrew Hurley.
2
Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation.
University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI. 1995. p
2. Translated by Sheila Faria Glaser.
3
Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. A Thousand
Plateaus. University of Minnesota Press:
Minneapolis, MN. 1987. p. 12.
4
See Jay, Martin “Scopic Regimes of Modernity” in
Vision and Visuality. Dia Art Foundation: New York,
NY. 1988. p 3-23.
5
See augmented reality projects such as Google
Glass,
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 #TWITTERCRITTER
modules of 2nd and 3rd years on BSC (hons)
#Twittercritter: Extending Architecture and BSc (hons) Architectural

Technology degree provision at a HEI in the
the Reach of Studio North- West of England 2011-2012. The core
Gill Armstrong and Ann Vanner aim of the project was to explore if and to what
extent social media could be fruitfully used as
University of Central Lancashire
part of the review process for student design
projects.
Under this premise, the project sought to
Introduction: Twitter - the Good the Bad and
explore:
the Ambiguous
- the form of a crit held beyond the studio walls,
In response to international drivers around in an online environment
enhancing student experience and also to the - how to engage professional architects and
rapid growth of new technologies (Ritzi and industry professionals in students' learning and
Lingard, 2010) HEIs have increasingly explored development, in particular, how a dialogue could
the potential of emerging social media, be created between undergraduates and
particularly Twitter, a micro-blogging architects in practice. This was in the wider
‘participatory internet technology’ (Veletsianos, context of enhancing employability and
2011: 336). Twitter shows particular promise for professional knowledge.
transforming the way in which scholars teach in - how twitter could be used in this educational
a university environment (Greenhow et al 2009; context i.e. whether the project was used as a
Ebner et al 2011); offering new spaces for one-off event or continuously.
dynamic, creative collaboration between
students-scholar in an instructional setting Twitter was chosen as the platform for enabling
(Selwyn, 2012). potential dialogue and was selected Due to its
public nature. Twitter is an accessible micro-
In contrast experienced practitioners and blogging medium, which is also widely used in
researchers in this area often: underline a need architecture and construction industry. Main
for caution and careful evaluation before industry journals and professional bodies have a
scholars enthusiastically embrace social media strong twitter presence (@BDonline,
(Mazer, 2013); raise questions about whether @ArchitectsJrnal, @RIBAJ, @CIAT,
social media can be genuinely collaborative or @TheCIOB, @RIBA, @angelabradyRIBA).
participatory (Mayer and Puller, 2008) and even Building Design magazine are currently holding
question whether social media is an appropriate their second review of the top 100 architecture
media for formal learning or perhaps instead, a twitter users. This is a sign of a growing online
novelty-technology which is parts of a cycle of community of architects.
‘hype, hope and disappointment’ (Gouseti, It is also supported both synchronous real-time
2010). dialogue as well as allowing participants some
degree of flexibility in how and when responses
were made. This was thought of as having
Overview: the Twitter Critter Project particular importance when encouraging busy
professionals to engage.
What follows reports on a small scale, iterative
project which used Twitter (named After a period of preparation and discussions
‘#TwitterCritter’) in the context of studio design amongst the teaching team, an open invitation
was placed on the HEIs Architectural Studies offered significant unsolicited feedback on their
Unit within the School twitter account. This experience as reviewers. Data gathered during
invited interested Architects and construction this project was subject to retrospective analysis
professionals to identify their interest in engaging using the 'open' methodology suggested by
in critical review of students’ project work (see Charmaz (2003) in his guidance on data
Appendix A: Storify…). Highly structured collection and data analysis and which fits within
direction was given to professionals involved the grounded theory paradigm (Charmaz, 2003:
prior to the events. This necessitated the use of 84). This retrospective analysis was, arguably,
a second social media platform - Tumblr. This the most suitable methodology available
was because twitter's micro-capacity (140 because #TwitterCritter was not designed as a
characters per tweet) did not allow sufficient research project but rather as an exploratory,
guidance. small-scale pedagogic project. Case study
designs are frequently used in research
Initially, the project ran with a single cohort of y2 conducted in educational settings, primarily
BSc (hons) Architectural Technology group of because as Cohen and Manion (2007) note they
willing participants (n=08). The event was also potentially offer detailed evaluation of the case
advertised across the school to encourage other for educational practice/practitioners (68). A
students to use the event as an indirect learning possible limitation of case study methodological,
experience. Whilst a greater number of industry which we acknowledge, is that case studies can
professionals expressed an interest, only a small suffer weaknesses around the extent to which
number participated in this first event (n=3). Over insights from data can be generalised
the course of the academic year, #Twittercritter (Woodside, 2010; Tight. 2010).
ran in five different separate iterations across Future iterations of #TwitterCritter will be
three cohorts of students across two different planned from inception as a research study as
degrees within the overall discipline of well as functioning as a pedagogic project. This
architecture. Over successive iterations, the will enable more intended consideration of
number of participants increased with student methodology and research design.
numbers increasing to 34 and numbers of
professionals engaging reached 6. Ethical Considerations:
Semi structured interviews were conducted with Ethical considerations were a key part of
all student-participants (n=34). Construction #TwitterCritter. Potential student participants
professionals (n=6) involved also offered were invited on the clear understanding that they
significant unsolicited feedback on their could withdraw from the project at any point
experience as reviewers. without having to give a reason and with no
adverse effect whatsoever: their work would be
assessed and reviewed by the traditional means.
Professional participants (architects and
Issues with methodology: construction professionals) too part on exactly
the same, wholly voluntary, basis. Detailed
A case study design was used methodologically guidance emphasising the importance of
in analysis of this small scale, practitioner-based constructive feedback for students was also
project. Semi structured interviews were provided. University staff acted as moderators
conducted with student-participants (n=34). for the #TwitterCritter account and closely
Construction professionals (n=6) involved also monitored tweets. Ethical scrutiny of the project
at proposal/planning stage was also given by the dictatorial style of communication can be
HEI involved at a senior level. Despite all such repeated in industry, having detrimental effects
careful preparation it is important to note that on collaborative working and partnering.
Twitter, as an open and therefore unpredictable (Latham, 1994, Egan, 1998). By extending the
social -media platform, holds inherent ethical reach of studio beyond the classroom walls,
dangers. different communication skills were being
utilised: listening and presenting.
Discussion:
82% of the cohort did not use twitter prior to the
Whilst all iterations were wholly planned and start of #twittercritter. This is contrary to some
monitored, the public nature of twitter as a form perceptions that all young adults regularly use
of social media means that it cannot be wholly social media. One revealing aspect of the project
controlled. Selwyn (2012) makes the point that was that instruction had to be given to enable
use of social media in a formal educational effective access. Very few of the students were
environment carries inherent risks, suggesting aware that twitter could be used as a media for
that social media are socially disruptive learning and research. One positive unforeseen
technologies which prompt a range of deeply outcome of the project was in raising
ideological (rather than purely technical) undergraduates' awareness of twitter as a
questions about the nature of institutionalized valuable resource for accessing online
education. professional communities, technical updates,

architectural news and employment
opportunities. Participants reported that
Could changing the crit environment further #twittercritter enhanced their skills in
develop communication skills for graduates? independent learning. In particular, the dialogue
Once undergraduates had posted their work on with industry professionals offered them positive
twitter, interactions were monitored through the feedback on their own ability to learn
use of searchable hashtags (#twittercritter). It independently. Many of the dialogues were self-
was found that often more than one interaction supporting without input from university tutors.
took place for each tweet sent. By placing the By facilitating crits to exist outside of the
event on a social media platform, assuring the traditional studio, the role of the tutor was de-
students it was voluntary and that they could centered and passed over to a distributed
withdraw at any point, relationships between responsibility back to the student, with input from
student and critter seems to have been the participating professionals. Other accounts
reconfigured. Students were entering freely into have suggested that developing increased self-
dialogues, often lasting much longer than responsibility amongst undergraduates is
anticipated. It should be noted here that all required (Nicol and Pilling, 2000).
dialogues remained positive throughout. Each
Twittercritter iteration lasted over 24 hours, with Conclusion:
one event documenting dialogues lasting over

three days. Boyer and Mitgang (1996) discuss
#Twittercritter offered an insight into how social
communication limitations of traditional crits,
media can extend the reach of studio by
explaining that there can be an adversarial
reformatting key attributes of the design crit.
relationship between student and tutor, which
Social media do not, however offer a uncritical
can negate two way communication. This
panacea for extending and enhancing studio: Arrangements in the UK, London: HMSO
careful planning can only partly mitigate the risks
inherent in using public media. Mayer, A. and Puller, S. ‘The old boy (and girl)
network’, in Journal of Public Economics, 92, 1–
2, pp. 329–47, 2008.
Perhaps the most telling indicator about the
success of the project is disclosed by student Nicol, D. and Pilling, S. (2000) 'Architectural
expectations post-project. Participants (students education and the profession: preparing for the
and professionals) urged further iterations of the future' in Nicol, D. and Pilling, S. Changing
project without prompts from tutors. These are Architectural Education: Towards a New
planned for later in 2013/2014. In a further Professionalism, London: SPON Press
indicator of success there have been signifiant
interest by other HEIs in this project. Subsequent Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2010) Globalizing
iterations will significantly, involve Schools of Education Policy. London: Routledge.
Architecture at multiple HEIs in the UK. It seems
that the critters are multiplying. One of the Selwyn, N. (2012) ‘Social Media in Higher
events was captured in a narrative form using Education’, The Europa World of Learning.
Storify software and was shared publically on London: Routledge, accessed 04.02.2013
twitter. The web link for this resource can be www.worldoflearning.com
found at:
http://storify.com/arch_lintel/twittercritter Tight, M. (2010) ‘The curious case of case study:
a viewpoint’. International Journal of Social
References Research Methods, 13 (4) 329-339.
Boyer, E. and Mitgang, L. (1996) 'Building

Woodside, A.G (2010) Case study Research:
Communities: A New Future For Architectural
Theory, Methods Practice. Bingley: Emerald.
Education.' Princeton NJ; The Carnegie
Foundation for the Enhancement of Teachning.
Cohen, L., L. Manion and Morrison, K. (2007)

Research Methods in Education (Oxon,
Routledge).
Egan, J. (1998) Rethinking Construction: Report

of the Construction Task Force, London: HMSO
Greenhow C., Robelia B. &Hughes J. (2009)

‘Learning, teaching, and scholarship in a digital
age: Web 2.0 and classroom research: what
path should we take now?’ Educational
Researcher 38, 233–245
Latham, Sir M. (1994) Constructing the Team:

Final Report of the Government/ Industry Review
of the Procurement and Contractual
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 THE IMPERATIVE OF THE METASTUDIO
make this a little more intuitive, but the interface

for this process is largely dependent on complex
The Imperative of the nested menus, the mouse to pick commands,
and the keyboard to enter data. In short, to draw,
Metastudio CAD demands a huge amount of non intuitive
input; of clicks and taps.
Adrian Evans
This precision of data input may be necessary
University of Huddersfield and appropriate for the complex matter of putting
together detailed, organised, cross referenced
information that form the instructions and
contract information to build a building. However,
the early stages of design flourish with an
Introduction: Genesis of the Metastudio intuitive, quick and dirty, invisible interface. The
torn cardboard and gluegun model. The sketch
The activities we engage in when we design on the back of an envelope. The availability and
form a broad and disparate palette. We explore, ‘worthlessness’ of quick and dirty media allow
research, make marks, make artefacts, the ‘gesture’, which is so key to initial moves in
experiment, review, discuss, critique, assess. design, to flourish without the inhibition of
The ‘home’ of this palette of activities is ‘the expensive media, a heavy investment of time, or
studio’; a combination of laboratory, library, a complex process of input. The quick and dirty
workshop, forum, exhibition. methods are long evolved, established as the
‘fittest’ methods for capturing those fragile,
It became apparent a few years ago, that the ephemeral first ideas.
nature of the central plank of the studio dialogue,
the tutorial, was changing. Students were Initial Development and the Current
bringing a wider range of media to the tutorial to Metastudio
represent their developing ideas. Importantly, It seemed to me that touch screen tablet
this included, increasingly, electronic media, computers had the potential to electronically
typically ‘live’ CAD models on laptops. record the making of the intuitive freehand marks
As a tutor, the importance of the internet in which are central to early stage design
tutorials, to share material, images, precedent development and feedback dialogue. There
with students, was also increasing. The tutorial would probably be a way of combining images
was enriched. But it was harder to organise, and generated by CAD and the internet, and it was
particularly it was harder to record, to provide a important to be able to store and share the
cohesive log of the dialogue, the feedback, the records from the tutorial in a simple and
references. Much of the feedback in tutorial is accessible manner.
drawn, and drawn freehand, in quick and dirty,
1
intuitive mode. Microsoft Onenote ,a hugely undersold
It became apparent that it would be very helpful programme, forms part of the Microsoft Office
to find a way of pulling this melee of feedback suite. It allows this to be done very
and discussion together, of organising it for straightforwardly. It also allows a great deal more
students and staff, but retaining the immediacy to happen.
of the quick and dirty drawn discussion and
freehand feedback. A typical tutorial, using Onenote, (Fig.1) uses
freehand drawing and notes, made on a touch
The ‘Metastudio’ refers to the consideration of screen computer. Written input can remain
the design studio existing beyond the traditional drawn, it can be ‘handwriting recognised’ or
physical space where we draw and review keyboard typed. It can include images from any
design projects. In particular, it is exploring the source; student work on USB stick, email,
extent to which the studio can exist images from the internet, photographs of student
electronically, without physical artefacts or drawings and models taken during the tutorial.
space. The Metastudio is developing use of a The images can be drawn over and annotated.
range of readily available tools which aims to Video and sound recordings can be embedded.
increase the utility and richness of the studio Files from any other software can be embedded,
experience, and respond to the current changes or ‘printed out’ in Onenote, and marked up.
and pressures on resources. It is a ‘beyond
studio’; and in part, at least, a studio about
studio.
Much computer input, notably CAD, is

parametric by nature: we need to input data to
satisfy parameters. To draw a line we need to let
the software know the co-ordinates of the start
and end of the line, or the start point, the angle
and length of the line. The use of ‘snaps’ and
other ‘intelligent’ aspects of a CAD software can
development and scholarship as their projects

evolve.
The studio encompasses many different
activities in enabling design. As well as tutorial,
review of work, drawing and making, discussion
and workshops are activities which are important
parts of the studio at Huddersfield.
3
Metastudio has also explored using ISSUU , an
online publication website, as the mechanism for
enabling electronic reviews, with good success.
ISSUU has a simple, free registration process,
and allows substantial numbers and size of
documents to be published. It can convert a wide
range of file formats to the ISSUU publication
Fig.1 Onenote screenshot format.
The online presentation of the uploaded
This can all be done using the intuitive input of documents is that of books on a bookshelf.
stylus on screen, the same ‘act’ as pen on Accessing a publication gives the experience of
paper. turning a page, and the use of the mouse to pan
The metaphor Onenote uses for its organisation and zoom, and thumbnails make navigation very
is also highly familiar. A ‘shelf’ of notebooks sits easy. The real power is in the tagging facility.
down the left hand edge of the screen; ‘section’ The students are given a ‘secret’ tag, designed
tabs, or dividers can be inserted into the not to be publicly searchable, to tag their
notebook, and each section can be filled with presentations with. Once the presentations are
any number of infinitely long (and wide) pages. uploaded with this tag, it can be used in a simple
A notebook is made for each year cohort, and a search to pull up all the publications for a
section for each student in that cohort. Each particular submission. (Fig.2) Variations on a tag
tutorial (or review, or any other sort of can be used to group students in a tutorial
discussion.) forms a new (infinitely long and group. Accessing a students home page will
wide) page in that students section. show all the presentations that have been
These documents can get large very quickly, but published, and in effect, creates an online
the onenote search function is powerful, and will academic portfolio. The presentations can be
identify a search term whether typed, remaining downloaded, providing a submission record.
hand written, or even appearing in an inserted They can also be printed if required.
jpeg image. This method of presentation, using a projector,
It is also very helpful to make folders and reduces the wallspace needed for a
sections that put all the material for a project or presentation, allows a presentation to be viewed
module close to hand, (briefs, reading list, (or assessed) in many different contexts.
module specifications…) a successful net The ISSUU presentations can easily be dropped
reduction in clicks. into Onenote for feedback, using the pdf
Onenote also allows use of templates. Any page downloads or the ‘print screen’ button.
can be saved as a template, and this allows very
easy use of matrices for feedback and
assessment.
Onenote is designed to be used with
2
Sharepoint . A Onenote folder exists as multiple
copies of the same document: A copy sits on
each tablet computer we are using, and also on
the Sharepoint server. All the tablets
communicate with the server via the network
(wired or wireless) every few minutes. An update
which occurs on a tablet (a new tutorial session,
say) is recognised, and the copy on the
Sharepoint server is updated. A few minutes
later, the updated copy on the server is
recognised, and the copies on all the other
tablets are brought up to date, so the new record Fig.2 Issuu screenshot
from my tutorial with a student is seamlessly
4
made available on the other computers. If next We have experimented with Skype tutorials.
week, the same student has a tutorial with a Skype provides an informal interface for video
different member of staff, the full record of conversation. It enables a remote ‘face to face’
previous tutorials is available to that discussion. discussion, and allows a student to share
Students can be emailed pdf copies of each drawings and models. (Fig.3) ‘Print Screen’
tutorial, or they can be given (read only) access again allows views of the drawing or model to be
to the tutorial feedback log. captured and dropped into Onenote for
Future developments to explore include student annotation and feedback. Using the ‘share
use of Onenote to build up portfolios of screen’ function with Skype works very well with
a Onenote tutorial. If the student has uploaded a 2d freehand drawing and writing. We can also
presentation to ISSUU, the tutor can bring the include 3d CAD work, embed walk throughs, and
presentation up, and ‘share screen’ with the share through use of a projector, or SKYPE, the
student as they discuss the work. Again, ‘print 3d experience, but the CAD interfaces don’t
screen’ can be used to drop the presentation into come close to the intuitive connection we get
Onenote, and the student can see drawn and with the rough sketch model. SketchUp goes a
written feedback live. This will work both ways, little way down the road, and is readily available,
for a full dialogue about the work, and the but there is a long way to go. If we look further
student, whether sitting around the table or in ahead, there is much exciting primary
another building or another country even, can development happening, notably by the Tangible
6
use ‘Print Screen’ to obtain an instant copy of Media Group at MIT. (T)ether, deFORM, and
the tutorial feedback. BEYOND: Collapsible Tools and Gestures for
Computational Design, notable among many
relevant projects, all explore exciting strands of
intuitive 3d computer input both haptic and
gestural input. (T)ether provides an intuitive
building environment. Ipads provide a ‘window’
into a virtual environment, which exists in ‘real’
space. The user wears a glove which the
software recognizes, and responds to simple
glove gestures to allow the generation and
manipulation of virtual objects. The environment
is co-operative, allowing more than one user to
manipulate the same model. There are also
many projects (outside MIT) which explore a
‘virtual clay’ interface, with varying degrees of
fluency, and many versions of the haptic glove,
Fig.3 Skype screenshot or data glove. These projects, however, are
mostly at an early stage/proof of concept, and
To date, then, these are the first steps in finding have considerable distance to go before they
the Metastudio. Onenote provides a very flexible approach existing as consumer useable tools.
way of bringing together a wide range of media, The data gloves, where commercially available,
and can be used in many aspects of the are very ‘high end.’ In short, they are not readily
electronic studio. In conjunction with the internet, available, not easily accessible to the Metastudio
the web publication site ISSUU, and video at present.
telecoms provided by SKYPE, it is showing very There are, however, some very intuitive 3d
significant potential for providing much of the interfaces currently with millions of users in
infrastructure of the Metastudio. The interface is gaming communities. There is a huge
fluent and intuitive. However, at present, there advantage working with open source software,
are two areas which are lacking in the prototype (or very low cost sofware) and peer production,
Metastudio. in a large community of enthusiasts.
The hugely popular Minecraft offers a graphically
Next Steps very crude, but very intuitive way of building
The tools explored so far have limited potential extraordinary structures and environments; a
for discussion between studio members in kind of sandbox Sim City.
remote locations. It may be that social media Potentially more useful to the Metastudio is
7
has a role to play here, but the lack of Garry’s Mod . This uses the ‘Source’ software
searchable archives and the single track developer’s kit, used to construct components,
presentation are significant obstacles with characters and environments for many of the
Facebook. The industry standard forum games from the Valve software house. Gary’s
5
software, php Bulletin Board , however, provides Mod is a sandbox game; an open ended, no
a clear and easy if slightly clunky interface, objective environment. Although the player has
which would allow students to post threads access to weaponry, characters and a revolting
within peer groups (members of a cohort, or herd of MOBS, the emphasis is very much on
module) and invite discussion of general or building. The game offers the player simple
specific points about their projects, or precedent, graphic menus of components, often reusing
or other issues. It would allow discussion ‘props’ from other Source based Valve games.
between cohorts or even courses, and would The menu components include a range of
provide a searchable archive for reference. building materials. The components have a
The second area that needs development is highly realistic graphic appearance, but also
‘making’ within the Metastudio – the intuitive have physical properties, like mass, fragility
electronic 3d interface. (they will break under stress) acoustic properties
and flexibility. When a second component is
The 3d Intuitive Interface and Garry’s Mod placed roughly against a first, the first will move,
At present, we can record 2d images of intuitive, or flex.
quick and dirty, cardboard and glue gun 3d There are two key tools in Gary’s mod; the
models, and annotate the images with intuitive physics gun, which, allows you to lift, move and
rotate components in the virtual space in front of operative experience, through a Head Up
you; and a welding tool, which fixes components Display, as demonstrated by (t)ether, but utilizing
in space, or to each other. the sort of component based sandbox offered by
The menu items, and these two simple tools Garry’s mod, and perhaps a plastic sculptural
allow the player to build model buildings very ‘virtual clay’ is enormously exciting.
readily and intuitively. (Fig. 4) Development of the Garry’s Mod ‘physics’ could
The game is also multiplayer, allowing also provide a powerful intuitive learning
collaborative building. experience for structures, and even
In the near future, I intend to set up student environmental science. It is feasible to consider
projects using Garry’s Mod, to explore the that virtual buildings assembled from
potential for a virtual equivalent of the corrugated components with a full suite of physical
cardboard and gluegun physical model. properties could become self testing.
The possibility for developing an Architectural
mod to Garry’s mod is a strong one, to make the If, for a moment, we also consider the threshold
interface more architectural, to look at being able which 3d printing is in the process of crossing,
to bring ‘real’ sites into the software, and the possibilities are truly ‘game changing.’ 3d
particularly looking at the potential of the physics printing is no longer about small plastic
of the components, which may help students components made in what looks like a hi tech
explore structural principles intuitively, for microwave. The architectural press is peppered
example. with mooted projects for printed buildings.
Currently existing commercially, or at least
prototype, are printers that can print in a huge
range of materials: many metals including
stainless steel and gold, and glass; polyjet
printers which can print multiple materials at
once; printing precision which can virtually
eliminate not only the need for machining, but
assembly too; and, significantly for architects, a
printer exists that can print, in reconstituted
stone, objects up to 6 metres by 6 metres by 6
metres.
A world where the architect can wave their arms

around in virtual space, create architecture
which tests itself, and then, instead of being built
by a contractor following a weighty set of
contract documents, can then be printed full size
by a building printer without the need for
Fig. 5 Garry’s Mod screenshot drawings, may not be too far away.
Conclusion and Future Development
To date, the Metastudio has had success in
establishing viable use of tools which can start to
respond to the changing nature of the studio.
The use of OneNote with Sharepoint and touch
screen computers has streamlined the recording
and management of the enriched tutorial
dialogue. Sharing, presenting and reviewing
work by adding projectors, ISSUU, and Skype,
starts to free elements of the studio from location
and physical space.
A programme of discussion, interview and
questionnaire with students and staff will
continue to evaluate application of the tools.
The next areas of development will be a trial of
the use of a forum, and experimenting with
Garry’s Mod, through short workshops and day
designs, to see if it has potential as a virtual,
quick, dirty and intuitive interface.
Future developments in interface may be very
significant, particularly in the area of intuitive 3d
virtual modeling. The (t)ether project at MIT,
providing an intuitive, co-operative virtual
building experience in real space, looks
particularly promising, especially if it were
combined with a Head Up Display, like Google
8
Glass . The prospect of an immersive co-
Notes
1
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/onenote/
2
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-
gb/pages/default.aspx?CR_CC=200157895&CR_CC=
200157895&WT.srch=1
3
http://issuu.com/
4
http://www.skype.com/en/
5
https://www.phpbb.com/
6
http://tangible.media.mit.edu/
7
http://garrysmod.com/
8
http://www.google.com/glass/start/
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 RETHINKING ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION: A FOCUS ON CREATIVITY
act of creation does not occur as a fixed point in

Rethinking Architectural time, but that it manifests as a process that
education: a focus on extends through time, varying in duration (Ford
and Harris 1992). Rogers (1995) defines an
creativity innovation as ‘an idea, practice, or object that is
perceived as new by an individual or other unit of
Bhzad Sidawi adoption’. Diffusion is ‘the process by which an
innovation is communicated through certain
University of Dammam, College of
channels over time among the members of a
Architecture and Planning
social system’ (Rogers 1995). Mumford (2003)
defines creativity as the production of novel,
useful products. In the fields of art and literature,
originality is considered to be a sufficient
Introduction
condition for creativity, unlike other fields where
The design studio is the core of architectural both originality and appropriateness are
education. Through the design studio, students necessary (Amabile, 1998, Sullivan and Harper
learn how to be gain creative skills and produce 2009). So can we define creative architectural
innovative and creative solutions and this would projects as the production of novel, useful and
be considered as the real value of design original architectural projects? Such definition
studio's education. The design studio's education may look too general. Within the design studio
helps students to use their creative problem- context, the definition of creative architectural
solving approach and skills during the projects would be constrained by or feature the
professional practice to develop creative design goals/objectives and prospected outcomes of the
outcomes. This research aim is to find out the design studio course. Gero and Maher (1993)
relation between the creative design outcome argue that groundbreaking designs are those
and the design studio settings represented by which possess innovative and creative qualities
the design studio culture, the teaching style and and provide solutions that were previously
student's communications. Also, whether this unknown (innovative design) or subsequently
relation is changing over a period of time and produce entirely new products (creative design).
why.
The problem of the present design studio's
Keywords: creativity, innovative design teaching from creativity's perspective
products, design negotiations, creative
A close examination of the reviewed literature
environment.
(Lawson 1979, Seidel 1994, Salamah 1995,
The literature review Sachs 1999, Davis, Kogan & Soliman 1999,
AIAS 2003, Salamah 2005: Schon 1980s,
Definitions of creativity Coffield et al 2004, Ostwald and Williams
2008a& 2008b, Salamah 2009, Williams et al
The term ‘creativity’ term is used to reflect a 2010) from the creativity perspective shows that
psychological view of creativity on a personal in many cases, students were able to produce
level, in contrast to ‘innovation’ as used in the new architectural solutions but not creative ones.
world of business on an organisational level It also demonstrates that the aim of various
(Sternberg and Lubart 1999). Innovation architectural pedagogies and architectural
traditionally focused on products and processes. programmes is to produce new design solutions
Hargreaves (2000) suggests that ‘you can have but not necessarily creative solutions.
creativity without innovation, but you cannot Consequently, the literature did not state how to
have innovation without creativity’. Warr (2007) define the creativity scope for architectural
examines the work of a number of researchers projects, nor how to implement creativity
such as Ford and Harris (1992), Starko (1995), dimensions into the architectural design
Eisenberger and Cameron (1998) and Sternberg curriculum and pedagogy. There is an emphasis
(2001), and points out that there was no definite on frequent and democratic social
consensus regarding how creativity is defined. communications. Nevertheless, the literature did
He finds out that the creative process looks not specify how to communicate, from whom
different to different researchers. There is useful information can be obtained, rules of
general agreement among researchers that the communications and how to filter and
incorporate the outcome of the communications The research methodology and tools
in the design scheme to enable the production of
creative projects. Previous research suggests Two surveys have been conducted in 2009 and
that the design studio’s culture restricts the 2012 at the University of Dammam, college of
intelligent students from using their knowledge Architecture and they inspected possible factors
and this would have a negative impact on their that impact innovation. It showed that the
design communications and progress. The present design studio suffers from persistent and
literature did not test how far design ongoing issues that affect the student's ability to
communications and activities of students; and produce creative design outcome. Two
instructors’ support and style of teaching would questionnaire surveys were carried out in 2009
affect the production of creative design projects. and 2012 to find out the level of general
agreement on the raised issues. Each of these
The literature motivates students to explore questionnaire surveys was followed by
design from unorthodox perspectives and the interviews. The interviews' aim is to explore the
inspection of possible solutions. This would help hidden causes behind the issues that were
to produce new design products but not considered significant by the respondents, to
necessarily creative products. The previous validate the questionnaire surveys results, and to
research indicates the design studio’s tools, clarify ambiguous points. The use of mixed
systems and climate that would initiate creativity. methods i.e. quantitative and qualitative
However, these issues are not specified in the research methods is because the findings that
architectural curriculum thus would be relate to each method will be used to
considered as a hidden curriculum. complement one another and to enhance
theoretical or substantive completeness (Morse
The research objectives 1991, Ausubel 1968). The sample was chosen
from the third to fifth year’s students. This is
The literature review above has briefly because that the first and second academic
highlighted the degree of complexity and years provide basic design architectural
characteristics of the creative design approach, education and are shared between the College’s
communications and environment. Meanwhile, it departments. There is no female students at the
revealed a number of potential research gaps College of Architecture. In 2009, one hundred
that should be bridged to help developing better and ninety four male students from third to fifth
understanding of the relationship between year were targeted with a questionnaire that
creativity and design studio’s education. This asks about tools, systems and conditions that
research explores one of these potential areas of help in producing innovative products. Forty
research. It investigates the significance of eight replied, which constitutes 25% of the total
impact of social factors on creativity in the number of third to fifth year students from
design studios of Years 3, 4 & 5, College of Building technology and Architecture
Architecture, UoD. Therefore, the objectives of departments. In 2012, another questionnaire
the research were set as the following: survey was carried out on the male students
from third to fifth year. Also, forty eight replied,
§ to explore the social hindrances and drivers for which constitutes 46% of the total number of
innovation in the design studio; and how third to fifth year students from Architectural
students’ creativity would be affected by these department. Two software programs were used
forces; to analyse the quantitative data; SPSS 16 and
AMOS. The following statistical tools were used
§ to compare between the communications to analyse the data: Mean calculation,
routes and techniques that students use to get percentage, and path co-efficient. Consequently,
innovative ideas under certain design studio third, fourth and fifth year’s students were invited
settings, as found by 2009 and 2012 surveys; for an interview. Nine students from the fifth year
accepted the invitation in 2009 and seven
§ to compare between the level of hindrances, students from the third, fourth and fifth year
drivers for innovation in the design studio as accepted the invitation in 2012. These were
revealed by 2009 and 2012 surveys; interviewed using unstructured interviews. The
interview’s data were analysed by classifying it
§ to make recommendations into categories and making comparisons using
cross-referencing (i.e. similarities and non
similarities) which allow interpretation and § misapplication of one of the design

judgment. requirements;
Discussion of the results § low level of knowledge regarding one of the

design aspects;
The field survey, supported by the research
findings that found by researchers from various § hesitation to take the next step;
schools of Architecture around the world (see for
instance Austerlitz and Sachs 2006, Seidel § lack of the design skills required to design the
1994, Salamah 1995, Sachs 1999, Davis, Kogan project; and
and Soliman 1999, Sachs 1999, Salamah 2005:
Schon 1980s, Williams et al 2010, Sidawi 2012 a § following a wrong route during the design
and b, 2011), has shown main problematic areas process.
that explain why the interaction between the
student and instructor is not functioning and Whereas in 2012, there is lack of support mostly
design negotiations do not reach a fruitful regarding the following issues (arranged from
innovative result, despite the frequent less supported to more supported):
communications between them. This would
affect negatively the student’s ability to produce § lack of the design skills required to design the
innovative design products. These areas are: project;
The design studio culture § misjudgement about the resulted design of one
of project aspects;
The study found a number of negative design
studio culture aspects. The design studio § following a wrong route during the design
environment suffers from: process;
a) the dominance of the instructor’s opinion and § confusion over the context of the prospected
design approach’s style (Seidel 1994 and design outcome/result; and
Salamah 1995). The dominance is increasing
from 2009 to 2012. § hesitation to take the next step.
b) autocracy at the design studio and College It can be noticed that there are three overlapped
levels (Davis, Kogan and Soliman 1999, cumbersome situations (i.e. in 2009 and 2012
Salamah 2005: Schon 1980s). This is surveys) that the student experience and these
decreasing from 2009 to 2012 are:
c) lack of support from other departments’ § Lack of the design skills required to design the
instructors and students. This is decreasing from project;
2009 to 2012;
§ following a wrong route during the design
d) the student’s poor levels of trust in the process; and
instructor’s design ability; and
§ Hesitation to take the next step.
e) some intimidating practices. This frequency of
these practices is decreasing from 2009 to 2012. The interviews showed that teaching of
architectural design is affected by the lack of
The pedagogy of architectural design tutors’:
There is relatively more encouragement from a) support, whether in the type of support, the
tutors to students to produce creative design timing or the clarity (Seidel 1994).
work from 2009-2012. However, in 2009 there is
lack of support mostly regarding the following b) performance and clear ways of instruction
issues (arranged from less supported to more (ibid);
supported):
c) commitment and knowledge (ibid); and
d) flexible thinking and understanding of own ideas on students but introduce them to
creativity (Williams et al 2010). students and encourage students to explore how
the potential solutions can be integrated with the
The design studio communications students’ design ideas. Instructors’
communications and interactive skills and their
The path co-efficient results showed a number of ability to perceive students’ creative abilities and
potential factors that affect the student’s needs are essential. These can be improved
creativity. The study found that the frequency of through training courses. The College should set
the student’s communications with his and apply professional conduct mechanisms that
colleagues from the same year, higher year, his regulate the relationship between the instructor
instructors affect the student’s ability to and student and provide the democratic
undertake certain design tasks such as to environment that is necessary for initiating
comprehend quickly the design problem, carry innovation.
out a quick analysis of the design problem and
set quick conceptual design solutions. There is Students should be encouraged to communicate
lack of communication with other departments’ frequently with their instructors and other
instructors and students and this study sees that students and explore the potentiality of various
the communications is affected negatively by the design solutions. Keeping a record of the design
design studio's culture and style of teaching. negotiations and innovative design precedents
would be useful as it may help the student to
Conclusion and recommendations track the progress of the design, explore new
links between design negotiations at the various
The research findings suggest that the design stages of design, and the design problem.
studio environment is very slowly improving over Students should frequently discuss design ideas
the past three years whereas it should be with colleagues and instructors as this would
radically enhanced to initiate students' creativity substantially improve their design abilities.
and help them producing creative projects. The Students should be open-minded and ‘think
study recommends that corrective measures outside of the box’, have a flexible attitude and
should be undertaken on a number of fronts. negotiate design ideas. This would help them to
find new design variables as the expert
Instructors should be sensitive to the indications designers do, and this subsequently produces
of students’ needs so they provide them with entirely new products. However, frequent
their support at the right time. Clear instructions communications and learning from experts
and objectives should be set at the start of the would not achieve their objectives without
course. These should be linked to the creativity providing solid foundations and changing the
dimensions. However, this requires deeper way of teaching instruction and methodology.
understanding of creativity dimensions in the The teaching instruction in the design studio and
architectural design and how to assess them. assessment of design projects should not focus
So, instructors should clearly define the creativity on form issues and to follow solution-based
criteria for the given project and how it should be approach to find new solutions for design
applied. Also, they should set a clear roadmap problems as it does nowadays at the College of
on how to apply it during the design project, and Architecture, (University..) or elsewhere. The
thus discuss it with students to reach a common focus should be on adopting innovative-based
understanding of the application of the creativity design approach and how to find innovative
dimensions in the design project. Shared solutions rather than merely new solutions to the
understanding regarding creativity is also design problems. Future research should
required with the jurors. Students should be explore how to apply creativity dimensions in
taught how to look for innovative architecture design projects at different levels of architectural
solutions, explore the innovative aspects of each education. With regard to the design process
case study, experiment with possible links and innovation, it would be useful to find out how
between innovative design aspects/solutions and to devise the design process/decision-making
each dimension of the design problem, in line process to initiate innovation.
with expert designers’ usual practice. Also, they
should experiment with possible links with the
ideas that they have obtained from the design
negotiations. Instructors should not impose their
14
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9.pdf
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 TOWARDS A TEACHING COMMONS FOR ARCHITECTURE
and in a way that is open to scrutiny. This paper

TOWARDS A TEACHING
draws on these ideals to propose a range of ways
COMMONS FOR in which a teaching commons might provide a
framework for underpinning, celebrating, critiquing
ARCHITECTURE: THE
and disseminating the scholarship of architectural
SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING education, including proposals to share learning
materials and content, establish teaching
AND LEARNING IN
exchanges, observations and studio swaps, and co-
ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION operate to jointly fund exhibitions, overseas
lecturers, etc. These proposals are explored to
prompt debate around the potential role of the new
Peter Holgate, Northumbria University Association of Architectural Educators.
Rachel Sara, University of the West of
England Scholarship Reconsidered
Abstract In architectural education Ernest Boyer is known as

Ernest Boyer (1928-1995) distinguished himself as one of the co-authors of Building Community: A
a key figure in American higher education, serving New Future for Architecture Education and Practice
as the United States Commissioner of Education (1996), a report which suggested some key
and as President of the Carnegie Foundation for the recommendations for the pedagogy and the focus
Advancement of Teaching. His publications and of architecture programmes. Based on data
initiatives concerned educational issues spanning gathered from fifteen schools of architecture in the
from pre-school to postgraduate education. This USA, this work simultaneously celebrated many of
paper considers two of his chief publications in the educational strategies within these programmes
tandem; Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the while reflecting on numerous conflicts within
Professoriate (1990) evaluated the relative architectural tuition, many of which remain
weightings of research, teaching and service within problematic to the present day. Building Community
the academy, and recommended a rebalancing of proposed a number of key goals for architectural
their relative values. This publication influenced the education in order to benefit students, academics,
development of the Scholarship of Teaching and practitioners and the wider society. These goals, in
Learning (SoTL), a movement which espoused short, were set as:
Boyer’s views. Together with Lee Mitgang, Boyer
also published Building Community: A New Future Goal 1: An Enriched Mission; whereby students
for Architecture Education and Practice (1996) are empowered with a duty to promote a wider
which simultaneously praised and challenged the agenda of beauty in support of an enriched
various normative practices of American schools of environment and society
architecture. This paper seeks to establish cross- Goal 2: Diversity with Dignity; promoting inclusive,
over between these works, and to evaluate the varied, accessible and creative educational
potential of SoTL, and the concept of the teaching environments
commons as an approach to scholarship with Goal 3: Standards without Standardization;
resonance in architectural education. maintaining diversity in provision and offer while
maintaining rigorous, fair and open professional
These respective publications suggest an approach and educational standards
to scholarship that emphasises the sharing of Goal 4: A Connected Curriculum; fusing the
teaching and learning inquiries in a public domain, scholarships of teaching, inquiry and engagement
with other communities within and outside the developed through and for a wider academic
academy and the profession community. Third, the ‘Scholarship of Application’
Goal 5: A Climate for Learning; providing learning revitalised the idea of academic ‘service’ as pursuits
communities which are supportive, transparent and informing practice and providing social and
sharing of common purposes between students, economic benefits; this function had previously
academics, support staff and professionals informed strong traditions of extending knowledge
Goal 6: A Unified Profession; seeking closer beyond the campus (Glassick et.al, 1997, p.viii).
collaboration and understanding between the However, ‘service’ had subsequently been usurped
academy and the architectural profession by undervalued yet essential administrative duties.
Goal 7: Service to the Nation; establishing an Boyer noted that aspects of architectural design fell
ethical and socially activist agenda in architectural within this scholarship, where ‘theory and practice
education for the betterment of society and the vitally interact, and one renews the other.’ (Boyer,
environment. (Boyer & Mitgang, 1996) 1990, p.23). Finally, the ‘Scholarship of Teaching’
sought to recognize and reward efforts to establish
‘Building Community’ could be considered as a critical and rigorous cultures of teaching and
discipline focused development of themes that student support within the academy for the
emerged from Boyer’s previous publication enrichment of learning communities; ‘Without the
‘Scholarship Reconsidered’, a report produced for teaching function, the continuity of knowledge will
the Carnegie Foundation on the health of Higher be broken and the store of human knowledge
Education in the USA at the end of the 1980’s. This dangerously diminished.’ (ibid, p.24)
report challenged the commonly accepted hierarchy
of research, teaching and service in the academy. Boyer’s report sought to assign equivalent value to
Boyer argued that this narrow view of scholarship each scholarship, viewing all four as being
maintained a divisive and false separation between interlinked and essential to the continued health of
‘researching the new’ and ‘teaching old knowledge’, the academy. It also stressed the importance of
manifesting itself in: developing communities of learning wherein
1) a disproportionate bias in the academy towards students, academics and administration shared
the tenure and promotion of research staff, common goals and values.
2) an assumption that teaching excellence requires
minimal effort and support, and is subordinate to ‘Scholarship Assessed’ and the
research,
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
3) a consequent depletion and lack of regard for the
undergraduate’s learning and social experience.
Scholarship Reconsidered prompted the publication
To challenge this culture, Boyer called for the idea
of Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the
of ‘Scholarship’ to be broadened beyond the narrow
Professoriate, which (in response to academic
limits of singular disciplinary research. Instead,
demand) proposed practical and common values
Boyer proposed that four distinctive forms of
for assessing the quality of the four scholarships: ‘in
‘scholarship’ should be acknowledged, developed
order to recognize discovery, integration,
and rewarded within the academy.
application and teaching as legitimate forms of
scholarship, the academy must evaluate them by a
First, Boyer assigned ‘traditional’ inquiry and
set of standards that capture and acknowledge
research to the ‘Scholarship of Discovery’. Second,
what they share as scholarly acts.’ (Glassick et. al.,
he proposed that the ‘Scholarship of Integration’
1997, p. 22). Through a systematic evaluation of
should incorporate academic work that is
institutional criteria for the assessment of service,
multidisciplinary, contextual, adventurous, and
teaching and research, this report distilled a set of Learning’, disseminate a variety of outputs.
six qualitative standards by which ‘scholarship’ However, some issues continue to act as obstacles
could be identified and assessed: ‘clear goals’, to a consensual understanding of the movement:
‘adequate preparation’, ‘appropriate methods’, For example, whether a clearer distinction between
‘significant results’, ‘effective presentation’, and outputs of the Scholarship of Teaching and
‘reflective critique’. Learning and ‘standard’ educational research can
be made remains highly contested. Commentators
Both Scholarship Reconsidered and Scholarship continue to seek a definitive interpretation of SoTL’s
Assessed had been commissioned by the Carnegie unique qualities to elucidate what separates the two
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This modes of inquiry, (Kreber, 2002a,b). Such
organisation employed the recommendations of consensual categorisation of SoTL could both
these reports in the formation of the Carnegie clarify its distinct operations, and define its scholarly
Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and outputs. Without this agreement, it is questionable
Learning (CASTL), which in turn informed the whether the practice and outputs of SOTL could be
‘Scholarship of Teaching and Learning’ movement successfully aligned with assessment criteria for
(SoTL). In short, SoTL was established to teaching and learning recognition and awards (e.g.
encourage critically reflective inquiry into teaching in the form of National or University Teaching
methods and theories that promoted successful Fellowships, or for advanced fellowships of the
student learning. One of the guiding principles of Higher Education Academy). As the lack of
the SoTL movement was a shift from ‘teaching’ to recognition and reward for teaching excellence
‘learning’, placing the student at the centre of her underscored Boyer’s (1990) foundational writings,
own education. By contrast, many schools of explicit criteria of such scholarly excellence should
architecture continue to support a traditional exhibit commonality. Similarly, the time required for
master-apprentice model of education, with accruing the procedural and declarative knowledge
‘knowledge as power’ underpinning the pedagogical expected of an exemplary ‘scholarship of teaching’
approach (Parnell & Sara, 2007; Webster, 2007). is heavily dependent upon University support. It is
Another key driver of SoTL is the importance of the therefore of value that the attributes of Scholarship
open dissemination of scholarly inquiry, making of Teaching and Learning can also be successfully
pedagogic research findings public and open to mapped against the Research Excellence
scrutiny. As such, it can be viewed as outward- Framework, in order to be accepted as legitimate
facing, collaborative, and supportive of dialogue, in scholarship by vice-chancellors and university
contrast with normative educational research managers.
(Kreber, 2002a)
More positively, the trans-disciplinary and inclusive
Some Issues with the Scholarship of Teaching ethos of SOTL, with an avowed aim of ‘clear goals
and Learning and ‘effective presentation’, demands an
accessibility and clarity of writing which transcends
SoTL has subsequently developed into a movement the hegemonic writing styles of individual, narrowly
of considerable popularity and influence for many focused subject disciplines. With respect to the self-
educationalists. The International Society for the referential languages often employed in
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) architectural practice and education, a commitment
was established in 2004, and several journals, to clarity that transcends ‘protectionist’ boundaries
notably the ‘Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching would clearly contribute to the discipline’s wider
and Learning’ (JoSOTL) and the ‘International engagement with the academy as a whole.
Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Similarly, The best intentions of SOTL to engender
a public, collective and collaborative scholarship still educational inquiriy as community property. This
appear to be hampered by entrenched beliefs, principle has been extended by Huber and
policies, and behaviour: ‘Those without sole Hutchings into the conceptualization of the
publications are not rewarded for their team-playing ‘Teaching Commons’, an academic space whereby
skills’ (Blaxter et al. 1998a:144, in Murray, 2005) ‘communities of educators committed to
pedagogical inquiry and innovation come together
Finally, Shulman (2011) asserts that a central tenet to exchange ideas about teaching and learning and
of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is the use them to meet the challenges of educating
dissemination of scholarly, peer-reviewed research students for personal, professional, and civic life.’
in order to stand critical comparison with academic (Huber & Hutchings, 2005, p.x). This paper argues
research in other fields. ‘An act of intelligence or of that perhaps, of all the transferable lessons from
artistic creation becomes scholarship when it the SoTL movement, the extended concept of the
possesses at least three attributes: it becomes ‘Teaching Commons’ has potentially the greatest
public; it becomes an object of critical review and value for architectural education.
evaluation by members of one’s community; and
members of one’s community begin to use, build The charge of architecture programmes being
upon, and develop those acts of mind and creation.’ expensive and resource-demanding is common
(Shulman, 2009). However perhaps not all held by university managers. Studio spaces have
scholarship needs to be undertaken at this level. become a battleground of institutions, being
The multi-dimensional model of SoTL proposed by regarded as another example of ‘special pleading’
Trigwell et al. (2000), encompasses opportunities on behalf of the discipline. Architectural and design
for a variety of levels of engagement with teaching is often seen as fundamentally at odds
pedagogy, ranging from informal peer discussions with the structures of modularisation and
to the dissemination of rigorously argued research timetabling. However, a counter argument based
enquiries. Encouragement of the wider discussion upon educational research from the wider academy,
of individuals’ pedagogical interests may lead to could effectively reframe the studio as a unique,
collaborative research of publishable quality, with authentic and invaluable educational learning
the result of a truly collegiate ‘community of resource, underpinned by a host of validated
practice’ being established within and between pedagogical theories, including, ‘constructive
schools and institutions. However, whether such alignment’ (Biggs & Tan, 2009); subject specific
democratic and inclusive practices could be ‘ways of teaching and practicing’ (Entwistle, 2009);
squared with Badley’s assertion that ‘scholarship’ discipline-specific pedagogical content knowledge
must adhere to the aforementioned standards of (Shulman, 1986); and communities of design
clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate practice (Wenger, 1999), amongst others. In spite
methods, significant results, effective presentation, of the competitive pressures for individual Schools
and reflective critique (Badley, 2003) is of Architecture to sell themselves as uniquely
questionable, as it has already been asserted that capable of delivering a high quality curriculum, it
research into teaching and learning often suffers would hopefully be agreed that collective
from a lack of methodological rigour (Murray, 2005), architectural education constitutes a ‘Scholarship of
a charge that also has equivalent resonance for Integration’ that supports valuable, relevant and
architectural research (Macmillan, 2010). ‘good’ work (Gardner et.al., 2001), and thereby
The Teaching Commons and Architectural develops key academic, professional and
Education transferrable skills in its scholars. As such, the
authors assert that schools will not lose their
The development of SoTL has championed distinctive values and philosophies by sharing
common knowledge, skills, resources and expertise challenges which threaten their continued survival.
with one another. If Boyer and Mitgang’s goals of ‘a The introduction and increase of tuition fees has put
unified profession’ and ‘service to the nation’ are to financial sustainability at the centre of the
be achieved, closer collaboration towards common conversation. Where institutional management has
goals is clearly desirable, not least to show embraced the quasi-privatisation of universities,
solidarity in espousing the potential of architectural students have been re-assigned as ‘customers’
education. An ‘Architectural Teaching Commons’ rather than ‘scholars’. ‘Policy makers, legislators,
could share the means to drive economies of time, and the media increasingly view higher education
money and effort through open and constructive not as an investment in the collective public good
collaboration. Possible examples of collaborative but as a private benefit to individuals.’ (Glassick
ventures (many already being practised through et.al., 1997, p.6) Concurrently, research funding is
local agreements) could include: being targeted by overseas competitors, alternative
• the sharing of learning materials, forms of educational provision are being offered by
particularly copyright free images, ‘old’ and ‘for-profit’ organizations, and the market for higher
common knowledge; education is becoming simultaneously
• reciprocal arrangements for staff internationalised and virtual. In sum, the traditional
exchanges for studio reviews, peer University model and its certainties are set on
observation, critical friendship, and sharing shifting ground. As a community of architectural
of good practice; educators, it is incumbent on us to develop a
• the shared use of studios as bases for shared and inclusive narrative of our disciplinary
national field study trips; values in order to sustain and ensure the survival of
• the co-operative funding of visiting the profession we love.
speakers from overseas, teaching and

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AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DEMYSTIFYING THE SCI-‐ARC DESIGN STUDIO: 1972 -‐ 1976

intended for both students and faculty. The intent

Demystifying the SCI-Arc Design was that motivated designers would channel
curiosity and creative energy into their work. The
Studio: 1972-1976 instructors at SCI-Arc were considered advanced
Benjamin J Smith learners. Initially, formal evaluations and grades
were not issued and there was not a rubric for
Taubman College of Architecture and passing and failing. If a student did not meet
Urban Planning, University of Michigan expectations they were encouraged to re-work
their projects until deemed satisfactory, or begin
an alternative proposal with new direction from
the instructor.
From its inception SCI-Arc projected an outsider
mentality compared to other models of Kappe was fired from Cal Poly on April 14, 1972
architectural education. Its democratic after a disagreement with the Dean of the
pedagogical structure was comparable to other College of Environmental Design, William Dale.
democratic educational models that existed, Cal Poly President Robert Kramer’s position was
such as Summerhill in nearby Suffolk. Within documented in an April 26, 1972 LA Times
four years of its founding, however, SCI-Arc was article that stated, Kramer “removed Kappe
accredited by the National Architectural because the architect was not on campus every
Accrediting Board (NAAB). This paper explores day, because he changed the architecture
events in SCI-Arc’s history leading to its curriculum ‘without the appropriate approvals,’
accreditation. This is critical for two reasons: 1) because he switched class hours without
to understand and map the history of SCI-Arc’s permission and for other violations of
design pedagogy from its founding in 1972 to its i
‘administrative policies and procedures.’”
accreditation in 1976, and 2) to understand the According to a recent correspondence with
disciplinary climate of architecture during the mid Kappe, he stated that he “established both the
1970s that viewed the SCI-Arc curriculum as curriculum [and] schedule and hired all of the
meeting the educational standards of a licensed faculty. [They] lived within the prescribed
architect. The ambition of this research is to curriculum but were also doing experimental
construct a historical narrative and analyze the ii
projects.” Although Kappe was to be removed
stakes and affirmations of the work done by SCI- as chair, he could maintain a tenured faculty
Arc faculty and students during this time. It will position at Cal Poly. Students and faculty of the
make use of a number of primary sources, architecture department felt differently than the
including personal interviews, e-mail administration and formed an official student-
correspondence, the Getty Research Institute faculty fact-finding committee regarding his
Archive, the SCI-Arc Media Archive, and articles demotion. The committee’s report stated that
from the Los Angeles Times. “there was no substance to the charges against
Kappe and that Kramer was ‘unjustified’ in
dismissing him. . . and said he had ‘the
unanimous support of his faculty and the near
The myth surrounding the Southern California unanimous support of students in his
Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is that it is a department.”
iii
school born out of rebellion to the mainstream, a

fringe institution that has always been resistant As things soured at Cal Poly, Kappe, along with
to the status quo. SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 a group of faculty and a number of students
by Ray Kappe and officially opened on October began informal meetings during the spring
2, less than six months after Kappe was fired semester in 1972. They would meet outside of
from his position as chair of the architecture the architecture school at the experimental
department at California State Polytechnic rhombic dodecahedron structure that was built
University Pomona (Cal Poly). When Kappe left on campus by freshman architecture students.
Cal Poly, six other faculty joined him, including According to a discussion with Kappe, after
Shelly Kappe, Ahde Lahti, Thom Mayne, Bill several meetings it was suggested that the
Simonian, Glenn Small, and James Stafford. iv
group should start their own school. In an
They became the core SCI-Arc faculty in the interview with Thom Mayne, principal of
1970s. Kappe’s pedagogical ambition was a Morphosis Architects, he remembered that “it
principle of self-direction, a characteristic was definitely Ray’s idea. . . . I remember he
brought us up to his house and we talked about were fabricating desks for all of the incoming
it and he [said], ‘let’s start our own school.’ And I students or constructing a platform adjacent to
[said], ‘OK.’ I look back now and it was the metal shop, extending the workspace for
v
beautifully naive.” Mayne went on to recall that students and faculty. The value in an exercise
the initial ambitions were vague, except that the like this is the bond that can develop between
school was meant to be experimental, diverse, classmates meeting each other through shared
vi
and minimally administered. It was estimated by work and also the bond students develop with
Kappe that 150 of the 350 students at Cal Poly their school’s physical character.
would leave with them to start SCI-Arc. By the
middle of the summer in 1972 only 50 students In 1972, students and faculty developed two
had officially enrolled. A group of these students studio spaces. One was the rhombic
travelled around California to announce the dodecahedron structure, also called, Community
beginning of a new architecture school. These ’72, that had been started at Cal Poly by Glenn
efforts convinced 25 additional students from the Small and was transported to SCI-Arc’s Santa
United States and Canada to join them. The Monica campus where it was completed as a
vii
inaugural class began with 75 students. school activity. The first SCI-Arc application
announced that this project was “the opportunity
In the summer of 1972 SCI-Arc leased its first to live in prefabricated stacking modules and
building in an industrial neighborhood in Santa study the behavioral, social, and political
x
Monica, California. Initially, there were multiple patterns.” Another studio space was proposed
strategies of education being offered. These and developed by Thom Mayne and Ray Kappe
included a more structured curriculum that with advanced students Dean Nota and John
comprised different studio and seminar options. Souza—a cubicle system that incorporated
It was also possible for students to structure drafting tables, lighting, and graphics. Due to the
his/her academic schedule on their own, with school being funded by tuition, which was $500
advisement from a mentor. The SCI-Arc per semester, each student paid and additional
philosophy, as stated in the 1973-74 school $50 for the materials to construct and own their
catalog, offered “the opportunity for studio space inside the school. Kappe’s idea to
individualized instruction and guidance and a implement student ownership of the studio space
maximum degree of flexibility to respond to the was meant to foster greater care for the school’s
continually changing need within the school spaces, offer a lesson in the economics of
viii
environment.” The inherent freedom in the owning and selling, and contribute to a students’
xi
SCI-Arc curriculum allowed students to take understanding of making things. Eventually this
multiple studio courses during the same system created a problem due to incoming
semester. For example, one studio would focus students feeling that spaces were being inflated
on more traditional architectural issues and the beyond their value. The school bought back the
other on planning and urban design issues. This spaces and distributed them equitably among
xii
was something Kappe had experienced and the students.
enjoyed when he was a student at Berkeley in
the 1940s. Although this was offered, students A freshman studio project from 1974, Urban
rarely took on this kind of schedule and the Odyssey, taught by Ahde Lahti and Glenn Small,
ix
option was eventually dropped. received coverage from the LA Times, and
multiple local television stations in Los Angeles.
The first design project for the school was an Urban Odyssey was an experimental studio for
adaptive reuse project of the building that they SCI-Arc students to design and build tent
moved into. Faculty and students worked structures that were transported by bicycle
together to retrofit the existing structure to throughout Los Angeles and used for urban
accommodate studio spaces, seminar rooms, camping. The students slept in their tents for one
and a large open space for all school meetings. week, which, when assembled, could be
This is not dissimilar from my first week at SCI- connected together in a network. The ambitions
Arc. I was a graduate student there from 2004 to of the studio were to reduce the consumption of
2007. In my first week at the downtown campus, fossil fuels and to discover new ways to engage
each incoming studio began a project with their with the city. One of the greatest challenges the
classmates, directed by an advanced graduate students faced was acquiring the necessary
student to help with a building project or an permits or agreements from city officials to use
addition for the school. Two projects in fall 2004 urban fabric in this way.
The anchor of KCAL-TV’s, The Morning Show, community became as much a design issue as
interviewed SCI-Arc faculty member, Ahde Lahti issues that occurred in the school’s studios. In
about the project, asking him, “What do you 1975 an all school meeting was held in regard to
hope to accomplish [with] your first year the formation of a student organization that
architectural students? Do you hope to make would disseminate school information and attend
them more sensitive to their environments, or faculty meetings. SCI-Arc student, Jerry
what is your hope?” [Ahde replied] that was the Compton, who was the student member of the
main idea, because when the student first comes AIA, led the meeting.
in all he wants to do is become an architect, he
wants to build houses and we've been trying to Some faculty felt that students should not be
get them to realize what they are doing to the allowed to attend all of the faculty meetings due
landscape, what they are doing to their own to the sensitive nature of some of the
environments, and what they are doing to their conversations, which dealt with problems of
own enclosures. . . . We didn't want them to build some of the students. Student, Arnie Stalk, did
a “house,” right from the beginning. So, this was not disagree with that point of view but contested
just a way to experience and not commit yourself that when there are changes in classes,
to designing, let’s say, real houses, right seminars, design hours, and tuition fees
xiii
away.” students need to be part of that decision making
process. Stalk stated, “if the student body, let's
This project excited SCI-Arc students. Freshman say there [are] 200 people, and there is a
student Bambi Moise recalled on The Morning designated faculty and an administration, and
Show that students helped complete the projects the administration is raising issues and the
xiv
as deadlines for the excursion neared. students have no feedback, no response to
Students would also visit classmates and camp those issues at all, or have no feelings, and
with them at their sites that included Equitable these things are just passed along with the
Plaza and the back lot of KABC-TV's, A.M. Los thought that ‘well, they know what they're doing,
Angeles. A.M. Los Angeles interviewed Glenn we'll let them do it.’ I just think that is a really
xix
Small and several students on April 4, 1974. poor situation.”
Other coverage of the Urban Odyssey included
Glenn Small’s interview by Dick Garton on Bill Simonian and Ray Kappe countered this
KTLA-TV’s, Evening News. Small explained to point by asserting the values of mutual trust and
Garton, “We are trying to get the students raised concern regarding the seeming paranoia,
involved in exploring the city in a new way. . . respectively. Another member of the meeting
exploring the buildings as they ride by and then described that what was clear to him was that
setting up [their tents] in a very urban area and the social structure of the SCI-Arc community
xv
visiting all of the things around that area.” needed to be designed. This design included
aspects of control. He went on to say, “if it's
SCI-Arc’s catalog described the school as an done well, soundly, then it will solve a whole lot
xvi
“institution in process.” This quality asserts that of problems, and if it isn't, then it's going to
there is value in discovery and experimentation create a whole lot of problems. The time has to
and within the processes of work, rather than be taken to do that, and interestingly [it] is a very
having an a priori solution to something. This important part of our project, a design project for
malleability within the SCI-Arc pedagogy was the school and very related to accreditation,
intended to provide effective teaching methods because it has to do with the individual's relation
to develop an architect’s creativity, intuition, and to the community. If we can't get our community
design purpose, what Kappe called “the freedom together then we can't relate to the outside
xvii
to become.” Kappe felt that the attribute of an community. So, I think we should take the time
xx
institution in process was important to maintain to do that.”
throughout his directorship. He believed that this
gave SCI-ARC a unique identity within The meeting appeared difficult. It raised the
architectural culture—one that he continues to issue of autonomy and freedom while still being
xviii
find important for SCI-Arc today. accountable to the character of a group. The
struggle was how to accommodate the unique
SCI-Arc had a goal that students and faculty personalities of individuals, allowing them to
shared responsibilities in fostering the quality of flourish, and still offer a productive learning
the academic community. This quality of environment that could make decisions and
move forward as an institution. The atmosphere accreditation fit with the ambitions of SCI-Arc.
suggested a lesson that echoed the school Glassman was not convinced that “the ultimate
philosophies, which posited SCI-Arc as an goal is to get accredited. . . . It seems to me that
environment of self-study and self-evaluation there are some other issues that may preclude
xxi
founded on the principle of flexibility. the notion of our fitting in to some of the
parameters of being accredited that may
One way SCI-Arc was moving forward was override the importance of getting accredited at
through accreditation. To become a licensed this point. I think we should look at it after we
architect in the United States it is almost always have more or less defined what we want to be,
the case that an architect must receive a what our program should be, how are we going
professional education from a school that is to satisfy our needs and goals as a group.”xxvii
accredited by NAAB. SCI-Arc began the
accreditation process in 1975. As stated on the The issue that Glassman raised is important
NAAB website, “NAAB is the sole agency relative to some of the initial tenets of the school.
authorized to accredit US professional degree The inception of SCI-Arc, only three years prior
xxii
programs in architecture.” NAAB was founded to this meeting, was to get out from underneath
in 1940 through a joint venture between the bureaucratic structures that seemed to get in the
American Collegiate Schools of Architecture way of experimental and creative architectural
(ACSA), the American Institute of Architects practices. In my correspondence with Ray
(AIA), and the National Council of Architectural Kappe he elaborated on this point. He stated, “I
Registration Boards (NCARB) to help school’s had no intention for [SCI-Arc] to be rebellious. I
develop individualized curriculums that sought to just wanted SCI-Arc to become the best school it
xxiii
meet the specific needs of the schools. could be. The rebellious attitude came from Eric
xxviii
[Owen Moss] and Thom [Mayne] later.” This
In 1940, the founding mission of NAAB was: distinction of Kappe’s, that SCI-Arc was not
“The . . . societies creating this accrediting rebellious, is also supported by his comment to
board, here record their intent not to create me that SCI-Arc did not take a position relative
conditions, nor to have conditions created, that to architectural movements. He claimed that,
will tend toward standardization of educational “basically we were a school producing modern
philosophies or practices, but rather to create architecture. I don’t like the term Modernism. In
xxix
and maintain conditions that will encourage the fact I am not fond of any ism.” In November
development of practices suited to the conditions 1975 NAAB visited SCI-Arc and gave the school
xxx
which are special to the individual school. The a favorable review in December. Kappe
accrediting board must be guided by this believed NAAB was “impressed by the work that
xxiv
intent.” Today this process has become more was coming out of the studios. [Saying that] It
xxxi
formal. In 2004, NAAB outlined “Thirteen was primarily mainstream;” although, what is
Conditions of Accreditation,” which included wide mainstream for Ray Kappe, perhaps, is still
ranging topics that included program response to highly innovative, experimental, and ambitious.
the NAAB perspectives, studio culture, human,
physical, information and financial resources, This investigation into SCI-Arc’s formative years
administrative and curriculum structures, and remains incomplete. There are numerous
xxv
student performance criteria. students and faculty that still need to be
consulted. There are countless projects to
Ray Kappe opened a conversation on the analyze and stories to tell. The ambition of this
subject of accreditation at SCI-Arc in the fall of paper is to extract some of the potent moments
1975 to discuss this process with students and of the school’s turbulent beginnings. The
faculty. Kappe stated that what NAAB had given suggestion here is that it is not entirely accurate
the school to consider was an “ultimate to believe that SCI-Arc originated as a
education development and plan, which states progressive outlier. Indeed, it may be more
where you are, where you intend to go and how, precise to view SCI-Arc as an institution of
xxvi
and do you have the resources to do it.” Most progress—an institution that sought to continue
students and faculty felt that becoming architecture’s development toward advanced
accredited was the proper direction for the architectural practice.
school to take, however SCI-Arc faculty member,
Terry Glassman, offered his opinion that the Notes
school needed to evaluate how well
xix Stephen Albert, Roland Coate, Jerry Compton, Shelly

i William Trombley, “Cal Poly Ousts Architectural Kappe, Bill Simonian, Glen Small and Arnie Stalk. September
Chairman,” L.A. Times, April 26, 1972, B1. 07, 1975. "Accreditation Meeting Roland Coate Stephen
Albert." In SCI-‐Arc Media Archive. Southern California
ii Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith, March Institute of Architecture. Accessed February 27,
1, 2013. 2013, http://sma.sciarc.edu/video/accreditation-‐meeting-‐
roland-‐coate-‐stephen-‐albert/.
iii William Trombley, “Dismissal of Cal Poly Pomona
Architect Hit: Student-‐Faculty Group Charges President xx Ibid.
Erred in Ouster of Department Head,” L.A. Times, May 29,
1972, C8. xxi SCI-‐Arc Catalog, from Ray Kappe’s archive at the Getty
Research Institute (unpublished document, 1973).
iv Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith,
March 1, 2013. xxii NAAB, “About NAAB,” accessed March 1, 2013,
http://www.naab.org/about/
v Thom Mayne, interview by Benjamin J Smith, July 25,
2012. xxiii NAAB, “NAAB History,” accessed March 1, 2013,
http://www.naab.org/about/naab_history.aspx

xxiv NAAB, “NAAB Mission,” accessed March 1, 2013,
vii Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith, http://www.naab.org/about/naabmission.aspx
March 1, 2013.
xxv The National Architecture Accrediting Board, “NAAB
viii SCI-‐Arc Catalog, from Ray Kappe’s archive at the Getty Conditions for Accreditation: For Professional Degree
Research Institute (unpublished document, 1973). Programs in Architecture,” 2004 Edition.
ix Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith, xxvi Stephen Albert, Roland Coate, Jerry Compton, Shelly
March 1, 2013. Kappe, Bill Simonian, Glen Small and Arnie Stalk. September
07, 1975. "Accreditation Meeting Roland Coate Stephen
x SCI-‐Arc Application, from Ray Kappe’s archive at the Getty Albert." In SCI-‐Arc Media Archive. Southern California
Research Institute (unpublished document, 1972). Institute of Architecture. Accessed February 27,
2013, http://sma.sciarc.edu/video/accreditation-‐meeting-‐
xi Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith, roland-‐coate-‐stephen-‐albert/.
March 1, 2013.
xxvii Ibid.
xii Ray Kappe, “SCI-‐Arc History” (unpublished manuscript,
December 19, 2012), Microsoft Word File. xxviii Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith,
March 1, 2013.
xiii Ibid.
xxix Ibid.
xiv Dick Garton, Ahde Lahti, Bambi Moise, Daniel Moran,
Shiela Pinsky and Glen Small. April 04, 1974. "Urban xxx Stephen Albert, Roland Coate, Jerry Compton, Shelly
Odyssey On Local TV Part One." In SCI-‐Arc Media Kappe, Bill Simonian, Glen Small and Arnie Stalk. September
Archive. Southern California Institute of Architecture. 07, 1975. "Accreditation Meeting Roland Coate Stephen
Accessed February 27, 2013, Albert." In SCI-‐Arc Media Archive. Southern California
http://sma.sciarc.edu/video/sci-‐arc-‐ubran-‐odyssey-‐one-‐of-‐ Institute of Architecture. Accessed February 27,
two/. 2013, http://sma.sciarc.edu/video/accreditation-‐meeting-‐
roland-‐coate-‐stephen-‐albert/.
xv Ibid.
xxxi Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith,
xvi SCI-‐Arc Catalog, from Ray Kappe’s archive at the Getty March 1, 2013.
Research Institute (unpublished document, 1973).
xvii Ray Kappe, correspondence with Benjamin J Smith,

March 1, 2013.
xviii Ibid.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 HOW DESIGN REVIEWS WORK IN ARCHITECTURE AND FINE ART: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
end of the module, following a presentation of
How Design Reviews the students’ work by their tutor.
work in Architecture and Some of the difficulties that Margaret Wilkins

(2000, pp.101-102) has pointed out as arising
Fine Art: a comparative from crits' dual purpose of judging and teaching,
are nevertheless still present. One of the
study Architecture tutors we spoke to told us that the
biggest difference between the Art design
Dr Jenny Marie and Dr Nick Grindle reviews that we will discuss shortly and the ones
University College London in Architecture was that in Architecture it was
considered important to make it clear how good
the work was in the feedback, so that the
students were clear about where they needed to
Introduction focus their development efforts. Judgement thus
remains very much a public affair.
Design reviews in Architecture and Fine Art
occupy a key place in the pedagogy of both In some ways, this gets to the heart of some of
disciplines, and are valued by students as a vital the difficulties in any kind of education - how do
form of feedback to help them progress with their we motivate students, encourage them and help
work. Within the context of an interest in peer them build the belief that they can learn while
review across all academic disciplines, we also being clear about areas they can develop
became interested in design reviews as a further? Furthermore, by giving feedback about
specific mode of peer learning, as it seemed that what is good and bad, we reinforce the
it was a very high-stakes event for students in perception that Helena Webster (2005) found
Architecture compared to those in Fine Art, amongst first year students that there are
although the mode of review, and the practice of absolute Architectural values. So how do we
studio-based work, is common to both subjects. convey that while all knowledge and values are
contestable, development within a discipline
In this paper, we consider what makes peer occurs by having a shared understanding of
review work well in Architecture and Fine Art, what should be taken as read and what can be
why students experience them differently in disputed and discussed? Susan Orr (2010) has
these two contexts, and what other disciplines argued that in Fine Art, assessment is not purely
can learn from both subjects. The paper is an subjective, because it is about an exchange of
interim report of work in progress, which draws views, which carry the weight of accumulated
on conversations we have had with staff and expertise; nor is it purely objective, because the
students in various disciplines and participant- standards, criteria, and outcomes, are
observations we have done of design reviews in reifications of the community's own
an internationally renowned school of Fine Art. practices. Following Pierre Bourdieu and others,
Orr suggests that the subject internalises a
Architectural design reviews community's habits and practices, and this
community in turn reifies its habits and
The studio is at the heart of an Architectural practices. The standards, criteria and outcomes
education - here students are given guidance by which underpin the ‘crit’ are examples of reified
a ‘master’ to work on a specific design project practice. We would like to suggest that Orr’s
and receive feedback on their work via the analysis offers a good framework for thinking
design review (aka crit) process. about the shared understandings that operate in
Architecture also.
At the School of Architecture we are studying,
design reviews are only done as formative Using Orr’s work, we would suggest that
assessment - in other words their sole purpose is students learn about the Architectural
to further develop the students’ work and abilities community’s shared practices as their work is
via feedback and the activities the students discussed in ‘crits’ and reviews: what topics are
undertake during the review. They play no part in raised, how and what is taken for granted.
establishing students’ final mark for the module, However, this only works, if students really do
which is awarded by a group of examiners at the listen. Some of the tutors reported that students
were anxious (see also Duff, 1992 and Webster, present) sometimes referred to in the third
2005) and so failed to take in the feedback they person. As we observed with Architectural
received. Though students were encouraged to design reviews, judgement is a public
ask a friend to take notes for them, the inability affair. Comments given by both tutors and
to think clearly due to the stress and last minute students will tend to gravitate towards feedback
working, will inhibit this learning about the to the Artist about where they might focus their
discipline’s mode of discussion. subsequent efforts.
We have observed that one way in which Tutors take a facilitative role in crits, and have
students deal with the anxiety of undergoing a described their role to us as helping the students
crit is by over-preparing their drawings and to explain their work better, to themselves as
under-preparing their presentations. One of the well as to others [sessions 1, 3 and 4]. This is an
tutors we spoke to said they were thinking of aspect of the Architectural crit, which could
introducing presentation skills training to tackle perhaps be further developed. Architects also
this. This seems helpful, since professional have to be able to present their work and by
Architects have to stand up, present and defend describing what they are aiming to do, students
their work, however, it is clearly treating the become more aware of it themselves, which
symptom rather than the cause. It may be more enables them to further improve their work.
helpful to separate out the judgement of
students’ work, which is given in written form At least one Fine Art tutor has said they want to
later in any case (but often much later) from the preserve the ‘rich culture of people’ that
process of engaging in professional dialogue characterised Art-school education in second
about work. half of the twentieth century, and to foster this
culture in an environment where more and more
The Art design reviews we observed possibly colleges are turning their degrees into
have something to offer those wishing to programmes of learning. At this Art school, staff
reconsider the Architectural crits. However, when act as tutors to groups of around 12 students,
trialling new formats (Brindley, Doidge and meeting them individually for one hour twice a
Wilmott, 2000) found that both staff and students term, as well as meeting them together. Reviews
often reverted back to the original one. They provide a larger, field-specific forum where work
recommended that if changes were to be made is shown and discussed. In reviews we saw that
they had to occur from the start of the first year students were willing to comment on each
and that all staff (and any guests) had to be very others’ work, to exchange and respond to
well briefed. comments given by each other as well as by the
tutors. But this is a learned process: as one tutor
Fine Art Design Reviews noted, ‘these are not by nature very co-operative
people’, and nor are they inclined to comment on
Design reviews in Fine Art typically involve a each others’ work. Other evidence suggests that
cohort of 15 to 20 students, 2 to 4 tutors, and this degree of having to work closely together
maybe visitors, who are usually other tutors or begins as students have to share studio space,
visiting artists. The session will look at the work and at the other end of the scale, the end-of-year
of 4 or 5 students, and last between two to three degree show requires the largest possible scope
hours long. This is the case for theory reviews as and scale of co-operation, for purposes as
well as for practice-based sessions. The session diverse as writing the catalogue and painting the
is typically informal, with the only real structure walls. Another tutor said that the community
being the move from looking at one student’s formed among the group would continue to be
work to another, which is sometimes marked by important in the years immediately after the
the move from one location to another. Tutors degree, they might work together, exhibit
usually give the student the choice as to whether together, and so on. (Perhaps the most well-
they want to speak first, to introduce the piece, known instance of such co-operation, and of the
or listen to what the others in the group want to way in which the structure of student learning
say. One tutor described it thus: ‘It’s a bit like a anticipates the shape of professional life, is the
Quaker meeting. There’s quiet until somebody Freeze three-part exhibition in 1988, organised
feels they have something to say’. The tone of by Damien Hirst with a number of
the discussion is conversational, and can be contemporaries from Goldsmith’s College. The
impersonal, with the artist (who is necessarily exhibitors were all students. Tutors supported
them and also contributed essays to the sculpture, fine art media) but it will have also
catalogue, and well-known figures in the art helped them to have realistic expectations of
world were invited to the exhibition, in one case what would occur and what it expected of them
being ferried there and back by Hirst himself). In in terms of participation. In contrast, at the
our observations we noted that third-year Architecture School we studied, first year
students were more likely to contribute to students requested earlier formative feedback on
discussion than second-year students; and their design work but the School was reluctant to
graduate students in turn seemed still more at provide this as they felt that the students were
ease when contributing to discussion. not yet ready to have their work scrutinised in
public in this way. Whether this withholding of
The ‘rich culture of people’ ethos in the Fine Art the review experience makes the reviews seem
seminars seem to epitomize Jean Lave and more important than they are (especially as they
Etienne Wenger’s (1991) thesis that do not contribute to the marks) and thus
'opportunities for learning are, more often than increase the stress surrounding them is
not, given structure by work practices instead of something we would like to investigate further.
by strongly asymmetrical master-apprentice
relations' (93). Lave and Wenger’s comments Peer review in other disciplines
allow us to contrast Fine Art seminars with
Architecture design reviews, which place more Peer learning is being increasingly used in other
emphasis on the formality of relationships, as disciplines, where the review format has not
mediated through the contributions of ‘experts’ been traditionally used. One Economics lecturer
and the provision of feedback. For example, we spoke to reported concerns about the quality
students and tutors exchange views in what is of feedback students receive from peers (in the
ideally a constructive dialogue in the Fine Art primary school context Hattie, 2009, p.4 states:
seminars, and students very rarely wrote down ‘80% of feedback a student receives about his or
anything that was said. Architecture students, her work in primary school is from other
on the other hand, are encouraged to record the students. But 80% of this student-provided
comments delivered by the tutor, or at least have feedback is incorrect!’). When asked about their
a friend act as their scribe. opinion of peer assessment (not having
experienced any) Maths undergraduates said
Comparison that they didn’t think it would work for their
discipline “where there’s right and there’s wrong
A distinction can be drawn between students’ most of the time”, as they needed to know from
prior experience in Architecture and Fine experts whether they’d got it right rather from
Art. Though most Architectural students have an other people also struggling to get to grips with
art/design background, a number will not to have it. There is therefore the impression that peer
experienced the design review format of learning review is more suitable for disciplines where
prior to university. Fine Art students, on the quality is contested. It is also possible that the
other hand, are admitted to university on the written format of feedback in these disciplines
basis (in part) of the work produced on their post causes a problem, because it appears more
A-level Foundation Course, which is presented authoritative than the verbal and more tentative
and discussed at interview. During the feedback given in a design review. As there is
Foundation Course, the students will have less recognition of the contested nature of
already experienced reviews and got used to values in Architecture, this also possibly explains
other students learning from their work. Their the less comfortable position crits hold here in
work will have been publicly displayed in their comparison to Fine Art.
end of year show, which anticipates the larger
and more widely-publicised end-of-year shows at While works of art are made to be seen by the
degree level. public, this is not necessarily the case with
Architectural drawings. The buildings themselves
In our observations we saw that in the first term are for public consumption and thus the ideas
of their degree, Fine Art students were within the drawings, but the drawings
encouraged to attend and take part in seminars themselves are less designed for open viewing.
in which second and third year students showed In other disciplines, work at undergraduate level
their work. This was for the purpose of helping seems to be privately created for viewing solely
them choose their specialism (painting, by the author and examiner. This changes at
graduate level, when one begins to produce disciplines, is a key reason why formative
work for other audiences: research seminars, assessment is primarily characterised by peer
upgrade panels, conference organisers, journal review, as it teaches students to work in public.
editors, publishers, grant advisory councils, and For Fine Art students and some Architectural
so on. The research student becomes ones, this is a natural extension of the way they
acclimatized to the fact that work produced in worked during their Foundation course.
private is produced for public consumption: by However, this is not the case for all architectural
peers, critics, and the public. In many students. Furthermore, the semi-private nature
disciplines, peer assessment at undergraduate of Architectural drawings (as opposed to
level seems to anticipate a public-facing finalised designs, or actual buildings) may
orientation of private work for which students are explain why public design reviews in Architecture
not sufficiently well-prepared. This may also be can be an uncomfortable affair. This distinction
a key issue in success or failure to grasp the is reflected in the different studios, which in
nature of graduate work, and to succeed at Architecture seem to be private and
graduate level. Taking these observations, we professionalised spaces, compared to Fine Art,
might speculate that the quasi-private nature of where something of an ‘open door’ culture
Architectural drawings is a key reason why prevails, where work is available for viewing,
design reviews can prove to be stressful whether it is at a very early stage or is ready for
experiences, whereas this does not seem to be display in a gallery.
the case with Fine Art seminars.
It seems to us that another reason design
Another key difference between the schools of reviews work in Architecture and Fine Art is
Architecture and Fine Art we studied is that because the aesthetics of both are contestable.
Architecture operates according to a modular For reviews to work well, students must
system. The Fine Art tutor who wanted to appreciate that they have the right to an opinion
preserve a ‘rich culture of people’ was conscious on Architectural values, while recognising that
that many Fine Art degrees are turning into their tutors also have a better understanding of
programmes of study. Modularisation presents which values are usually accepted as
two specific problems: first, it jeopardizes the rich contestable within the discipline. This should be
developmental perspective that emerges as an explicit learning outcome for design reviews
peers and tutors comment not only on a and the extent to which this is inhibited by the
student’s current work, but also its relationship to judgmental nature of them should be
former work. Second, modularisation jeopardizes considered. Fine Art seminars, appear to be a
the formative-rich assessment environment that more open forum for discussion, where tutors
currently prevails in the departments we and students share ideas, rebutting some and
observed. Endorsement of pedagogies such as accepting others. Interestingly, it seems from our
outcomes-based learning in the Dearing Report observations that the participants seek to come
(1997), and the push for constructive alignment to some kind of consensus about the merit of the
of learning, assessment and outcomes (eg. work under review, and want to help each other
Biggs & Tang 2011), have shifted the emphasis understand it better. This means that not every
away from assessing an entire degree on the view prevails: in at least one case we have
basis of final exams. Yet the cost of these witnessed, a student’s work was judged by the
developments has been a drop in the quantity of whole group to be below standard, in spite of his
formative assessment, and also, we would claims about its worth, and the student in
suggest, a deterioration of the contexts that question was told by his tutor to work harder.
make for a productive peer learning experience.
In spite of the formal similarities of studio
Conclusion practice and the use of peer review for formative
assessment in both subjects, it is evident that
Peer review is deeply embedded in the culture of the two schools we observed differ in their
Architecture and Fine Art, to an extent not seen understanding of the practices and purposes of
in other university subjects (possible exceptions peer review, without compromising the integrity
in HE as a whole might be Music and Drama). or the efficacy of the process. Further work is
Although we haven’t yet investigated how needed to explore some of these issues in detail
studios work in any great detail, it is our belief and see what the culture of education in both
that the studio practice, which prevails in both
subjects can offer to other subjects in the

University.
Notes
Biggs, John, and Catherine Tang. Teaching for Quality

Learning at University. Buckingham: Open University
Press, 2011.
Brindley, Tim, Doidge, Charles, and Willmott, Ross.

"Introducing Alternative Formats for the Design Project
Review: A Case Study." In Changing Architectural
Education. London: Spon Press, 2000.
Cuff, D. Architecture: The Story of a Practice.

Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992.
Dearing, Ronald. "The Dearing Report." The National

Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education (1997).
Hattie, John. Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800

meta-analyses relating to achievement. Abingdon:
Routledge, 2009.
Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. Situated Learning:

Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Orr, Susan. "We try to merge our own experience with

the objectivity of the criteria: the role of
connoisseurship and tacit practice in undergraduate
fine art assessment”. Art, Design, and Communication
in Higher Education 9, no. 1 (2010): 5-19.
Webster, H. "The Architectural Review A Study of

Ritual, Acculturation and Reproduction in Architectural
Education." Arts and Humanities in Higher Education
4, no. 3 (2005): 265-282.
Wilkin, Margaret. "Reviewing the Review: An Account

of a Research Investigation of the 'crit'." In Changing
Architectural Education: Towards a New
Professionalism. London: Spon Press, 2000.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 FROM PEDAGOGY TO DIDACTICS

consequent focus on microanalyses of the

From Pedagogy to Didactics: ephemeral.
Clarifying the Discussion on Architectural education is not unaffected by

Architectural Education these conditions: the meaning of architecture as
techne, cultural discourse, ethical praxis or social
Stavros Melissinopoulos
agency became debatable. In the course of
The University of Edinburgh (UK) these years public reflection and relevant
discourse have been developed about
architectural education, thanks to a collective
awareness and communication between the
Introduction educational institutions. Meanwhile, imperative
calls for change have emerged from all quarters
A necessary presupposition for addressing of the field: professional institutions, other
issues on architectural education is the organisations and educational institutions, but
clarification of basic concepts used in its debate. mainly architectural educators’ self-reflections
I claim that the indiscriminate use of terms such and dialogue with colleagues are nurturing this
as pedagogy, education, didactics, constitutes a discourse. Often, the request for an intangible
serious source of confusion. In this article I “change” refers to a (re)connection of the
argue for the need to shift focus from pedagogy teaching and learning process of architecture
to the didactics of architecture, in order to with a wider meaningfulness. Especially during
balance the pedagogy-dominated explanations the current economic crisis that deepens the
in architectural education. While pedagogy division between public and private, architectural
addresses issues about aspirations, ideals and education, its meaning and role, its relevant
goals (what should be) of architectural pedagogies and ultimately its didactics, remain
education, didactics may be seen as an attempt in scrutiny:
to elaborate ways of achieving the goals,
aspirations, etc. In this respect, we must Is it about developing the student’s individual
distinguish between the normative character of expressiveness, or is it a process of coming to
pedagogical theories from the descriptive or terms with society, and even, developing a
scientific grounding (what is) of didactics. This “world” citizenry? Is it a process of unifying the
distinction raises the question about the extent to fragmented areas of knowledge and
which, educational tools such as the studio interpretations of reality into an articulated and
project and the live project fall under the domain meaningful whole or is it about instrumental
of pedagogy or didactics of architecture. acquiring of professional mastery?
Architectural Education: the context The issue now becomes the way we could
situate, in the context of such broad questions,
“...the technicians as the last edition of the enquiry on effective, consistent teaching and
the white missionary, industrialisation
as the last gospel of a dying race, learning architecture. Currently, the debate
living standards as a substitute for seems to be primarily preoccupied by questions
i
meaning of life...” of pedagogical order, and rarely by questions
that address directly the didactics of architecture.
For more than two decades, global capitalism,
intensified consumerism and atomization have
Examples of questions of a didactical order in
constituted for education a contemporary
architectural education could be the following:
environment, which underwent processes of
transformation in scales difficult to perceive.
Is there a need for a concrete subject-matter,
Education has increasingly received pressure to
based on which, the educator will teach the
respond primarily to economic considerations.
studio? What could be the educator’s choice
Along this process it appears to have abolished
between improvisations and structured teaching
ideals such as the comprehensive character.
(the liberal or interventionist role of the design
The era is characterized by the high
instructor)? Opting for impulsive or meta-
specialization and fragmentation of knowledge,
cognitive learning of architectural design? What
by the absence of big narratives, and by the
is the meaning and the nature of freedom in the
teaching of the creative process in architecture?
Distinguishing didactics from pedagogy In this paper, in expressions such as “didactics

of architecture”, “didactic tools in architectural
There are cases of discussions about education” etc., the term didactics (didactic) has
architectural education, in which questions, substituted the term pedagogy as a result of a
answers and arguments are all entangled conceptual distinction. Moreover, despite the
because they originate indiscriminately from the awareness about the negative connotations that
areas of pedagogy and didactics. the word didactics has in English (implying the
formalist educationalist practices that combine
To offer an example of this problem, I draw from dogma with dullness), I argue for the necessity
the emblematic Oxford Union debate of 2008ii . of the choice.
The motion of the debate echoed an essential
question, which pertaining to the level of Didactics is one of the two major currents of
didactics remains unanswered. The question reflection on education -the other being
was about where (implying how) would pedagogy. They refer to the same reality, in that
iii
architecture be better taught and learnt – either they constitute ways of investigating the
in the schools of architecture or in the educational phenomenon. Each one is a distinct
architectural offices. The discussion highlighted field of educational research, and the degree of
sound arguments evincing that the end of distinction differs across countries and
ideological debates about the goals and educational traditions. Across continental
character of education has not come yet. We Europe, educational theorizing historically has
iv
thus were able to follow a meaningful repost to preserved a distinct meaning for didactics, from
develop against the dominant discourse that that of pedagogy. On the other hand, in the
identifies knowledge with information in Anglo-American world didactics remained a
education, and society with economy. However, marginalised – if not an invisible – conception
the arguments – either against or for the motion within educational discourse. In an article with
– consisted of judgments at the level of the eloquent title “The pedagogic paradox – or:
pedagogy even when they addressed questions why no didactics in England?” D. Hamiltonvi
of didactics, and vice versa. For instance, the traces the historical conditions of this rejection in
th
type of architect that society needs is a subject the 19 century English schooling. The political
of philosophy of education, hence pertains to goals of English schooling then, were
architectural pedagogy. Hence, it did not answer incompatible with notions of mental growth,
the question of didactics. Overall, the treatment understanding, self-realisation and social
of the matters in such terms would result in change. Hence, the idea of a science of teaching
polarization rather than in conclusiveness of the (and learning), often deriving in Europe from
vii
discussion. Herbart , although circulated in Anglo-American
educational discussions towards the end of
For these reasons, I claim that it is necessary to nineteenth century, was deemed as superfluous
make a fundamental distinction between to English understandings of education and
viii
pedagogy and didactics, to help maintain schooling . Amid efforts to maintain the status
consistency into the developing questions and quo of predetermined and immoveable order of
arguments. The self-reflections and dialogue things, appropriate educational systems
with colleagues, that the educators of developed specifically to social classes, as self-
architecture are developing, constitute a contained and segmented. This contradicted the
theoretical form of didactics, yet one that is not development of an all-embracing, grand theory
of a scientific form. On the other hand, of education related to teaching:
predominant methodological approaches to
teaching are empirical, based on previous For over 100 years, nineteenth and
experience and they do not seem to take into twentieth century ideologies of human
difference, predetermined mental capacity,
account recent knowledge, i.e. knowledge and social containment, precluded the
v
viewing learning as a cognitive process . Is it creation and dissemination
ix
of a
developmental science of teaching.
feasible for architecture to have its special
didactics as a theoretically articulate scientific
Renewed scientific approaches to the practice of
subject? A necessary step to this end is the
teaching, during the 1980’s, revitalised
development of a descriptive didactics.
educational theorizing in the English-speaking
world, as they drew from the works of Vygotsky,
Luria and Bruner. Didactics, however, remained
a marginalised field, at best overlapping with common epistemological tools, each one is a
pedagogy, although part of its subjects was distinct field of educational researchxiii .
treated by the developing field of learning
theories. Characteristic examplex is the 10- Didactics is established as the name of a
volume Oxford English Dictionary of the 1970’s, practical activity (the art of teaching along with a
which included the “art or science of teaching” practical knowledge in teaching), yet at the same
among its definitions for pedagogy, and the time it is a theoretical knowledge (scientific and
almost identical “science or art of teaching” for non-scientific) about teaching, learning, and their
didactics. From another point of view, in the conditions. Thus, the discipline of didactics
English-speaking world of the same period, unfolds in three main regionsxiv : what-region
pedagogy developed a close association with (concerned with the content of teaching), how-
historical, social and cultural analysis. region (concerned with the method of teaching)
Additionally, the wide recognition of two seminal and why-region (justifications of curricular
interventions of the 1970’s by Anglo-American choices).
scholars – the first being Paulo Freire’s
“Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (1971) and the Didactics focuses on the individual (the learner)
second being Basil Bernstein’s “On the and its cognitive characteristics and functioning,
classification and framing of educational when she/he learns a given content and
knowledge” (1971) – is considered a turning becomes a knowing subject. It takes a
point in the hegemonic establishment of perspective of educational reality that is drawing
pedagogy as a disciplinexi . extensively from cognitive psychology and
further from theory of teaching, although some
Architectural education could not remain researchers draw from social psychologyxv . It has
unaffected by the lack of enquiry at the level of its background in philosophy (emblematic text is
didactics. It is indicative that in the relevant the Didactica Magna by Johan Amos Comenius,
discourse terminology involves only derivatives 1657). The intent of didactics is to modify
of pedagogy, as i.e. architectural pedagogies, teaching practices and to promote their
knowledge-based architectural pedagogy, development, in order to provide the foundations
architectural studio pedagogy, teaching for change in educationxvi . As a research field it
architecture–practising pedagogy, etc., where investigates adequate forms of instruction (that
the word pedagogy covers the concept of is how best can a content be taught and learned,
didactics. in what settings and by what means). By these
features didactics differentiates itself – even
I argue that an enquiry of architectural socially – from pedagogyxvii .
education, deprived of the concept of didactics,
cannot be successfully conclusive. Conversely, Pedagogy (pédagogie) on the other hand refers
by reintroducing didactics into the enquiry on to theoretical and organisational underpinning of
architectural education, the analytical education – to educational goals rather than
perspectives already provided by pedagogy are programmes and methods. It is interested in the
extended. Questions of a new order will fertilize learner’s becoming a social subject, in its future
the discussion. Perhaps, it would not be an role in society. It has its reference to philosophy
exaggeration to suggest that by reintroducing of education, to educational sociology and
didactics in the vocabulary of the discourse further to theory of education. Pedagogy
about architectural education the limits of its maintains its bases on the political sciences.
xii
world will be broadened . From the point of view of the French
didacticians, pedagogy is more general than
A complicate relationship didacticsxviii . It is through the educational goals-
setting that it connects with philosophy of
In the next I attempt a clarification of conceptions education.
about didactics and pedagogy, as they
developed in the continental European The relation of the two disciplines is often
educational discourse, by providing definitions. complicated, contradicting and confusing. As an
Both didactics and pedagogy are the two major example, although it is rare to find a specific
currents of reflection on education. Although form of didactics that relates to social problem
both fields operate in the same territory and use solving and socially-based approachesxix ,
didactics is always connected to a context in
society by the link of curriculum. Curriculum sets observable and (sometimes) measurable
the limits, within which didactics operates. The characteristics of human nature.
limits are the aims and goals of education at the
certain moment, within the certain context. In Therefore, it would be fair to assume that while
effect, it is through curriculum that didactics didactics addresses facts (what is) and reason,
could be perceived no less political than pedagogy addresses attitudes (what should be),
pedagogy. From this point of view, didactics and even desire. Attitudes and desire are
cannot be reduced to a neutral instrument or to a motivating forces to human action. Desire needs
set of teaching methodsxx . Since its reinvention the guidance of reason for its success and for its
as a human science (in distinction to the natural justification. Besides, we tend to perceive reason
sciences) by German educationalists in the early as instrumental: there is no content for reason
th
20 c., didactics associated with an expanded without desire. At this point a plausible question
conception of instruction. Along with the “what?” can be raised: is there a logical relation between
and “how?” questions, the why-region of the normative and the descriptive part of
questioning, via historical, cultural and social educational theorizing? Does a descriptive
deliberations, is the link with pedagogy. Besides, theory (i.e. a scientific learning theory) deduce a
in extension to the “why?” came the “what normative theory – or vice-versa? And further:
should they become?” question, which marks a could a normative element reside in didactics?
territory of intersection between didactics and
pedagogy. Otherwise stated, didactics is in Since David Hume, who pointed to the “is–
diachronic relation with the educational situation, ought” logical gapxxiii , there is a strong current of
while pedagogy is in synchronic relation to itxxi . thought asserting that no logical bridge connects
“is” with “ought”: we can’t deduce an “ought”
The relevance to architectural education from an “is”.
Architectural education, like any educational Why would this problem be relevant to
practice, implies a theory. The implied theory is architectural education? I think that it might
always value-laden: it embodies intentions and prove practically useful to know whether long-
interests tied to historical, cultural, and socio- established teaching traditions, practices,
political contingenciesxxii . Its programs, like any subject matter etc. in architecture, are to date
other educational design, are predicated upon functioning either irrespective of or directly
value assumptions, and ultimately choices, associated with specific normative theories
about the nature of human beings (their (pedagogies) about i.e. what kind of architects
interests, aspirations and needs as well as their are necessary to our society, what is essential to
vision of what constitutes a good life), the value know, etc. To put the question differently: can a
of specific forms of content (that is what didactics of architecture develop specifically to a
knowledge and skills are most worthwhile), and concrete pedagogy and vice versa? If not, this
learning opportunities for students (inclusion, means that didactics is simply instrumental and
equity pedagogy, teachers’ knowledge of their can even have a universal use regardless of the
students, etc.) – all of what constitute normative various pedagogies, i.e. whether emancipative,
theories that we call pedagogies. authoritative, etc. If yes, then there must be a
connection of didactics with normative
Pedagogy, as theory of normative character, characteristics. Further questions can develop.
prescribes what should or ought to be done in For instance: Can two antithetic pedagogies, (i.e.
education and by means of education. On the a student-centered and a teacher-centered) use
grounds of its normative character, pedagogy the same didactic tools to achieve their
sets goals. That is, by making assumptions it (opposing) educational goals? Or, does each
expresses intentions and desires about how a one of the pedagogies need a different didactics,
human, society, architecture, etc. should be or specific to its aspirations, in order to attain its
become. On the other hand, didactics consists of goals? Can different didactic tools of
factual propositions about how a goal can be architectural education, (i.e. the studio project
achieved. Drawing from science, didactics is not and the live project) equally serve opposite
preoccupied with how human nature should be, educational theories (pedagogies)?
but instead it contends with understanding and
describing it. It deals with discovery of The contribution of a Didactics specific to
knowledge, hence, with true beliefs and with architecture
Despite the difficulties arising from the “is–ought If architecture had developed its (descriptive)
problem” theory, educationalists (one of the first didactics, then we would be able to distinguish
th
being J. Dewey, in early 20 c.) have brought among pedagogies, those logically implied from
forth a description of a relationship that appears didactics, and the “arbitrary”. Descriptive
to suggest quite the opposite – what could be didactics can inform us on whether a specific
seen as a reconciliation of the problematic pedagogy has become integral part of the
duality of normative and descriptive educational learning process. In this way, it is possible to
theorizing. The relationship is portrayed in the reconsider and reposition pedagogies across
Learning Cyclexxiv . The cycle represents a this dividing line, hence, modifying an initial
process that roughly involves three steps. Firstly, categorization (always by means of descriptive
instructors gain understanding of what happens didactics). For instance, a Critical Pedagogy for
with the practice of teaching and learning in their architecture, as a theory that draws from political
educational setting (i.e. studio) and form philosophy, initially would be considered as the
descriptive judgments about matters of fact kind of normative theory that cannot be imposed
(about how things happen, about students’ by the natural situation (the teaching and
requirements, about local conditions, learning of architecture within a specific setting).
interactions, etc.). Then, they reflect on their Hence, it would be deemed as unrelated to the
understanding and proceed to make evaluative “is”, as unverifiable and arbitrary – apparently
judgments (is this a good practice and why?). satisfying the Humean equation. However, it
Finally they transform the new knowledge involves a factual body of key ideas (power-
produced by evaluations, through practical knowledge relations, deep-meaning
reasoning, to prescriptive propositions (which understanding, social context, etc.) susceptible
direction of teaching, what content, method, etc. to verifiability. Analysis by descriptive didactics
xxv
should result into new planning) . This area of could reveal a sound interrelation between the
the cycle constitutes the normative arc. The principles of Critical pedagogy, and the facts of
cycle clearly illustrates a process of deduction of the learning process (i.e. with regards to key
normative theories (“ought”) from descriptive and concepts of unlearning, learning, relearning,
analytical approaches (“is”). etc.). Then, we would alter our initial judgment
and would view hereinafter this pedagogy as
It is known among educationalists that instrumentally related to architecture’s didactics
instructors are facing the challenge to bridge the (as determinant of the modes and the effects of
experience of “is” of their teaching practice with teaching, and the mechanisms of learning). In
the “ought” of formal normative theories. The that case, it would be fair to assume that it is the
challenge motivates a reflective stance, which specific nature of Critical Pedagogy, as
may further develop into a private theory that normative theory, that affects learning and
serves to fill the gap between the two. teaching in architecture in a special way.
After all, the question on whether architectural Conversely, we often notice, either in literature
pedagogies and didactics are logically or in the discussions, that educational tools (i.e.
associated can be narrowed to: which the studio project, the live project) are discussed
pedagogies (normative theories) can be in terms of pedagogy. However, both of the
deduced from didactic praxis (via a theory with examples are didactic tools rather than
descriptive content)? To respond to this pedagogical tools: they are methods to increase
xxvi
apparent conflict , it might prove useful if we the efficiency of learning and teaching. In the
distinguished between two categories of process of achieving the educational goals,
normative approaches: the ones that are didactic tools are the media. As such, they are
deducible from facts (is) and the others that are justifiable by rational means: either psychology
not. But, what normative theories belong to each of learning, cognitive theories, and even
category, and why is it useful to know? It is neuroscience of learning, or rational
generally perceived that normative theories of investigation. This is because, what is effective
ideological, political, or ethical character (i.e. and what is not, is object of an empirical and
progressive, emancipative, authoritative etc.) theoretical investigation, and not of a normative
cannot be deduced from factual judgments approach.
(descriptions of facts).
Conclusion
This article was written for the purpose of helping

distinguish between the normative character of a Science, 1879), or Herbart (The Science of Education,
architectural pedagogies from the descriptive English version, 1892).
foundation of architecture’s didactics, in an effort ix
Hamilton, op. cit. p. 137
to clarify the two distinct fields of didactics and
pedagogy. It argued that a shift of focus from x
pedagogy to the didactics of architecture would
xi
broaden understandings about architectural Hamilton, op. cit. p. 146
education. More specifically, it suggested that xii
“…the limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
the development of architecture’s descriptive Wittgenstein, Ludvig. Tractatus Logico Philosophicus.
didactics can provide valid judgments about, London, New York: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner &Co., LTD.,
which pedagogical theory is affecting learning in 1922, proposition 5.6
architecture, and which is unrelated to learning. xiii
Bertrand, Y. & Houssaye J. (1999). Pédagogie and
Hence, the exploration of the “is–ought” logical
didactique: An incestuous relationship. Journal of
gap of architectural education would help render Instructional Science, 27(1-‐2), 33-‐51.
its discussions more effective.
xiv
Bengtsson, J. (1997). Didactical dimensions. Possibilities
Notes and limits of an integrated didactics. Journal of Swedish
Educational Research, 2(4), 241-‐262.
xv
Bertrand & Houssaye, op. cit. p. 40
i
This is a comment on the condition of an era in transition,
comparable to the condition of (architectural) education of
the last thirty years. In the novel “Homo Faber” [my
translation]. Frisch, Max. Homo Faber, Ein Bericht: Suhr
Kamp, 1956
ii
The debate was attended by the author. The Oxford Union
Debate “Architecture would be better off without Schools
of Architecture” took place on Monday 21 July 2008, 20:00-‐
22:00.
xx
iii
The discussion about “where” has clearly a cognitive
xxi
dimension: the topic of situatedness has extensively Tochon, F.V. & Munby, H. (1993). Novice and expert
preoccupied cognitive science, particularly since the 80’s. teachers’ time epistemology: A wave function from
Moreover, L. Vygotsky had already since 1920’s introduced didactics to pedagogy. Teacher & Teacher Education 9, 205-‐
the idea that a knowing subject’s behavior and cognition 218.
are result also of a close relationship between the subject
xxii
and its environment. Giroux, H. (Ed.). (1983). The Hidden curriculum and moral
education: deception or discovery? Berkeley, California:
iv
Articulated by Sir Peter Cook and Jeremy Till, who argued McCutchan Pub. Corp.
against the motion.
xxiii
Hume, D. A Treatise of Human Nature Book III Part I
v
There is a gap between didactic theory on architectural Section I.
design and well-‐built links into the cognitive science
approach of design (Eastman, McCracken, Newstetter, xxiv
Imsen, G. (1999). Reflection as a bridging concept
2001). between normative and descriptive approaches to
didactics. TN TEE Publications 2:1, p.98 ,
vi
Hamilton, D. (1999). The Pedagogic Paradox (or why no http://tntee.umu.se/publications/v2n1/ pdf/ch7.pdf
Didactics in England?) Pedagogy, Culture & Society 7: 1, [07.03.2013].
p.135-‐151
xxv
Donald Schön has extensively described such processes
vii
German philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart had the demonstrating reflection as a key-‐concept. In Schön, D.
aspiration to devise an education system from the first (1995). The reflective practitioner: how professionals think
principles. He worked on a general theory of education in action. Aldershot England : Arena.
(Allgemeine pädagogik, English transl. 1892). He occupied
Kant’s chair of philosophy in Königsberg university from xxvi
Between the Humean approach of the is-‐ought problem
1809 to 1835. He also wrote his Lectures which included a and the educationalists’ perspective as portrayed in the
set of formal steps for instruction. His ideas about the
Learning Cycle.
organisation of instruction and lesson planning were
intimately bound to his philosophical ideas.
References
viii
Hamilton supports this explanation by also underlining
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(Eds.), Reconstructing Architecture – Critical Discourses and
Bandini, M. (1997). The Conditions of Criticism. In Pollak, M. Social Practices. Minneapolis: The Regents of the University
(Ed.). The Education of the Architect: Historiography, of Minnesota.
Urbanism, and the Growth of Architectural Knowledge (pp.
425-‐438). Cambridge, Massachusetts -‐ London, England:
MIT Press.
Boyer, E.L. & Mitgang, L.D. (1996). Building community: a

new future for architecture education and practice: a special
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Advancement of Teaching.
Colomb, J. (1999). School knowledge and didactic analysis:

A research perspective in comparative didactics. Journal of
Instructional Science, 27(1-‐2), 53-‐71.
Correa, C. (1997). Learning from Ekalavya. In Pollak, M.

(Ed.). The Education of the Architect: Historiography,
Urbanism, and the Growth of Architectural Knowledge (pp.
445-‐452). Cambridge, Massachusetts -‐ London, England:
MIT Press.
Crysler, C. G. (1995). Critical Pedagogy and Architectural

Education. Journal of Architectural Education, 48(4), 208-‐
217.
Harvey, D. (1989). The Condition of Postmodernity: An

Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change Oxford;
Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell
Kansanen P. & Meri, M. (2000). Didactic relation in the

teaching-‐studying-‐learning process. Department of teaching
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http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:XcTtFJeB5icJ:www.hwl
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Mc LClellan, J.E. (1976). Philosophy of Education. Englewood

Cliffs: Prentice-‐Hall.
Nicol, D. & Pilling, S. (Eds.). (2000). Changing Architectural

Education -‐ Towards a new professionalism. London and
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Oxman R., (2001). The Mind in Design: A Conceptual

Framework for Cognition in Design Education. In Eastman,
C. M., McCracken, W. M., & Newstetter, W. C. (Eds.), Design
knowing and learning : cognition in design education (pp.
269-‐295). Amsterdam Oxford: Elsevier Science.
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Patterns for a New World Brain. Information,
Communication & Society 4:2, 157-‐181.
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals [18.11.2006].
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 THE UNSTABLE CURRENCY OF ARCHITECTUAL DRAWING

as a field of relationships between the objective
THE UNSTABLE social conditions that constrain the drawing

Studio and the habitus with which students
CURRENCY OF negotiate those conditions. In seeking to
understand this learning culture of drawing we
ARCHITECTURAL can then develop a clearer sense of the
character of contemporary architecture drawing
DRAWING as a conduit for architectural culture and what
this learning culture might tell us about the
James Burch, ARB, RIBA, Senior Lecturer continued relevance, if there is any, of teaching
in Architecture and Planning students to draw.
The University of The West of England,
Drawing as an Instrument of Architectural
Bristol Culture
Before exploring this culture of learning we

should first understand the nature of
Introduction
architectural drawing and its privileged place as
the principal instrument by which architectural
It is tempting and provocatively simple to make a
culture has traditionally been made and
metaphoric parallel between the critical condition
regulated. Here we might argue that drawing
of our society’s financial instruments and the
has performed three instrumental functions – as
status of architectural drawing. To borrow
i the creative generator of intellectual order, as
Marx’s phrase and apply it to these different
the medium of translation for architectural
forms of currency: ‘all that is solid melts into air’.
artefacts, and as the instrument by which the
We use increasingly suspect currencies with an
cultural system of architectural production is
exchange value destablised by the open-source
controlled.
and de-professionalising nature of information
technology and we find the connection between
The traditional practice of architectural drawing,
physical matter and its representation becoming
as a manual craft communicated in a language
ever more tenuous until eventually - in our drawn
of conventional two and three dimensional
and financial currencies - we are left bankrupt. iv
projections - incorporates a deeper definition of
For the teacher of architectural design this raises
architectural drawing as essential to the
the question of how architectural drawing should
formulation of architectural ideas. In Sir Peter
be taught and to what end. Arguably drawing
Cook’s words this is the role of drawing as the:
has been the universal currency of modern v
‘the motive force of architecture’. Another
architectural culture and an education in this
distinguished academic of the same generation,
culture will be fundamentally incomplete without
Simon Unwin, reinforces this argument by
a thorough understanding of the history,
defining architectural drawing not as the
conventions and practice of architectural
production of artefacts but as a process of:
drawing. But the digital modeling of buildings is
undermining the traditional place of drawing as a
… manual-intellectual activity. […] the
design tool; and the model of ‘design proposition
knowledge and understanding
communicated by representation’ is being
‘inhabiting’ the performative interchange
usurped by a method that replaces the
that is underway while a mind is engaged
intermediary role of drawing with the offer of a vi
in drawing.
digitally simulated form of built reality. In this
environment the learning and teaching of
In both these quotations we can see drawing as
architectural drawing would seem to be
an instrument of intellectual investigation
increasingly problematic – an enquiry that looks
essential for the translation of ideas into
to develop cultural capital in a drawn currency
architectural form. Each statement also
that remains socially valorised but which is under
encapsulates a key aspect of professional
reconstruction by the impetus from industry and
architectural culture that drawing has valorised
academia towards digital technology. This paper
over the twentieth century. Cook’s phrase, and
seeks to understand this question by analysing
ii the book for which it provides the title, places
the ‘culture of learning’ architectural drawing
iii drawing as central to the development of
where, after Pierre Bourdieu, this is conceived
twentieth century architecture as an avant-garde the fractional field of small-scale, restricted

practice where the process of drawing makes production the RIBA President’s Medals publish
xiii
‘paper-architecture’ of architectural value in its ‘‘art for art’s sake’ or production for producers’’
own right. While Unwin looks to define that are high in cultural but low in initial
embodied architectural knowledge, understood economic capital, but with high symbolic value
through the practice of drawing and expressed in holding the promise of future financial reward.
drawing, as the architect’s principal – and Whereas the fractional field of large-scale
somewhat magical – currency during the production meets the immediate needs of the
twentieth century. Both views would also external market with high short-term profit of little
support Robin Evan’s seminal analysis of symbolic value – here one thinks of the
“[d]rawing’s hegemony over the architectural computer-generated view verifiable for purposes
object” as creator of artistic subject-matter that of planning submission. Thus both these
vii
“will exist after the drawing, not before it”. fractions of the field of architectural culture are
expressed in distinct approaches to drawing and
Originally published in 1986, Evans’ essay one can read the ongoing revolution in
Translations from Drawing to Building was computer-aided design as playing out the
perhaps written at the culmination of drawing’s creation of these distinct fractional fields.
traditionally instrumental role in the creation of Bourdieu’s study of the social impact of an
architectural culture. Writing 25 years later, and earlier visual technology - mid-1960s French
xiv
in some respects in reaction to digital design camera clubs experimenting with a newly
methods, Marco Frascari defends drawing as accessible technology - showed how
instrumental in the creation of architectural ‘photographic practices were a ‘register’ of social
xv
meaning and perhaps, in his definition of the position’ . In this development of distinction the
hand drawn ‘fattura’, a ‘facture’ with the auratic game of pure aesthetics is played by those with
power to influence the making of buildings. Here more cultural, economic and social capital while
he argues more explicitly that architecture and a resource-bound aesthetic is pursued by those
xvi
drawing are indivisible. For him: “Architecture is with less symbolic capital . If we substitute
not a work of art, but the art that makes the digital design practices for Bourdieu’s camera
viii
work” and this architectural art is hand-drawn. clubs one might see parametricism as the pure
Frascari also links drawing explicitly to the expression social distinction and BIMM as its
formulation of the habitus by which architecture resource-bound relation.
is practiced. In his reading of Bourdieu’s
Postface to Panofsky’s Gothic Architecture and The architectural drawing as artefact can
ix
Scholasticism Frascari stresses Bourdieu’s therefore be seen as an expression of social
analysis of drawing as the development of a distinction within the cultural field of architecture
regulated and transposable disposition and practices of drawing are driven by the forms
x
developed through practice. By extension, of capital accumulated within this field. But it is
through Bourdieu, it is one step further to in the learning of it that drawing becomes the
position drawing as social instrument by which social instrument by which the translation into
the translation into architectural culture occurs. architectural culture is affected. There is nothing
more mysterious within Reyner Banham’s Black
xvii
Architectural Drawing as Late Twentieth Box of architectural education than the
Cultural Currency learning of drawing and as we have seen from
xviii xix
Garry Stevens’ and Helena Webster’s
Applying Bourdieu’s mapping of the ‘field of ‘Bourdivin’ analyses the development of the
xi
cultural production’ in The Rules of Art, Helena architecture student is a physical embodiment of
xii
Webster makes clear the position of the cultures and attitudes of the architectural
architecture as a contemporary cultural system. profession. It is clear that Unwin’s ‘manual-
The architectural profession has developed an intellectual activity’ of drawing must be central to
autonomous field of cultural power that this process of physical embodiment and it is
substantiates itself with its own internal market also clear that acts of symbolic violence are
for symbolic goods and within this professional enacted to reinforce this process – the public
field fractional groups of ‘distinction’ coalesce burning of student drawings for example, or the
around poles of economic and cultural capital. enactment by a tutor of self-induced wretching
One can understand the currency of drawings as when viewing a first year’s first attempted
xx
a central expression of these groupings. Within drawing .
So, how do students negotiate this treacherous drawing has fragmented. Scholarly responses to
cultural field? this range from the re-assertion of the ‘critical
xxii
creativity’ of the hand-drawn and the
xxiii
The Culture of Learning Drawing continued need for hand drawing in practice
xxiv
to assertions of the digital tectonic . One is
Building on Bourdieu, Hodkinson, Biesta and tempted to categorise the literature around this
xxi
James’ theorise a learning culture as a space topic as a chronological reaction to the
formed at the inter-leaving of a number of related increasing prevalence of ‘CAD’. In the early to
fields, where boundaries of the learning culture mid-1990s, academic papers that tentatively
do not encompass the boundaries of its investigate the introduction of CAD to schools of
constituent cultural fields and where the fields architecture; a millennial group that questions
themselves are changeable over time, both by the qualitative effects CAD has on design
their very nature and due to the possibility of teaching; and contemporary scholarship that is
external intervention. In the learning culture of polarised for and against the digital, now with a
architectural drawing we can identify these inter- new strand that tentatively investigate the
leaved objective fields as the introduction of BIMM to schools of architecture.
institutional/professional field and the Influencing all these fields is the globalising
institutional/academic – these two playing out effect of the network society where generic
issues of symbolic value we have discussed geographically-specific labour is replaced by
above – these are joined by a financially-driven high-skilled self-programmable labour non-
xxv
field of professional practice, itself influenced by specific to place. As Brown and Lauder have
globalizing and governmental fields. And as this shown this places a further objective pressure on
is a field relationship – a force field if you will - this field as students realise they compete for
the introduction of students’ subjective agency, this form of specialized work within a global
their habitus, revises this field making the culture market.
of learning drawing a shifting interplay of
objective and social conditions. The student of And each student habitus negotiates this field
architectural drawing is an active agent in this with its own accumulation of economic, social
culture of learning; their habitus is formed by the and cultural capital. Some already embody the
social system of architectural culture, forms the ‘architect-habitus’ - in the author’s own fictitious
culture and is the viewpoint from which the future analogy:
cultural meaning of architecture is proposed. If
then, as argued above, architectural drawing can The successful architect’s son seeks advice
been seen as indivisible from architectural from his father’s office on the most
culture, but architectural drawing is now an appropriate rendering package for his
increasingly unstable currency undermined by student-work and a new ‘Mac’ is bought
digital simulation, what does the culture of through the Practice’s books ready for the
learning drawing tell us about the contemporary boy’s next university assignment.
field of architectural production?
The gendering of this analogy is intended and
In answering this question the culture of learning here, put crudely, the boy with the biggest
computer assisted drawing is central. As a full machine and the social wherewithal to exploit it
anthropological survey has not been carried out gets the best degree – and the job that
on this question, at this point in time the author financially rewards this accumulation of symbolic
can only offer his own observations of the capital. At another extreme, students reject
student habitus as it negotiates the learning digital production and seek distinction through
culture of architecture drawing. Firstly this many architectural schools’ ‘livre du jour’ Juhani
habitus is negotiating an institutional field that is Pallasmaa’s The Thinking Hand: existential and
xxvi
fractioned into an employment market valuing embodied wisdom in architecture . The title
CAD (and soon BIMM) practice as a means of suffix of which seemingly acknowledges a
enhancing economic value and a professional search for a traditional form cultural capital
body torn between the protection of its cultural protected from the destablised currencies that
capital and the fulfillment of practice’s architects now deal in.
requirements that architectural schools train
CAD/BIMM literate prospective employees. Conclusion: Drawing as a Pedagogic
Meanwhile in academia Evan’s hegemony of the Instrument?
From this first glance the culture of learning

drawing seems to be trading in a currency that the architect's imagination”. London:
no longer seems to fully recognise its own value. Routledge, pp. 10-11.
Exchange rates are faulty, with a range of
ix
student habitus assigning differing symbolic In Bruce Holsinger, 2005. “Appendix II:
values to various qualities of architectural Postface to Erwin Panofsky, Gothic Architecture
drawing and with these values contested by and Scholasticism – Pierre Bourdieu”. From The
different forms of drawn praxes. How then might Premodern Condition: medievalism and the
we act as teachers in this learning culture? A making of theory. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 221-242.
first step might be to parallel Helena Webster’s
explanation of Bourdieu’s relevance, that, for x
Marco Frascari, op. cit., pp. 40-41.
architects and teachers of drawing we act
‘reflexively’ recognising our position within a xi
xxvii Pierre Bourdieu, 1996. “The Rules of Art:
system of cultural production . A second step
genesis and structure of the literary field”,
may then be to shift one’s approach to the translated by Susan Emanuel. Cambridge:
teaching of drawing from an approach that Polity Press.
employs drawing as the principal instrument by
which architectural culture is made and xii
Helena Webster, 2011. “Bourdieu for
regulated to an approach where drawing is Architects”. London: Routledge, pp. 95-100.
introduced as the tool with which aspects of
xiii
architectural pedagogy are explored – always Ibid, p. 97.
mindful that in architecture drawing is always
xiv
more than that, one might say dangerously so. Pierre Bourdieu, 1989, “Photography: a
middle-brow art”, translated by S. Whiteside.
Cambridge: Polity Press.
xv
i Helena Webster, op cit., p. 40.
Through Marshall Berman, 1983. “All That is
Solid Melts into Air: the experience of xvi
Ibid.
modernity”. London: Verso.
xvii
ii Reyner Banham, 1990. “A Black Box: the
James, D. and Biesta, G., (ed.) “Improving
secret profession of architecture”. In Reyner
Learning Cultures in Further Education”.
Banham, 1996. A Critic Writes. Berkeley:
London: Routledge.
University of California Press.
iii
Pierre Bourdieu, 1971. “Intellectual Field and xviii
Garry Stevens, 1995. “Struggle in the
Creative Project”. Social Science Information
Studio: a Bourdivin look at architectural
(8)2, p. 89-119.
pedagogy”. Journal of Architectural Education
iv 49(2), p. 105-122.
The conventions of plan, section, elevation,
sciagraphy, axonometric, perspective, etc. that xix
Helena Webster, 2005. “The Architectural
I teach to first year students.
Review: ritual, acculturation and reproduction in
v architectural education”. Arts and Humanities
Peter Cook, 2008. “Drawing: the motive force
in Higher Education 4(3), pp. 265-282.
of architecture”. Chichester: Wiley.
xx
vi Recent anecdotal evidence.
Simon Unwin, 2007. “Analysing Architecture
through Drawing”. Building Research & xxi
Hodkinson, P., Biesta, G. and James, D.,
Information 35(1), p. 102.
2007. “Learning Cultures and a Cultural Theory
vii of Learning”. In James, D. and Biesta, G., op
Robin Evans, 1996. “Translations from
cit., pp. 25-28.
Drawing to Building”. From Translations from
Drawing to Building and other essays. London: xxii
Deanna Petherbridge, 2002. “ Subverting the
Architectural Association, p. 165.
silicon: a critique of drawing in the computer
viii age”. UME 14, p. 5.
Marco Frascari, 2011. “Eleven Exercises in
the Art of Architectural Drawing: slow food for xxiii
Brian Edwards, 2005. “The Use of Drawing
in Architectural Design: some recent
experiences from UK practice”. Architectural

Research Quarterly 9(3/4), pp. 273-286.
xxiv
Neil Leach, David Turnbull and Chris
Williams, 2004. “Digital Tectonics”.
Chichester: Wiley.
xxv
Phillip Brown and Hugh Lauder, 1996.
“Education, Globalization and Economic
Development”. Journal of Education Policy
11(1), p. 1-25.
xxvi
Juhani Pallasmaa, 2009. “The Thinking
Hand: existential and embodied wisdom in
architecture”. Chichester: Wiley.
xxvii
Helena Webster, op cit., p. 107.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 HAND CRAFTING COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN THINKING IN BASIC DESIGN STUDIOS
skills and computational design thinking and
Hand Crafting documentation of how the balance is reflected in

student results.
Computational Design
Thinking in Basic Design
Studios
John H. Abell
Washington State University
Introduction
This paper presents examples of the author’s

approach to introductory architectural design
instruction. The approach balances
computational design thinking concepts and skill
sets with traditional design principles and hand- Fig. 1. Pattern identification exercise, representation of
craft skill sets. The paper is a qualitative- repetition & variation. Mixed media paper collage,
explanatory case study. The case examples are pencil drawing. Top. Water drop “releases its energy
drawn from assignments that entail computation across the entire surface…all connected.” Middle.
design thinking and specifically parametric and “shadow…of light bending around or penetrating
algorithmic concepts to explore tectonic pattern leaves.” Bottom. “the structure of the veins in a leaf
defy…symmetry [man] can still learn from nature’s
making and form finding goals with linear and
most basic building blocks.” WSU Arch 101 ’12,
planar material elements. Examples (Fig. 1 - Fig. Instructor John Abell, Student, Jordan Beck.
4) provisionally answer questions concerning
how to balance traditional and non-traditional
skill sets early in the design curriculum to better
prepare students for design thinking and Balancing traditional and non-traditional skill
architecture design practice today. sets
Generally, the main problem introductory Recent design thinking and problem solving
architectural design courses tackle is how to research call attention to the benefits of
help students learn basic skills, concepts, and balancing traditional and non-traditional design
creative practices that are significant in knowledge and practices. The research
architectural design practice. An assumption suggests that vertical-traditional problem solving
reflected in introductory architectural design methods, once established in the mind of the
textbooks is that it is best to focus on traditional designer, can become an obstacle to problem
design principles and techniques. However, solving. Early on, Wertheimer (1959), a founder
design thinking research suggests that of Gestalt theory, cautioned that traditional
acquisition of concepts and skills molds problem patterns in ill-defined design problem solving can
solving practices and informs the generation of prevent one from seeing the problem situation in
design ideas and design results.i Thus, if the terms other than those that fit fixed traditional
goal is to encourage design thinking and design problem solving patterns. Vertical-traditional
practices that balance traditional and non- problem solving is associated with breaking a
traditional knowledge and skill sets, both should problem into parts and focusing on parts. Gestalt
be introduced and balanced early in the theory suggests that ideally problem solving
curriculum. Unfortunately, instructional material entails having principles with which to identify,
is scarce on balancing traditional concepts and define and work with problems holistically and
skills with those that are non-traditional like dynamically. Holistic problem solving entails
computational design thinking and associated iterative reformulations of problems and part to
algorithmic and parametric concepts. whole relationships. In other words, in an ideal
world, this would entail seeing holistic
This paper includes background discussion on relationships among the parts of design
the issues described above and discussion of problems and the dynamic nature of the
assignments balancing traditional concepts and relationships.ii
Also recently, Alhusban observed significant Architecture, Form, Space and Order and
differences in horizontal and vertical problem Design Drawing by Francis Ching are standard
solving abilities based on whether or not reference manuals for introductory architectural
architectural design students were exposed to design studio teaching and learning. Form,
alternative ways of thinking about and defining Space and Order illustrates a broad range of
design problems and practices. In the study, traditional architecture design principles: axis,
vertical design thinking was defined as symmetry and asymmetry, hierarchy, datum,
“traditional” thinking and as having a “depth” and center/edge, rhythm static and dynamic order,
“detail” focus. Horizontal design thinking (a.k.a. repletion, transformation, solid/void and
lateral design thinking) entails “breadth” and figure/ground relationships, proportioning
“critical” thought processes connecting different systems and regulating lines, as well as
parts of the design problem in new ways. balancing order and variety in design. Design
Vertical thinking lends itself to design Drawing directly addresses design thinking and
developments after conceptual or schematic practice, specifically “Speculative Drawing,”
design. Horizontal design thinking lends itself to “Creative Process” and “Digital Concepts.” One
bridging and synthesizing alternatives during of the overall suppositions in both manuals is
early stages of problem solving.iii that relationships between the diagram, material
form and design practice are close and mutually
Recent studies by Carnegie (2012) and influential. Further, these relationships have
Alhusban (2012) reinforce the idea that design explicitly informed architectural discourse since
innovation for ill-defined problems entails the the Acropolis, 5C BC. Ching’s diagrams illustrate
ability to restructure the problem space how elementary geometric shapes, patterns of
iteratively to co-evolve problem and solution shapes, as well as repetition and variation and
relationships. Further, these studies reinforce the transformation in patterns form a universal basis
theory that the designerly way of thinking is a for understanding architectural design principles
generative trial and error process and that this and practices.
process is abductive.iv However, if a design
process is contingent on the application of However, Ching’s brief discussion on digital
traditional problem solving strategies to bridge design concepts in Design Drawing focuses on
the problem-solution space, the resulting design the use of computer software rather than
is less likely to holistic connect and synthesize computation design thinking. Ching mentions
the parts of the design problem. layering and undoing operations afforded by
software for managing graphic information and
The discussion above supports the supposition how with “Boolean Operations” one can merge
that the acquisition of concepts and skills prior to shapes additively and subtractivelyv. It is not
design problem solving, as well as during difficult to see how one might expand Ching’s
problem solving, molds problem solving brief discussion, even if only provisionally, to
practices and informs the generation of design balance traditional concepts and skills with non-
ideas and design results. The discussion also traditional computational design thinking and
supports the idea that introducing architecture associated algorithmic and parametric concepts.
students to alternative problem solving concepts
and skills early in their training will benefit their Mid-century modernism & proto-
design thinking. Differences in traditional and computational design thinking
non-traditional design thinking are not difficult to
define, even if only provisionally. What is less Ching’s section drawing of Aalto’s Concert and
well understood is how traditional and non- Convention Hall, Helsinki, 1967-71, offers an
traditional problem solving strategies can be example of proto-computational design thinking
balanced in the introductory architectural design in mid-century modern architecture. In Aalto’s
studio to best prepare students for architectural design, one sees an intricate configuration of
practice. One difficulty is that the literature on elements, a configuration that clearly exhibits
introductory design focuses on traditional design algorithmic and parametric relationships
knowledge. On the other hand, examples of non- associated with computational design thinking
traditional design focus on digital design results today. The system of curved acoustical baffles
rather than computational design thinking. lofted above the seating establish an
asymmetrical yet ordered pattern of repeated
basic elements, and algorithmic variation in the
size, location and orientation of the elements. Computational design thinking in Architecture
Clearly, this pattern expresses sound wave today is defined in many ways, often with
behavior parameters. It is not surprising that one reference to natural material systems behavior,
of Aalto’s projects can be accurately described genetics, morphogenesis, emergence and self-
with concepts that define computational design similarity (e.g. in nature, in swarm and in crowd
thinking, or that the material elements of the behavior). Practice oriented definitions of
design reflect algorithmic and parametric design computational design emphasize performance
concepts. This is not surprising given the based associative design, systems thinking for
functional imperatives of modern architecture, design control and optimization.viii The concepts
and given the systemization of the design of patterns and parametric relationships among
process in modern design practice. Also, it is not pattern elements are central to the many
surprising that Aalto’s proto-computational different ways of defining computational thinking.
design thinking informed his creative processes.
Aalto’s systematic step-by-step design In Elements of Parametric Design, Robert
procedure for the Baker House, MIT, Mass, Woodbury defines parametric design as
1946-49 are well-known. The steps entailed the “relating” and “modeling patterns” of
repetition and incremental variation of basic interdependent “parts.” Diagrams play a central
linear, planar and volumetric elements based on role in parametric design in so far as parametric
form finding and site configuration parameters to design is “graph” based with “nodes” that define
generate alternatives. This formed the basis for constraint variables with input–output
his comparative evaluations of design instructions, rule sets, and procedural
alternatives and design decision making. In this instructions defining what the system can and
way, building elements and site configuration can’t do at the node. Algorithms define the
were correlated with goals concerning instructions.ix The graph and the nodes
adjacencies, paths-space relations, public- diagrammatically define the performance of the
private zoning of activities and relationships, building system. This kind of thinking and
massing, views, and day lighting.vi modeling in architectural design is particularly
useful for performance based form-finding. In
Computational design thinking and practice, successful design decision-making
parametric design hinges on leveraging material constraints to
explore opportunities, particularly incremental
Aalto’s emphasis on the dynamic relationships variations in form finding and site configuration
among interrelated parts of the overall design parameters to generate, evaluate, and revise
offers a bridge between traditional and non- alternatives. Certainly today there are many
tradition design entailing computational design important and very public practice-based
thinking. However, much of the architectural examples of parametric form-finding and site
literature on computational or parametric design configuration in the AEC industry. Woodbury
in academic design studio settings emphasizes highlights two of them: the courtyard roof for the
digital design at advanced studio levels. There is Smithsonian Institution Patent Office Building,
however several helpful examples emphasizing (Nigel Young and Norman Foster + Partners),
hand crafted computational design thinking in and the International Terminal Waterloo Station
advanced design studios. Two cases are explicit by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners.
about the computational basis for design activity.
Both emphasize parametric and algorithmic While computational design often entails the use
modeling of patterns to design associative of computers to perform various steps and
systems comprised of basic shapes, lines and operations, computation itself is procedural,
planes. In both cases creative modeling and entailing repeatable routines with information-
problem solving entail tectonic pattern making, inputs. Computational thinking, whether
form finding and system configuration activities computer based or hand-craft based (analog)
to create non-linear patterns exhibiting repetition enables a systematic exploration of input-output
and variation.vii Parametric and algorithmic relationships. While routines are repeatable,
modeling of non-linear patterns (often with linear input-output results can vary because input can
and planar elements) is fundamental to vary. Essentially, computational routines are sets
computational design thinking and parametric of rules and procedures, algorithms for exploring
design in the architecture, engineering and input-output relationships. Algorithms are often
construction (AEC) industry. used to model and explain complex and dynamic
systems in nature. Nature’s patterns are outlines, and sheet materials. The emphasis is
characterized by repetition and variation: on patterns found in the exterior life-world,
patterns like weather systems, cloud systems, particularly patterns found in nature, cultivated
flocks of birds, and crowd behavior. nature, and the built environment. The goals of
the exercise were to introduce the concept of
Natural phenomena like flocks and cloud pattern identification and pattern repetition and
systems do not depend on or require a computer variation with linear and planar elements. As
or digital software, but they can be explained, discussed above, these are core concepts in
modeled and ‘designed’ with algorithms and computational design thinking.
computational thinking. Computers can help with
design information modeling particularly when a Also, the emphasis in the exercise is on
lot of information needs to be processed traditional concepts and skills sets; direct
procedurally to explore and to better understand observation, insight, interpretation, abstraction
input-output relationships in systems that are and process. Direct observation emphasizes
characterized by component repetition and going out into the external life-world to identify
variation. However, computational design and document examples of patterns through
thinking is a way of thinking about design and sketching and photography. Insight focuses on
explaining design, and a way of designing. perceiving the underlying structural pattern of
Computational design entails rule sets and relationships in the observed setting.
procedural steps to explore input-output Interpretation entails explaining the particular
relationships, but it does not necessarily entail meaning of the pattern or subjective experience
digital design or the use of computer design of the pattern. Students write brief descriptions
software. to explain this (quotations in Fig. 1 caption).
Interpretation also entails editing and inflecting
This is not to suggest that computational thinking patterns, lines and sheet materials to represent
whether digital or analog is equivalent to natural meaning or experience. Abstraction emphasizes
and social systems or processes or phenomena. the distinction between the actual patterns
Rather, the focus here is on how the introductory observed and the modeling of the pattern with
design studio can balance the traditional analog linear and planar elements. Patterns often lay
modeling techniques in architecture with non- beneath the surface of what is observed but
traditional techniques in architecture practice. none the less configure what is observed on the
surface. Process entails working materials to
One intended benefit of this balance is to better study and represent patterns and their
prepare students to think critically about digital component elements, to model them two
methods. This could help avoid the uncritical use dimensionally. Process work emphasizes
of digital technologies whether based on feedback loops including testing and refining
traditional or non-traditional assumptions. visual design communication ideas with
Another intended benefit is to introduce students materials and techniques, instructor and peer
to important distinctions regarding material consultations.
phenomena in the life-world and the abstract
modeling of the life-world computationally or Continuous patterned surface design, folding
digitally or traditionally. paper, 2D & 3D representation and design
modeling
Pattern identification in nature, linear &
planar elements, 2D representation and This exercise (Fig. 2 & 3) focuses on mutually
modeling. influential relationships between 2D pattern
diagrams and the 3D material articulation of the
The introductory design studio case examples pattern as a continuous folding surface. The
discussed in the following are drawn from emphasis is on working back and forth
assignments that seek to balance traditional iteratively, 2D-3D-2D-3D. The exercise entails
design thinking and computational design algorithmic procedures and parametric
thinking and particularly parametric and constraints that govern the process and the
algorithmic design concepts. The results of a outcome (input–output relationships). The goal is
studio exercise shown in Figure 1 focus on for the models to materially articulate the
identifying patterns with basic linear and planar diagram in 3D, and for the diagrams to articulate
elements and representing patterns with lines, the material form in 2D.
Fig. 3. Continuous pattern surface design: folding

paper, 2D & 3D representation and design modeling,
Bristol paper, pencil.
Left, ‘star & box’ pattern folding paper model. Right,
detail rendering of model. Bottom left, diagram of fold
pattern. WSU Arch 101 ’11, Instructor, John Abell.
Student, Ting Zhang.
Continuous pattern façade design, planar

and linear elements, 3D.
Fig. 2. Continuous pattern surface design: folding
paper, 2D & 3D representation and design modeling, This exercise (Fig. 4) is viewed as an extension
Bristol paper, pencil. Top left, herringbone pattern
folding paper model. Top right, detail of model. Bottom of the continuous folding paper exercise (above).
left, diagram of fold pattern. Bottom right, detail of This reinforces the concept of continuous
diagram. WSU Arch 101 ’12, Instructor John Abell. associational relationships among linear and
Student, Matthew Staley.
planer basswood sticks and sheets. Here,
Students begin this exercise in various ways. however, greater emphasis is on the
One way is to identify basic geometric shapes to interdependent nature of the linear and planar
create patterns. Another way is to begin folding elements of the façade and the associational
paper – perhaps using basic types of origami modeling of the parts in diagrams, orthographic
patterns like the herringbone pattern. However a drawings and physical models of the façade.
student chooses to begin, students experiment
with shapes and patterns by copying and Façade diagrams play a central role in the
connecting, and outlining and tracing, to create design process. The particular focus is on the
patterns – with perhaps 100 shapes or cells parametric function of the diagram as a
making-up each pattern.x The pattern is lightly representation of a continuous surface with
re-drawn on Bristol paper. The pattern on the nodes (ridges, valleys, surface areas between
paper is used to make decisions about where to and points of intersection) that define what the
fold and where to cut the paper to create tabs façade system can and can’t do. The diagram
(no paper can be removed; the pattern governs becomes a critical vehicle with which to define
folding and cutting). The orientation and spacing and experiment with the façade as a
of the pattern lines are then modified (2D performance envelope, a differential
diagram) to create variation in the original performance envelope marked by repetition and
pattern. The revised pattern diagram is lightly variation. As discussed earlier, this kind of
traced on a new sheet of paper; the paper is thinking and modeling in architectural design is
folded, cut and compared with the original. particularly useful for performance based form-
These steps are repeated indefinitely to arrive at finding. In practice, successful design decision-
a pattern that exhibits repetition and variation making hinges on leveraging material constraints
three-dimensionally along the continuous to explore opportunities, particularly incremental
surface. Students explore and experiment with variations in form finding and site configuration
2D and 3D pattern articulation relationships parameters to generate, evaluate, and revise
while exploring and experimenting with alternatives.
parametric opportunities and constraints.
The focus here is on the mutually influential
relationship between the 2D façade pattern
diagram and the 3D model of the façade: the
diagram and the nodal system of planar cladding
elements and linear framing elements. The
pattern diagram lines which form ‘valleys’ and
‘ridges’ in the folding paper exercise become
potential locations for linear framing elements in
the façade exercise. Likewise, planar ‘slopes’
between valleys and ridges in the folding paper
exercise become potential locations for cladding
and openings for day lighting, and for views in or

iii
out. Alhusban, A., What does the architectural creative leap
look like through a conceptual design phase in the
The emphasis on computational design thinking underground architectural design studio? Unpublished
here is balanced with traditional concerns for the doctoral dissertation. Washington State University,
layering and articulation of façade elements, its Spokane, WA, 2012. p 133-‐134, 148-‐149.
surfaces and systems, and the expression of iv
Cross, Nigel. Designerly Ways of Knowing, Birkhäuser,
craft veracity. Students create study diagrams Basel, 2007. p 53-‐58.
and models to explore how a façade can filter, v
Ching, Design Drawing, Wiley, New Jersey, 2010. p 326-‐
shape, and sculpt light, and how façade surfaces
328.
and filtering strategies can create transparency,
vi
opacity, luminosity, as well as ambiance, See, Reichlin, Bruno. “Controlling the Design Process: A
sidewalk-scape experience, and pleasure. Modernist Obsession” Daidalos, no 71, 1999. p 6-‐21.
vii
See, Russo, Rhett. “Wild Cards and Stacked Decks,” in
Meander, Variegating Architecture, edited by Ferda Kolatan
and Jenney E. Sabin, Bentley Institute Press, Pennsylvania,
2010. Also see, Kolatan, Ferda. “Lines and Patterns” in
Meander, 2010.
viii
There are many examples. For a representative range see
Computational Design, AD Reader, edited by Achim Menges
and Sean Ahlquist, John Wiley and Sons, West Sussex, U.K.,
2011.
ix
Woodbury, Robert. Parametric Design, Routledge, 2010. p
Fig. 4. Continuous pattern façade design, planar and 8, 11, 34.
linear elements, 3D, Bass wood model: repetition, x
variation, & transformation. Left, elevation. Center, side Introduced to me by my colleague Taiji Miyasaka.
view. Right, top view detail. WSU Arch 103 ’11,
Instructor, John Abell, Student, Ting Zhang.
Conclusion
The case examples discussed above are drawn

from basic studio exercises emphasizing hand
crafted computational design thinking. The
exercises balance traditional principles and skill
sets and computation design thinking and
specifically parametric and algorithmic concepts.
The examples reflect 2D and 3D associational
tectonic pattern making and form finding goals
with linear and planar material elements. These
cases offer provisional answers to questions
concerning how to balance traditional and non-
traditional skill sets early in the design curriculum
to better prepare students for design thinking
and architecture design practice today.
Notes
i
See, Kimbell, Lucy. “Rethinking Design Thinking, Part 1,” in
Design and Culture, Berg Publishers: Volume 3, Number 3,
November 2011.
ii
Carnegie, Teena, A. M., “Design as Problem Solving,” in
Designing Texts, Teaching and Visual Communication,
edited by Eva Brumberger and Kathryn Northcut, Baywood
Publishing Company, Inc. 2012. p 44.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DESIGN DECISION MAKING AS EFFECTED BY DIFFERING MODEL
Juhani Pallasmaa’s call for architectural design

to become more responsive to the sensory
DESIGN DECISION MAKING as aspects of human relations to the designed
EFFECTED by DIFFERING environment is essentially a call for design to
MODELS of HUMAN PERCEPTION more greatly consider the depths of human
experience as both determinant and measure of
Stephen Temple architectural design. Pallasmaa’s criticism of
architecture’s “over-emphasis on conceptual
University of Texas San Antonio dimensions” stems from reliance on a “retinal
gaze” that preferences imaginary
representations in favor of active, multi-sensory
engagement within our perception due to multi-
sensory movement in and around the space of
buildings. (Pallasmaa 1994) Working by way of
Introduction representation in design is far from giving clarity
of ourselves as beings-in-the-world, as they are
nearly entirely frozen visual moments. The
Predominant operations of present day abstracting act of representation itself, as a
architectural design education pedagogies favor framing of actions, intentions, or thoughts
working in visual abstractions apart from reality, accomplished without the perceiving body
with outcomes of design processes as effectively results in architectural design decision
making out of touch with experience, instead
predictions of the experiential disposition of
abstracted into mere imagery, like a dream that,
actual reality. Despite this, our actual connection so real in sleep, is only vaguely recalled on
to the designed environment occurs only within awakening. The image of architecture often
and through our experience. Relationships becomes more credible for a designer than the
between human beings and their surroundings building itself. To the contrary, our perception
are constructed within human perception and operates precisely because of the action,
movement, and scale of our bodies in space as
thereby structure how we come to know the
“architecture directs, scales, and frames actions,
actual world. Human experience is the primary perceptions, and thoughts” (Pallasmaa 2005, 60)
measure of the efficacy of architectural design
decisions. Thus, the problem of the designed This paper suggests a theoretical relationship
environment is tied to the problem of perception. between visual perception, design methodology,
The practice of philosophy has debated the true and material presences. I believe attention to
nature of experience since its beginnings. the study of visual perception on the production
In order to cast design decisions, designers of architecture suggests that philosophical
seem to accept only perfunctory descriptions of insight into how we come to know our
human experience, typically rooted in narratives surroundings will produce designs enabling
received in childhood. These narratives spring greater bond with the depth of human nature.
from simple descriptions from elementary school Most designers unknowingly hold a set of
biological science courses and thereafter remain unconsidered assumptions about how visual
unconscious and unexamined by reflection. is perception correlates with the way we humans
highly influenced by designers’ knowledge of operate in the world. In turn, these sets of
how they think perception works. Unconsciously assumptions unwittingly form the basis for
held assumptions by a designer about a design decision-making that operates to
particular model of perception cause design determine such aspects as the shape, color,
decisions that configure architecture consistently material surface, configuration, joinery, and
only with that particular model of perception. detail of the designed surroundings, ultimately
Assumptions like “mind/body dualism” and determining how it is apprehended in perception.
“sense-data,” if uninspected, become unwitting I think it justifiable to conclude that for most
determinants of design decision making that present day designers this basic set of
prefigure issues like materiality, detailing, and assumptions is not derived from any elaborate
finally, experiential apprehension of substance epistemological position. To the contrary, these
and meaning. I contend that understanding assumptions follow an over-simplified,
perceptual models enables deeper philosophically dualistic model of visual
comprehension of relationships between perception, one that separates mind from matter
perceiver and designed environment that will -- of meaning from material -- through the
result in greater unanimity between experience mediation of visual images, thereby limiting
and the actual world. possibilities for meaningfully complete interaction
with the architectural environment.
The limitations of architectural interactions are experience and the world itself. Descartes’ claim
specified by the underlying model of visual that nothing could be known for certain but one's
perception, especially with respect to own thoughts effectively reduced one’s being to
epistemological implications of its philosophical, "thinking substance." As in Platonic thinking, the
psychological, and scientific lineage. Models of world of material things, despite its existence,
the relations to the world through perception are was considered unknowable, except through the
of ancient philosophical origins that have, over mediation of abstract, mental constructs or
time, been redeveloped into models of images, or through objectivizing narratives such
psychological and scientific thought. as those of science. Descartes’ dualistic
Pallasmaa’s argument has correspondence with philosophy would crystalize Renaissance era
recent models of perception and intends a more philosophy and alter forever considerations that
direct relation to the world around us than the represent a model of seeing that characterized
static moment of perception necessary to the visual process as a mechanistic optical
models of perception held over from system which focused an image on a receptive
th
Renaissance thinkers still within 20 Century retina for subsequent interpretation by an interior
scientific models. This paper will outline two thinking being. (Descartes 1637) Descartes’
proliferating models of perception and elucidate account of perception delivered upon the chain
a position that a working understanding of of causality from matter to mind an inscrutable
human perception as an underlying actor on threshold between interiority and exteriority.
design thinking remains largely unquestioned in Optical imagery of the outer world focused on
architectural education and practice. Pallasmaa, the retinal sense organ as a boundary where the
and writers such as Kathryn Moore, have only outer world ended and where the inner world
insinuated a new approach. Interrelationships began as encoded transformations for use by
between theories of perception and design abstracting mechanisms of mind. The retinal
decision making practices offer challenges to image was then delusory and meaningless, as
design education apart from perceptual studies. the mind became the source of visual
Experience and Perception perception. This presupposition of mind/body
dualism conveys a highly symbolic dualistic
Contemporary psychology models visual model of visual perception advocating a "primacy
perception following two main currents: those of image" in an absolute separation of interiority
positing that abstract representations are the from exteriority where interiority defines only
primary source of meaningful experience versus itself and only on its own terms of abstraction,
those proposing that experience is concretely necessarily disconnected from any actual
based in perceptual acts. Although both models exterior.
characterize human conduct as being of
relations between an inner state and an outer In centuries hence, Cartesian dualistic visual
world, their distinctions rest on how this is raised perception became a dogmatic paradigm for an
in consciousness and resolved in experience, epistemological separation of interior from
with implications for the verity of the external exterior and of subject from object. Cartesian
world. The first model of perception encourages dualism defines the commonly held model of the
abstract visuality that separates generation of visual system learned in elementary school via
meaning away from concrete physical origins the easy rhetoric of simplistic diagrams of
into singularly mental conceptualizations that are perception. Extrapolations of Descartes' model
abstracted encodements for their origins in the have been the preferred model for scientific
actual physical world. The second emerging inquiry into perception within the bounds of this
model of perception encourages a visuality "visual processing," even at the cellular scale of
inextricably bound up in a bodily origin in direct the nervous impulse (Atkinson & Hilgard 2009).
experiential connection with the actual world as it As a simplistic paradigm, mind/body dualism
is lived. formed the underpinnings of the production and
reception of artistic and non-artistic objects, as
Mind/Body Dualism and Perception well as the production and experience of the
designed environment. For example, whereas
The philosophy of Renaissance philosopher Palladian architecture is unduly orderly on the
Rene Descartes recast Platonic distinctions level of mathematically derived proportion,
between the sensory world and the “world of Modernist production, and Post-Modern
forms” into a dualism of mind and body, wherein following it, has effectively dematerialized the
thought is held to be privileged over both surfaces of the physical world in favor of abstract
meanings derived from the priority given in their
image and interpretation over their direct 1979, 246) Gibson believes that visual
experience. Cartesian dualism would have that, perception operates due to, and within, the
if a building is a “duck,” as Robert Venturi has it, medium of light as a function of the light
it is indirectly referencing something other than reflected from properties of material surfaces
its existence as a building, and calling then for its and their configurations with respect to eye
direct experience to be meaningless until position. The structure that exists in the
rendered so by abstract interpretations. By attendant surfaces of the physical surroundings
extension, the world in-itself would possess no structures the reflected light which reaches the
intrinsic meaning until interpreted. The eye position of an observer in an "ambient optic
contentions of this model of perception offer array." Thus, environmental information "is given
great difficulties for design decision making as it in the optic array" and "picked up" by the visual
intends persistently direct and measurable system rather than being constructed by the
judgments onto actual experience. Design mind out of retinal "sense-data." (Gibson 1979,
cannot prefigure conscious interpretations of 65-92) Thus, optical information affords direct
individual observers. To do so would require perception of the environment without mental
omniscient powers over all possible meanings, interpretation of sensory stimulus and directly
and would inevitably result in reductions and "specifies" material features of the environment
abstractions. with specific respect to the position and size of
the observer relative to the environment.
Perception from an Embodied Mind Properties such as size constancy, spatial
orientation, and distance occur without "visual
Contrasting with Cartesian dualism is a model of thinking". (Gibson 1979, 65-92) Thus,
visual perception that addresses the question of perception directly confers our being within the
relationship between interiority and exteriority in surroundings, in constant univocal relation to its
experience by acknowledging the substantiating environmental character.
effect of our embodiment on the structure of
experiential relations within a unified body and Similarly, phenomenological philosopher,
mind in perception. Stated plainly, “Every Maurice Merleau-Ponty, developed a “theory of
person has a body, or more properly is a body. the body” that characterizes our embodiment as
One does not live within the body or in a endowing our consciousness with a physical
detached world of spirit outside the functions of subjectivity within the actual occurance of the
the organism. Life is the functioning of what is perceptual act itself. Merleau-Ponty held that,
called body.” (Frohse, Brodel, Schlossberg through embodiment, the act of perception is the
1942) No matter the Cartesian picture of the locus of innate and acquired capacities and
body as mechanistic activity, it does not result in orientation toward the world, characterized as a
living purpose. Squaring these oppositions “corporeal scheme” of an embodied
points to life having purposes derived from its consciousness always already in the world,
own concrete nature within the world, as lived situating itself according to the nature of “its”
through body. physical surroundings within the immediacy of
"tasks-at-hand." An embodied mind is not
Psychological scientist, James J. Gibson's hermetically removed from concrete experience,
ecological approach to visual perception posits as Descartes claims. Rather, consciousness IS
that we experience our surroundings directly - the world as lived body in space. Body is not a
not through mediating stages of abstract mere "thing," it is a "body-subject," the locus of
processing by any interior state. Against a innate and acquired capacities and orientation
dualistic model of visual perception described as toward the world. The world is not "objective,"
a "pictorial” model of perception, Gibson rather embodied experience is that through
characterized perception as involving an which there comes to be a world for each of us.
ecological relation of a sentient organism to its (Merleau-Ponty 1945)
visual environment with, “Eyes evolved so as to
see the world, not a picture.” (Gibson 1967, 140) Both Gibson’s and Merleau-Ponty’s positions
Abandoning the retinal image model of model perception not as the mind's view of a
perception, Gibson redefined the visual system picture of the world but as an innate awareness
around an assumption that the physical of operating physically within the world in
surroundings are physically structured in relation embodiment. Where the world is denied in
to an observer and form the ground against Cartesian models in favor of representations, in
which an observer lives and moves. (Gibson an embodied model the world exists innately
because of the body existing within and
operating within the world. Embodied models of question of perception, the preponderance of
visual perception imply that the perception of the narrative driven, image-heavy buildings in our
material existence of things is innately time finds the question of perception obscured
meaningful. Rather than being meaningless until by architecture measured simply as cultural
interpreted, meaning is thus directly bound into artifact, with architecture’s "meaningfulness"
embodiment in direct perception of surroundings. being situated primarily within culturally
mainstream symbolic life. While there is no
Design Decision Making Affected by denying the existence of our minds and their
Perception Models attendant abstract structures, and that our
reflective experience utilizes symbolism, the
A designer unknowingly holding a dualistic experience of symbolic disassociation from any
model of visual perception predisposes concrete materiality threatens the loosening of
architectural design within a particular visuality our apprehension of our own physicality into
reliant upon reception through abstract mental realms of abstraction distended from our well-
operations like rationality, signification, and being and likely contrary to it. What is
association outside of immediate experience. demanded of architecture by dualistic models of
Architectural decision-making from an underlying perception cannot be physically realized without
dualistic model of perception embraces image continued denial of our nature as sentient beings
and interpretation as the primary basis of or relegation to artificial spaces of the type
apprehension of meaning, resulting in an necessary to digital environments or film making.
architecture of indirect references alluding to (Benedikt 1991)
externalities dismissive of the actual presence of
the architecture. This pictorial architecture of Making Architecture Substantial
“easy symbolism,” (Judd 1989, 187), forms an
assemblage of outrightly readable cues. Forcing Contrasting with dualistic perception models,
interpretation of architecture into a "language” of models of visual perception developed from the
cues causes meaning to be developed in individual perspective of our embodiment are
deference of the immediacy of the perceptual act bound into the concreteness of things. Within
in submission to interpretation as if the embodiment, mind-body dualism is unified within
architecture’s only value is its abstractness. a direct and explicit immediacy of the material
(Lobell 1988, 206) Correlation with cultural surroundings. An embodied model of visual
narrative is forced a priori to be a chief measure perception predisposes an architecture
of meaningfulness because direct relation to meaningful within a contingent materiality that
immediate surroundings through embodiment is substantiates experience in the moment-to-
excluded as insignificant, thus, muddling moment judgments of our direct actions in the
experience. For example, the physicality of Post world rather than only from externalities. For
Modern architecture, relying on interpretation as architectural theory, meaningfulness has
it does, does not correspond with its imagery. A traditionally been derived from such abstract
visual reference to characteristics of actual mass intersubjective structures as canons, rationality,
and solidity portends a similar requirement of signification, narratives, hermeneutics, and/or
materials and workmanship, which design as attributed to mirroring power structures. These
imagery fails to accomplish. Requiring reference abstract structures obfuscate the primacy that is
to the physical traits of materials through its each embodied individual. As abstraction
imagery in an abstract reading leaves a feeling increases in stature, the body, our embodiment
of an intended narrative on the part of the occupies a diminished position in inverse relation
designer toward the inauthenticity of the until we, as individuals, can identify only with
designed environment. Imagery lacks minuscule aspects of the actual world that may
immediacy and thus obfuscates direct slip through the filter of cultural convention.
architectural meaning in perceptual experience Shifting value toward the cultural imposes on the
as its far less substantial replacement. individual a sense of diminished connectedness
with the profundity of the actuality of the world.
Any system of architectural knowledge assumes On this basis, the aesthetic agenda of
an underlying epistemological position regarding architecture becomes the expression of the
the nature of visual perception as a primary "collective" only on the contingency of the
locus of relation between interiority and "individual." Achieving a more tenable
exteriority. If as I contend, most architectural relatedness in the direct participation achieved
design decision making occurs without through an embodied perceptual model, one is in
awareness of a particular attitude toward the
possession of the physical surroundings within a Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum is an example
living wholeness of reciprocal, creative relations of such relation of abstract to concrete in
between perceiver and surroundings. Against experience. This harmony becomes evident in
constantly shifting values of an underlying the experience of the Kimbell through a
dualistic approach, architecture from an reduction of the representational references to
embodied model affirms the full participation of only that which has a substructure in the material
human actions within perceptual primacy, presence of the constructed material surfaces.
thereby establishing a substantive, fundamental This balance is manifest at both distant and
presence. detailed scales chiefly through methods of
workmanship that develop the individual
For the designed environment to become viably materials in a discreet joinery, thereby
affirmed in experience, that is, for its manifesting any fictive apprehension within one’s
representational symbolism to become actual experience of the building itself. (Figure 1)
substantiated, perception must be borne out in The detail of making that is evident in its material
concreteness. The ecology of perceiver and surfaces and its clear joinery has as its purpose
environment requires this affirmation as an the achievement of a holistic object rather than
enabler of our trust in our perceptions as viable as a composition or construction so as to limit
information about our surroundings. (Gibson referential abstractions in the engagement of the
1979) Within the formation of our sense of observer. The treatment of its surfaces fosters a
being, the primacy of perception offers an visuality of reciprocal relations between
always already established linkage between abstractions and their
observer and the concreteness of the world.
When that world is configured in such a way as
to demand abstracted apprehension apart from
its concreteness, our living moment-to-moment
experience becomes disembodied and
diminished. Likewise, a world devoid of
abstractions would provoke only an automatic,
bodily response and would allow no conceptual,
reflective connectedness. An underlying model
of embodied perception for design asks for
consideration of the shape of the experience of
architecture instead of the shape of the
architecture alone, that occupants consider only
the shape of abstractions and interpretations.
Within embodied perception, reflective
interpretation arises from our direct contact with
the surroundings, within a spatial, temporal,
shared immediacy with bodily experience.
Recognizing that neither abstract ideas nor the
concreteness of the physical body can occur
discretely, the experience of architecture must
necessarily involve the relation of the abstract to
the concrete.
For this to become evident through the

experience of architecture, a level of design
refinement must be achieved through a material
basis for representation in which acts of careful
making, emphasizing concreteness, are an
essential feature. Thus, in the making of
architecture a cogent material basis for
Figure 1. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas,
abstractions can be actively constructed. This
Interior Lobby
can be accomplished in the depiction of abstract
content supported by specific materials and
concrete substructure, giving, within the
methods of craftsmanship within the visibility of
experience of the building, a deep, holistic
the techniques of making.
engagement.
Judd, Donald. 1989. “Art and Architecture 1984.”

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level of the perception of its materiality or it will, Consciousness” Form; Being; Absence: Architecture
by appealing only to abstraction, call into and Philosophy. Pratt Journal of Architecture. N.Y.:
question its relation to the individual, and hence, Rizzoli.
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surfaces of architecture present the conditions of Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1945. Phenomenology of
their own visuality in substance, then it behooves Perception. Trans. Colin Smith. (1981) London:
architects to more consciously consider the Routledge & Kegan Paul.
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decisions. This call into question what designers Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1964. The Primacy of
do and what design educators teach in a manner Perception. James M. Edie, (Ed.). Northwestern
I pose in the following way: Do we wish for an University Press.
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as perceiving beings or do we continue to Moore, Kathryn. 2010. Overlooking the Visual:
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more and more toward culturally bound Pallasmaa, Juhani. 1994. “An Architecture of the
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Gibson, J. J. 1979. The Ecological Approach to Visual

Perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Gropius, Walter, quoted in John Barr. 1970. The

Assaults on Our Senses. London: Methuen.
Irwin, Robert. 1979. “Some Notes on the Nature of

Abstraction” Perception and Pictorial Representation.
Calvin F. Nodine and Dennis F. Fisher. (Eds.) Praeger
Press. 217-27.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DRAWING THINKING: A LOST CURRENCY?
Drawing thinking: a lost currency?

Federica Goffi and David Lepage
Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University
Introduction While there is a great deal of focus on the continuous

development of digital representation, an analogous
Analog architectural drawing is losing currency in both effort to make visible changes happening within
the schools and professional world of architecture. analog drawing is less evident. The drafting
Critical to its stand in the practice and thinking in imagination course introduced at the Azrieli School of
architecture is a revisiting of how drawing is taught, Architecture and Urbanism in Fall 2011 inspired by
st
addressing particularly the 1 year under graduate Marco Frascari’s “11 Exercises in the Art of
architectural curriculum and the role of hybrid Architectural Drawing” (Routledge 2011) focuses on
drawings in subsequent studios. The teaching of exploratory forms of hybrid representations based on
drawing is nowadays separate from design, reducing a cross exchange with the Multimedia photography
drawing to the obedient apprenticeship of drafting laboratory taught by Dave Lepage. The exercises
board skills focusing on learning conventions of challenge a current understanding of architectural
architectural representation. This denies the act of representation as rendered image production,
drawing is inseparable from design imagination, and whether analog or digital, focusing on drawing
like design imagination it is in continual thinking as imagination drafting. Emphasizing process
transformation. rather than instant production students learn to
interrogate their own making rather that attempt to
The imagination of drawing cannot be demoted to validate it by providing new versions of known
execution of ideas, nor should drawing aim at graphic solutions. Design drawings are means of discovering
virtuosity for the purpose of producing duplicates of ideas, creating always-new conventions, broadening
present or future buildings through skilful renderings the scope of design, and moving towards a less
whether analog or digitally farmed, the latter codified practice of architecture capable of redefining
conveying a misleading idea of scale-production its own boundaries.
efficiency. Introducing drawing as proficiency, a
system to acquire rudiments, conventions and rules of Deep Translations: drawing signs and drawing
representation in expedited fashion is deceptive. This imagination
is reflective of an increasingly codified and fast paced
practice offering fewer opportunities for reflection. Presently the teaching of drawing in North American
Architectural drawings accomplish more than an schools is often conceived as architectural drafting,
1
efficient translation of ideas into building. As much as teaching a shared graphic language aiming at the
we should think of drawing as design, design studios acquisition of technical skills that will introduce
in the upper years should also think of design as students to the current building industry reinforcing
drawing, investigating the traction of drawing as an notions of production and efficiency in the creation of
open laboratory drawing-out design imagination, design development drawings. Both analogue and
transferring from drawings to buildings as a digital drawing courses are separate in the curricula
completed act. This happens when the organization from design studio and separate from
drawing/thinking remains open and ambiguous, each other. Often hand drawing precedes the
allowing for on-site interpretations and future introduction of digital drawing contributing to a
reimagining of a building. perceived tension and contraposition between these
modes of drafting and designing. Drawing courses
based on codification and technical skills, offer
prescriptive notions of drawing limiting its role in them, providing an original angle of imaginative
architecture to a code reading/writing activity confrontation, potentially giving rise to a continual re-
conveying a narrow understanding of it as a imagining of representation.
pragmatic translation from drawing to building
reinforcing the hegemony of vision and Hybrid Conditions: drawing print and multimedia
communication over material imagination as a form of
2
drawing thinking. Being on what seems to be the cusp of a
technological shift from analogue to digital drawing
The teaching of technical drawing in North America offers a fertile ground for the proliferation of possible
had been a distinct category since the beginning of hybrid conditions. Representational and technological
academic teaching of architecture in the nineteenth paradigm shifts have historically offered ground for
century. The influence of the Beaux-Arts tradition in imagination. The introduction of printed drawings
the last third of the nineteenth century contributed to during the Renaissance period for example did not
an understanding of drawing as a set of given displace the role of hand drawing but rather informed
conventions within which to operate.3 While the new hybrid techniques contributing to a renewed
history of the teaching of drawing is hardly reducible understanding of representation. Hand drawing
to the influence of the Beaux Arts tradition a lingering remained an essential practice of the Renaissance
separation of skills versus imagination is still reflected workshop. Prints became a way of disseminating
in the architectural curriculum. Graphic skills are complete designs meanwhile attending to a slow fast-
7
described as an “ability to employ appropriate track construction process.
representational media to convey essential formal
elements at each stage of the programming of the The question of whether digital drawing is going to
4
design process”. While these are essential “standard overtake traditional media should be overcome by
minima” one must not forget the more complex role of continuing to rely on traditional media. Meanwhile
analogue drawing in imagination drafting. Rather than asking digital technologies to do something that is
reducing drawing to the learning of graphic skills the unique to the tool itself it is important to think about
11 exercises are crafted to allow experiencing the the potential of hybrid representations. Hand drawing
5
traction of drawing. While providing an awareness of has a crucial role in reminding us of the role of the
the provisional nature of conventions, rather than architect as maker. Today’s photorealistic digital
conveying the present condition as one of frozen renderings reduce representation to a question of
signifiers the exercises foster the introduction of instantaneous perception. The notion that
variants and unique conventions contributing to architectural drawing is a portrayal of a building’s
discursive alterations of graphic signs as newly assembling should be central regardless of drawing
8
articulated demarcations of a living architectural tools. One could compare architectural drawing to as
drawing language. a system of musical notation making ‘sound’/‘time’
9
visible. To see the music is different than to hear the
In order to initiate a shift from ‘code abiding’ to ‘code music. In this kind of notation sign and signifier do not
making’ we need to conceive drawing as a form of coincide. This can be related to being able to
material imagination capable of redefining itself over understand a construction process rather than view
time. Umberto Eco explained this “involves a type of an external appearance of a finished building. The
discourse which announces a possible code, which architect, like a composer, compares past and future
6
produces a new articulation of the culture”. The events on the ‘drawing-site’, properly sequencing the
relationship between sign and signifier is renewed construction of the building. The ‘stone laying score’
through a historical understanding of conventions for the construction of the stonewalls at the Thermal
through a time cross-section into the cultural and Baths at Vals, in Switzerland by Peter Zumthor is
10
material transformations of architectural telling. The “regularly irregular” wall was not drawn
representation. The exercises instruct the imagination in a realistic way to anticipate a future likeness, rather
without being prescriptive of the work. The lectures the process of laying out stones was cadenced by
maintain a careful balance between learning providing a dimensional rhythm within which a degree
conventions meanwhile working within and without of improvisation was possible, thus not attempting to
foretell a final image but rather guiding the stone as straight continuous extended lengths without
masons’ expert hands in the assembly of the wall. In breadth or sensorial properties.
Architectural drawings embody time as a continuum.
Naturalistic depictions address a single moment in In this exercise thread-lines, metal-lines, pasta-lines,
time corresponding to the viewpoint of the client paper-lines, rope-lines, glue lines, etc. inform design
13
rather than that of the maker, and for this reason through their materiality and inherent “geomater”.
should be used at the end of a design process. The Discovering how a chosen material informs the
making of a building is something other than the geometry of making is a first critical lesson of analog
making of a hand or digitally rendered image. By drawing (Fig. 1). Being reminded of the materiality,
relying on renderings we will no longer ‘construct’ weightiness and sensorial qualities of analogue
representations; we will only look at them. The still drawings offers a different experience from one
shots of architectural renderings reduce architecture derived from weightless digital lines.
to skin-deep design lacking knowledge of
construction. Amongst some of the most recent digital
drawing experimentations BIM [Building Information
Modeling] holds promise to direct digital drawing
towards questions of assembly and fabrication
moving out of the Flatland of the computer screen.
Exercise 11: A Weighty Line Drawing.
This exercise is a reminder of the phenomenological

origin of lines as three-dimensional entities
possessing unique materiality, weight, geometric Fig. 1. Trevor Whitten. Lines of Light. Photo: Jeremie Lau.
propensities, structural properties, sensorial qualities
which are time and culturally specific. Analogue Using at least three ‘line weights’, for ex. spaghetti
drawings are three-dimensional material and cultural n.1, n. 2 & n.3, students rethink their studio space.
presences engaging with our multimodal sensorial The materials chosen are used to draw three-
perception system. dimensional lines relying on the propensity of chosen
materials to inform geometry. At this stage there is no
Flemish engineer Simon Stevin (1548-1620) depicted use of T-squares, triangles or rulers. The drawing
11
in his ‘oeuvres mathematiques’ (1585 [1634]) a line exercise is conducted with the use of the body as
segment as a rope stretched between two hands. primary instrument and simple tools. Experiencing
This rope-line holds an undeniable physical materiality and weightiness of lines as they in-form
materiality. The stretching of the rope implies a analogical drawing students are invited to think of
physical tension defining an embodied sense of their drawings as being made of lines that move in-
geometry. The weighty rope-line is from a and-out of the paper transforming threads into traces
14
phenomenological viewpoint a three-dimensional and vice-versa.
element, with a certain weight, texture, and
dimensions engaging our senses. This perhaps Exercise 10: A 111 sticks drawing
explains why the thickness of a line is codified in
drawing through a notion of ‘line weights’. This Blurring the distinction between drawing and model
terminology carries memory of the analogical students create a labyrinth-like space for the body out
materiality of a drawn line, associating a sense of of 111 sticks of various lengths, using one material
12
weight with the thickness of a line. In its most with consistent thickness (Fig. 2).
current digital version lines have lost materiality and
are reduced to two-dimensional virtual double click
entities. Weightless wire frame (Autocad) drawings
embody a Cartesian understanding of representation
Ray (rayographs) and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

(photogram) who pushed the boundaries of
photographic representation with the creation of
camera less abstract image making by the technique
of layering various objects on a photosensitive
substrate while exposing these arrangements to a
light source. In Moholy-Nagy’s first book, Malerei,
Fotografie, Film, part of the Bauhaus Book series
published in 1925, he articulates an extensive
photographic program based on the proposition that
Fig. 2 Antoinette Tang. Balsa lines labyrinth. Photo: Jeremie “the photograph could reveal that which could not be
Lau.
observed or would not be noticed by the human
17
eye”. At the Bauhaus Moholy-Nagy expounds the
Multimedia Assignment 1: Photogram
use of the projection of images on top of each other
and side-by-side, extreme close-ups or unusual
The labyrinth is recorded on photographic paper as
angles as well as the photogram to reveal unnoticed
horizontal projection of lines and shadows becoming 18
properties of objects such as texture and form.
a track-drawing tracing the point of contact where
each element meets the ground. The application of
The 111 sticks labyrinth was brought into the
the photogram as a pedagogical tool exploiting the
multimedia lab where a photogram was created.
technique of camera-less image offers the opportunity
Students construct 3 photograms on a sheet of 8x10
to scan a vast topography of cross-disciplinary
photosensitive paper (Fig. 3). Placing the 111 sticks
notions that are arguably the foundation of design
15 drawing on the contact paper mimics the grounding of
imagination. The exercises generated by the ability
the labyrinth on the site. Shadows are casted in time.
to modulate light and object in a construction of
A close-up zenithal light projection gives orthographic
positive-negative space, light-dark tonalities, hard-soft
light-weight presence to the labyrinth in the medium of
lines etc., offers the opportunity to explore, discover
photosensitive paper.
and redefine architectural representation. The quality
of materials, surface characteristic, tonal values,
Exercise 8: The Recto Verso Depths of Drawing
opacity, transparency, refraction, diffusion, filtration,
etc. are all elucidated by the simple technique of the This exercise relies on a tension between the shifting
photogram. In 1839, William Henry Fox Talbot was notion of footprint and plan counter posing them on
among the first to explore the potential system of
two sides of a sheet of Mylar. The theoretical and
camera less image making which he would later temporal gap between a Renaissance notion of
name ‘photogenic drawings’ and which would footprint (Lat. Ichnography) and the modern idea of
subsequently become the basis of many modern
16
plan (horizontal section) inspires the construction of
negative/positive imagining processes.
this 2-sided hybrid drawing. The drawing allows
experiencing the depths of orthographic projections
and the depths of paper as a medium analogous to
architectural space. The layered space between these
two moments/notions in history offers the imaginative
lens to experience a deep orthographic gaze in the
medium of Mylar capturing a three-dimensional space
between footprint and plan.
Fig. 3 Antoinette Tang. Photogram.
The photogram exercises are inspired by the works of

artists such as Christian Schad (schadographs), Man
1920 photomontage as an example of multi-

perspective and David Hockney’s photomontage or
“joiner” technique students are encouraged to
assemble all the prints. The photomontage captures
the building and reinvents it through the interaction of
the eye, the light, the camera and the photographic
paper (Fig. 5).
Fig. 4 Antoinette Tang. Recto/Verso depths of the plan.
The shadow cast photogram is traced onto Mylar

(13”x19”) demarcating both literal footprints and
casted shadows (recto). This is a track drawing timely
presencing through shadow casting the
drawing/model grounding its feet into the earth. In
addition to a clear marking of the footprint and Fig. 5 A. Foote. Multiperspective photomontage
redrawing of shadows (recto) a horizontal section cut
of the labyrinth is drawn (verso). A counter viewpoint Exercise 4: A Slow Daydream Drawing
is established flipping the paper and looking towards
the footprint while tracing the plan. A notion of Invention means both to find and to imagine beyond a
reflected ceiling plan is experienced looking upwards seen visible world through original re-readings.
capturing the space between footprint and plan. The Students go back to the space that they
choice of materials should be evocative of the photographed and create a measured plan drawing of
sensorial qualities of the place created using different that space (1:50 scale) on Strathmore paper (32”x40”
tones of a same color, changing from dark to light in white sheet, 2 ply). This is a graphite line drawing with
addition to graphite –or- ink. Outlining the outer walls appropriate line weights. Once the original plan is
of the footprint (recto) and drawing a solid poché completed an outline of the re-imagined spaces is
conveys a sense of presence and weight of the drawn in blue lead (plan) while elevation details are
labyrinth on the site. The plan side (verso) is a line drawn in red lead (doors & windows). The daydream
drawing identifying significant internal spaces and is inspired by Enric Miralles’ drawings for his House in
critical paths (Fig. 4). Mercaders Street (Barcelona 1994). Doors and
windows exist as floating details within an
Multimedia Assignment 3: Multiperspective orthographic fold out surrounding the plan (Fig. 6).
Photomontage
Raoul Hausmann’s prophetic statement made in 1931

bares witness to the capillary nature of the
photomontage genre as visual representation. “The
field of photomontage is so vast that it has as many
possibilities as there are different milieus, and in its
social structure and the resulting psychological
19
superstructure the milieu changes every day.” The
photomontage is an imaginative multi-perspective
20
redefinition of a space within the school. Students
use a 36 exposure roll of Black & White chromogenic
Fig. 6 Thomas Quayce. Daydream.
film (Ilford XP2) to produce 36 small prints. This film
yields high contrast negatives and has extremely wide
exposure latitude making it suitable for use in varied
lighting conditions. Using Paul Citroen’s Metropolis
Exercise 3: Performing Details depths of critical thinking about design. Hybrid

drawings could be explored in vertical studio format
Using the photomontage as substratum for creativity engaging the upper years. The introduction of digital
students develop the design of one detail. Designing drawings should not be viewed as the end of hand
from the details allows for unexpected ideas, drawings but rather as an opportunity for new hybrid
increasing the complexity of a more traditional design techniques informing a renewed understanding of
approach where details are the last step following the representation. Increased attention to the
organization of the overall space through the design development of hand drawing and its role in the
21
of a plan. process of design is critical to the teaching and
practice of architecture, this is a challenge and an
opportunity for a generation of architects one step
ahead.
Notes
1
Robin Evan. ‘Translations from Drawing to Building’. AA
Documents, 2. MIT Press, 1997.
2
Levin, David. Modernity and the Hegemony of Vision.
University of California Press, 1993.
Fig. 7 Victoria Hamatani. Window detail daydream.
3
Paul Emmons. ‘Drawing and Representation - the uncertain
Students trace the movement and modular future of craft: from tools to systems’, in Joan Ockman and
dimensions of their bodies in chosen postures on a Rebecca Williamson. Architecture School: Three Centuries
blackboard with chalk or on a large sheet of brown of Educating Architects in North America. MIT Press 2012:
paper in charcoal or graphite. Once the tracings are 300.
complete they are photographed and printed (1:10 4
CACB 2012 Edition. http://www.cacb-
scale). Using the body-traces as guidelines the details
ccca.ca/documents/2012_CACB_Conditions_and_Terms_fo
are drawn in plan, elevation, section and axonometric
r_Accreditation.pdf.
views. Different colors are used to differentiate body
tracings from detail drawings (Fig. 7). 5
Marco Frascari, Jonathan Hale and Bradley Starkey. From
Models to Drawings. Imagination and Representation in
From Practical Training to Imagination Drafting Architecture. Routledge 2010: 1-2.
6
The teaching of hand drawing in architecture schools Eco, Umberto. Looking for a Logic of Culture, in The Tell-
should exceed the minimal objective of learning Tale Sign, edited by Thomas Sebeok. Peter De Rider Press,
drafting conventions dealing with imagination drafting. 1975: 9-17.
Thinking about drawing as image production reduces 7

Eisensthein Elizabeth. The Printing Press as an Agent of
drawing to a final short act of performance producing
Change [vol. 1 & 2]. Cambridge University Press 1980.
seemingly finished mirror-like images of buildings, 1999. Federica Goffi. Fragmented Drawings & the Drawing
rendering an increasingly flattened ‘picture of’ of Fragments: Architecture’s Exquisite Corpse. In-Form.
architecture in both cultural and material expression. March 2009. Waters Michael. A Renaissance Without Order.
This is particularly relevant at a time when analogue Ornament, Single-sheet Engravings, and the Mutability of
drawing seems to become a lost currency in Architectural Prints. JSAH 71, 4. 2012: 488-523.
architectural schools and the world of professional
8
st
practice. The 1 year UG course taught at the Azrieli Marco Frascari. ‘The Drafting Knife and Pen’. Implementing
Architecture: Exposing the Paradigm Surrounding the
School of Architecture and Urbanism in conjunction
Implements and the Implementation of Architecture. Nexux
with the Multimedia Course brings to focus the
Press, 1988.
question of imagination drafting reading into the
9
depths of hybrid material artifacts that are part of the Simon Shaw-Miller. ‘Thinking through Construction:
Notation-Composition-Event (AA Files 53).
architect’s own ‘first hand’ making, opening up the
10
Sigrid Hauser, Peter Zumthor, Hélène Binet. Peter
Zumthor: Therme Vals. Scheidegger & Spiess, 2007.
11
Simon, Stevin. Oeuvres Mathematiques. 1585 [1634]: 342.
LOC, Special Collections.
12
Frascari (op. cit. 2011: 99) argued that Alberti’s notion of
lineamenta holds a material connotation (linum = linen
thread).
13
William Braham and Marco Frascari, “The Geomater of
Architecture.” Paradosso 8 (1995) 16-27.
14
Tim Ingold. Lines. A Brief History. Routledge 2008.
15
James, Christopher. The Book of Alternative Processes:
nd
2 Edition (Albany, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2009:
83.
16
Gordon Baldwin. Looking at Photographs, A guide to
Technical Terms. British Museum Press, 1991: 67.
17
Margolin, Victor. “Moholy-Nagy” In Contemporary
Photographers, edited by George Walsh. New York: St.
Martin’s press 1982: 527-529.
18
Moholy-Nagy, L. “A New Instrument of Vision,” Nathan
Lyons Photographers on Photography. NJ: Prentice Hall
(1966).
19
Ades, Dawn. Photomontage. New York: Thames &
Hudson, 1976: 158.
20
Lucie, Fontein. Reading Structure Through the Frame.
Perspecta 31, MIT Press 2000: 50-59.
21
Marco Frascari, The Tell-Tale Detail 1984.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 LEARNING OUTSIDE THE LECTURE SPACE
pedagogy of architectural teaching and the

increasingly needs to address the ‘currency’ of
Learning outside the learning and teaching in terms of modes, moving
Lecture Space towards the profound. The mode of learning
within the pilot allowed for new meaning in
David E. Morton changing situations and contexts; developing a
holistic appreciation of the relationship between
Department of Architecture & the Built themes, subjects and principles. The
Environment, Northumbria University, assessment is through personal authenticity and
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England UK. integrity.
Methodology and tools

The mode of a shared knowledge resource with
Statement
functionalities that allow for real time access and
interaction was formed, as the primary stage of
Modern technology can enable enhancements
the study, by the development of a website ran
with the learning journey of architects and
from a collaborative server within the University.
architectural technologists.
This allowed for the content to be amended,
uploaded by staff and then accessed by the
Context cohort at anytime on or off campus. This
This paper is reporting on pedagogic approach was tested and assessed for future
development enabling students to take the curriculum development by various schools
virtual into the real world on their mobile devices. within the University on a roll out basis. This
By the use of this development engage in the format allows the students to become reflective
real world space to discover richer learning learners and for them to observe and realign
supplemented and enhanced by the learning their learning at any point during their day,
outside the lecture space. including their journeys around or to and from
campus. The structure of each webpage allowed
Schon’s ‘pedagogic space’ was the design
for a mixture of pedagogic content on
studio, the proposal is to use geotagging and QR
architecture and its associated technology from
coding of buildings to create a new pedagogic
lectures.
space. The ‘pedagogic tool’ Schon describes to
simulate architectural design problems, is
QR codes or Quick Response / matrix barcodes
replaced by web based information for reflection.
(or two-dimensional bar codes) were first
Finally where Schon utilised ‘pedagogic method’
designed for the automotive industry in Japan by
of learning design artistry via coaching from
Toyota, a subsidiary of Denso Wave in 1994,
tutors, the proposal allows for learning to occur
and have been used in media subsequently. By
whilst ‘within the architectural capital’ that is the
locating a series of QR code tags on buildings
built environment of the campus.
around the campus the cohort the pilot allowed
access to web pages on the physical buildings.
A new currency in learning It allowed experience in real time that which was
The study analyses the impact of a new method to be discussed in the lecture for that week.
of architectural teaching and the medium of Additional learning material was accessible on
exchange to ensure what is learnt in the the lecture subject via the student using a freely
architectural lectures and nurtured in the design available QR code reader app on their mobile
studio is linked with the ‘actual and physical’ devices. The QR could then be scanned and
architecture that surrounds these very students. would then direct them to the webpage’s relating
The cohorts of today’s architectural schools are to that building typology. This ‘live learning’
far more technology savvy than any previous allowed for a direct correlation between what
generation. What was once researched in was learnt in lectures to be reflected upon as
University library’s from large well bound tomes they walked around the campus and its buildings
on architecture are now in many cases replaced
with clicks on keyboards or swipes on a screen This paper aims to:
to access the same information. This speed and • Create an understanding of the current
ease of accessibility has become the accepted context for mobile learning outside of
norm. The pilot was based at Northumbria the lecture room.
University and focused on assessing the
• Assess the pilot study completed in The speed of access to learning material and,
2012 and the outcomes from the data how flexible its format is to allow varied
collected. consumption by the student, is the key to any
• Review implementation issues of the proposed format. This was reflected in the format
study to assist others who may wish to of the ‘explore’ pilot website. Allowing learning
create their own mobile learning on the move or during the students commute is
methods. an increasing necessity and becoming a
prerequisite of their learning.
Mode of teaching to match mode of culture
The term ‘podcast’ derives literally from a The pilot study
combination of Apple’s iPod and broadcasting ,
but its accepted meaning is a radio show or any The pilot was completed in 2012 using a
audio-based object such as narrative, lecture, Construction Technology module as the basis for
individual or group presentation that is made assessing the impact of mix mode learning from
available through the World Wide web (Morales lecture to mobile learning and overall
& Moses, 2006). This pilot study was developed enhancements in learning and understanding by
from the notion of gaining the most productivity the cohort. The study group consisted of
and learning within a lecture. To get the most students in their first year of their degree within
from the lecture the cohort were required to the Department of Architecture and the Built
blend external enquiry with the traditional Environment. The group comprised of 137
pedagogy of the lecture. The approach to students (115 male, 22 female) 86% were white,
support teaching using mix mode delivery was of British or Irish origin. All of the students were
supported by Fernandez et al. (2009). Fenandez aged between 19 and 26. The (LO’s) learning
argued that podcasting could be used to outcomes related specifically to this exercise
complement and build upon existing teaching were that students upon completion would be
resources. Jarvis & Dickie (2010) argued that an able to:
enhancement such as podcasting would improve
support of enquiry-based and independent 1. Describe and analyse the functional
learning. However it was also shown that shown and performance requirements of
that in order to be successful they must be framed building elements.
flexible and adaptive to a variety of pedagogic 2. Compare, contrast, specify and
contexts. illustrate the technologies that are used
Annual surveys on mobile phones use are now to construct framed building elements.
common place, these show common trends in 3. Appraise, specify and illustrate the
use and map the increases in potential new technologies that are used to repair and
needs from the users of these devices. Mobile upgrade framed building elements.
internet usage has increased considerably from
2009 and is predicted to overtake fixed internet The presentation materials, including power
access by 2014. In January 2013 the number of points, were amended to allow for inclusion of
mobile devices moved through the 4 billion QR tags on selected slides. This addition
barrier, with a reported 1.08 billion of these allowed those in the cohort who did not own a
devices being smartphones. When carrying out smart mobile device, to access the web pages
feedback sessions at the end of this pilot the and the additional learning material.
cohort reported that 34% used QR tags regularly
to download links or coupons from posters or
magazines. Looking at the amount of time the
cohort used their mobile devices during the
learning day on campus they reported an
average of 2.25hrs use. These results were then
further queried by asking the cohort to compare Fig.1. All lecture material via power point contained the
their mobile use against use of a University PC logo above to indicate that the material was part of this
pilot study.
on campus. The cohort reported that 62% would
default to using their mobile devices to access
the intranet or module information. The
remaining 38% stating that PC access would be
dependent on their location in relation to
available PC’s on campus.
The variety of mobile devices and potential of

formatting and accessibility problems required a
design for the learning material that could be
accessed from all of these devices. It was this
fundamental requirement that culminated in the
use of web pages and a website. The ‘explore’
website was run from one of the collaborative
servers within campus. This allowed easy
access to upload and amend pages as the pilot
study evolved.
Fig.2. Example of power point containing QR tags to

indicate to the cohort further learning material was
available.
The pilot was conducted over ten weeks of a

twelve week semester, with the questionnaire
and feedback sessions held in the final two
weeks. Each weekly lecture contained QR tags
within the slides, with the presentation being
uploaded onto the University e-learning portal
(eLP). The additional learning material was held
Fig.3. Webpage of expLORE allowing access to mobile
on web pages within the explore website. The
learning pages, for cohort with no access to mobile
campus and its buildings has evolved from the devices.
1960s to present day and consists of various
types of buildings from this period. These rich When scoping the general requirements prior to
mixes of building typology were employed as roll out of the pilot it was understood that the use
examples of construction, materials and detailing of mobile phones and their development occurs
to aid the lecture series. Ten buildings were at a rapid rate. An example of this rapid rate of
chosen to reflect the lecture topics. All ten change is the fact that during the ten weeks the
locations were explained to the cohort at the pilot was underway two new ‘apps’ were
beginning of the pilot. The additional learning launched that allowed more immersive
material was accessed in two ways: 1. the interaction with learning material using
student could use their smart phone to scan the augmented reality. The use of QR codes as a
QR code located on the building; 2. Students medium for directing the cohort to the learning
without smart phones could access the material was chosen for this study due to their
additional learning material by using a static PC fast scanning ability, ease of readability and
from a number of existing locations around the greater capacity over the Universal Product
campus, including the library the hub and Code (UPC) barcode. Using the QR codes had
student’s union building. the additional benefit to users, allowing for
scanning to be achieved using freely available
Accessibility to learning materials was a key software or apps for all of the current smart
aspect of this pilot study, this required phone and mobile devices.
consideration of the possible devices and
operating systems. The scoping study of these
devices from the cohort is outlined below.
Mobile devices as follows: iPhone ; Galaxy,

Blackberry, Jelly Bean, HTC, Sony Ericsson,
Nokia, Motorola, Samsung
Operating Systems: Apple IOS, Andriod, Bada, Fig.4. Differing format for data transfer - Barcode and
Mobile Linux, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS. QR Code
Outcome of pilot On completion of the pilot the cohort were asked

to complete a questionnaire to assess the
Analysing the data it indicated in the initial weeks outcome of this mode of learning. The
of the study the uptake was slow to occur with questionnaire was completed by 89 of the 137
32% of the cohort downloading the required students. The responses included 65 of the 83
scanning apps to their mobile devices to access students who owned smart phones. The group
the learning material. However, the benefits of therefore comprised of 58% of smart phone
the learning resource on this small percentage of users and 42% of non smart phone users.
the group began to bear fruit, with marked
improvement within seminar groups (3 out of 6 Initial questions were aimed at assessing the
weekly seminars by week 3) in understanding types of learning the cohort used currently. A
the material with evident external learning taking total of 71% of the cohort accessed online books
place. This view is supported by Prensky (2009) and journals from the reading list for the module
who proposed that a student preference for subject. However this was balanced with 81% of
experiential and technology-led learning can due the cohort also using the library resources on
to motivation that occurs when a different mode campus. Northumbria University provide all
of learning is used, in this case technology and students with access to the e-learning portal
QR tags. This increase in uptake and use of the (eLP), this study indicated that 89% of the cohort
QR codes increased steadily until it reached a use this resource on a weekly basis. As this pilot
plateau at week 7. was a test bed for using QR tags and mobile
learning there were a number of technical
The cohort with mobile devices drove the hurdles that required navigation, see lessons
increase in usage of the additional learning learnt below. The overall experience of using the
material. The cohort without smart phones were learning materials via QR tags as a mode of
the most reluctant to access the learning learning was recorded as ‘interesting’ in the
material. During the feedback and assessment verbal feedback sessions and recorded an
sessions in weeks 11 and 12 of the semester, increase in student engagement with 67% of the
this slower uptake was predominantly due to the cohort making a preference for future modules to
lack of ease for accessing the material. When have this teaching-learning format. To further
questioned, the smart phone owners of the explore the appeal of the pilot the cohort were as
cohort agreed that the ‘point and click’ process to indicate how the material on the explore
of the QR tag scanning from campus buildings website was used. A resulting 29% of the cohort
was more preferable. stated that this learning has increased their
understanding of the material in a more coherent
This response was further examined in terms of manner. As a revision tool, 57% of the cohort
preference over PC access. The overwhelming responses agreed that this method of learning
opinion was that the building could be would be useful for revision of the module topics,
‘experienced’ whilst accessing the learning with 28% responding to the material as a
material, with a ready connection made between positive improvement to a overall understanding
the two (the building and the learning material). of the subject. However, 14% of the cohort did
This finding directly correlates to the findings for not feel that accessing the information helped
distance or self directed learning in distance them in any further understanding of the subject.
education. New models of teaching are making it The cohort were asked if they would want to
possible to increase student engagement, have this format rolled out to other modules
productivity and motivation (Beldarrain, 2006). within the curriculum, of which 72% agreed that
The act of listening to learning material whilst not this would be preferable. The navigation of the
necessarily being on campus also appealed to web pages was also considered in terms of
the majority of the cohort. It was agreed that format and ease of use on mobile device
‘making more of your commute’ was recognised screens (see consideration 7 below).
as a benefit and a view supported by Salmon &
Nie (2008), who suggested that podcasts can
offer flexibility in teaching and learning to support Lessons learnt
a diverse student population through their
university experience. During this pilot study a number of useful
findings were made in relation to the use of QR
tags within power point presentations, using QR
tags in location (on or within buildings) and using
Results freely available ‘apps’ for mobile devices. Below
are a list of considerations that are valuable to Devices) and EsponceQR Reader (for Windows
those reading this paper and thinking of carrying mobile devices).
out further use of this method of mobile learning. Consideration 5:
The cost of downloading content from the
Consideration 1: explore website was also hi-lighted in early
Consider the printing of QR codes, the timescale feedback sessions from the cohort during
they will be used and their location. During the lectures. It was found that podcasts on the site
study several instance of scanning QR tags were over 8 minutes in length would create a
noted. Investigation of these during the study increased cost to the student accessing this
revealed that ‘sealing’ the QR tag in a shiny learning resource. This was resolved by creating
surface, such as laminating the tag for external hyperlinks to youtube clips. These created quick
use, rendered the tag unreadable on sunnier and free access dependent on whether wi-fi in
days. Consideration 2: campus was being used. Charges were incurred
The lamination of QR tags rendered them if downloading from a mobile device off campus.
unreadable on certain ‘free’ scanning apps on The majority of the cohort rapidly amended their
both IOS and Andriod devices. access by scanning the QR tags at the locations
Consideration 3: around campus, then use the free wi-fi to
The use of QR tags on power point download the podcasts and content prior to
presentations requires some consideration to reading or listening to the content at a later time.
size of tag within slide boundaries. This was Consideration 6:
noted early on in the study and adjustments The most successful QR code creating software
made. It was found that the cohort nearest to the used within the pilot was Kaywa QR Creator.
screen (A) could read the QR tag successfully, This was freely available to use directly from the
as could the cohort to the rear of the lecture Kaywa site. The QR code can be created by cut
room (C). However, the cohort sitting in the ‘mid- and pasting the hyperlink into the webpage, a
range’ (B) seats of the lecture room had QR tag will then be automatically generated. The
considerable difficulty in successfully scanning website will offer 3 sizes of QR tag: Small;
the codes. This problem was not device specific medium and large. After trialling all sizes, the
as these students had a range of mobile most successful on power point slides was the
devices. (Note: the most successful size for a medium sized QR tag. This size allows for a cut
QR tag would seem to be 150x150 pixels. This and paste directly into power point slides and will
would read as an actual size of approx be readable by the majority of the cohort using
220x220mm on the projected image, dependent various devices.
on the location and distance of the projector from Consideration 7:
the screen). When designing and planning web pages for
consumption by PC or mobile device it is very
important to consider the proportion of the web
page itself. During the pilot a number of web
pages were tested for ease of use, with the
portrait format being the most effective. This
format allows consumption on most smart
phones by the user scrolling up and down the
information on the screen, this action requires
the minimal adjustments when viewing from a
mobile screen. The use of landscape formatted
pages created the additional need for the user to
wipe across the screen to zoom in and out of the
text in order to read it clearly.
Fig.5. Zoning for Scanning of QR tags from power
point slides. As a general rule of thumb, web pages with a
frame width of 1000 pixels works effectively on
Consideration 4: the majority of mobile devices and smart
There are many free apps for IOS that allow phones. A small number of the cohort within the
scanning of QR codes/tags. The most successful study used iPads. These devices were the only
used in this pilot were: Semacode (Semacode type used in the pilot study that allowed both
Corporation), QR Scanner (Grip’d LLC), Scan reading of the web pages in both portrait and
(Scan Inc.) for Andriod devices, Optiscan landscape formats.
(Airsource), Kaywa Reader (Kaywa), Blackberry
Messenger (includes scanner for Blackberry
Conclusions gathering for this paper. Craig Dixon provided IT

support and advice to students and staff involved in the
The results would seem to suggest that the mix project. This project was developed from an initial
mode approach to learning has responded best study into flexible learning by David Morton whilst
completing his PG Cert APL training.
to those learners who are kinaesthetic or tactile
learners. These members of the cohort are those
who appear to learn best from the hands on
References
approach that the pilot offered. The learning
could be accessed whilst not within the confines
Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance Education Trends:
of a lecture space, but outside of this space and Integrating new technologies to foster student
at different locations around the campus. These interaction and collaboration. Distance Education.
learners are very active when exploring the real 27(2). 139-153
and physical world around them. The act of
Fernandez, V., Simo, P. & Sallan, J. M. (2009)
capturing data by merely pointing and clicking to Podcasting: a new technological tool to facilitate good
download learning material onto the mobile practice in higher education, Computers and
devices appealed greatly when analysing the Education, 53, pp. 385 – 392.
results of the pilot. The benefit of podcasting in
Fisher, M. & Baird, D. E. (2006) Making m-Learning
meeting the needs of a range of learning styles
work: Gen Y, learning and mobile technologies,
was also supported by Dale (2007).
Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 35(1), pp.
The feedback from the cohort showed that 62%
3 – 30.
of the students worked collaboratively in groups
to find the locations of the QR tags and learnt Jarvis, C. & Dickie, J. (2010) Podcasts in support of
together in study groups agreed amongst experiential field learning, Journal of Geography in
themselves. This result was supported in the Higher Education, 34(2), pp. 173 – 186.
finding that pod casting provides a forum for Morales, C. & Moses, J. S. (2006) Podcasting:
collaborative learning and student knowledge Recording, managing, and delivering the classroom
creation by Fisher & Baird (2006). experience, Educause Evolving Technologies
Committee. Available at
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/DEC0604.pdf
(accessed December 2012).
Prensky, M. (2009) H. Sapiens digital: from digital

immigrants and digital natives to digital wisdom,
Innovate, 5, pp. 1 – 9.
Salmon, G. & Nie, M. (2008) Doubling the life of iPods,

in: G. Salmon & P. Edirisingha (Eds) Podcasting for
Learning in Universities, pp. 1 – 11 (New York: Open
University Press)
Schon, D. (1987) Educating the reflective practitioner:

Toward a new design teaching and learning in the
professions. San Francisco,: Jossey Bass
Fig.6. Mix mode learning diagram.
The mix mode of learning offered by the addition

of e-learning or m-learning (mobile learning) is
shown above. It affords the student the
opportunity to amend his or her path to optimise
their learning to create deeper and often clearer
understanding of the subject being understood.
This ‘blender’ approach is the optimum balance
between what is understood as the traditional
mode and mixed with one that is required by
today’s learner.
Acknowledgements
Constructive comments and advice from Dr. Sara

Walker and Tim Howarth who improved the data
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 MAKING ARGUMENTS IN PRACTICE AND IN STUDIO
Making Arguments in The writing of architects is primarily persuasive.

Practice and in Studio In A Theory of Discourse James Kinneavy, a
major figure in rhetorical theory, divides all
writing into four categories: expressive,
Richard Hoag informative, persuasive/argumentative, and
Department of Architecture literary. To Kinneavy the primary purpose of
rhoaq@ksu.edu expressive writing is to convey a sense of the
writer’s point of view, the primary purpose of
David Smit informative writing is to describe accurately and
Department of English
to convey information effectively, the primary
dws@ksu.edu
purpose of persuasive writing is to change the
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 audience’s mind or move them to action, and the
USA primary purpose of literary writing is to draw
attention to the textual features of the writing
Arguments in Architectural Practice
itself, to demonstrate that the writing is well
crafted. Thus, contrary to our usual association
In 2010, we received a grant from the United
of literary writing with imaginative work, such as
States National Council of Architectural
fiction and poetry, to Kinneavy, expressive,
Registration Boards (NCARB) to study the
informative, and persuasive writing can also be
writing of architects. We interviewed five
literary in the sense that genres with these
architects, representatives of a small firm, a firm
purposes can be well crafted.
that specializes in stadiums, and two medium-
sized multi-disciplinary firms, all in the Midwest.
Our interviewees/ informants told us that much
In addition we interviewed the principal of a large
of what they wrote involved “selling” their
international firm in New York, the real estate
designs to clients and juries, through proposals,
development director for Disney, and a former
Requests for Qualification (RFQs) and Requests
State Architect for Kansas.
for Proposals (RFPs). They even thought that
the web pages for their firms involved “selling”
We collected representative samples of the
their experience and expertise to potential
writing done by these architects or by members
clients. When we explained that “selling”
of their firms. During the interview process, we
seemed like persuasion to us, they universally
also asked the architects for other kinds—or
agreed. In examining the genres used by
genres—of writing they did that was similar to or
architects, we had to agree. Most of the major
different from the genres we had already
writing in the field of architecture is not primarily
collected. From the samples we collected and
descriptive or explanatory but persuasive. In
from the additional notes from interviews, we
briefs and programs, in responses to clients and
created a typology of over 30 written genres
fellow professionals, in award submissions,
regularly used by architects in practice. [See
architects are not primarily describing their
Appendix item 1].
designs or conveying information about the
features of their designs; they are persuading
Then we analyzed the samples to test a
their audiences that their designs are fulfilling the
hypothesis that we had entertained for some
requirements of the program, providing what
time: that the writing of architects is primarily
their audiences want or need, whether they
rhetorical, persuasive, and multi-modal. By
know it consciously or not.
rhetorical, we mean that writing always takes
place in a particular context, and writing must be
Persuasion necessarily involves making claims
adapted to the purposes of the writer, the genre
or propositions, controversial statements that
she is using, and the audience she is
must be supported with evidence. Because
addressing. Such contexts may include the
images alone can be interpreted differently
writer herself in the process of design, jury
according to the background and experience of
members and clients, and fellow professionals,
those looking at them, architects cannot rely on
such as contractors and engineers.
images alone to persuade their audience that
their designs should be accepted. To put it
another way, images cannot directly state claims
and propositions; they can only imply such
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 MAKING ARGUMENTS IN PRACTICE AND IN THE STUDIO

claims. We know from research in visual their displays more responsive to the ways their
cognition that we can miss what is right in front audiences behave.
of us, that different people can consistently miss Unfortunately, when the graphic standards of the
the same and different things in their visual profession are used to organize graphic displays
fields. We now know that “seeing” is not on boards and sheets, RFQ’s, award
photographic and that it is more of a construction submissions, client presentations, or webpages
project than we originally thought. We miss they often miss their target audiences.
things in static displays, we miss things in
dynamic visual displays, we miss things in real After considerable analysis of the genres and
word simulations (see Simons and Chabris discussion with both architects and academics,
1999, Enns 2004, Chabris and Simons 2010, we focused on three genres as the most
Chabris, Weinberg, Fontaine, and Simons 2011). appropriate for novice architects to learn. We
chose these genres because in many cases they
As a result, the writing of professional architects were identified by practitioners as the most
is also multimodal: it combines text and image, important. In addition, these genres seemed the
perhaps because professional architects most appropriate for integration into a studio
recognize intuitively that images cannot speak curriculum, and they seemed to demand the
for themselves. We have studied presentations writing skills most likely to transfer from
to clients and award submissions written by the academic work to professional practice. The
firms represented by our interviewees/ genres we chose are these:
informants. In every case, the presentations and
award submissions were multimodal and Note-taking at meetings and
persuasive; that is, they combined text and consultations
images in order to “sell” the design. The text in Proposals in response to RFQs and
effect “cued” the audience into seeing how they RFPs
should understand the images and how each
image contributed to and supported larger claims Award submissions
about the design. The text prepares the
audience to “see,” in effect, providing the In order to give students practice in the skills
audience with background information and necessary to write these professional genres, we
cueing them, directing their attention to what developed a number of assignments that only
they should “see” or “understand” about the exist in the academy, what we call “school
images. writing”:
Our study of writing in professional practice also Notes from critiques and consultations
with professors
revealed that most professional architectural
prose is much like standard business prose. It is Reports on the implied “arguments” of
clear, straightforward, and to the point. It is well presentations (claims and evidence for
organized, often using headings and bullet how a student design solves the
points to signal key ideas. It uses language problems of a program)
adapted to its audience: it uses technical terms
Assessments of how well past and
when addressing fellow professionals; it avoids existing building designs solved the
technical language when talking to clients. problems of particular programs
Moreover, architectural prose accompanies
images of the architect’s designs in documents Design process reflections
that that are graphically refined.
Checklists of features that these genres
should contain.
There is, however, a caveat here and that is that
although the graphic displays in their RFQs, .
Power Points, and webpages are often quite Note-taking
polished visually, their multimodal messages
often miss their intended audiences. We have We use note taking to give our students
found that many architects are unaware of the opportunities to learn to read arguments and to
basic research in the science of vision that if practice transforming the writing they use to talk
applied to their graphic displays would make to themselves into communications that are
easily accessible to others. In our formal

critiques of student design work we teach our capstone studio. Students can also be asked to
students to read arguments by having them take respond to their class lectures or readings in the
notes during their peer’s critiques. By requiring same way, by answering these kinds of
them to take notes during their peers’ critiques questions:
we use writing to further their abilities to read
arguments. Learning to read the arguments of “Did anything contradict what you already knew?
their peers furthers their abilities to frame and
write arguments of their own. We distribute Does anything expand or provide more evidence
checklists that give structure to their note taking. for what you already know?
These checklists are virtually the same as the
checklists we give them as prompts for writing What don’t you understand?
arguments. For example a writing checklist
prompt might read: “Are you presenting evidence What support does the speaker give for his or
or a rational in support of your claim?” A reader her facts?
checklist prompt would change to “Did she
present evidence or a rational in support of her What patterns of reasoning does this speaker or
claim?” The paper checklists we distribute are writer offer as evidence?” (Smit 2010)
formatted with space for students to give written
responses immediately following each prompt. Did the critic provide counter arguments or new
[See Appendix items 2 and 3] information on this particular design solution?
These checklists are easily modified to focus on What type of claim is the presenter making?
record keeping accuracy, an important
component of meeting minutes in practice. We Would another claim type have been more
have students get together in groups of two and effective? If so, Why?
three to check and discuss their notes. After
comparing notes they provide the presenting Were there violations of principles of graphic
student with the “minutes of her presentation.” display?
The presenting student benefits from the record
of the critique she could not keep and may not It is worth noting that when the studio professor
be able to completely remember, and the note- arrives at the student’s desk after a mid-critique,
taking students benefit as they begin to learn this teaching strategy insures there is a record of
what it will take for them to accurately record the critique with the advantage of streamlining
what they see and hear in class and eventually the desk critiques, enabling the student to
in meetings in practice. prepare alternative designs and courses of
action prior to the professor’s arrival.
This is also an opportunity for students to get
practice in transforming the visual and verbal Multimodal Arguments
notes they make for themselves into formal
communications they will eventually use with We ask our students to make multimodal
their professional collaborators in practice. Here arguments in brochure and sheet/board formats.
they learn about turning the multimodal writing, These “school argument” formats are meant to
drawing and diagramming they use to think and simulate RFQ, RFP and award submission
remember into a form of multimodal formats. When we began developing checklists
communication that is accessible to an audience for students we found our students transferring
of their peers and their professors. strategies and writing formats that surprised us.
For example, our students transferred the essay
This teaching strategy transforms a normally format that they learned in high school, a format
passive review experience into an active required by most of their university professors.
learning experience that furthers the student’s Their submissions to us were double-spaced, a
thinking and writing about architecture. Students format that enables their seminar professors to
who normally sit passively, listening and trying edit and comment on their work, but makes it
not to fall asleep have a task and a framework difficult for the them to effectively match images
for completing it. The array of prompts a teacher and texts in a compelling and visual fluent way.
can use can be crafted to the specific objectives
of the studio, from a beginning studio to a

In fact, our students had trouble making Mr. Magoo is a cartoon character in the Bugs
multimodal arguments. They had difficulty Bunny cartoon series. He is a character that has
matching texts and images. This is not surprising a great deal of difficulty seeing the world around
because they came to the task with very little him. Kosslyn’s message is make sure your
practice in putting texts and images together. audience can see the message. Don’t make it
They wrote essays in their seminars; they difficult. Your audience will resent it.
learned and applied the graphic principles of
contrast, repetition, alignment, and position, to We realized that to teach multimodal argument
their graphic displays in studio; but they were in architecture we would need to create
rarely asked to combine text and image. checklists that built upon and extended
Kosslyn’s principles to graphic displays more
We realized that along with the argument generally, and to graphic displays in architecture
checklists that we created for them for RFQs for specifically (Hoag and Smit 2011, 2012). In
example, we would also need to give them theory with adjustments in display type and
guidance in matching text and image in their audience there was no reason that most of
graphic displays on their sheets/boards and in Kosslyn’s principles could not be transferred to
their brochure formats. As we began analyzing other graphic genres. Kosslyn himself makes
the genres of practice we recognized that many this clear when he use a four-panel Doonesbury
professional architects are less adept than we cartoon to explain his first four principles.
originally thought in thinking rhetorically about
their graphic displays. We found that architects Conclusion
are often quite unaware of much of what we
know about the science of vision and the When we began teaching students in
strategies that, if applied, would give their architecture to write arguments, we thought that
audiences, both architect and non-architect, teaching them to use the standard patterns of
better access to the multimodal arguments they persuasive writing would improve their writing in
are making. school, and it did. The writing of our beginning
students improved and the writing of our
Stephen Kosslyn, a cognitive neuroscientist, advanced students improved. Our students
found that many of his peers, who knew the learned to transfer the patterns of persuasive
science well, were not applying it to the graphs writing to making oral arguments, and so their
they created or the Power Points they made. In oral presentations improved. Our students
Graph Design for the Mind and Eye and in Better continue to have problems matching patterns of
PowerPoint: Quick Fixes Based on How your persuasive writing with patterns of persuasive
Audience Thinks he applied years of research on graphic display. However, their skill at matching
perception and memory to graph design and image and text has improved as we integrate
Power Points (Kosslyn 2006, 2010). prompts for writing and graphic display into
multimodal checklists that ask our students to
Our research has put us in the audience for think rhetorically about the multimodal messages
presentations made by many different firms — they send.
firms responding to RFQs and RFPs, firms of
different sizes, designing buildings at different As architects talk to us about the role of writing in
scales, all firms with excellent reputations — and their practices and share their insights with us,
we were surprised to find all of them violating at we are finding that they are thinking about and
least four of the eight principles Kosslyn tells us using writing in ways we anticipated, but we are
are important to an effective PowerPoint also finding they are using writing in ways we did
presentation. Even more surprising was that all not expect. They are telling us that writing is
the firms violated the discriminability principle: important, if not critical to the conduct of their
text and graphics must be legible to the daily activities. That is, they are telling us that
audience. writing is more important to their practices than
they imagined as students, and they are trying,
Using a mnemonic device that may work better often struggling, to improve their skills. We are
in the States then in Europe Kosslyn helps us positioned to teach our students to create
remember the discriminability principle by multimodal arguments and to give them
labeling it Mr. Magoo. opportunities to practice making arguments
before they move into practice. We know from

our research that writing the genres of practice Building planning proposals
well is an integral part of the scaffolding for Financing and funding proposals
effective negotiation, mediation, and RFQs (request for qualifications)
collaboration in the design process. RFPs (request for proposals)
Green proposals
Notes Life-cycle-cost proposals
Legal and ethical issues resolution proposals
Enns, J. T.: 2004, The Thinking Eye, The Seeing Office-to-office project management proposals
Brain, Norton, New York. Studio-to-studio project management proposals
Conflict resolution proposals
Chabris, C. and Simons D.: 2010, The Invisible Gorilla
Business planning proposals
and Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us, Crown,
Contract negotiation proposals
New York.
Risk management proposals
Chabris, C., Weinberg, A., Fontaine, M., Simons, D.: Marketing and communication proposals
2011, “You do not talk about Fight Club if you do not
notice Fight Club: Inattentional blindness demonstrated Marketing brochures
for a real world assault,” I-Perception, V2, 150-153. Firm websites
Hoag, R. and Smit, D. 2011, “It’s Not Obvious: Cueing

Project pinups
Simulations.” Envisioning Architecture: European
Presentation boards
Architectural Envisioning Association Proceedings. Ed.
Jack Breen and Martijn Stellingwerff. Delft, The Interview Power Points
Netherlands. Presentation Power Points
Hoag, R. and Smit, D.: 2012 “Perception and Memory:Master planning design guidelines
Multimodal Rules for Designing Graphic Displays.” GraphicBuilding design guidelines
Quest: the search for perfection in design communication:
Design Communications Biannual Conference Proceedings. Ed.
Meeting notes
Jeffery K. Williams. Stillwater, Oklahoma State University.
Memoranda of agreements
Kinneavy, J.: 1980, A Theory of Discourse, Norton,
New York. Progress reports
Compliance reports
Kosslyn, S.: 2010, Better PowerPoint: Quick Fixes Field reports
Based on How Your Audience Thinks, Oxford
University Press, New York. Letters/Email
Item 2:
Simons, D and Chabris, C.: 1999, “Gorillas in our
Artist Argument: Viewer/Reader Checklist
midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic
events,” Perception, V 28, 1059-1074.
Author _______________________________
Smit, D.: 2010, “Strategies to Improve Student Reader _______________________________
Writing,” Idea Paper # 48, Manhattan, Kansas State In addition to answering the questions below be
University Idea Center. sure to make suggestions that will help the
author with her argument.
Did the author take a position on the scope,
scale, and definition of the artist’s work, or has
Appendices she cited a critic or other authority that has and
stated their position?
Item 1:
If she cited authorities or critics, has she told you
Genres of Practice
whether she agrees or disagrees with their
positions?
Award submissions
Review board submissions Are her main claims framed as architectural
LEED submissions challenges and opportunities?
Is evidence, or a rationale presented in support

Building programs of her claims?
Development programs
Master planning programs Is the information presented in her argument
relevant to the argument that she is making or
has she unintentionally included information that

directs your attention away from her claims, 2. it matches the artist’s views on art,
making you work to find the relevant 3. it solves the problem of narrating the
information? art,
4. it is better than the alternatives.
Are her claims visually accessible? 5. …
Is her argument multimodal (visual-verbal)? Is X is an architectural challenge because

she directing your attention to the meaning and 1. it is a difficult problem to solve, but the
significance of the images she included in her solution is…
graphic displays or pages?
2. …
Has she referred to, or written about all the
images she included in her argument and are Support claims with evidence
the images directly tied to the text? In making a proposal, you will need to use your
interpretation of the artists work to make a case for the
opportunities and challenges you identify. When you
Are the images used as evidence in support of write your argument make certain that you state in just
claims, or is she wrongly using images as filler or a few sentences what your claim is. Make your claim
decoration? visually accessible. Don’t make the reader work to find
your claims. Most readers resent being made to
Has she used diagrammatic images to direct search. A longtime state architect reported that when
your attention to the main ideas in her he read proposals for state work he was inclined to
argument? favor the proposals that made it easy to identify the
claims he agreed with and could quickly get to the
claims he questioned.
Item 3:
Arguments in Architecture: a response to a RFP for
a one-artist museum
When we, your instructors, give you a program for a

building to design, we are implicitly asking you to think
in ways that are inherently persuasive: we are asking
you to think of the program as a problem for which you
are to offer a solution. A rhetorician would say that this
way of thinking calls for you to support a persuasive
claim of policy that your design is the best solution to
the problems implied in the program. It is common to
call claims of policy proposals. Your building designs,
then, can be viewed as a solution to the problem
implied by the program. Often in making
presentations, we try to persuade our clients to
approve our designs by this form of persuasion. In
working with clients you will frequently make
arguments as you negotiate with them and their
representatives. When you compete for work you will
often respond to RFPs (requests for proposals).
These proposals will take many forms, but almost all of
them will require you to make an argument. Think of
your artist study as a proposal to a potential client. In
this case the client is looking for an architect to design
a one-artist museum. In the RFP they have asked that
respondents take a position on (interpret) the artists
work and tell them the architectural opportunities you
see and the challenges they can expect to encounter
in building a museum. The RFP also asked
respondents to take a position on the effectiveness of
a museum their donor admires.
Artist Argument: making claims and supporting
them
Claims for Proposals:
X is an architectural opportunity because

1. it solves a problem (e.g., light,
circulation, space…)
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DESIGN STUDIO AND THE POTENTIAL RENAISSANCE OF CONTEXTUAL BUILDINGS
of design education within the studio culture
Design Studio and the could offer a renaissance in contextual building,

regional responsiveness and movement towards
Potential Renaissance of shared architectural language.
Contextual Buildings Context
Professor Bob Giddings The advent of another recession in the

construction industry, once again throws the
Northumbria University, Newcastle upon
spotlight on architectural education; and once
Tyne again it is the practitioners who are spreading
doubt about the effectiveness of current
methods. There appear to be three primary
accusations. The first is that education is
Introduction
becoming ‘increasingly detached from the needs
and aspirations of a wider society’, secondly that
The notion that architectural education and the
‘it has not changed since professional validation
design studio in particular, should mimic practice
was set up to deal with the rapidly expanding
is erroneous. Education, research and practice
profession in the post-war period’ and thirdly that
are each valid in their own right. Further, Peter 1,2
five years university education is unaffordable .
Clegg – founding partner of Fielden Clegg
It is reminiscent of thirty years ago, when a
Bradley, one of the most successful architectural
Conservative Government presided over another
offices in Britain champions the idea of it
recession that damaged the construction
becoming more like a school of architecture. He
industry. At that time the Prime Minister
says – ‘why don’t we think about the experience
declared there is no such thing as society. The
of a school of architecture and bring it into
definition of wider society is therefore an
practice? The kind of freedom of thinking in
interesting concept. If society means the
education and the discipline of research are
community, architectural education continues to
something that needs to influence practice’.
be a champion and some schools of architecture
While it is clear that the design of high profile, highlight it as part of their philosophy. If it is a
well publicised, iconic buildings receives society of entrepreneurs and business, then this
considerable attention; it could be argued that concept was tried in the 1980s recession (see
they occupy only a very small proportion of the Fig. 1). Moreover, the notion that education
built environment. It is likely that the vast should deliver new generations of wide ranging
majority of architectural graduates will be professionals, diversely skilled with a common
involved with buildings of more commonplace entrepreneurial approach, places the emphasis
uses, and these constitute the majority of built on finance. Of all aspects of the development of
th
form and new construction. As the 20 Century buildings and places, the most vulnerable is
progressed, the scale of these developments design quality, often because of the difficulties of
and the loss of local builders meant that what measurement. If architecture students are to be
1
had been contextual building increasingly part of this common entrepreneurial approach ,
became part of the design and construction who will be the guardians of design quality? The
industry. Of all the activities related to the inevitable outcome is that architects become a
development of these buildings, design is the cog in a larger wheel of business (see Fig. 2). As
3
most vulnerable. Among inaccurate claims that Reyner-Banham put it – the choice is between
architectural education has not progressed since sticking to the high ground or becoming part of
1958, some practitioners are calling for the the great real estate hustle. In this context, the
production of graduates as entrepreneurial dangers of education mimicking
leaders with a curriculum that spreads across the
entire scope of the built environment. Together
with the increasing accessibility of new
technologies, with their libraries of standard
components, this may lead to a decrease in the
demand for and availability of design skills with
the spectre of a growing array of incoherent
catalogue buildings. Alternatively, reinforcement
introduction of the Quality Assurance Agency for

Higher Education, with its qualifications
framework, modular system including learning
outcomes; the subject benchmark statement with
which both the ARB and RIBA are engaged; and
the new criteria which responds to the European
Union and the Architects Act 1997 – are all huge
6
advancements in architectural education . This
is not over-regulation but a sound and structured
framework. The claim that five years university
education is not affordable is probably the most
erroneous of all. It is suspected that the
proposal of teaching practices, with the prospect
of employing talented students on low salaries
may be one of the motivations. It is only
necessary to re-read the debacle over internship
of year-out students ie employment for no
income, or the treatment of staff in a recession,
to realise that it is not a sound proposition. In
addition, the standard university course of
architecture in Europe is five years, and
numbers of countries are moving to the 3+2
pattern following the Bologna Agreement. It is
already the pattern in Australia and much of the
Far East. In the USA, the debate is about
4 whether a five year BArch or six year MArch is
Fig. 1. Ludopoly – The Money Making Game
more appropriate. In Romania, there has been
recent dismay that architecture courses would
only extend for six years, while other compatible
7
programmes are adopting a seven year pattern .
Fortunately, there are far-sighted practitioners
such as Peter Clegg who recognise the value of
architectural education, and studio teaching in
particular. His concept is that practice could
behave more like a school of architecture and
make use of the research that is currently being
8
undertaken in universities .
The Future for Architectural Education and

Practice
The greatest difference between the 1980s and

Fig. 2. The Building Business Machine
5 today, is the influence of digital technologies in
practice are all too evident but the main reason education and increasingly in practice. The new
why this tempting path should not be followed is digital age may seem irresistible for students, but
that a circular pattern of education following even they have some doubts about adopting it
practice following education following practice… wholesale. Extracts from the Yale University
is established, from which advancement cannot Symposium capture some of the issues. The
be achieved. That situation would be truly Dean, Robert A Stern, set the tone with his
sterile. The proposition that architectural opening remarks that ‘architectural education is
education has not changed since the second half in a crisis situation where drawing is concerned’.
th
of the 20 Century is just misguided. The For as long as there have been schools of
13
architecture, the pencil has been the tool of can greatly diminish their critical faculties . The
12
design. Perhaps staff are reluctant to discard study by Serginson et al. concluded that the
their past, or maybe there is legitimate viewers’ critical analysis was adversely affected
apprehension. A clear view at the symposium by the nature of the virtual reality model and the
was that students who draw and model by hand sense of immersion using 3D glasses.
14
are better able to conceptualise the context, and Moreover, Eley states that evaluating the
they are more able to understand the principles quality of a building design is not like assessing
of construction. One student expressed a it in a marble, dinner plate or a car. Even
prevalent theme amongst the students when he automobiles are far simpler than buildings, with a
said ‘learning to switch between different media high proportion of characteristics that are
enables students to develop flexibility and critical physically measurable.
thinking skills’. It is probably not surprising that
the conclusion was - ‘architecture schools should The future for high profile buildings and their
advocate both hand and digital techniques architects seems assured. Digital technologies
because of the critical thinking skills gained from have enabled extraordinary new buildings to be
both methods’. Yet the threatening stereotypes designed and constructed. Forms of nature are
were also beginning to gather - ‘students who providing inspiration for increasingly complex
spend less time practicing computer-based tools built forms and architects are rediscovering the
15
and rely on hand drawing will work for firms that joy of sculpting unusual geometries . One of
specialize almost exclusively in traditional the most enjoyable forms and spaces conceived
architecture’. For practice there are two principal in this way is the City Hall in London (see Fig. 3).
motivations. The first is expressed by Patrick The computer’s processing capability in
Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects ‘We can structural analysis, and production and
no longer rely on shapes we can track on a fabrication techniques are major contributors to
9
piece of paper’ . This is one of a celebrated the changing shape of architecture. Architects
group of practices that are designing are exploring the new possibilities opened up by
contemporary buildings which make use of fluid CAD software, modern analysis and simulation
16
shapes and curves. The other motivation is methods .
business efficiency and is exemplified by
building information modeling (BIM). The Whilst it must be acknowledged that these well-
message is lean design practice and there is no publicised iconic buildings are receiving
10
mention of architectural design quality . This considerable attention, it can be argued that
situation is exacerbated by the professional such projects occupy only a very small
panic being engendered by the plan to make proportion of the built environment. It is likely
11
BIM compulsory on all public projects by 2016 . that the vast majority of architectural graduates
will design buildings with more commonplace
Only recently has research been undertaken into uses, and these constitute the majority of built
the effectiveness of communication using a form and new construction. Fig. 4 shows an
12
range of tools. In a research project , the same exaggerated historical view of an iconic building
17
design was presented to a mixed audience by framed by contextual buildings . Traditionally,
traditional drawings, a digital model and virtual the latter were constructed from custom and
reality. It was discovered that all three methods practice, rarely involved architects, and fitted into
have a role to play but they are different ones. their localities.
At the beginning of the project, there was a
th
hypothesis that the presence of the other two However, as the 20 Century progressed, the
techniques, would mean that the drawings would scale of these developments and the loss of
be redundant. It was actually found that local builders, meant that what had been
understanding the overall design, and the contextual buildings, increasingly became part of
distribution and relationship of spaces was best the design and construction industry. Before the
achieved with traditional drawings. In all other end of that century, concern was already being
respects, drawings are not a good medium for expressed about their appearance. It has been
communicating the design intent. Advances in considered that one of the major reasons for the
digital techniques are already occurring in a decline of our towns
number of industries. However, there is a need
to be cautious. Users can become mesmerised
by computer generated images, and this effect
opposed to a contemporary design that fits into

its location (see Fig. 6).
Fig. 5. Speculative House
Fig. 3. Digital Model of City Hall London,

18
(Foster and Partners)
Fig. 6. Bledlow Village Houses

(Aldington, Craig and Collinge)
Fig. 4. Iconic Building framed by Contextual There has been a continuing search for a shared
17
Buildings architectural language. The likelihood is that
digital information models based on building
and cities in visual terms is that ordinary elements will become increasingly used for the
th
buildings from the second half of the 20 design of these buildings. Much of the
Century onwards are each trying to draw development of systems has been directed
19
attention to themselves . At the other end of towards ease-of-use, and to a large extent this
the spectrum, the demand for cheapness in the has been achieved. The benefits have already
production of the built environment has been considerable, in terms of use as a design
generated the dull and mundane. National tool rather than a drafting tool - reduced time in
pervasiveness of some sectors, such as presenting the information, relationships
speculative house building, has produced a between building elements, instant schedules for
consensus lamenting the lack of regional doors, windows etc., and many more.
distinctiveness in domestic design (see Fig. 5) as Conversely, every advance also carries dangers.
In the hands of current graduates, such systems
can assist subtle building design. The first introducing the concept of placelessness as an
danger is therefore related to a totally electronic underlying attitude that does not acknowledge
design education. Even the students feel that significance in place. Part of the attractiveness
unless all the benefits of the traditional education of nostalgia, is the notion of returning to a time
can be translated into electronic media, when the built environment gave clear
graduates may become increasingly detached indications as to location. This is the essence of
from the nature of buildings, and just work within traditional architecture and what has become
a virtual world. Working with physical models known as the vernacular. Traditional designs
and drawings is an abstraction from reality, but are still produced but they engender an unease,
at least they are real objects that can be which often manifests itself with the accusation
touched. of pastiche. There is also the difficulty that due
to circumstances ranging from building types
Another fear is that as the tools become more that have emerged without a traditional
accessible, the ease-of-use that was so vocabulary, to changes in building construction,
welcomed by architects, may be their downfall. it may no longer be possible to faithfully replicate
If systems become so simple that anybody can buildings from the past. Poor copies of
use them, then anybody will use them. Clients traditional buildings do not fulfill anyone’s
whose primary interest is generating floor space aspirations. The response was a modern
may feel that a building information management architectural language for modern buildings in
system could replace the architect, especially if modern times. However, that was a fast track
the system has a standard library of route to placelessness. So, this is the dilemma.
components. Some clients may employ The human psyche needs to progress and not
unqualified assistants to press the buttons, or just copy the past; but attempts to progress have
may even undertake the process themselves. resulted in the loss of recognisable
This scenario is not encouraging for increased surroundings. In the post-modern era, the
design quality and interesting building forms, awareness of the need for regional identity has
which require intuition, spontaneity and contributed more to recognition of the problem
exploration, as well as geometrical precision. In than to search for solutions. Regionalism (or
the hands of unqualified practitioners, this fear critical regionalism), which is one of the
can easily become reality, and the built manifestations of post-modernism, was an
environment could turn into an ever-growing attempt to put back into architecture what
20
incoherent array of catalogue buildings (see modernism conspicuously took out, namely
Fig. 7). continuity in a given place between past and
present forms. In regionalism, reinstatement of
identity, urban public places and streetscapes
present an image of the city, town and village
which differentiates it from other places. The
establishment of a unique identity in the image of
place, not only recreates the sense of place, but
also helps to re-connect between people and
place. In this way architecture and society might
be re-united.
Concerns have already been expressed about

the future roles of digital technologies. Yet,
there are extraordinarily good at handling data –
Fig. 7. Incoherent Catalogue Building including visual data. Together with traditional
design methods, a shared architectural language
The Proposition could be explored in studio and research
environments. A particularly important aspect
th
From the mid-20 Century, citizens were would be to develop the theoretical underpinning
beginning to notice urban decline and what has for the design of contextual buildings that display
become known as a crisis in place identity. The regional distinctiveness. This might involve the
decline of place has been seen through loss of forms of buildings, their materiality, openings
symbolism and uniqueness. This problem has and details. It would be derived from the
received attention from scholars with some vernacular but interpreted into contemporary
building design. Issues will be raised about International Conference on the Role of Universities
appropriateness and that is why the theoretical and their Contribution to Sustainable Development
underpinning is so crucial. However, a Strand: Belgrade, RS. 2012. p38-47.
significant aspect of a regional identity lies 8

Clegg, P. “An Interview with Peter Clegg, Feilden
beyond the envelopes of buildings. Part of the Clegg Bradley Studios” Betterbricks: NEEA: Portland,
disquiet about development since the second OR. 2009. Available at:
th
half of the 20 Century has been about notion of http://www.betterbricks.com/design-
construction/reading/interview-peter-clegg-feilden-
individual buildings seemingly just dropped into
clegg-bradely-studios
space. Characteristics of place are generated
9
by the disposition of groups of buildings and the http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/04/06/up-close-at-
school-of-architecture-role-of-drawing-in-doubt/
use of positive space that they define.
10
Arayici, Y., Coates, P., Kosela, L., Kagioglou, M.
Conclusion “BIM Adoption and implementation for Architectural
Practices” in Structural Survey Emerald: Bingley, UK.
Architectural studio education and it associated 29(1) 2011. p7-25.
research needs to retain the confidence to lead 11
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/paul-
the way. If in Reyner-Banham’s terms, it does morrell-bim-to-be-rolled-out-to-all-projects-by-
not stick to the high ground but becomes 2016/8616487.article
involved in the great real estate hustle, 12
Serginson, M., Giddings, B., Ladinski, V. Messer, S.
architectural and urban design quality will be the “Assessing Effectiveness of Architectural Design
poorer for it. Moreover, educators need to rebuff Communication through Public Participation Methods”
attacks on the studio as the pre-eminent creative The International Journal of Design Management and
Professional Practice Common Ground: Champaign,
design environment; and refer to Feilden, Clegg IL, 6(1) 2013. P61-84.
and Bradley, as they support architectural
13
studios in practice. The times ahead will be Groak, S. “Representation in Building” in
challenging but there is a potentially exciting role Construction Management and Economics Taylor &
in encouraging the renaissance of contextual Francis: London, UK. 19 2001. p249-253.
building, regional responsiveness and movement 14
Eley, J. “Design Quality in Buildings” in Building
towards shared architectural language. Research and Information Taylor & Francis: London,
UK. 32(3) 2004. p255-260.
Notes 15
Novitski, B.J. “Fun with computer aided modeling
clay” Architecture Week.com 30 August 2000, p.T3.1.
1
Buchan, P. ”Architecture education is over-regulated
16
and sterile” in Architects’ Journal EMAP Publishing: Mitchell, W. “Square Ideas” in New Scientist Elsevier:
London, UK. 2 November 2012. Available at: London, UK. 2000. Available at:
http://m.architectsjournal.co.uk/8638038.article http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16522265.300-
square-ideas.html
2
Murray, C. “Does architectural education need an
17
overhaul?” in Architects’ Journal EMAP Publishing: Lozano, E. Community design and the culture of
London, UK. 15 November 2012. Available at: cities University Press: Cambridge, UK. 1990.
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/comment/does- 18
Giddings, B., Horne, M. Artists’ Impressions in
architectural-education-need-an- Architectural Design Spon Press: London, UK. 2002.
overhaul/8638620.article
19
3
Sahai, V. “Search for a shared language” in
Reyner-Banham, P. “Keynote Address” in Architects’ Journal EMAP Publishing: London, UK.
Proceedings of the RIBA Conference: New February 1991. P41-45.
Opportunities Southampton, UK. September 1981.
20
4
Martins, B., Koutamanis, A., Brown, A. “Predicting
Hellman, L. “Ludopoly – The Money Making Game” in the future from past experience: a reflection on the
Architects’ Journal EMAP Publishing: London. 4 fundamentals of CAAD” Proceedings of the 24
th
November 1981. p888. Conference on Education in Computer Aided

5
Advertisement. “The Building Business Machine” in Architectural Design in Europe eCAADe: Frankfurt,
Architects’ Journal EMAP Publishing: London, UK. 30 DE. 2007.
March 1983. p60.
6
QAA, Subject benchmark statement: Architecture The
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education:
Gloucester, UK, 2010.
7
Harmanescu, M., Popa, A. “Responsibility through
Environmental Education” in Proceedings of the
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 TECHNOLOGY AS A CREATIVE PROCESS
execution. After years of practice,

Technology as a Creative professionals see no distinction
between the two fields. “Students
Process should perceive technology as a
thoroughly integrated activity, not one
Ricardo Assis Rosa which can be separated into content
and process or theory and practice”
Oxford Brookes University (Williams, 2000). Nonetheless, they are
still taught as two disciplines in the
educational curriculum. The aim of this
paper is not to discuss the reasons
behind the separation between
technology and design but investigate
how best to integrate them.
Design and the learning environment
I should clarify that in the context of this

paper when referring to design, I refer
to architectural design as the term
design is widely used and can be
understood differently by other
professionals. Design is a noun, a verb
and for some it has become a
fashionable adjective. In a more
specific context, the design is an end
product or design is a process.
“Essentially the designer’s thinking is
directed towards some physical end
product the nature of which must be
communicated to others who may help
to design it and to construct it” (Lawson,
2005:129).
In the context of pedagogy, one of the
theories most applicable to architectural
education is ‘Problem Based Learning’
where “students learn about a subject
through the experience of problem
Image: Jia Jian Saw – Salt Works solving. Students learn both thinking
Exploration –Year 3 Tutors: Sara Shafiei, strategies and domain knowledge”
Aleksandrina Rizova, Ricardo Assis Rosa (Wiki, 2013). The architectural studio is
a conceptual ground for students to
Introduction develop the required skills of controlling
multi layering information, manipulate
physical and digital media to explore
Technology, defined as knowledge and represent, as well as being
gained through making, is the process supported by peer tutors, critiques and
of creation and production (Watson, practicing professionals. The studio is
1997: 121). This is the common conducive to self-expression,
definition of tacit knowledge, which is individuality and competition that results
knowledge learned through tactile and in innovative ideas and creative
empirical experience. This definition proposals. If a studio culture is well
clearly emphasises the importance of a facilitated, it is quite likely that the
long-standing alliance of technology outcome is at the cutting edge of
with architectural design and its architectural ideas. Students “learn how
to design largely by doing it, rather than experience. A study by Laxon (1969)
by studying it or analysing it” (Lawson, on design education in schools
2005:7). This strategy provides the concluded, “children cannot expect to
students with the best environment to be truly creative without a reservoir of
test ideas, develop skills and to engage experience”. Laxon further developed a
with the process of design. The learning model using the metaphor of a
relationship with the tutors provides hydroelectric plant that I have adapted
them with support and strategic and adjusted to create the Kitchen
guidance permitting growth, innovation metaphor. Just like Laxon’s model there
and knowledge development through are three stages in which major skills
doing, making and testing. There are are identified and developed. “The
different schools of thought in relation to ability to initiate of express ideas is
the style of education and promotion for dependent on having a reservoir [fridge]
creativity and innovation in architecture. of knowledge from which to draw these
“One school of thought may suggest ideas. The second skill is the ability to
that students should be allowed a free evaluate and disseminate ideas [work
and open-ended regime in which free surface] and finally, the transformation
expression is encouraged. Another or interpretive skill [dining table] needed
might argue that designers have to to translate ideas into appropriate and
solve real-world problems and they relevant context” (Laxon, 1969).
should pay attention to the acquisition
of knowledge and experience” (Lawson,
2005:155).
The way designers think has been

studied and discussed by several
theorists (Lawson, 1980; Schon, 1982;
Rowe, 1987; Buchanan, 1992; Nigel,
2011) but it is not the intention of this
paper to discuss these findings. I would
like to draw upon Bryan Lawson’s
research presented in his book: “How
Designers Think” (2005). He discusses
different types of thinking and describes Image: Andrea Roe – Fibreglass
reasoning and imaging as probably the Exploration - Year 3
most important to designers. Tutors: Ricardo Assis Rosa, Andrea Placidi
“Reasoning is considered purposive
and directed towards a particular
conclusion [logic, problem solving and Architecture and Technology
concept formation] whilst imaging, on
the other hand, the individual is said to “Over the past decade, the practice of
draw from his or her own experience, architecture has radically transformed
combining material in a relatively through the digital acceleration and
unstructured and perhaps aimless way” sharpening of production. New
(Lawson, 2005:137). “The control and architectural languages are being
combination of rational and imaginative constructed through the conversations
thought is one of the designer’s most between material, tool and design
important skills” (Lawson, 2005:138). In intent” (Glynn, 2011).
teaching design it is relevant to Whatever idea or concept an
acknowledge these two ways of architectural designer might propose;
thinking as students have to learn to materiality and fabrication processes
interplay with their rationality and are definitely key components to the
creativity. There is no specific architectural proposal. Materials define
methodology to design yet students what an architect designs and the
need to acquire knowledge and process in which this is executed is not
always in the hand of the designer. appropriate approach to design and

Industrialization and modern times have technology, and prepare them with the
lead us to an efficient and more right skills.
sophisticated architecture that has also
resulted in a mass simplification. One of the fundamentally important
Today’s catalogues, material libraries skills for being a good designer relies
and online databases provide endless on one’s ability to provide different
solutions to material properties and solutions to problems and to be able to
their applications; these foster the explore the feasibility of these options.
“already prevalent preference of form This ability of designers to run different
and surface over structure and lines of both conceptual and practical
materiality” (Leatherbarrow, 2009:9). thought and to work at varying scales of
The creation of architecture can exploration simultaneously is what
become a mere practice of applying distinguishes a designer. Boyer and
textures to buildings that are replicated Mitgang quote Pier Luigi Nervi, who
from virtual prototypes that become 3D said, “a good architect is someone
catalogue displays of manufacturers’ capable of seeing the main problems of
products. a design, capable of examining with
Similar historic discussions have serenity the various possible solutions,
shaped our contemporary context. John and who finally has a thorough grasp of
Ruskin (1819–1900) and Gottfried the technical means to accomplish the
Semper (1803–1879) advocated for the projects” (Boyer and Mitgang 1996:
truth to materials, honesty to 137).
construction and the emphasis on
meaning and function in materials. This Lawson (2005:219) concludes in his
raises questions about the role of the research that “good designers are able
architectural designers and their to sustain several ‘conversations’ with
positioning towards technology. their drawings, each with slightly
Through our industrialised and efficient different terms of reference, without
world the architect is losing his worrying that the whole does not make
proximity to the workshop and sense”. He further explains how this
becoming an information manager ability “to live with uncertainty” is what
behind the computer. However, Renzo enables a designer to hold onto an
Piano stated, “An architect must be a ‘idea’ and explore it almost ruthlessly
craftsman, someone who does not until a feasible solution has been found.
separate the work of the mind from the One of the key fundamental ways in
work of the hand”. Frank Barkow which students can learn these abilities
(2013), as keynote speaker in the is to initially provide them with a
“Prototyping Architecture” conference a framework to allow them to begin to
few weeks ago, spoke that “design play with the different layers of
follows technology - Identifying and knowledge. Students need to develop a
harnessing new technologies coupled conceptual understanding of the
with curiosity and imagination operation and to be able to articulate it.
reinvigorates a process of making and To explain how the use of technology in
invention”(Stacey, 2013:367). In a new the studio might operate, I would like to
era of digital craftsmanship, which has propose the metaphor of the kitchen as
already begun, the role of the architect an example. If you want to cook a multi
will be re-defined. course meal you have to have the
infrastructure to support it: stove, pots,
What are the consequences of this pans, knives, working surface, clean
rapidly changing relationship between water, etc. [computer with software,
technology and design in the context of printer, paper, pencils, ruler, modeling
education? If we are educating the tools, glues, etc.]. This framework will
architects of the future, then we need to support the idea to be explored. We can
provide architectural students with the use a fictional brief in this case: a Thai
inspired seafood risotto. Now the This multimedia approach was already
designer/Chef has to get the at the centre of the Bauhaus (1919-
appropriate ingredients, test flavors, mix 1933) methodology, which was founded
spices, experiment with different on the idea of integration of the arts,
cooking processes [sketches, crafts and architecture, much in line
precedents, 1:50 sections, 1:5 detail, with some of today’s schools of
digital model, physical testing, etc.]. architecture. Although the type of
Finally after exploring different methods architecture (final product) proposed is
and testing the process the meal is quite different, the teaching system was
developed to perfection. The tendency based on stimulating individual
in architecture, however, at times creativity through making collages and
seems to be to expect students to different materials and textures.
deliver amazing meals but not to first
provide them with the knowledge of In the context of architectural studio
how to work with varying layers of Boyer and Mitgang (1996:73) observed
information. First an omelette then a that “the term design has taken on
soufflé. limited connotations, focusing more on
aesthetics and theoretical dimensions
For the design to be a process, the of design than on the integrative nature
framework is the way in which one can of the process itself”. This dichotomy is
‘have a conversation’ with the work at further highlighted by conceptual
hand. The Chef can only know the explorations and visually appealing
outcome of the new meal once he has graphics that are highly valued among
gone through the process of testing and tutors and peers. Students view
exploring beforehand. The various ‘technology’ as a separate entity to
experiments enable the designer/Chef design, usually taught by different tutors
to research into the process and perfect and perhaps in different learning
the idea. Donald Schön (1983) first environments. Their notion of the
suggested the idea of ‘having a subject is transfixed with boring line
conversation with the drawing’ when he drawings, dry AutoCAD plans and
researched the mental process of technical details that they constantly
thinking about design. In his view, struggle to execute correctly and to
supported by Lawson in his subsequent represent rich spatial qualities.
research, “The designer performs the “Students should perceive technology
act of drawing not to communicate with as a thoroughly integrated activity, not
others but to pursue a line of thought. one which can be separated into
As the image of the drawing develops it content and process, or theory and
enables the designer to ‘see’ new practice. (Williams, 2000) The issue is
possibilities or problems” (Lawson, not with the content of technology but
2005:266). It would be important to add with the way it is presented to the
to Schön and Lawson that in the students. Technology should be taught
context of architectural design, in the same way as design is taught: as
drawings are only one of the media a creative exploratory process.
used to ‘cook’ a project. The successful
schemes coming out of the leading Proposal for an integrated
schools of architecture are composed of methodology
multi layers of hand and digital
drawings, digital and physical models, I suggest three successive phases that
videos, installations and portfolios. In could inspire students to integrate
this context, the conversations between technological thinking: The first requires
the architectural designer and his works an exploration of materiality without a
are multi-dimensional and multi-layered particular goal. The students are
because the designer relies on making encouraged to befriend a material of
and testing to develop the scheme. their choice, to research and become
knowledgeable in this materials by
looking at the origins, sources, fundamental that designers get real

processes of manipulations, experience about buildings. Students
multidisciplinary applications, need to have contact with the real
precedents and importantly, to material and its process by making real
manipulate and test the material projects, building prototypes, going to
themselves. The intended outcome is relevant site visits, factory visits and
for the designer to start to build up a being in contact with the real process of
deeper experiential knowledge of making architecture. This is essential to
materials. By manipulating and substantiate the designer’s knowledge.
designing small fragments, they get an For technology and design to become
intrinsic knowledge of the potentials and part of the same conversation, the
limitations. In the future, when a design designer must have experience of the
problem arises, the designer will access real in order to express this in concept.
this reservoir of knowledge. The process of drawings and computer
The second phase should concern with modelling do not contain sufficient
exploration and enquiry. Once the experiential knowledge about
design problem is more advanced, a technology, they are conceptual
process of enquiry begins to filter representations suitable for when the
through the project. What possible designer already has the real
solution can I offer to this problem? experience.
How can this be constructed? What is If technology is introduced as an
this made of? Which project is similar?, addition to the design process, as a
etc. This level of investigation provides parallel analysis of the design project,
a rich fertilization to the project. It allows then the result is likely to be less
the designer to become flexible and to integrated. If it evolves as an
find the best solution to the problem. It exploration through material
is better for there not to be a design of a investigation at the early stage of the
buildings as such but an array of design concept, followed later by a
possible opportunities and proposals. A creative exploratory enquiry into
tendency of students is to hold onto construction, structures and
their schemes as long as possible environment, reiterating different
ignoring the design process as a possibilities followed by being in contact
journey of exploration and investigation. with real projects and examples the
The interesting parts of this phase are final outcome is naturally more
the research questions which arise. The integrated.
questions are many times richer that
the answers, they provide the spine of Conclusion
research which enables the project to In order for technology and design to
excel. This is “learning through develop naturally within student’s
empirical experience and design as projects, it is important to set up a
reflection and research on action” learning environment that encourages
(Watson, 1997:125). technological investigation to be as
And finally the third phase is when creative and as conceptual as the
technology and design are expressed design process. A balanced relationship
through their relevant importance in the between studio working, one to one
project. Up until this phase, tutorials, group seminars, taught
components were fragmented, held classes and inspirational lectures
together by the working framework, should provide the student with a
through the idea and the designer’s healthy studio culture, to become
mind. It is important that emphasis is independent and work creatively.
given equally to the creative and The proposal presented in this paper is
scientific insights. “An intimate for technology to be presented less as a
relationship between technical factual and formal knowledge through
knowledge and design conception” lectures but more as an exploration in
(Watson, 1984:37) is required. It is making through investigation and
experience. This should be brought into Tutors: Sara Shafiei, Aleksandrina Rizova,
the projects right from the start Ricardo Assis Rosa
encouraging a physical interaction and
Bibliography
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and applications. New Future for Architecture Education and Practice,
Princeton New Jersey
Throughout the design process and at
carefully managed phases, students are Glynn, R. Sheil, B (2011) Fabricate, Riverside
asked to explore potentials of Architectural Press.
construction, structures and Lawson, B. (2005) How Designers Think. Forth Edition.
environmental design, creating possible Architectural Press
iterations, solutions and potentials
Leatherbarrow, D. (2005) Surface Archiecture, MIT
without the need to have a final scheme Press
in mind. This argument is supported by
Laxon, M. (1969) Design Education in Practice.
Watson (1997:125) who concludes in Attitudes in Design Education. London, Lund
his paper “The design process is Humphries
incomplete if technology is not made
Schon, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How
part of the creative process”. professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books
Technological knowledge is an
important factor in the design enquiry Stacey, M. (2013) Prototyping Architecture. [online]
The build Centre Trust, London
and not a parallel process or even
worse – an afterthought to the creative Williams, P. (2000) Design: The Only Methodology of
Technology? In Journal of Technology Education. Vol.
process. 11 No 2
When drawing upon Donald Schön’s
(1983) “reflection in action” theory on Watson, D. (1997) Architecture, Technology, and
Environment. In Journal of Architectural Education.
how designers think, we are able to Vol. 51, No 2 pp. 119-126
identify a necessary process of
“problem setting” where the designer is Wiki 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem-
based_learning
required not only to solve problems but
to be able to create a process of
technical enquiry in the work itself. By
creatively empowering technology to
interplay with the design concept at an
early stage, the process of design
resolution is faster and more efficient,
proposing not only innovative spatial
opportunities but also technological
advances.
Image: Paddy Fernandez – Hyper-Glutenized

Dough
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 RE-‐CONCEPTUALIZING THE DESIGN STUDIO

Re Conceptualizing the Design architect of all the workers of a construction)
received training in the workplace where learned
Studio: Blending Academia and the craft from their own failures and successes. In
Architectural Practice addition, the architekton could also acquire artisan
training and basic knowledge in mathematics and
Marta Masdéu
geometry.
Ramon Llull University, La Salle School of
Architecture, Barcelona, Spain As learning and practice were made during the
construction process, the architekton had to be an
ingenious person with a constant commitment to
resolve all kind of artistic and technical problems.
Communication between the craftsmen and the

Introduction architekton was usually verbal but, sometimes, the
use of drawings was necessary to resolve eventual
From antiquity to present the architectural problems on the site (Kostof, 1984).
education, the professional practice and their
interrelationships have suffered transformations. In In the Middle Ages the learning of architecture also
the last decades changes undergone by the happened mostly during the construction phase.
architectural profession have fostered the The term ‘master builder’ was used in Western
emergence of innovative forms of architectural Europe to designate a craftsman whose skills and
practice. The teaching of architecture and the profile knowledge as a supervisor and coordinator of a
of the architect are not left out of these changes. building stood out over the other members of the
Thus, the traditional pedagogic models need to be guild.
reconceptualized in order to train a new kind of
professional and to interweave again connections The practical training of the master builder was
between academia and profession. carried out through experience in construction and
an apprenticeship system established by the guilds
The aim of this document is to explain the factors which ensured the transmission by inheritance of
that have transformed the teaching of architecture the knowledge and a continuity of the craft (Briggs,
and the professional practice and to understand 1927).
their interrelationships. This work is structured in
two parts. The first part explores the different The master builder, in addition to communicate
connections that have existed between the orally, also used diagrams to transmit his ideas. The
academic and professional realms across history. summary of these drawings in portfolios, as the
The second part focuses on new professional Villard de Honnecourt’s collection, was a common
models and their influence on the training of practice among the master builders of this period.
architects. The objective of these compilations was to collect
the knowledge of geometric rules for its subsequent
The teaching of architecture and the application in the construction or the instruction of
professional practice future generations.
Through history, the teaching of architecture and The separation between the design phase
the professional practice have undergone major (learning) and the construction phase (craft)
changes caused by specific social, cultural and
economic circumstances. As a result of these During the Renaissance there was a separation
transformations, the role of the architect, the between the design and construction phase of a
representation techniques and the interrelationships project as consequence of the systematization of
between teaching and practice have also changed. the representation techniques. It was at this time
when there was a distinction between the learning
The simultaneity of the learning of architecture and and the practice of architecture and between the
craft during the construction process master builder responsible for the technical aspects
of the building and the artist (term used to designate
In the Ancient times the learning of architecture took the architect) dedicated to the tasks of design
place during the construction process of a building. (Ettlinger, 1984).
The architekton (term used to differentiate the

The admiration for the classics and the discovery of as teachers to guide the student and the use of
the ‘Ten Books on Architecture’ of Vitruvius was the various types of artistic drawings (esquisses, projets
turning point that served to define the figure of the rendus et éléments analytiques) to graphically
Renaissance artist and his corresponding tasks. represent a project or some conceptual ideas (Drew
Following Vitruvius’s texts the education of the artist Egbert, 1989).
focused on the personal study of the Liberal Arts
(medicine, geometry, music, literature) and the The professional practice determines the academic
classical architecture. The artist, additionally, program
continued to receive training in craft workshops
although it was focused on dealing artistic aspects. Throughout the nineteenth century, the new
By his training the artist was considered a versatile, professional demands in the field of industry, trade
erudite and individualistic person capable of and construction in Europe prompted a series of
performing any type of artistic and intellectual work. education reforms whose aim was to bring together
theoretical teaching and practical learning in a
The use of disegno as a means of graphic single program to provide a general education to
expression of an idea or concept was important to architects and engineers based on scientific
differentiate the artist (creator of the idea) of the grounds.
master builder (executor of the idea) (Madrazo,
1995). Renaissance drawings (plans, elevations, The École Polytechnique and the École Centrale
sections and perspectives), unlike the medieval des Arts in Paris were the first training institutions
sketches used to solve a practical problem in the for architects and engineers that employed a
construction, became conceptual tools with which systematic teaching model in architecture. The
the artist could devise and conceive a building purpose of its founders was to centralize technical
before its construction. Consequently, the artist was and scientific instruction of architects and
required to be responsible for the artistic details of engineers. With this aim they created the modèle
the building but it was not necessary to have a polytechnique and the modèle industriel that
leading role in the construction. combined the Sciences pures taught in lectures with
the Sciences appliquées carried out in laboratories
The separation between the teaching of architecture and workshops (Pfammatter, 2000).
and the professional practice
The educational objectives of both models were to
In the eighteenth century, first in France and then in encourage interdisciplinary work between architects
the rest of Europe and United States, the first and engineers, to connect the theoretical principles
official art education centers were created under of architecture with its practical application using the
government supervision. The aim of the new géométrie descriptive as a graphic method to solve
academies was academically organize the teaching and represent technical problems in three
of architecture so that architects could obtain a dimensions and to establish direct contact with the
professional degree backed by the state. The result professional practice through the hiring of a
was the division between the theoretical education teaching team of experts and practical activities
of architects and professional practice and the such as visits to the building or specialized
professionalization of the architect’s craft. Likewise factories.
the term architect, as we know it today, began to be
used to differentiate the labor and the social status The learning of architecture and the professional
of architects of the tasks done by master builders practice take place in the studio of architecture
and artists.
During the nineteenth century prosperity in trade
The École Nationale et Spéciale des Beaux-Arts in and industry contributed to the birth of the architect
Paris was one of the first schools that educated as a professional and the creation of the first
architects using a previously established academic studies of architecture (Woods, 1999). As result of
program. The most notable contributions of French this professionalization of the craft was necessary
educational model were: the combination of to establish a well-organized model of practical
theoretical lessons taught in master classes with learning so that architect -as independent designer
practical exercises carried out in workshops and supervisor- could learn the profession in the
(ateliers), the organization of a competition system same place of work.
(concours mensuel et annuel) to promote the self-
improvement, the hiring of professional architects

This apprenticeship system basically consisted of architecture around the world. However, although
hiring young architects for a period of two to five the ideas of the Bauhaus had transformed the
years. The cooperative effort that had architectural education, the learning model based
characterized French academic workshops now on the Design Studio remained virtually unchanged.
was transmitted to the professional field. The
members of the study (from the youngest to the The integration of current teaching models in
oldest) were a team which helped each other under the new professional processes
the supervision of the chief architect. This way of
working allowed pupils understand ‘in situ’ the New forms of professional practice
organization of a professional studio as well as the
development of the profession in a real context. In the last decades, changes undergone by the
After the training the young architects opened their architectural profession and the continuous
own studio or just continued to work at the same development of ICT have fostered the emergence
place. of innovative models of architectural practice based
on collaborative working methods and virtual
It was at this time when the architects began to set organizations structures.
up the first professional organizations such as the
Royal Academy in England or the American In the field of architecture, engineering and
Institute of Architects in the United States whose construction (AEC) professionals are working in a
purpose was to promote the common interest of variety of organizational structures ranging from
architects, improve the quality of professional small studios (the majority) to large architectural
services, encourage recognition of the profession and engineering consultancies (the minority).
among the public and establish some rules for the However, regardless of the scale of organization,
education of architects. design and construction of buildings is becoming an
increasingly complex activity that involves different
The academic program determines the professional professionals -architects, engineers, manufacturers,
practice builders, suppliers- with different levels of
knowledge and professional experience. Often
In the twentieth century some of the ideas on social, these professionals must work together in transitory
artistic and educational renewal, which had begun teams that are geographically distributed throughout
during the Industrial Revolution, were developed the world. These professionals tend to collaborate
and implemented in the academic programs of on a specific project until the task has been
some schools and academies in order to establish a completed and afterwards the group is dissolved.
technical and artistic education which was suitable These types of organizational structures stand out
for new industrial and professional demands. for their temporary connections between
professionals.
In this context, the Bauhaus was created as a
center of convergence of different educational, Nowadays, BIM technology (Building Information
artistic, political and social currents. In its first phase Modeling) is postulated as the most appropriate tool
the school was influenced by the traditional ideal of to facilitate communication and collaboration
the medieval guild while, at later stages, dominated between different actors along the entire life cycle of
an educational program based on new technologies a project, from the design phase to the construction
and mass production (Wick, 1982). phase and post-occupancy.
The training of students in the workshops of the The use of the BIM model as an interface to create,
school was an opportunity to establish direct collate, store and update information means for
contact with the professional field. The experimental professional studies more effective communication
works that were carried out in the school, among various experts that make up a team, a
subsequently, were reproduced and sold by better understanding of the physical reality of the
companies close to the Bauhaus. For the realization building and greater transparency in the decision-
of these prototypes students used all kinds of making (Chaszar, 2011).
representative systems from collages, sculptures,
paints to analytical drawings. Together with BIM technology, Integrated Practice
can help to transform the linear process of design
In years after its closure, the pedagogical model of and construction in a networking process in which
the Bauhaus had a significant impact in schools of

all members of a team work collaboratively from the the domain of architecture by encompassing other
early stages of the project (Elvin, 2007). disciplines in the design process and to combine
different skills to be able to work creatively with
The basic concept of the Integrated Practice of other professional and non-professionals during the
overlapping the design and construction phases whole design process from conception to post-
and integrating different experts in the process is occupancy.
not a new idea. In classical and medieval times the
architekton and the master builder were also The role of the architect as an independent
responsible for designing and constructing a designer (characteristic of the last century)
building with the help of craftsmen. nowadays is changing towards a new profile whose
duty is to coordinate a group of specialists
Currently, the integral management of the different (Robinson, Jamieson, Worthington, Cole, 2012).
stages of the life cycle of a project is an Due to the complexity and extension of current
improvement in the quality and efficiency of the projects, it is necessary to divide the work in
process because it offers a wide a variety of different areas of specialization. Therefore the
services (beyond the traditional model), a architect, in addition to providing some important
comprehensive coordination of the different agents creative decisions during the process of design and
involved and a greater economic and administrative construction of a project, also has as main tasks to
control whose result is to obtain more satisfactory organize various professionals and to manage the
products for customers and professionals. knowledge produced during all stages.
In addition, new forms of collaboration in network - However, the education of architects is still primarily
formed by a set of different companies or focused on the design of projects understood as
individuals with specific competencies (Burn, individual creations. Therefore it is necessary to
Marshall and Barnett, 2002) - can connect these introduce in current academic programs new
dispersed teams so that they work together, teaching methodologies that promote
regardless of their physical location, in the creation interdisciplinary teamwork and introduce the new
and management of the architectural knowledge. emerging specializations (energy and efficiency in
This type of networking leads to a form of collective buildings, infographics, intervention in cultural
intelligence that is inherent in the organizational heritage, real state analysis, sustainable
structure. In this context digital technologies can construction, cooperation and development in third
support the exchange of knowledge throughout the world countries, calculation of facilities or structures,
design process, from conception of the idea to the technical inspection of buildings, public
construction. With ICT, the knowledge generated administration, research and teaching, project
during the project can be modeled and stored in management, facility management, etc.) Thus
repositories of knowledge that can be reused in students would be able to operate with different
later projects. groups and situations as well as to work in the
projection of buildings but also in other fields of
As a result of these changes, new types of architecture and other disciplines related to this.
professionals are needed which are able to work
and think in networks, to construct and share The training of new professionals in the schools of
knowledge with other experts using digital media, to architecture
offer new services and to acquire the necessary
skills in order to interact with knowledge bases In this context, it is necessary that schools of
available on the net. architecture review the traditional pedagogic models
in order to develop and apply new methods of
In these circumstances, the challenge of schools teaching and learning which go beyond the
nowadays is to train professionals with an established academic curricula. The blended
instrumental mastery of new digital technologies learning is one of these pedagogical approaches
and with a capacity of participation and cooperation that schools are beginning to use to bridge the gap
in flexible and dynamic teams. between academia and professional practice.
The profile of the professional architect In most schools, the Design Studio is still a
simplified model of professional practice where
Today, the practice of architecture requires a new students and teachers adopt some roles (architect,
professional profile of the architect able to improve client) and simulate real conditions (brief, site,

budget and construction techniques). The Design hand, this model also would provide students -
Studio is also characterized by being, in turn, a through the direct participation of various learners in
physical place in which learners interact and a the design and construction process of a project-
space -in a non-physical sense- where knowledge the opportunity to improve their skills in areas as
is created during the development of a project as a diverse as design, collaboration and
result of ‘knowing-in-action’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ communication, to have a firsthand experience
processes (Schön, 1983). about the real problems of the profession and to
acquire cross-architectural knowledge.
In contrast to this closed system with a limited place
and time the implementation of blended learning Recently, some schools have begun to develop and
has meant a change in the way to teach the integrate new educational projects based on
architecture. The use of a model that combines the experiential learning and cooperative learning. For
computer-assisted forms of learning with the social example, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) has
aspects of face-to-face communication (Achten, created a participatory model where students in
Koszewski y Martens, 2012) has helped establish collaboration with various professionals of the AEC
an open education process that can start anywhere, sector carry out a real project during one academic
weaving bridges with other disciplines, expand over year; the School of Planning and Architecture of
time and promote community building and the social New Delhi (India) has developed a social model for
learning. small projects and interventions in public space with
the cooperation of local citizens and the University
An example of this type of learning model is the of Virginia (USA) has created an interdisciplinary
OIKODOMOS project. The aim of this pedagogical model which brings together students of
model is to create a virtual learning platform architecture, urban planning, art and medicine to
(OIKODOMOS Virtual Campus) where teachers rehabilitate (from sustainable, humanistic and
and students of different schools of architecture and artistic points of view) forty acres public wetlands
urban planning collaborate in the design and park (ACSA, 2012).
implementation of on-line and on-site learning
activities dedicated to the study of housing in the Conclusions
contemporary Europe (Madrazo and Riddy, 2011).
With the help of ICT technologies, blended learning The teaching and practice of architecture, from
enables these institutions to stick with their existing antiquity to the present, have undergone continuous
academic curricula and supports the design and changes. However, it has been in recent years
implementation of learning activities in when changes in the professional field have
collaboration. increased exponentially fostering the emergence of
new forms of practice and a greater disruption to
New connections between the architectural the academic field. As the profile of the architect
education and the professional practice and his training continue based mainly on
educational models originated in past times and
Although the Design Studio is still at the core of unrelated to the current needs of the profession it
teaching in architecture its reconceptualization is has become necessary to create new ways to
necessary to transform the way architects learn. intertwine academia and professional practice.
Thus, we can see today the Design Studio as a Schools of architecture have begun to develop and
network of places -physical and virtual- where implement, often with the help of ICT, new
different types of learners (students, experts, pedagogical models which aim is to form a new
citizens) and institutions (universities, professional profile of architect who is capable of working in
organizations, communities of citizens) can interdisciplinary and temporary teams in the current
participate in the design process and, and future professional context.
simultaneously, collaborate in the construction of
the architectural knowledge. Acknowledgements
This text has been possible thanks to the support of

This new participatory model -open and dynamic-
the SUR of the ECO of the Government of
would enable schools of architecture to eliminate
Catalonia (FI-DRG program) and the research
the rigid structures of current academic programs
group ARC of the School of Architecture La Salle
and overcome the separation, which stems from the
(Barcelona, Spain).
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, between the
academic and professional fields. On the other Notes

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considerations for a roundtable discussion. In Proceeding Angeles: University of California Press.
th
of the 29 International eCAADe Conference. Slovenia:
University of Ljubljana.
ACSA International Conference. June 20-22, 2012.

Barcelona To know in detail the projects visit the
website: http://acsa-arch.org/programs-
events/conferences/international-conference
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Capo Press.
Burn, J., Marshall, P. and Barnett, M. (2002). E-Business

Strategies for Virtual Organizations. Oxford: Butterworth-
Heinemann.
Chaszar, A. (2011). Beyond BIM: Reflections and

Research on Design Communication via Digital Building
Models. In Deamer, P. and Bernstein, P.G. BIM in
Academia (pp. 42-53). New Haven: Yale School of
Architecture.
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French Architecture. Princeton: Princeton University
Press.
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Mastering Design-Build, Fast-Track, and Building
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Ettlinger, L. D. (1977). The Emergence of the Italian

Architect during the Fifteenth Century. In Kostof, S. The
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Ancient World: Egypt and Greece. In Kostof, S. The
Architect: Chapters in the History of the Profession (pp.3-
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An Inquiry into the Nature of Architectural Form. PhD
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Architect and Engineer. The Origins and Development of a
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(2012). The Future for Architects? RIBA.
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Buchverlag.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY BIM ENVIRONMENTS
interdisciplinary BIM environments. It has

implications for research and the architectural
Educating the next pedagogy required to train the next generation of
architects.
generation of architects
Keywords: architects, architecture, BIM,
for interdisciplinary BIM collaboration, design studio, educating,
interdisciplinary.
environments
Introduction
Suha Jaradat
Design Innovation Research Centre, School A number of researchers have studied
architecture and discussed the relationship
of Construction Management and
between practice and education [i ii iii iv]. Unlike
Engineering, University of Reading medicine and law that are known for preparing
professionals, the discipline of architecture offers
a free and liberating environment as it is part of a
domain that also integrates a profession [v]. The
studio has been dominant in the education of
Abstract design disciplines such as architecture. There is
an extensive research on design studio
In a study of architecture and Building pedagogy [vi vii viii ]. The changing role of design
Information Modelling (BIM) in the UK and USA, studio has also been considered and new
experienced practitioners and recent graduates models have been suggested to develop
working on BIM projects, in internationally collaborative design skills [ix].
leading architectural firms raised issues relevant
to architectural education. The design studio has Existing issues affecting architectural practices
been central to architectural education, evolving involving digital technology, globalization and
from a traditional apprenticeship of a designer environmental concerns have also been
within a master architect’s studio. Much has evaluated but little attention has been paid to
been written about the pedagogy of the design current approaches including BIM and its wider
studio. However changes in the architecture impact on the pedagogies of architecture. BIM is
profession raise new questions. BIM is being being implemented in the architectural,
adopted to address issues of cost, value and engineering and construction organizations as a
carbon. It facilitates collaborative design using a way of designing and delivering building and
central model in a standard way across infrastructure projects. There have been recent
disciplines to create information to be used international initiatives to promote the use of
through the life cycle of building and BIM. The UK government, for example,
infrastructure projects. Using BIM is shifting envisions the implementation of BIM by 2016 on
professional roles as it changes the mechanics all public procurement [x]. This approach creates
of working and interacting with others. This deliverables that should be used throughout the
paper uses data from the study to explore the life cycle of the assets and replaces the
new questions raised for educating the next traditional way of working separately with a more
generation of architects to work in coordinated and controlled process for sharing
interdisciplinary BIM environments. data.
Architectural professionals emphasize the need
BIM involves using new software packages and
to teach architecture differently. Graduates are
novel technologies for creating and manipulating
now expected to have learnt about BIM not from
a central model, standards and repositories for
a theoretical perspective only but technically as
storing and accessing data by different
well. They need to understand the professional
stakeholders from various organizations. This
responsibilities of the architect and the
emerging way of working has extensive effects
relationship with other professions to fully
on the dynamics of work inside contemporary
participate in BIM collaboration, suggesting a
organizations.
need for interdisciplinary design studios. They
should be aware of the options of technologies
available and identify BIM not as individual The implementation of BIM within architectural
software packages only. Moreover the data practices is a current issue that is changing the
revealed a perceived gap in architectural context of architecture and has implications for
students’ knowledge of construction. They create the architectural pedagogy and its role in
3D virtual models but have no idea how they can preparing the next generation of architects to
be constructed as the focus is on the picture and fully participate in future practice. This paper
technologies used not the systems. reinterprets a study that investigates how
professional roles and interactions are being
The paper poses questions regarding individual shaped and mobilized in interdisciplinary BIM
work in design studios to facilitate environments. It draws on data collected from
interviewing participating architects and others general codes created additional codes. A theme
working in internationally leading design, regarding architectural education appeared
architecture, engineering and planning despite the fact the interviewees were not asked
organizations in the UK and USA. It seeks to about it. The analysis of the data set is on-going
discuss the teaching of BIM in the wider context in an iterative manner between theoretical
of studio learning outcomes in schools of frameworks and empirical data [xii ].
architecture. The following sections of the paper
give a brief background of the study, explain the Summary of findings
research methods, and finally discuss the
findings and implications for research and
In 12 out of 40 interviews, the participants raised
architectural pedagogy.
issues relevant to architectural education and
BIM in 16 references although they were never
Background and methods asked about it directly in the interview which
indicates that this is a current issue that should
The context of this research is a set of interviews be investigated further. The responses varied
in international design, architecture, engineering from reflecting on their personal education
and planning organizations in the UK and USA. experience to everyday practices and
The interviewees were mostly architects who interactions with new graduates and students.
have used BIM on several projects worldwide. The general themes indicated a need to teach
Five major firms were initially identified but some architecture differently, a lack in architectural
interviews were also conducted in other firms. students’ construction knowledge, and a need
for interdisciplinary design studios. These
Data collection findings will be discussed further below.
Data were collected by conducting 40 semi- A need to teach architecture differently

structured interviews, as the main source of
data, with 50 BIM users and experts in both the The design studio provides an open environment
UK and USA. Most of the interviews were one to for the students to excel but experienced
one but some people, up to four, were practitioners talked about their personal
interviewed together. Other complimentary experience and revealed a gap between
materials were also collected including some architectural education in the studio and working
documents about BIM, pre interview on real projects, a senior architectural technician
questionnaire, observation of meetings and and BIM coordinator in the USA explains:
informal conversations.
‘In college my needs and what I was trying to do
The formal interviews were conducted between on the projects were a lot different than what we
May and August 2012. Some participants need to do to get the buildings built and the
provided documents to further illustrate some realities of business.’
points like BIM definition, for example. The
interviewees were asked to identify specific Others in the UK have indicated explicitly that
projects in the pre-interview questionnaire which architectural education should change to reflect
proved to be helpful to capture initial thoughts as the reality of work practices, this is what an
a starting point of the conversation and answer Information Systems Applications Administrator
some of the interview questions as they were who has an architectural background thinks:
thinking of specific examples. 19 questionnaires
were completed and returned. ‘I think the university study has to change quite
dramatically to accommodate for what is actually
Two of the 4 meetings observed were non BIM, when you go out to work. But yeah, so that’s
one clash detection session and one weekly what I think.’
progress review meeting with the owner,
architect and contractor to enable comparison So in order for newly qualified architects to
between BIM and non BIM environments. 16 participate fully in collaborative BIM
informal conversations were arranged with environments, they have to be equipped with
practitioners and academics to discuss construction knowledge and be aware of their
proposals and get feedback at various stages of professional role and responsibilities, a Project
the research. Architect from the UK argues:
Data analysis ‘People coming out of university, architects will
have to know more about construction I think
Data were collected until signals of ‘saturation’ and they’ll have to know more about their
[xi ] appeared which include repetition of professional role earlier if they’re going to work
information and confirmation of conceptual fully in BIM collaboration at the design levels.’
categories to promote the validity of the data.
The interview protocol informed early thematic Practitioners in both the UK and USA have been
coding in NVIvo to help categorize the data then pretty consistent in expressing their concerns
a process of unpacking and interpreting the
regarding architectural education and its role in ‘But we are not always the best people to be
preparing students for real life projects. building Revit models, a lot of time it’s the people
that are out of school. So you have a little bit of
A lack of architectural students’ construction a gap there of taking really fresh young people
knowledge from school and getting them boosted up to a 15
year level of experience and that’s a lot to try to
A gap in architectural students’ education get people to do.’
regarding some construction details and how the
pieces and systems work together is noticeable So to make full use of fresh graduates’ computer
as some of the participants discussed. A Senior skills, they have to go through a steep learning
Project Architect in the USA expressed his journey from school to practice which is quite
frustration regarding university students’ lack of challenging.
construction knowledge despite their exceptional
computer and modeling skills:
A need for interdisciplinary design studios
‘Universities are producing students who don’t
have a clue, they can work a computer like no- Some participants assessed their studio setting
one’s business, they can model anything, it’s and compared it with practicing in industry
amazing what comes out of them. They have no revealing that the BIM feature is not fully
idea what a stud is, they don’t know what a nail employed in school. This is evident in what a
is, they know nothing about what the real thing recent graduate says about his architectural
is, it’s a 3D virtual model of a picture that they
can do amazing things, beautiful, but it’s not education:
architecture. It’s a picture, it’s just a picture, you
can’t build it, you don’t know how pieces come ‘Personally in school through undergrad and
together and you don’t know how the systems graduate, they push a lot of the computer
work together and you design this beautiful applications. The more computer applications
picture and that I say, yeah, but you can’t ever you can learn the better. So they don’t
build that on this planet because it’s impossible! necessarily teach any at all but it’s more upon
Or, what are you using for this? Oh, I don’t know.
the student to learn. I didn’t get into Revit until
How much would it…? I don’t know. Come on,
really?!!’ probably grad school personally. In studio
setting, you are not really utilizing the BIM
An Associate & Information Manager from the aspect of the Revit application, it’s more of a
USA emphasizes the imbalance of computer design tool.’
skills versus construction details in architectural
students’ education. He recalls an earlier A Chief operating Officer, who works closely with
personal experience when he started as a junior architects and designers in an organization that
architect, he refers to it as an ‘ah ha moment’. develops technologies to integrate design,
He was once drawing scupper details but had no engineering, construction, and development
idea what the scupper was until he noticed them services, suggests that cross training proved to
on the side of a building while he was walking be helpful to boost the knowledge and
and went: experience of young professionals to become
fully integrated, as he explains below:
‘‘That’s a scupper’ it hit me! Ah ha. That ‘ah ha
moment’ took way too long from the time I began ‘It is a real challenge. We will walk back around
drawing to the time I understood what it was I the office when we are done if you look at most
was drawing. With the BIM environment; with the of our people using BIM they are young people.
3D; with the visualization aspect that ‘ah ha So then the question becomes well how do they
moment’ is happening instantaneously. You get the knowledge necessary to really build
can’t not know what it is you are doing while buildings? We wrestle with this; we do a lot of
you’re doing it which means - so the problem is cross training, so we have a university
OK we’ve got inexperienced college graduates programme internally where we identify career
who may be whizzes at software; they know all paths. The career paths are not how I want to
the buttons but they don’t know architecture so be an architect or I want to be a builder, they are
the mentoring aspects kicks back in. This lost art how do I become an integrated person, so there
of teaching what any of the processes and why - is a lot of cross training. Architects learning
the why’s and the wherefores.’ about construction, contractors learning about
design.’
The significance of understanding what is being
drawn has been frequently mentioned as this Based on the interviewees’ personal education
Architect & Project Manager from the USA and work experience, one of the lessons they
indicates: learnt and suggestions they put forward is the
need for interdisciplinary design studios that
facilitate and represent BIM environments in
which students from various disciplines can work Learning How to How to become
together on one project and learn from each outcome become an an integrated
other to solve design problems. architect person to fully
participate in BIM
Discussion environments
BIM is currently being implemented in Focus Design How buildings

architectural practices and is changing the development are put together,
context of the profession. The interviewees how systems
raised issues regarding the individual work in work and
university design studios and their role in construction
preparing architects to work in interdisciplinary details.
BIM environments. There has been an indication
in both the UK and USA to the need to teach Table 1: Comparison of individual work and
architecture differently to respond to current interdisciplinary work in design studios
issues arising in the industry. Working in a BIM
environment requires proficiency in using The interdisciplinary design studio features came
advanced digital technologies as well as sound out of the practitioner’s critical thinking and
understanding of building systems, construction reflection on their education and work
details and how pieces are put together. experiences. It would be worth experimenting
Students are also expected to be aware of the and testing its application in universities and
wide range of digital technologies available to value in practice to assess its role in educating
facilitate the BIM process, learn about their the next generation of architects for
professional roles and interactions with other interdisciplinary BIM environments.
disciplines to be able to participate in fully
integrated collaborative environments. Conclusions
Interdisciplinary design training seems to be the

way to face the challenge of improving the The individual work in the design studio in
knowledge of young professionals and prepare universities is dissimilar to working on real
them to be more integrated. Table 1 below projects in many ways. This paper focuses on
compares individual work with the one angle of the multifaceted design studio
interdisciplinary model in design studios. pedagogy and contributes by discussing the
wider impact of BIM on architecture education. It
suggests an interdisciplinary design studio
Type of Individual Interdisciplinary model to teach students the full aspects of BIM
design work in work in design in practice alongside the theoretical education. It
studio design studios is not suggesting that it will totally fill that gap in
studios education but might help to smooth the steep
learning curve mentioned earlier. This model
Nature of Individual or Collaborative should be put to the test in the wider context of
work group work work across learning requirements.
with other disciplines
architectural Acknowledgements
students
The author would like to acknowledge those who
Purpose Using digital Utilizing the full
helped broker access to the firms; the
technologies aspects of BIM
interviewees for sharing their time and expertise
as design using different
and recommending other participants who took
tools to technologies
part in this research and Engineering and
produce 2D
Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC),
drawings
funder of the Design Innovation Research
and 3D
Centre award no. EP/H02204X/1 and a doctoral
architectural
research studentship.
models
Notes
Participants Learning Cross learning
from fellow from students,
students, tutors and
tutors and external visitors i
Kostof, S. (ed.) 1977. The Architect: Chapters
external in architecture in the History of the Profession, New York,
visitors in and other Oxford: Oxford University Press.
the disciplines
architectural ii
Cuff, D. (1991). Architecture: The Story of
field Practice, Cambridge, MIT Press.
iii
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective
practitioner : how professionals think in action
New York, Basic Books.
iv
Piotrowski, A. & Williams Robinson, J. (eds.)
2001. The Discipline of Architecture,
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
v
Anderson, S. (2001). The profession and
discipline of architecture. In: PIOTROWSKI, A. &
WILLIAMS ROBINSON, J. (eds.) The discipline of
architecture. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota.
vi
Salama, A. M. & Wilkinson, N. (eds.) 2007.
Design Studio Pedagogy: Horizons for the
Future Gateshead: The Urban International
Press.
vii
Salama, A. (1995). New Trends in
Architectural Education: Designing the Design
Studio, Cairo, Egypt, The Anglo-Egyotian Book
Store.
viii
Schön, D. A. (1985). The design studio: an
exploration of its traditions and potentials,
London, RIBA publications Limited.
ix
Whyte, J. K., Ewenstein, B. & Gann, D. M.
(2004). Reconsidering the Design Studio.
International Engineering and Product Design
Education Conference. The Netherlands.
x
Cabinet Office (2011). Government
Construction Strategy.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/fil
es/resources/government-construction-
strategy_0.pdf.
xi
Glaser, B. G. & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The
discovery of grounded theory: strategies for
qualitative research, New York, Aldine de
Gruyter.
xiixii
Orton, J. D. (1997). From inductive to
iterative grounded theory: Zipping the gap
between process theory and process data.
Scand. J. Mgmt., 13(4), 419-438.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 LOOKING TO OTHERNESS FOR A COLLABORATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
interpretation of the archaeological site of
Looking to Otherness for Paestum within the contemporary terrain vague

condition of the entire territory. Additional
a collaborative learning factors of otherness, were present in both
workshops. In the case of the former, it was the
experience “virtual” participation of another group of
students from Washington State University in the
Alessandra Como and George Epolito United States who were visiting Chicago. In the
case of the latter, it was the Department of Art
University of Salerno (Italy) /Manchester
History at the University of Salerno who provided
School of Architecture (U.K.)
us access to its archives and the impressive
collection of prints by Piranesi contained within
it.
Introduction
Needs to be considered
This paper deals with a series of issues which
Prior to venturing into any international
need to be taken into consideration when
collaboration key needs must be taken into
contemplating an international design studio
consideration: 1) the need to establish both
collaboration. It is intended to act as a guide for
common and individual goals of each
those considering a joint didactic experience in
participating party, 2) the need to have a
the future by illustrating good practices and
logistical plan set in place, but one that is flexible
unforeseen consequences. The text discusses
if things start to go astray, 3) the need to attain
how these issues were dealt with in regards to
support both from academic home institutions
two schools - the Manchester School of
and from outside sources (if possible), 4) the
Architecture (UK) and the University of Salerno
need to disseminate the results into the wider
(Italy).
public realm, 5) and the need think of the event
The comments on our experiences will aim at not as a finite one, but one that can serve as part
reflecting upon on issues, which may inform the of a great agenda.
process of orchestrating future collaborations
The need to establish both common and
and intended outcomes, stressing along the way
individual goals
the need to make continuous adjustments in
order to ensure improvement. This text touches
Long before students are involved in any didactic
upon how a didactic collaborative experience
experience, it is obvious that extensive
can serve to augment typical research methods
preparations have to be made by the instructors.
for students in the design process. Specific
What is less obvious is how to ensure that the
results will be shown through a selection of
experience proposed is beneficial to all parties.
images and excerpts from videos in order to
Key to this process working successfully is the
show the issues that need to be taken into
development of understanding the academic
consideration when orchestrating a common
level of students with whom you are dealing, i.e.
project.
their skill sets. In addition to skills, it is important
to consider what intangible qualities, such as
Our didactic experience, in actuality, spanned
openness to otherness, might also be beneficial.
over two academic years and consequently two
Students who possess a strong desire to learn
separate design workshops. The first, titled
from other cultures and see the benefits of
Ma.Chi.Na._Heterotopian Investigations of the
exchanging ideas tend to thrive in such
Urban Spaces in Naples, Chicago and
situations. Those who feel forced into
Manchester, was a design experiment, as well
participating, however, may remain introverted in
as a theoretical investigation, into the issues of
their view of the world and thus they may tend to
contemporary urban space and on the potential
flounder. Their apathy may also serve as a
relationships that could be found between
distraction to those who are keen to participate
seemingly unrelated sites found in selected
in the experience.
areas of the cities of Naples, Chicago, and
Manchester. The second experience,
Regarding the skill level, it is important that all
Rethinking the Grand Tour - The Experience of
the participants have some level of compatibility
Visiting Paestum today, dealt with the
in this aspect. Complimentary skills regarded as

another form of learning from otherness are
often helpful, but if one group dominates the
other in too many aspects the experience can
potentially falter.
Whilst it is important to understand what the

students can bring to the table, it is equally
important to understand what the instructors Fig. 1. Students presenting their results at first
want the students to learn from the experience. workshop at the University of Salerno, 2010
This often involves each instructor having to
meet the requirements of his/her home institution The need to establish a logistical, yet flexible,
and his/her individual philosophical and plan
pedagogical approaches. This crucial matter
cannot be neglected. Once they are taken into Whilst is it noble to set a goal of achieving a high
account and discussed between the individual intellectual standard, it would be irresponsible
instructors, then a common ground amongst not to have proper practical issues taken into
them must be established regarding the content consideration in the planning phases. A list of
of the experience. Again, if one party dominates issues to be sorted prior to any event taking
and a clear dialogue was not achieved, the place should include, but not be limited to: 1)
benefits of the experience will not serve all securing facilities to hold events, 2) determining
participants properly. the exact number of participating students from
each contingency, 3) inviting and defining the
In our case roles of additional professionals and educators
who may potentially participate, 4) securing
Alessandra had to meet Salerno’s 4 year studio
th lodging and transportation for guests, 5)
requirement of investigating urban territories as determining what the actual outcomes might be,
part of her curriculum whilst George had to 5) coordinating and negotiating with colleagues
juggle varying requirements of a mixed group of with whom students are concurrently taking
th th
5 and 6 year students from his MSA BArch classes, etc.
unit displace/non-place. Both of us shared an
interest in non-conventional, theoretical In our case
experiments that could lead to readings of
sites/urban spaces/territories from personal The University of Salerno provided the facilities
interpretations, rather than from merely empirical to hold the events, but there were only a limited
data. amount of accessible workshops and computers
available, which in turn, informed what we could
Whilst Alessandra’s emphasis was placed on expect as outputs. Ratios also affected the
getting her students to make a strong connection quality of the experiences. The ratio between
between theoretical investigation and design Italian to British students was roughly 75 to 15,
process, George was trying to get his British respectively in both years. In the second year,
students to understand that the act of many MSA students felt overwhelmed by the
displacement into an unfamiliar context, Italy, numbers of their counterparts. The ratio of
could serve as a means of having them confront instructors to students also played a major role
their preconceived notions/cultural biases in the and we were fortunate in both occasions to be
design process. The non-place part of the joined by Neapolitan architect and film maker,
equation, intended to have his students Maria Totaro and phd students of Alessandra, all
investigate the ubiquitous condition found in of whom brought other skills (including a
sites/territories which have lost their meanings knowledge of the English language) and insight
over time; consideration of heterotopias was an which greatly enhanced the experience for all.
important part of this equation. After a series of Alessandra was able to find the MSA
brainstorming sessions, it was decided that contingency lodging at reasonable rates. The
Michel Foucault’s, seminal text On Other Places last issue, that of dealing with colleagues,
would, in fact, suit both our pedagogical agendas became more of an issue than either of us had
as well as the curricular requirements of our anticipated.
home institutions.
The need to attain support both from no means of utilising the Erasmus exchange as
academic home institutions and others at source of other financial support.
An ideal situation for any international This simple act of intransigence was not unique
collaboration would be to have proper support to only one of our colleagues in the
set in place both from the academic institutions collaborations, but surfaced in those who were
involved and from outside sources if possible. involved with the scheduling and direct delivery
This support is mainly financial, but just as of courses which students were supposed to be
crucial is the support of colleagues willing to taking during the time frame of our didactic
accommodate any inconvenience that your experiences. Their inflexibility led to unforeseen
experience might cause them due to scheduling negative consequences for all participants: 1)
issues. what could have been intense workshops lasting
5 continuous days, instead turned into 11 days
In our case of disjointed experiences lacking in momentum,
2) Salerno students had to juggle classes and
Both financial and collegial support were lacking. workloads of other courses which left them
Financial support was minimum for students, limited time to meet with the MSA students, 3)
particularly those travelling from Britain to Italy, the MSA students had to stretch their money for
and both sets of colleagues were not exactly food and lodging to 11 days, and 4) the MSA, in
keen to accommodate minor changes, such addition to paying for the instructor’s extended
rescheduling their classes or even swapping days of food and lodging, had to pay to cover the
their classroom/studio spaces. other classes he was scheduled to be teaching
back in Britain.
Financial support from the MSA beyond paying
for the instructor’s expenses was limited. The Lessons to be learned are not to take either
University of Salerno initially provided space and types of support for granted and to seek
limited funds from a source intended for cultural alternative methods to still make the didactic
events, a sum which recently has been experiences successful for all. It is also
abolished, due to lack of money. The lack of any important to take into consideration how your
substantial funding from either institution in the collaborations affect other colleagues and how
first year, led Alessandra to propose that the two they, in turn, may not be willing to accommodate
schools of architecture sign an Erasmus your needs.
exchange agreement which then could provide
some financial assistance. An application was
set forth by the University of Salerno, but never
came to fruition for numerous reasons: 1)
establishment of such exchange programmes
between European nations was a relatively easy
task, but in the UK, as we discovered, there was
a lengthy process of accepting proposed
partners at the university level, not at the level of
a single faculty or school, 2) the MSA, being a
joint school set within strictly defined
responsibilities of a contractual agreement
between two universities, rejected the University Fig. 2. From top to bottom: University of Salerno
of Salerno’s proposal as it did not meet the student work from studio project, Heterotopia
standards of the university responsible for the Workshop outcome, images that informed the outcome
establishing exchange programmes, 3) the Head from the workshop
of the MSA, although supportive in principle, was
not willing to deviate from the contractual The need to disseminate the results into the
agreement which would have allowed the other wider public the realm
of the two universities to approve the proposal.
Instead of looking to the otherness set within the The outcomes of collaborations are both tangible
MSA as a solution to a problem, the and intangible. The former are more easily
intransigence of the Head of the MSA left us with under the control of the organizing instructors,
whilst the latter may be more due to forces of otherness, but in fact wanted things to run only
serendipity. as they would have in Britain.
Tangible outcomes which result from shared The first group of Salerno students retained their
didactic experiences can simply end with the enthusiasm past the actual workshop to assist
event or, with proper consideration and effort, Alessandra in disseminating the work in three
can be disseminated in order to have an impact locations to various audiences: 1) to other
on others beyond just the participants. Visionary students in Salerno, particularly those within
proposals by students can serve to educate their disciplines of architecture and civil
others both within the discipline and outside of it. engineering, 2) to other European students of
Selecting venues to disseminate products can architecture at the EASA assembly (which as our
be highly controlled or result from the timing of good luck would have it, was coincidently held)
events not related to the academic calendar. in Manchester the following summer, and 3) to
Sometimes luck, both good and bad, come into others in the form of the general Italian public at
play. the Futuro Remoto exhibition at the Città della
Scienza museum in Naples.
Intangible results may not necessarily be
planned, but may be a product of the chemistry In addition to the exhibitions, both of us also
generated by the participants of each didactic gave a lecture on the first workshop experience
experience. The bonds created between people to the EASA assembly. An intangible benefit
can be promoted by establishing an from our collaborative experience was that six
infrastructure and guidance can be given to Salerno students attended the assembly in
facilitate interpersonal relationships, but it is Manchester, representing that year the largest
largely a phenomenon left to the devices of the contingency from any single Italian university.
students. In essence, are the students truly open Informal dialogues continued that summer as
to looking for otherness in a collaborative two of George’s MSA students were working at
learning experience? the assembly.
In our case During Alessandra’s trip to give the lecture, we

also took the opportunity to persevere beyond
The results were mixed – some were in our our Erasmus exchange debacle to try to
control, many were not. We had always hoped establish an Erasmus exchange work placement
that students would create interpersonal agreement between the University of Salerno
relationships which would lead to informal and a design orientated studio in Manchester
dialogues in the future, both on a cultural and whose members were part time academics. This
intellectual level. The participants in the first less restrictive agreement meant we could side
year collaboration had done just that, as they step any university approval involved within the
understood the benefit of establishing MSA. Whilst the programme provided funds for
friendships in other cultures. Alessandra worked a Salerno student to gain practical work
with her particular group of Salerno students experience with an architecture studio, it also
previously, which translated into her students provided an informal link to the MSA for a short
trusting her judgement in having them engage in period of time. We, in effect, looked to another
an international collaboration. George’s group form of Erasmus exchange to provide a
th
was dominated by 6 year students whose collaborative experience.
keenness to experience the otherness in Italy,
th
set a strong example to follow for his few 5 year The following year, although two Salerno
students. students were scheduled to participate
separately in the Erasmus work placement, only
In the second year, Alessandra inherited a new one managed to take advantage of the
group of students who were still unfamiliar with experience. The first student was, in fact,
her teaching approach. This seemed to lead to overwhelmed by the otherness and had to return
many of them being less interested in the to Italy. Overlooking an intangible detail, that of
experience. George’s group was then understanding any negative emotional impact
th
dominated by 5 year students, many of whom that otherness may have on an individual,
falsely professed to be open learning from resulted in an unfortunate experience for the
student as well as for all of us who tried to The need think of the event not as a finite
orchestrate this mini collaboration. one, but one that can serve as part of a great
agenda
More unfortunate experiences were to follow.
The physical work produced in the workshop in A collaboration may be thought of as an event
the second year was supposed to be part of a which continues merely by the dissemination of
greater exhibition at the University of Salerno its outcomes into the public realm, but its
which involved the Art History department. It lifespan may be considered to serve other
was then to return to Manchester to be exhibited intentions, also. If the event itself can be
at the RIBA gallery, but to date because of some orchestrated properly as part of a greater
unforeseen academic politics (as our bad luck research agenda for the students, it can become
would have it), neither has come to fruition. We an integral part of their studio experience. If
still hope to disseminate the work in an exhibition sites for said projects occur in the country of the
or by other means. other school, friendships can be utilised to
informally exchange knowledge. Access to
Again, we learned that attaining the cooperation historical and empirical data which are often
of others, colleagues in particular, is often difficult to obtain, but crucial to enriching the
needed to make any experience work smoothly, design process, can be facilitated through such
even beyond the initial event. friendships.
In our case
Each group of students from the first year did, in

fact, form bonds with the students from the other
country. The new friendships assisted in
developing their intellectual interests and they
assisted one another in accessing information
beyond the initial workshop. The group from the
second year experience formed no such bond.
As a result, for those - both Italians and British
alike - who did not have a genuine interest in
exploring the potential of otherness as a means
of learning, the experience resulted in a missed
opportunity. Their apathy also indirectly had a
Fig. 3. Alessandra and George giving a lecture on the negative effect on those who were actually
Ma.Chi.Na. workshop at the EASA assembly in engaged in the process. The timing of the
Manchester, summer of 2010 second workshop (which caused many problems
with MSA staffing back in Britain) was to coincide
with the inauguration of the Futuro Remoto
exhibition in Naples. Due to some unforeseen
problems, the inflexible attitude of some in the
MSA students started to cause rifts not only with
Italian participants, but from within the group.
The positive result for the British students,

however, was that they were able to expand
upon the knowledge they gained from the
experience in Italy to formulate yearlong studio
projects.
The lesson learned from this experience is to

Fig. 4 Student outputs exhibited as part of a greater
understand what you as the instructor/organiser
exhibition, Futuro Remoto, at the Città della Scienza
museum in Naples, 2010 can and cannot control.
are left to chance – is also crucial. The key to

orchestrating a successful didactic experience,
in particular one which is looking to otherness for
a collaborative learning experience, is retaining a
sense of openness and sensitivity. Persevering
through initial set backs when they occur is also
a key to making said collaborations well worth
the effort.
th
Fig. 5. Metaphysical Investigation, Paestum, 5 year
student, Jess Wilkinson, MSA BArch unit
displace/non-place, 2011
th
Fig. 6. Escapism, Paestum, 6 year thesis student,
Maryam Osman, , MSA BArch unit displace/non-place,
2011
Conclusion
Collaborative experiences are not easy tasks,

especially when dealing with more than one
country where otherness in procedural, cultural,
and linguistic matters may lead to unfortunate
misunderstandings. In the planning phases prior
to said experiences taking place, careful
consideration of obvious and hidden
complexities must be taken into account. Trying
to understand how such a simple collaboration
may affect others and how dependent
sometimes the organisers are on other sources
– some of which are in their control, whilst some
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 ROARK’S SHADOW
architectural laureates, each having ascended

through the pressured expectations of having
Roark’s Shadow – produced profound, original work. Many of these
architects could easily be aligned with the fierce
Between Defiance and brand of individual genius framed within the
archetype of Howard Roark, Ayn Rand’s
Docility protagonist in her novel The Fountainhead, who
has become the centerpiece of society’s
Mark McGlothlin romantic portrait of the maverick genius
architect. Roark’s individuality and integrity as a
designer emerges as a direct confrontation to
the persistent fashions, critiques, and dogmas of
an architectural discipline that is fixated on
Introduction preserving neo-classicism as the proper
architectural order and style. Roark’s resistance
When looking for architecture in popular is unwavering, to the extremes of Roark
culture’s shallow waters, you tend to come wagering his own self-destruction instead of
across some amusing things. Frank Gehry’s bowing to the expectations for professional
appearance on Fox’s The Simpson’s draws obedience and corruption. It is easy to admire
immediate attention, as does the character Ted Rand’s portrayal of Roark as the architect-hero,
Mosby of CBS’s How I Met Your Mother, and the but it is more of a stretch to see how this
more distant memories of Mike Brady, the curly- portrayal and embodiment of architectural
haired father of the Brady Bunch. My personal integrity has morphed into the self-aggrandizing,
favorite, however, is a smaller, more elusive fish commodified suggestions of architectural
in these shallows. In 2005, Esquire Magazine brilliance hiding below by Libeskind’s jacket and
published a story titled “If They Build It…” tie. Surely Roark must be rolling in his
featuring seven notable architects. Though all of proverbial grave.
the architects would be recognized with
disciplinary circles, Daniel Libeskind stood out The preceding passage is a bit of an aside,
among the seven as the architect that had though it sets in motion a vexing and persistent
soared above conventional architectural strata to question within the discipline as a whole, and
a higher plateau occupied by only the most more poignantly within the academy – the
recognized designers. In my humble opinion, influence and affect of the individual in design.
this article does a dismal job in reflecting on Though architecture as a discipline has long
Libeskind’s influence within the broader recognized the critical role of collaborative
architecture discourse, and more so in bringing thinking in in the design process, the romantic
this discourse to its readership, though this is not image of the lone architect has been etched so
to say that the article is without merit. It is quite deeply into our collective psyche that we prefer
specific in one amusingly attribute, to identify ourselves with this maverick spirit
acknowledging what each of the seven rather than indulge in the personal sacrifices
architects is wearing - Libeskind is conveniently required by committees, collaborations and
adorned in a “Two–button wool suit ($2,210) by group thinking. Roark is the master of the
Jil Sander; cotton shirt ($195) by Calvin Klein compelling, controversial and problematic image
1 of a singular genius, and the predominance of
Collection; silk tie ($110) by Z Zegna.” In this
one anecdotal moment, Libeskind becomes a this view is so far reaching that it is nearly
living mannequin for the fleeting fashion world, impossible to find an architecture student who
his corporeal existence stripped of any has not, at some point in their academic training,
substantive architectural commentary beyond read Rand’s novel and envisaged themselves in
the requisite quip about his background. his place – the architect-hero who can see
Libeskind, having garnered the colloquial title through the meaningless drivel of contemporary
2 architecture and cleave a new brand of
‘starchitect’ , orbits within a foggy, ether-filled
3
realm between practitioner and celebrity, where architecture from its discarded carcass. I, like
adulation-induced intoxication suggests that his many of my undergraduate classmates, drew
resulting architectural offerings are beyond upon Roark as one of my earliest influences,
reproach. Libeskind is in good company, and in doing so reinforced the “myth of the
4
surrounded by a pantheon of anointed autonomous architect-hero” offered by Rand.
At the time, I was disinclined to notice that Rand the group spirit and cohesion among its
introduces Roark with his expulsion from the members, as well as upon a close working
academy, but in retrospect, this portion of relationship between instructor and student. The
Rand’s story brings many of my more recent problem resides in the fact that these in-use
inquiries into focus – namely the role and principles of design are not part of the espoused
significance of the individual within design theory. Collective aspects of designing receive
pedagogy. virtually no pedagogic attention and generate
little reflection, nor does the importance of
In fairness to Rand, the common understanding architecture’s social context, even though it
7
of Howard Roark has drifted away from the more plays a definitive role in the studio.” Cuff’s
complex character of her narrative towards a observations are precursory to the more hefty
more direct, unrelenting archetype that is as Boyer Report of 1996, which sought to realign
intoxicating in his integrity as he is problematic in “architectural education around seven goals –
his portrayal of the architect in society. Upon many of which emphasized a renewed vision
departing from the Stanton Institute of and commitment to the multiple publics that it
8
Technology, Roark meets with the Dean of the served.” Though it would be difficult to fault the
School of Architecture for a forthright discussion larger ambitions of the Boyer Report, the general
about his expulsion and potential return. The emphasis on societal context and connectivity
conversation that unfolds is powerful and runs at odds with the view of architecture
moving, in part because Roark’s argument proffered by Roark: “Well, I could say that I must
draws into question the role and relevance of the aspire to build for my client the most
client, eschewing the normative architectural comfortable, the most logical, the most beautiful
conventions in favor of the transformative power house that can be built. I could say that I must
of architecture, and in doing so raising the spirit try to sell him the best I have and to also teach
and power of architecture as a catalyst for social him to know the best. I could say it, but I won’t.
change. More so, the essence of Roark’s Because I don’t intend to build in order to serve
architectural vision is fundamentally modern and or help anyone. I don’t intend to build in order to
as such offers a clear connection to the have clients. I intent to have clients in order to
9
modernist foundations of architectural pedagogy build.”
5
to which we are all familiar. Roark as an
individual embodies the heroic aspirations of the Roark’s sentiments are conveyed with certainty,
modern architectural movement while suggesting that the idiosyncrasies of the client
simultaneously rejecting the stale codifications of should not lie central to the project or even at its
normative thinking, offered first and foremost in margins, but rather should be transcended. This
the academy from which he had just been particular sentiment has been a part of
expelled. architecture’s academic discourse in varying
degrees, with the occasional studio project
The Beginning of Things having external client, but the more common
position of faculty is simultaneously both critic
10
A great deal of emphasis has been placed on and provisional client. In this scenario, the
design education in recent years, particularly its students are sheltered from the potential
curricular structure and more so the corrupting factors of the ‘real world’, favoring
maintenance and/or abandonment of the instead the fertile fields that are of particular
independent thesis as the capstone exercise of interest to the faculty, and through them to the
6
architecture students. This upending of architectural project at hand. “This is why a
academic tradition is anchored to an extended studio problem can be esoteric and conceptual
set of observations about the disjunction in a way that the problems of practice never
11
between education and practice in architecture. are.” The resulting projects are generally
Dana Cuff, in her book Architecture: A Story of responsible in their development, but can easily
Practice, draws a collects numerous be steered towards architectural ends that are of
observations about contemporary practice into a particular interest the faculty in charge, and in
set of four dualities within the profession, with doing so reinforce the Roarkian attitude that
the academy taking the lead: “Within the clients are of little service to the broader
schools, the core belief in individualism over architectural project, or are, at best,
collaboration is bred in the studio. This is inconveniences worthy of agitation.
counter-intuitive, since the studio depends upon
The pressures of architectural practice are faculty appear to reinforce this characteristic as
immense and undeniable, though the a motivational strategy. “From Princeton
corresponding lessons in the academy are more University comes tales of Michael Graves
difficult to introduce, let alone evaluate. The announcing at the beginning of the semester
academy tends to champion a simplified design that he will only be interested in working with a
problem that allows an individual student to few of his students, those being the most
move through a process that yields thoughtful talented. The others (who have also paid their
work that doesn’t attempt to resolve the full costly tuition) are expected to get along with
complexity of client wishes, regulations, budgets minimal supervision. Whether or not this story is
and schedules, with the responsibility and true, it reflects the perception of the instructor-
consequence resting solely on the shoulders the student relationship as a limited, valued
12
student. To expect more would overwhelm resource, and it reifies the belief that the talented
even the strongest students, requiring a cadre of (both Graves and his chosen students) can
consultants and advisors that may open the claim special privileges in architecture. This
eyes of the student to larger professional goals, talent is not taught; it is believed to be a natural
14
but more likely would whittle the experimental gift bestowed upon the best designers.”
ambitions of the student into a metaphorical
paper-doll project, normative and compromised. This notion of “bestowed gifts” is a perplexing
Thus the studio environment, and within it the and frustrating one for design students,
students as a collection of individuals, are particularly when they feel as if they have
provided sanctuary from excessive external received the short end of the stick. More often
professional standards and expectations. “The than not, students can demonstrate technical
academic setting is intended to provide, as far competence with a range of tools but struggle in
as possible, a risk-free environment for students finding meaning in their work. The strongest
to learn and experiment. Yet the very opportunity students often need less instruction that their
that school offers is exactly the reason why struggling counterparts, though the quality of
design values can easily dominate in a context their work often commands the lion’s share of
where design ability is the only element at attention in reviews. Alternately, those students’
13
stake.” whose work fails to excite may be pushed to the
margins, with their efforts labeled as derivative,
Head of the Class uncreative, or unoriginal. To be fair, the faults
may rest on the student’s shoulders, the
The question of design ability is at the crux of resultant of lagging initiative, effort or investment
architectural education and with it the in the design process. That being said, other
significance of the individual becomes factors may also be steering their struggles. Sir
paramount. Early design studios have a distinct Ken Robinson has offered a particularly
benefit in addressing this concern head on, compelling case for the decay of creativity,
largely because they focus on specific faulting in large part the predominance of
introductory skills such as drawing or model educational models that reinforce a “right/wrong”
building as well as foundational design principles rationality, which in turn discourages the kind of
15
including ordering systems, hierarchy, and risk-taking that is essential for original thought.
spatial thinking and making. The presence of More so, the vehicles that can carry forward
prior skills or proclivity towards design thinking these ideas for students are often smothered by
may be pronounced at the beginning of the ideological attitudes regarding mistakes,
studio, but a rapid building of skills and methodology, and media. “Our creative
confidence can quickly balance the extremes of capacities are released and realized through the
student performance within a studio. medium we use. Discovering the right medium is
Furthermore, the presence of a group of skilled often a tidal moment in the creative life of the
16
students can accelerate the progress of the individual.” This is particularly significant for
studio as a whole, particularly if the group is design students, who are required to think
open to sharing their skills with their peers. That through a variety of concerns not simply in their
said, the gremlin of ego lingers in any studio, heads, but through their work, a particularly
and can turn the studio environment into toxic troublesome task for students who are trying to
competition. More often than not, the faculty master a technique while simultaneously sorting
member intervenes to prevent this kind of studio through a design problem. At some point in this
culture from emerging, but on other occasions, process something gives, the work suffers and
the ensuing review lacerates the student for an research studios as a means of design learning
inadequate effort. and delivery, though her scalpel extends beyond
the limits of this pedagogical setting. It many
More troubling studio scenario happens when a ways, McClure reveals the risk of believing to
medium or technique is required that provides closely our own rhetoric, and with it
no useful outlet for the student’s ideas. The indoctrinating our students into our own belief
direction offered by faculty may lead to a structure rather than assisting them of
negotiated approach that allows the student to developing their own. Paul Shepheard offers a
move forward, but depending on the particular similar critique in his comparison of the one
scenario, the students may be left with a choice professor’s methods to that of dressage,. As he
between two competing ends – obedience to the notes of the review: “The students stand up in
professor’s lesson plan, or the risk of rebellion. front of their drawings and describe what they’ve
“Creative rebels are sometimes defined as those done. No why or what for, just what. They don’t
who “break the rules for the right reasons” –that contribute to the discussion–they remind me of a
is, by breaking with convention or going against flock of exotic birds migrating, on their way
the instructor’s program they achieve great through, just landed for a short stopover, tired
17
results.” This scenario places the student in a out after the flight. Why not? They’ve been
stunningly similar position to Roark, risking working all night to get these drawings finished.
rejection by the professoriate in order to
preserve the integrity of their work, or accepting Each student’s scheme looks the same. A brick
conformity to attain the sought-after approval of is a brick is a brick is a brick, I said to myself–
their professor. and then made the observation, aloud, that a
brick is not the only thing to build with–“what
Professorial Blessings about the Assyrian Army, who built pyramid
trophies in the battlefield out of severed human
19
The role of the professoriate in this instance heads?”
requires turning a critical lens onto the manner,
methods and intentions of design pedagogy. Shepheard’s decision to offer the gruesome
We, as part of the larger academic elite, yield a extreme of constructing architecture from
much higher degree of control over students “severed human heads” is shocking and perhaps
than we are likely to admit. Our position of inflated for effect, but the resonance of his
faculty grants us tremendous authority of the criticality of persistent architectural dogma is well
direction of design exploration. In ideal terms, placed. The review process is a difficult one for
our role is multivalent, oscillating between student and faculty alike, and though the
instructor, critic, therapist, counsel and mentor. student’s may often feel that they are
In more poetic terms, we procure the position of intentionally subjected to public flogging, the
altruistic shepherds to our flock of students, faculty leading the studio are frequently tied up
offering nurturing guidance as they move into in the work of their students to the extent that
the depth and breadth of the design fields. criticism lobbed to studios is shared by their
Equally, and intentionally antagonistic in faculty, and occasionally directed at the faculty,
language, we are the tastemakers of the not the student. Shepheard’s story showcases
academy, wielding a baton that can be quickly this condition, with the faculty’s ensuing retort to
struck to keep the more rebellious students in Shepheard’s outburst being delivered with a
line as they move toward a predetermined end. sense of patience and calm that we reserve for
Though I indulge in hyperbole in describing unruly children. “Look at this shoe,” he says, his
these two extremes, it is fair to say that we have voice gentle with care, as if he is describing a
all witnessed professorial behavior that is close rainbow to his lover. “This shoe is made of
to both ends of this spectrum. Ursula McClure leather. Leather is a perfect material for the
offers a clear and rare incision into this clothing of feet. Leather has been used for
predicament. “To indulge is one thing; to centuries for just this purpose. My shoe is made
become self-indulgent is another. Professors of leather just like the shoes in ancient Rome
would be remiss to ignore this aspect of the were. So, brick and stones have been used for
18
profession.” building. They have stood the test of time.” He’s
20
word perfect; he’s said this before.”
McClure’s insight is directed specifically towards
the potentials and pitfalls of growing presence of
I, like many, have been on the receiving end of aspirations of each student can be channeled
this kind of rehearsed lecture and have grown towards the larger, collective goal. That said,
nearly as frustrated as Shepheard. I have found Salomon also notes that “the research studio
myself wishing for the ghost of Roark to rise up does not automatically produce good research,
and fuel a critically placed rebellion in the and it is not immune to the historical problems of
students, fighting off the architectural self- the independent theses. It too can be prone to
righteousness that they are being fed. (collective) acts of narcissism, to vague
Unfortunately, this kind resistance from students methodologies, to blindly following fashions, to
has become an infrequent occurrence, in part to focusing on expression rather than
avoid the appearance of the contempt for the experimentation, to overemphasizing non-
faculty and the resulting academic punishment disciplinary issues, or letting its results languish
25
that will come, but also because their failings are unpublished.” In relieving the burden of the
two-fold; in producing an satisfactory independent thesis from the student, the ideas of
architectural object, and also in comprehending students becomes blurred, as the expectation of
the larger architectural principles in question. integrity and originality of the student’s work may
not be distinct from that of the faculty, the studio,
What to do at the end? or the school. “For some, the channeling of
students’ creativity and intuition toward faculty,
This point offers an ideal moment to pivot way institutional, or disciplinary agendas is
from the threads I have unraveled thus far and tantamount to limiting artistic and intellectual
attempt to refocus the question of the student’s freedom. Students could be at risk of losing an
academic experience at the end of their opportunity to develop their own theories of
education. This moment as historically been architecture or to challenge, rather than
26
defined as an independent thesis, a broad and reinforce, their curriculum.”
shifting title for an array of project types, scopes
and scales. The critical link is not in the project This shift necessitates broader concerns of the
itself, but in its execution as an independently integrity and discipline to the professoriate,
directly architectural inquiry. As David Salomon which at this point is suspect. “I could conjecture
notes, “The seemingly perpetual angst that the abuse of student labor in academic
surrounding thesis, the vast array of proposals settings leads to the unpaid intern, the underpaid
that qualify as one, and the growing number of architect, and eventually the devaluation of the
alternatives to it, expose the competing and profession in general. Like any system of abuse,
27
often contradictory demands placed on the abused often becomes the abuser.” This
21
architecture and architectural education.” His circular pattern is undeniable but difficult to
essay addresses the growing position of the prove, requiring a level of self-criticality that the
research studio as an alternative to the academy, and frankly the discipline as whole,
independent thesis, emerging as “the result of has been neglecting for some time. The difficulty
both internal and external pressures placed on in this regard is not in finding a moment for
22
architectural education and practice.” Salomon introspection, but the courage to execute this
is thorough in his examination of histories, critique without mincing words.
influences and directions of this pedagogical
method for inquiry, and offers insight into both Full Circle
the strengths and pitfalls of this collective
pedagogical experiment. At its best, the Which brings us full circle to the early questions
research studio is an “experimental process of of Howard Roark and the shadow that he casts.
making and testing risky propositions with The Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in
recursive trials and errors, that has the potential Boston opened in 1997 to much applause and
to move architectural thought and action beyond initially glowing reviews. Designed by the lauded
the dual mythologies of objective reason and New York firm Diller and Scofidio, the project
23
individual genius.” Equally, they carry the was to reframe Boston’s waterfront and with it
burden of serving faculty interests first: “The shift the larger architecture discourse. Though most
from an independent thesis to a research studio critics offered initial praise, hushed words over
shifts the burden of defining a research project drinks with other practitioners suggested a latent
24
back to the faculty.” This task presumes that suspicion. But why would this be the case,
faculty leading the studios operate with particularly given the general applause offered in
academic integrity, through which the individual trade and scholarly journal alike? Philip Nobel’s
review of the ICA for Metropolis is perhaps the than-life heroism, but simply his willingness to
first to hold Diller and Scofidio accountable for resist being defined by others.
the project’s failings: ”and it’s a mess, even an
embarrassment. Thoughts turn to naked Notes
28
emperor’s and their court. Again.” Nobel’s
1
critique is stinging in the world of architectural "If They Build It...," Esquire.com. July 1, 2005,
<http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0705ARCHITE
reviews, but hardly mean-spirited or
CTSrev_126>. (accessed March 3, 2013)
unwarranted. His words are refreshing in their
bluntness, giving voice to the concerns and 2 “
Starchitect," Wikipedia.com, January 22 2013,
questions that much of the profession http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starchitect (accessed
March 3, 2013)
recognizes but are unwilling to say. Nobel closes
his review with a slicing appraisal of architectural 3
This observation is my own, though Dana Cuff notes
criticism in general, and the kid gloves that are a similar experience in her introduction. See Dana
worn when reviewing the most elite of architects. Cuff, Architecture: The Story of Practice. (Cambridge,
“Certainly there’s more power in constructing MA: MIT, 1995), 1.
fame than in questioning it. Or is it that such
4
critics think that star-crafted buildings, even if Ibid., 1.
derivative and poorly realized, are inherently 5
Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead. (New York: Signet:
better than the alternative? Do they fear that by
1971), 5-27.
challenging these architects they might
discourage innovation? Do they imagine that 6
David Salomon, "Experimental Cultures: On the
promoting innovation–even just the look of “End” of the Design Thesis and the Rise of the
innovation–is such a pure good that the defense Research Studio.” Journal of Architectural Education.
of all other values must be suspended along with 65. no1. (October 2011), 33-44.
29
our disbelief?”
7
Cuff, 251.
It is rare for this kind of review is offered, let
8
alone lobbed against the elite. It reminds us that Salomon, 35.
our discipline has drifted into self-indulgency 9
Rand, 26.
without self-criticality, constructing architectural
idols on the coattails of Roark’s fictional heroism. 10
Cuff, 81.
McClure notes, “We are also aware of the
architect who takes a lesser fee in desperation 11
Ibid., 65.
to get a commission. Where does this
devaluation come from? It must be learned. 12
Ibid., 65.
Where and from whom does one learn? One
30
learns from the academy.” Similarly, 13
Ibid., 106.
considerations of greatness in architecture are
14
first learned in the academy and we, the Ibid., 122.
professoriate, are at the fulcrum. We can be
15
content in our complicity in perpetuating the Ken Robinson, "Schools Kill Creativity." TED Talks.
TED. Monterey, California. February 2006. Lecture.
myth of individual genius, and forwarding to our
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_
students a confused understanding of integrity,
kill_creativity.html (accessed March 3, 2013)
originality, individuality and celebrity in
architecture. We can also be complicit in our 16
Ken Robinson, Out of Our Mind, Learning to be
shift towards collective thinking and making, Creative. (Chichester, West Sussex: Capstone Ltd,
where we can shape the next generation of 2001), 129.
architects in our own image, assuming the we
17
know best. Alas, neither of these extremes offers Cuff, 122.
much appeal, but the balancing act between
18
them is exciting. It relies on resistance to the Ursala Emery McClure, "The Good, The Bad, and
The Ugly. Use and Abuse of the Research Studio.”
temptation to accept without critical questioning,
Journal of Architectural Education. 62. no1.
and more so to be told unequivocally what to do.
(September 2007), 73.
Perhaps we should encourage our students to
rethink Roark and embrace not his ego or large-
19
Paul Shepheard, What is Architecture? An Essay on
Landscapes, Buildings, and Machines. (Cambridge,
MA: MIT, 1994), 4.
20
Shepheard, 5.
21
Salomon, 33.
22
Ibid., 34.
23
Ibid., 42.
24
Ibid., 35.
25
Ibid., 42.
26
Ibid., 42.
27
McClure, 75.
28
Philip Nobel, "Design Another Day.” Metropolis.
May 2007, 98.
29
Nobel, 99.
30
McClure, 75.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 THE EMERGENT STUDIO: A PARADIGM OF TRANSCULTURAL DESIGN AND RESEARCH
This Paper will, through exemplars of student

output, explore the value of a transcultural
THE EMERGENT STUDIO: paradigm of architectural education. The academic
collaboration between the two institutions
A Paradigm of serendipitously gave rise to a third collaboration
with l’Ecole Nationale d’Architecture (ENA) of
Transcultural Design and Rabat, Morocco. ENA is the only publically funded
School of Architecture in Morocco and had
Research established links with UoADoADM. This
relationship was nurtured over time and ENA
Roger Tyrrell and Nicola Crowson provided an additional context in which the
Emergent Studio interrogated theoretical and
design ideas. This facilitated a comparative frame
University of Portsmouth School of of reference of ‘North and South’: the Nordic and
the North African that has been consistently
Architecture.
employed by the Emergent studio over the past
four years.
Genesis:
Pedagogic Frames:
The Genesis of this Paper lies within the
establishment of the postgraduate Emergent The Universities of Portsmouth, Aalborg and ENA
Studio in 2007 at the University of Portsmouth have significant differences in pedagogy.
School of Architecture (UoPSoA). The Portsmouth School of Architecture sits within the
nomenclature of the studio was drawn from the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, and
writings of Fritjof Caprai who identified two models encourages a strong conceptual base for design,
of human organization: engaged with physical and cultural contexts and
has a paradigmatic methodology embedded within
“Human organizations always contain both teaching and learning praxis. In contrast, the
designed and emergent structures…..Designed University of Aalborg has a clear problem-based
structures provide stability…..Emergent structures, learning (PBL) ethos, that within the Department of
on the other hand, provide novelty, creativity and Architecture, Design and Mediatechnology, is
flexibility. They are capable of changing and manifested through self-selecting group working,
evolving.”ii clearly defined project programmes led by
engagement with the Nordic (humane modernist)
The objective was to develop a studio ethos that is context that it sits within, fused with consequential
predicated upon an outward facing attitude that tectonic frames of reference. It should also be
engages with the dynamic shifts of our noted that UoADoADM sits within the Faculty of
contemporary world, viewed through the lens of Engineering and Science and programme content
architectural endeavor. From the outset, the Studio is reflective of that technical influence. ENA was
has been rooted within a phenomenological frame established in 1980 and is a public HE institution
of academic praxis: using this theoretical platform under the governance of the Ministry of Housing,
to interrogate architecture across cultural, climatic Urbanism and Territorial Development. The School
and social contexts. We term such an approach has a diverse range of international collaborators
Transcultural Design. In addition, we use a and a correspondingly diverse range of learning,
paradigmatic methodology to conduct such teaching and research interests from interrogation
investigations, this method, by definition liberating of vernacular settlements and architecture to
the Studio from occupying a singular theoretical computational modeling.
position. The UoPSoA paradigmatic framework facilitates
the interrogation of architecture through the
In the five years since establishment the Studio intelligent and methodical examination of the work
has initiated and maintained an intense and and influences of a diverse range of architects:
enduring relationship with colleagues from the contemporary and historic, European/non-
University of Aalborg (Denmark), Department of European, male/female, context-
Architecture, Design and Mediatechnology specific/decontextualized, theoretical and
(UoADoADM). This collaboration has developed pragmatic. This paradigmatic approach facilitates
from initial staff teaching exchanges funded an understanding of ‘the manner of’ particular
through the ERASMUS programme, to an practice and influence, liberating the analysis from
expansive collaboration that includes, joint design an often over-simplistic singular theoretical
projects, student exchange, staff exchange and an positioning.
expanding collaborative research agenda.
In contrast, Aalborg’s PBL ethos lends itself to led by Adrian Carter, a UoPSoA alumnus. The
collaborative approaches through group working. Utzon dimension of the collaboration provided yet
Students use this collaborative method with another paradigmatic lens through which to view
considerable maturity, particularly within the group the realm of Nordic phenomenology, as Utzon
self-selection process that is not, as one might himself never ascribed to a singular theoretical
expect, driven by personal relationships, but rather position but rather drew from a diverse range of
is informed by a clear ambition to form groups that influences. Interrogation of this Nordic
comprise complimentary skill sets and attitudes. phenomenological tendency illuminated a
These collaborative groupings require by definition, consistent connection to North Africa, particularly
organizational frames, and again the Aalborg Morocco. Sverre Fehn, Jørn Utzon and Juhani
students exhibit considerable levels of maturity in Pallasmaa (amongst others) travelled to and have
the management of the day-to-day activity of the drawn influence from the archaic vernacular
groups, in organizing spaces to work, deadline architecture still evident in Morocco.
setting, distribution and delivery of tasks and
presentations. Another significant pedagogic ‘I went to Morocco not to discover new things but
difference between the two institutions is that to recollect what had been forgotten. And when
UoADoADM teaches within a large year cohort you enter a valley at sunset and hear a man call
(70+) broken into groups of between 5 and 7 from the highest rooftop, you think still: I don’t
students. The staff team thus teaches across a know anything about this. The only answer to this
range of studios within the year. UoPSoA teach architectural simplicity and clarity is that it exists in
within year-long studio of between 5 and 15 a culture that for us seems timeless. Architecture’s
students with two/three (2 FTE) iii dedicated work is perfect, because it is working in a timeless
members of staff allocated to each studio. space. Its signature is anonymous, because it is
nature itself.’iv
ENA engage with the rich cultural and physical
heritage that Morocco provides and international The influence of his 1949 hike through the High
collaborations bring an external perspective to the Atlas Mountains resonates in Utzon’s work. The
School. This is further informed by diverse built relationship to landscape, the morphology of
research activity that clearly informs pedagogy at the vernacular villages, houses and courtyards and
the levels of both curriculum design and content. the significance of the wall as threshold, are clear
The diverse pedagogies of the three institutions references that informed the design of the Kingo
provide dynamic collaborative potentials. and Fredensborg Housing Projects. At a more
subtle level, we can better understand Utzon’s
layering of space, engagement with the idea of
3.0. TRANSCULTURAL DESIGN: threshold and his tectonic rigor in the context of the
reinterpretations of his experience of Morocco. In
Since inception, the Emergent Studio has this sense, as Fehn once remarked:
consistently focused upon the opportunities held
by cultural transgressions: in particular, the ‘Utzon was global. He lived on the earth and had a
potential held for core phenomenological ideas to book from each continent, at the same time he
traverse cultural boundaries. Given the Studio searched for inspiration in everything.’v
concentration upon the philosophical realm of
phenomenology, our central theoretical focus has These reinterpretations were not simply
been upon the writings and works of those reinterpretations of form, but were deeper and
architects that may be judged to fall within the more significant reinterpretations of the core ideas
construct of phenomenology that are clustered in of architecture: what we might term archaic ideas.
what we might term the Nordic World. Norberg- It was clear from the interrogation of Utzon’s
Schultz, Rasmussen, Aalto, Utzon, Fehn and more travels and the impact upon his canon of work that
currently Pallasmaa represent this trend that drew there was something significant upon this ‘drawing
originally from the Nordic humane modernism from’ cultural contexts that were not his own. In all
tendency of the mid twentieth century. Clearly, of these contexts whether Mexico, China, Japan,
given such a concentration of this pattern of America or indeed Morocco, it is clear that Utzon
thought, it was inevitable that our theoretical and drew something that we might describe as ‘of the
later physical emphasis, should at least in part, fall origin’. These transcultural design influences
in the Nordic World. provided the Emergent Studio an academic
framework to work within, our emerging
Aalborg, the City in which Jørn Utzon spent his collaborations with Aalborg and ENA provided our
formative years, is home to the Utzon Research locations and contexts.
Center and it’s physical manifestation, the Utzon
Center, a building on the Fjord waterfront designed Collaborative Content:
by Jørn Utzon and his son Kim. The Utzon
Research Center is an initiative of UoADoADM and
The Emergent Studio has set a consistent over- Upon completion of the field study, students return
arching theme of ‘North and South’. Our objectives to Portsmouth. Again, we have employed several
were: vehicles across five years, in order to reinforce
• To inculcate (essentially Nordic) their Nordic learning experience upon returning to
phenomenological theory within the their own cultural context, ranging from the
Studio ethos to provide students with a continuation of the design project set in Aalborg, to
lens through which architecture could be the reinterpretation of that project with a
studied. Portsmouth-based physical context. Again, upon
mature reflection, perhaps the greatest value to
• To provide immersion within two distinct students is provided by the continuance of the
cultural and physical contexts as a vehicle Nordic project. At the end of semester three, a
for testing theoretical positions. formal design review is held through which the
Nordic Project is assessed. We invite colleagues
• To engage with collaborative projects that from UoADoADM to join this process and in the
drew from diverse institutional present academic year a complimentary invitation
pedagogies. has been extended to us to join the parallel review
Students elect to enter studios at the end of in Aalborg. This collaboration has been formalized
Semester 2 of MArch Year I. Those who have by both institutions in offering tenure for Adrian
chosen to study within the Emergent Studio are Carter at the University of Portsmouth as a visiting
encouraged to read in advance of joining, Research Fellow, reciprocated by the University of
theoretical writings and study the design work of a Aalborg appointing Roger Tyrrell as an Adjunct
range of architects and theoreticians engaged Associate Professor. This tenure has concretized
within what we might term the ‘Nordic institutional relationships and facilitated inter-
phenomenological project’. This study, with institutional structured teaching inputs both in
subsequent Seminar sessions provides a Aalborg and Portsmouth. As semester three
theoretical underpinning for the next phase of the closes, the Emergent Studio is introduced to the
project. second project located in the ‘South’ – Morocco.
Over the Christmas vacation, students are
encouraged to immerse themselves in appropriate
Early in Semester Three we embark upon a Nordic
literature, film and music in order to begin to
Field trip in order that the students can, over a
understand the cultural shift they are about to
relatively short period of time, immerse themselves
embark upon. The studio then immediately travels
within the actual context that their theoretical
to Morocco for a second level of immersion and
studies have drawn upon and thus contextualize
our collaboration with ENA commences.
that body of knowledge. These field trips have
taken a number of forms but have been
consistently collaborations with UoADoADM. We This collaboration with ENA is different to that with
have undertaken joint field study trips in Denmark, Aalborg, in that it is less formalized and less
Finland and most recently Norway. In 2009, our consistent in the opportunity for students from
field study was focused upon Aalborg. In each Portsmouth to engage with those from Morocco.
case the Emergent Studio adopts the design We base ourselves in accommodation owned by
project set for the Aalborg Students as a vehicle ENA in Marrakech, the City becomes the initial
for engaging with the particularity of place. Project focus of our immersion. We hold a very short
vehicles have been diverse: a ‘Living Bridge’ that esquise project in Marrakech prior to moving South
traversed the Limfjord that Aalborg borders, A to the High Atlas Mountains to explore the forms of
Church competition Project located in Ørestad, Moroccan vernacular architecture of the hill
Copenhagen and this year the studio has adopted villages both on the South and North sides of the
a theme of ‘Edges of Time – Spaces of Spirit’ mountains. Here students reveal to themselves the
tested initially through another Church Competition archaic dimensions of architecture that they first
Project, this time in Alesund, Norway. We have encountered in the writings of Fehn and Utzon. We
employed a number of different models to develop have developed a diverse range of project vehicles
collaboration between students from Portsmouth from a ‘Center for the Encouragement of
and Aalborg, ranging from short intensive joint Phenomenological Thoughts and Acts’ to
esquise projects where Portsmouth students are ‘Refugium – a Place of Retreat’. These projects are
distributed across the Aalborg student groups, to located upon specific sites in the valleys of the
joint seminar sessions and design charretes. Each High Atlas Mountains. In the current academic
of these vehicles have value but upon reflection year, our site is the hill village of Ait Benhaddou,
after five years, we sense that the joint esquise located in the South Atlas: our project vehicle is
projects hold the greatest value for students ‘Bridging Tensions’. Our most successful point of
immersing them, albeit briefly, in each other’s collaboration with ENA was our first, in 2009, when
pedagogies and design approaches. students from both institutions worked, again albeit
briefly, upon a joint project. The benefit to both
sets of students was clear in the exchange of ideas
and methodologies and in the case of Portsmouth publications is currently being developed. The
students, a deeper sense of context was gained, Fourth Symposium and associated Workshops are
informed by the generosity of the ENA students. scheduled for Sydney in February 2014. In the
Upon completion of the field study in Morocco, we context of the original ambitions of the
return to Portsmouth and Emergent Studio collaboration, this research dimension was
students must choose, either to extend their Nordic unexpected, but is illustrative of the multi-
project into Semester Four or to re-focus their dimensional potentials held by such collaborative
Nordic learning into the Moroccan context. It is of initiatives.
interest to note that the majority of students, prior
to visiting Morocco, articulate a wish to continue Exemplars and Outcomes:
the Nordic project. Upon returning from Morocco, We will discuss these collaborations through the
without exception, all students have elected to exemplars of student work, in order to articulate
pursue the Moroccan project. Such perhaps is the both the content and textual qualities of these
power of the archaic. transcultural collaborations. We have identified
particular student projects as they best exemplify
The scope of collaboration with both UoADoADM the value and the challenges of this approach to
and ENA has expanded beyond the origins of staff architectural education.
teaching exchange funded through the ERASMUS
programme and brief learning exchanges by The Living Bridge Project – Aalborg, Denmark.
student groups. We have witnessed a growth of (2009-2010):
Semester-long student exchange from Aalborg and Students: Jonathan Abdenbengro, Jamie Crorkin, Ricky Evans, Kanav
Gupta, Robert Kahn, Khalid Saleh, Phillip Satchell, Daniel Terry.
ENA to Portsmouth, again, in the case of Aalborg Staff: (UoPSoA) Roger Tyrrell, Nicola Crowson, Dr. Richard Bunt, Professor
students, funded through the ERASMUS Geoffrey Broadbent.
(UoADoADM) Adrian Carter, Lars Botin.
programme; these exchanges significantly enrich
the learning atmosphere at UoPSoA. However, the This project was authored by UoADoADM and
most significant growth area within both presented to both cohorts of students in October
collaborations has been and continues to be in the 2009. The project was introduced by Adrian Carter
area of Research. Early conversations with the (UoADoADM) in a lecture that explored the
University of Aalborg illuminated the conjunction of heritage of the living bridge typology through a
two complimentary areas of research interest. The series of historic and contemporary references and
Utzon Research Center in Aalborg had a went on to discuss form, site and tectonics. In
developing heritage and authority in the counterpoint, Roger Tyrrell gave a subsequent
examination of Utzon’s methodology and the lecture exploring the concept of bridging, drawing
University of Portsmouth had a focus upon heavily upon Heideggerian thought, exploring the
paradigmatic methodologies in the exploration of context of the project and encouraging
architectural ideas. In this conjunction we jointly engagement with the act of bridging (the verb),
posited the potential of exploring Utzon through a ahead of the object of the bridge (the noun). Do we
paradigmatic methodology. need to bridge the Fjord? If so where? If so how?
At one level the consequences of conjoining two
On this basis the Jørn Utzon Research Network pedagogies was exposed. The UoADoADM
(JURN) www.utzonresearchnetwork.org was students engaged with the idea of ‘bridge’, the
established to develop academic research into UoPSoA focused upon the conceptualization of the
Utzon’s canon of work and academic discourse as act of ‘bridging’. At another level however
to the relevance of Utzon’s methodologies in conjunctions emerged between the two positions:
contemporary architecture through the framework The idea of ‘bridge’ demands a concept upon
of paradigmatic investigation. The outcome has which it is predicated. The concept of bridging has
been the development of an international network tangible and thus tectonic consequences. Despite
of academics, students and practitioners these issues being exposed within the project
numbering some 200 individuals, the identification introduction, the response from the Aalborg
of institutional members that include UoPSoA, students was fascinating. Without exception, they
UoADoADM, ENA, the University of New South moved into their groups and proceeded to engage
Wales, Australia (UNSW), and the University of with matters of rigorous group organization and
Newcastle, Australia (UoN). The Third vi management, such as programming group activity
International Utzon Symposium was held in and identifying key dates. Only once these issues
Marrakech, Morocco in collaboration with ENA with had been resolved, did they then engage with the
an associated Workshop over Easter 2012, both content of the project and for the vast majority of
events being led by Juhani Pallasmaa, Jan Utzon students: that meant designing a bridge. In
(Jørn Utzon’s son) and Richard Leplastrier, an contrast, the UoPSoA students who were by now
Australian Architect of repute who worked with distributed across the Aalborg groups sought to
Utzon on the Sydney Opera House and other encourage a broader discussion regarding the acts
projects. Symposium proceedings are about to be of bridging. Such encouragement had a mixed
published, and a diverse range of associated
reception perhaps characterized by a sense that

generally the students of Aalborg were output
focused, those from Portsmouth perhaps more
content and process focused. Over the next few
days of joint activity, these tendencies were
variously reinforced or in some cases undermined.
Intensive design exercises were injected that in
some ways questioned the response of the
Aalborg students to react and conversely, the
response of the Portsmouth students to
conceptualize. It was also clear that the PBL
pedagogy of Aalborg had the consequence of
producing very effective and productive working
methods. Almost immediately students were
drawing with intensity, making countless
speculative models, analyzing site and context.
Figure 2
Upon returning to Portsmouth to continue the living
In contrast, Sage (Figure 3) and Crorkin (Figure 4)
bridge project several important transformations
had developed proposals that tangibly bridged the
had occurred:
Fjord that sought to respond to the Aalborg
• Students had become aware of, and open
programme in a poetic, lyrical and tangible
to the value of working in groups (which manner. For us, this dichotomy of approach was
UoPSoA students have tended to fascinating, and engendered many dimensional
consistently previously resist) conversations in studio sessions discussing these
• A clear positioning had evolved between two distinct approaches.
those students who chose to bridge the
Fjord metaphorically and those who
chose to bridge literally
• Lines of student communication had been
instigated between students in
Portsmouth and Aalborg through email,
SKYPE, text and social media that
facilitated effective on-going
conversations at distance
Evans (Figure 1) and Saleh (Figure 2) had each
decided upon a metaphorical approach to the
project, designing subtle interventions that
celebrated archaic elements of human existence
such as the desire to dwell and gather and the
rituals of death.
Figure 3
Figure 1
developed a project response that was driven by

ideas of a response to the temporal dimensions of
architecture through journey (Figure 6).
Figure 5
Figure 4
Utzon Academy Morocco. (2011-2012):

Students: Ewan Gibson, Luke Sutton, Melissa Royle, Simon Batchelder,
Chris Ryder, Shean Tan Wei, Leanne Tod, Jonas Vistasen (Semester1),
Line Nørskov Eriksen (Honorary Studio Member)
Staff: (UoPSoA) Roger Tyrrell, Nicola Crowson, Professor Geoffrey
Broadbent, Greg Bailey, Nick Hebden.
(UoADoADM) Adrian Carter, Lars Botin.
Members of this cohort had also had the benefit of

working on the Aalborg Living Bridge Project in
semester three and, as with the cohort discussed
above, had enjoyed a transformative experience
with their colleagues from Aalborg. What is of
particular note with this cohort was the immediacy
of their appreciation of the value of collaboration
with others, and how four of them quickly defined
themselves as two groups of two. It should also be
noted that Vistasen, a student from UoADoADM
had joined the studio on ERASMUS exchange in
semester one and also that one UoPSoA student
Royale, had developed a close friendship with
Nørskov Eriksen from UoADoADM, and had they
had consistently communicated design ideas as
their individual projects developed in the previous
semester. The project in Morocco was located in
the Ourika Valley, on the Northern face of the Atlas
Mountains. The brief was generic: ‘The Utzon
Academy’ and purposely designed to allow
students sufficient space to ‘build the brief’ drawing
upon their experience both in Morocco and
Denmark. We will focus upon the work of the four
students who worked collaborative in groups of Figure 6
two. Sutton and Gibson had complementary It is clear that the experience of Denmark
approaches that fused ideas of archε and technε in combined with that of Morocco produced a depth
a collaborative endeavor, exploring the potential of of engagement that reflected the archaic nature of
this project in the fusion of ideas, making and the brief and the site. Of equal interest however
representation (Figure 5). Royale and Batchelder are the social dimensions of these collaborations
across cultural boundaries. Friendships have without this source, these initiatives would have
developed that may well endure, founded as they been impossible to deliver. The final conclusion we
are upon shared experiences and personal and would make sits outside of the academic discipline
collective transformations. framework of architecture. There is, without doubt,
a powerful social element to these collaborations
Conclusions: for both students and staff that encourage and
In many senses, these collaborations were expand peer and professional relationships and in
experiments and many of the outcomes were terms of students, particularly enhance their life
incapable of prediction at the outset. In the realm experience through transcultural Interaction
of teaching and learning, perhaps the most
significant outcome was the manner in which three Notes
diverse pedagogic models ‘infected’ each other
and how that infection impacted upon both staff
and students alike. It is clear upon reflection how i
Fritjof Capra is a physicist and is founder of the Center for
our teaching within the Emergent studio has
Eco-‐literacy
shifted as a response to these influences.
ii
Interrogation of the reaction of students from Capra. F. 2003. The Hidden Connections. P 105/106 Harper
Aalborg would suggest an evolving thirst to engage Collins. London.
with the conceptual, poetic and phenomenological iii
Full-‐time equivalent (FTE)
dimensions of architecture. It is also evident that
iv
the cultural contexts we were variously exposed to Olaf Feld. P. 2009. Sverre Fehn – The Pattern of Thoughts. P.
had a transformational impact upon the learning 42. The Montacelli Press. New York. US
v
experience of students and staff alike. These ibid
experiences have in turn illuminated our collective vi
The First and Second Symposia were organized by the Utzon
social consciousness when exposed to, (for Research Center in Aalborg, Denmark.
example), the extent and dimension of poverty in
Morocco. In addition, the focus of learning within
the Emergent studio continues to shift and adjust
as a direct consequence of these transcultural
experiences. Our studio direction continues to
‘emerge’ as we engage in a more focused way,
(for example), in the archaic realms of architecture.
At a more tangible level, students from the
Emergent studio have clearly been infected with
enhanced organisational skills learnt in Aalborg
and are much more open and appreciative of the
value of collaborative working. The concretization
of the collaboration between Portsmouth and
Aalborg in providing complimentary staff tenure
has facilitated structured teaching inputs to be
delivered through reciprocal events, encouraging
externality and academic currency. These
injections promote a freshness and vibrancy and
gently challenge academic preconceptions. Of
greatest surprise however, is the extension of our
learning and teaching collaboration into the field of
academic research. There is something beneficial
in the simple circumstances of academics from
different institutions being in close proximity to
each other, allowing synergies to emerge. The
rapidity with which the JURN project has
developed would not have been possible without
the opportunities to meet and discuss face-to-face,
both within structured meetings and more informal
settings. The consequence is that individual and
collective research activities and outputs are
informing learning and teaching within the differing
institutional studio constructs. These
collaborations, with the exception of Moroccan
events, have been funded exclusively through the
ERASMUS programme. This funding conduit
encourages staff and student exchange and
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 CRAFTING THE COLLABORATIVE STUDIO
authors contend that the key to integrating these
CRAFTING THE two approaches in one studio lies in how

students work with each other on a single brief
COLLABORATIVE and in the outputs required of students – to the
advantage of all.
STUDIO
Setting the Scene
Elena Marco, ARB, RIBA, Associate Head
Back in 1970s Professor Sir Edmund (Ted)
of Department for Architecture
Happold ‘broke the barriers between engineering
,
Mike Devereux, MCD FRGS MRTPI, Senior and design2 3 by proposing a truly innovative
Lecturer in Urban Planning educational model in building design where two
complementary disciplines were integrated to
John Comparelli, ARB, RIBA, Senior achieve better design solutions. By studying
Lecturer in Architecture and working together, students gain an
understanding for each others’ disciplines and
University of the West of England
master a common language. However
Happold’s educational model did not survive nor
has been replicated elsewhere4 due to a lack of
understanding by the students of the potential
The teaching of architecture, structural
benefits to their career paths.
engineering and planning in higher education
has, for the last sixty years or so, been strongly
Boyer and Mitgang5 indentified design studio
governed by the requirements of professional
teaching as an educational paradigm where
bodies who have set relatively strict guidelines
integrated teaching could take place. They
on approach to curriculum content and method
pointed out that the most important challenge
of delivery. The result has been that these
confronting the architectural programmes is
disciplines have ploughed their own furrow and
‘making the connections, both within the
developed independently of each other. From
architectural curriculum and between
the point of view of the architect, environmental
architecture and other disciplines’.
engineering has become seen as something of a
technical fix and planning a bureaucratic
In 2011 the Royal Institute of British Architects
process, both sitting at arm’s length from the
1 (RIBA) think tank ‘Building Futures’ published
‘real’ business of the design studio – to the
the report 'The Future for Architects?' and set a
detriment of all.
radical vision of the future of architecture by
This paper argues that this traditional approach examining how the demands of a global
can, and should, be challenged. It examines the economy and economic recession have
criteria of the professional accrediting bodies transformed business practice and how the
and presents a case study of an alternative architectural profession could look radically
approach in which all three disciplines have different in 2025. It also concluded that a more
been brought together in a single year-long interdisciplinary concept of architectural practice
specialist studio that is taken by students is being sought by the new generation of
studying for degrees in architecture & planning architects6. This raises the question of how our
as well as architecture & environmental educational models might need to adapt in the
engineering. The paper draws upon the near future to face this reality.
experience of the authors and others at the
University of the West of England (UWE) in Furthermore in October 2012, the Engineering
Environmental Architecture Conference at Bath
setting up and running such a studio and, more
brought together 300 built environment
importantly, of the students who have
professionals for a discussion about why Ted’s
participated in it. At the core of the approach is
an interpretation of the relevant ARB-RIBA model didn’t survive. A consensus emerged that
whilst professionals understand the need for
criteria as requiring a design-centred studio
collaborative working, the educational system
focus (GC1) for all, but also allowing a leaning
doesn’t. It was also suggested that integrated
towards the structural and engineering criteria
(GC8&9) for some, whilst others concentrate on educational practices are an oddity not the norm,
the more social and urban criteria (GC4&5). The
and general acknowledgement of the need for complementary professions and there is
4
more integrated educational models . sufficient alignment of the learning outcomes for
this to be not only achievable but also hugely
Part I Architecture at UWE successful. The architectural offer was later
developed further with a BEng(Hons) in
UWE had a clear goal when it was decided in Architecture & Environmental Engineering
1996 to re-establish architectural education in (hereafter referred to as AEE). The programme
Bristol, which was to create a unique route to an is designed to meet the requirements of UK
architectural education through the creation of a standard for Professional Engineering
10 ,11
holistic multidisciplinary dual-qualification route. Competence: ECuk and CIBSE . Whilst both
The main objective was to equip students with a awards have design-centred studio as the heart
more complete formation without the need to (GC1), the AEE award leans towards the
invest in two different degrees, and at the same structural and engineering criteria (GC8&9),
time to offer our graduates a much wider whilst the AP award concentrates on the more
spectrum of employment possibilities, thanks to social and urban criteria (GC4&5), ensuring
the specialisation in two areas that complement compliance with ARB/RIBA and CIBSE and
each other. RTPI.
Fig. 1. ARB/RIBA criteria ©Richard Parnaby and

Elena Marco Fig. 2. Mapping of ARB/RIBA criteria for AEE and AP
courses ©Richard Parnaby and Elena Marco
The first implementation of these ideas was
through the joint BA(Hons) in Architecture & The strength and attractiveness of these
Planning (hereafter referred to as AP). A architecture-based courses lies in their
traditional single qualification to become an integrated educational model of collaborative
architect needs the knowledge and skills in the working which goes back to Happold’s proposal
context of the general criteria and graduate in the 1970s. It provides students with the
attributes (see figure 1) contained in the essential skills of two disciplines, and creates a
,
RIBA/ARB criteria for validation/prescription7 8. new type of graduate with the core knowledge
UWE’s AP programme is also designed to meet and skills of both professions from the outset,
the requirements of RTPI Policy Statement on just what the built environment profession has
Initial Planning Education9. On the face of it, recently identified as being crucial for future
combining two three-year degrees with success.
traditionally disparate methods of teaching, into
one four-year course presents a huge challenge
if all of these professional bodies’ criteria are still
to be met. However they are two
The Specialist Studio food chain, waste or energy generation. From

this analysis emerge a number of strong themes
This paper presents the case study of a of particular relevance to the site which are then
‘specialist’ holistic multidisciplinary studio where turned into a masterplan.
the graduating years of the BA(Hons)
Architecture and Planning (AP) and the Developing the Brief
BEng(Hons) Architecture Environmental
Engineering (AEE) students share a common During Phase 2 the students are asked to
site, design brief and RIBA Part 1 output develop a building proposal informed by the
requirements. The students have different masterplan where the appropriate urban and
requirements for their planning (RTPI) and environmental strategies are integral to the
environmental engineering (CIBSE) outputs, but design development and inform the fabric of the
with an expectation that they will share areas of building.
specialist knowledge with their peers to create
what the design tutors call a are truly At this stage the architect-planners also
gesamtkunstwerks portfolio. The studio aims to undertake a ‘Planning & Managing
provide the ultimate integrated opportunity to Development’ module, dealing with the
utilise and test all the students’ architectural, mechanics of planning permission, such as how
planning and environmental engineering skills. It to apply for permission, how to argue that
also creates a multi-disciplinary studio where planning permission should be granted, how
collaboration and the contribution of others applications are determined, etc. This module
increase individual motivation to learn12 . gives them the skills to understand what makes
a good planning application and the
The studio runs throughout the whole academic considerations a local planning authority take
year with two full days of staff-student contact into account in making a decision.. The module
per week and at the end of the year students are requires them to create a full planning
assessed through a portfolio of work. application and so students use their design
studio project as their case study.
As part of the studio ethos, students are
specifically asked not to create iconic building While architect-planners are finalising their
proposals nor overly grand urban gestures. planning applications based on their studio work,
Rather to develop design proposals that are the architect-engineers draft the Technical
‘civic minded’ and focus on the repair of city Research element of their work. This piece of
fabric by the careful insertion of an appropriate research is also based on their studio work, and
sustainable master plan, buildings and well forms the basis of the individual investigative
considered public spaces. project required by CIBSE. The two groups
carry out their own specialist learning using the
The studio has three clear phases with a common design studio project as a case study
theoretical underpinning based on sound (see Figure 3).
pedagogic research13. Starting with Research &
Reflection, the students move on to Develop
their briefs finish by Crafting their design
proposals.
Research and Reflection
In Phase 1 the students are asked to understand

the site and to create a well conceived
masterplan that will help them to build a
framework within which to propose a suitable Fig. 3. Diagram showing the Design element in relation
programme and masterplan. During this phase to the AP and AEE Specialisms © Elena Marco
the students assess the strengths and weakness

of the proposed site through its physical form
and function, considering a wide variety of
issues such as planning policy, social inclusion
and community, movement, climatic data, the
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 COMMON CURRENCY BETWEEN WATER AND
CITIES

sustainability. Therefore, through this workshop the

students re-think their choice of materials, and the
Fig. 4. Year overview for AP and AEE implicit structural and environmental strategies they
are using, by scheduling their quantities, weight and
Crafting embodied energy so that they can fully understand
the proprieties of the materials and their impact on
Finally the students craft their design proposals in a the environment. The crafting of the building phase
non-progressive manner (see Figure 4). They are finishes with a 1:20 technical model, which the
encouraged to break away from the ‘normal’ students use to test their building’s atmosphere and
hierarchical process of working from the whole materiality.
down to a detail. Through a series of workshops
the students are encouraged to think at different After the end of the third phase the architect-
scales. For example when consolidating their planners go on an agency placement for 6 weeks,
building proposals they are asked to design a piece whilst the architect-engineers finalise their building
of their building at 1:1 scale. This helps the students design and specialist technical report. Their
to think about issues of materiality and ergonomics Building Services brief asks them to finalise the
and ensures that their buildings are the materials assessment and specification with a view
manifestation of their overriding concept rather than to demonstrating the environmental performance of
the assemblage of generic and inappropriate building through a thermal model and to carry out
details. In parallel they also look at large-scale cooling and heating calculations as well as
building sections to test and apply materiality. They designing and sizing the mechanical ventilation for
are then asked to test the tectonics by building a a part of their building. They also finalise the design
physical 1:100 model of their scheme to help locate of the electrical distribution and lighting systems
the most important interior space. This is followed and demonstrate a fully integrated proposal through
by a Relief Modelling and Elevation Composition the careful co-ordination of services, structure and
workshop, where the students test their scheme architecture.
against the site context (1:500) through a series of
draft iterations that will culminate in the final model. This syncopated process of design keeps the
students from falling back into preconceived notions
Almost at the end of this Crafting phase the and ensures they are continually testing, integrating
students are asked to quantify their building and refining the design strategies to achieve an
proposal through a workshop called ‘How much ultimately coherent and fully integrated project in
does your building weigh?’, as Buckminster Fuller’s line with the interdisciplinary nature of their
famously asked Norman Foster back in the 70sxiv , a degrees.
sentiment echoed by Cedric Pricexv . Fuller
proposed the question at the birth of ‘high tech’
architecture when it was a challenge to the industry
to embrace the science of materials and structures
th st
of the 20 century. In the 21 century we have
another, more pressing concern, that of
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DEMYSTIFYING THE SCI-‐ARC DESIGN STUDIO: 1972 -‐
1976
Discussion planner-tutor and the architect-tutor inject a new

array of perspectives to shape each student’s
The creation of this ‘specialist’ holistic understanding and all these cross-professional
multidisciplinary studio has proved a challenge, not experiences are given equal value.
only for the students but also to the educators who
have to deliver the learning as a process of The authors believe that the educational model at
collaborationxvi with planners, architects and UWE has for many years helped the students to
engineers working together to provide the students produce better integrated design solutions that
with a holistic learning experience. shape a new type of graduate with the core
knowledge and skills of two professions, as was
Students were initially sceptical about joining the intended when this unique route to an architectural
two cohorts into a single studio. They came with education was established. However, the recent
preconceived ideas about how they were architect- innovation of combining the final year design
planners (or architect-engineers) and did not need studios of two dual-discipline degrees also allows
to know about the other discipline. In a group the students to have a better understating of a third
discussion, the tutors used the diagrams mapping profession (planning or engineering). This has
the professional bodies’ criteria (Figure 2) to helped them to further broaden their knowledge,
demonstrate to the students that they did indeed and has resulted in even broader integrated design
need an appreciation of engineering (or planning) solutions. The architect-planners have been able to
and that sharing a studio was a good way of embed environmental design strategies into their
sharing knowledge and scaffolding this learning. work, rather than adding them as an afterthought as
had sometimes been seen in previous years.
As the course now draws to a close, a significant Similarly, the architect-engineers have
majority of the students across both programmes demonstrated a much better understanding of the
have agreed that the experience has been planning system, as demonstrated through their
beneficial and they are glad they were given this masterplans and discussions of urban context. The
opportunity. The tutors can see the students have design studio has resulted in some truly
embraced the collaborative nature of the studio, gesamtkunstwerk portfolios, exactly as the tutors
which has motivated them to learn the language of had hoped.
a complementary discipline.
The industry will benefit enormously from these
Interestingly, the uncommon nature of dual degree graduates. Whilst this studio is not a practice-
qualifications means that relatively few of the tutors based experience, it is clear that it is a much closer
are qualified in AP or AEE themselves. This has fit to the reality of the way different professions
also broken the typical relationship between the must work together to produce more integrated
architect-tutor and the student, since the students solutions. And as Ted Happold said, ‘A world which
now have to take onboard comments from very sees art and engineering as divided is not seeing
different professionals with very different points of the world as a whole’xvii. Had he been able to
view. This is not necessarily a new experience for witness the joint degree programmes at UWE he
architecture students, who may have experienced may well have included planning.
conflicting opinions from different tutors in the past.
But it is much harder to identify and reconcile Acknowledgements
contradictions if they come from different
disciplines. This can even lead to conflict between The authors would like to acknowledge the valuable
the tutors themselves, and in addition to having diagrams initially designed by Richard Parnaby as
diverse views on design, they can also have very well as Paul Kirby, Senior Lecturer in Environmental
different approaches to teaching. To mitigate this, Engineering. Finally, I would like to thank the
tutors debrief after each studio session where students from both the AEE and AP awards for their
conflicting advice is identified and reconciled invaluable contributions
amicably before clarification is given to the
students. However the experience of dealing with
conflicting advice is a useful learning tool for the 1
Hagan, S.K. “The environment and the studio: integrating the
students and helps build relevant skills for quantitative and the qualitative”, The Oxford Conference 2008:
collaborative practice. The engineer-tutor, the
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 DEMYSTIFYING THE SCI-‐ARC DESIGN STUDIO: 1972 -‐
1976
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2008. nce%20on%20Academic%20Programmes%20November%2020
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professor-‐sir-‐edmund-‐happold-‐1324558.html, [Accessed 10 perceived the value of their education from the perspective of
March 2013]. employment’, RIBA Trust Research Awards and distributed via
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e-‐mail in April 2000.
Finch, P. “Why did Ted Happold’s combined course in
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architecture and engineering fail?”, Architects Journal, October Sara, R., ‘Between Studio and Street: The Role of the Live
2012, Available from: Project in Architectural Education’, PhD Thesis, University of
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happolds-‐combined-‐course-‐in-‐architecture-‐and-‐engineering-‐ xiv
“How much does your building weigh, Mr. Foster?” Directed
fail/8637644.article [Accessed 2 March 2013].
by Lopez Amado, N. & Carcas, C., Spain, Art Commissioners,
4
Hartman, H., “Engineering Environmental Architecture at 2010.
Bath”, Architects Journal, October, 2012, Available from: xv
Cedric Price: Works II, Architectural Association, 1984
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/footprint/footprint-‐
republished as Cedric Price: The Square Book, Wiley-‐Academy,
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bath/8637448.article , [Accessed 2 March 2013]. xvi
Cuff ,D. “Architecture: the story of practice” ,Cambridge,
5 Mass: MIT Press, 1991.
Boyer, Ernest, L. and Mitgang, L. “Building Community: A New
Future for Architectural Education and Practice”, Princeton, xvii
Addis, B. & Walker, D., ‘Happold: The Confidence to Build’,
N.J.: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Taylor and Francis, 2005.
1996.
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Robinson, D. Jamieson, C. Worthington J. & Cole C. ‘The
Future for Architects?’ Building Futures, 2011, Available from:
http://www.buildingfutures.org.uk/assets/downloads/The_Fut
ure_for_Architects_Full_Report_2.pdf , [Accessed 2 March
2013].
7
Royal Institute of British Architects, “RIBA Validation Criteria
at Part 1 and Part 2”, 2010, Available from:
http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBAProfessionalServices/E
ducation/Validation/RIBAValidationCriteriafromSeptember201
1Parts1,23.pdf, [Accessed 2 March 2013]
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Architects Registration Board, “Prescription of qualifications:
ARB Criteria at Parts 1, 2 and 3”, January 2010, Available from:
http://www.arb.org.uk/Scripts/wysiwyg/ckeditor/ckfinder/user
files/Images/images/files/ARB_Criteria.pdf , [Accessed 2 March
2013]
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Royal Town Planning Institute, “Policy Statement on Initial
Planning Education, Revised 2012”, Available from:
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/media/1403721/microsoft_word_-‐
_policy_statement_on_initial_planning_education_2012.pdf,
[Accessed 2 March 2013].
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Engineering Council Uk , “The Accreditation of higher
Education Programmes; UK Standards for Professional
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20library/AHEP%20Brochure.pdf , [Accessed 2 March 2013]
11
CIBSE, “Guidance Notes on the Submission of
Documentation for Accreditation of Academic Programmers.”
Available from:
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 UNDERCURRENT: SWIMMING AWAY FROM THE DESIGN STUDIO
education. The paper describes the liberated

pedagogy made possible by this position.
Undercurrent: swimming
Abandon ship! Swimming away from the
away from the design Design Studio
studio This paper does not seek to provide either a

historical overview of schools of architecture and
Jane Anderson
their pedagogy, or an autobiographical account
School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes of experiences of architectural education.
However it is important to acknowledge the
University influence of both on the theory and practice of
contemporary architectural educators, as well as
the wider profession. Taking contemporary
architectural education as the context for this
paper and exploring the design studio as the
Abstract
dominant force within it, I seek to question
whether we should swim against the tide that it
This paper debates whether to pull away from creates.
the tide established by the Design Studio as the
conventional form and norm for architectural
Why should the design studio surrender its pre-
education. As a means to establish points of
eminence? It is expensive, resource hungry and
divergence, case studies from art and
so much effort is expended defending it within
architectural education are explored.
the institution where it normally compares
unfavourably economically with other lecture-
In 1986 Glasgow School of Art established an based disciplines. The teaching, learning and
Environmental Art Department led by David production within the design studio are rarely
Harding. In 1989 his teaching partner, Sam conceived, perceived or expressed as research
Ainslie took on the leadership of the new Master by institutions and therefore become de-valued.
of Fine Arts course. The paper describes the Its institutional setting places it at least one step
influence of these courses on the practice of away from architectural practice making the task
their graduates such as Simon Starling, Richard of staying current in a rapidly changing world a
Wright and Douglas Gordon. The premise of the considerable challenge. The engrossing nature
undergraduate course was that students would of design studio activity and its importance
create work in the public domain and negotiate (conveyed to students in ways that are both
permission for use of the site with the owner. explicit and implicit) within the curriculum can
The paper explains why these projects can be marginalise other core academic subjects such
viewed as live projects and discusses the as history and theory, technology and practice.
relevance to architectural educators of the These subjects are occasionally brave enough to
courses’ content and structure. assert their connection with design by
“integrating” with it and are often drowned in the
Through analysis of a series of projects begun in attempt. This can be seen in the RIBA’s
2008, commissioned by local community clients validation reports where frequent mention is
and designed by students of architecture, the made of the need to improve the integration of
author in collaboration with Colin Priest, has technology into the design studio. While
arrived at a definition of what makes a project maintaining the central importance of design, the
“live”, identified the constituent parts of a live paper will challenge the monopolisation of the
project and devised a methodology to plan and design studio by design at the expense of other
understand learning outside the Design Studio. core subjects.
This information is being shared via an online
Live Projects Network. With reference to Lave
and Wenger’s theory of situated learning as
“legitimate peripheral participation”, the paper
will demonstrate how learning derived from live
projects can be understood and valued.
The paper also acknowledges the strong pull of

the Design Studio and the importance of the
educational institution in legitimising a project as
“live”. Through our definition and analysis of live
projects, an expanded range of social,
economic, political, cultural and educational
endeavour, as exemplified by the work of
Harding and Ainslie, can be seen to be
connected and relevant when establishing a
critical view of contemporary architectural
School of Architecture commissioned by local

community clients and designed by students of
architecture and interior architecture, the author
in collaboration with Colin Priest, has arrived at a
definition of what makes a project “live”. We
have identified the constituent parts of a live
project and devised a methodology to plan and
understand learning outside the design studio.
This information is being shared via an online
Live Projects Network. With reference to Lave
and Wenger’s theory of “situated learning” as
“legitimate peripheral participation”, the paper
Fig. 1. OB1 LIVE Lantern Festival, 2013 will show how learning derived from live projects
can be understood and valued.
The design studio also dominates as a physical
space where students are expected to Environmental Art Masters of Fine Art at
experience the majority of their education and course at Glasgow Glasgow School of Art
also as a symbolic space where students School of Art (1985- (1989-c.2001)
become socialised as architects. It is in this use c.2001)
of the design studio, as a socialising tool, that it Christine Borland Simon Starling (Turner
is most difficult to define, challenge or change (Turner Prize nominee, Prize winner, 2005)
the status quo. Yet it is here that the greatest 1997)
opportunity for generosity can be sited – inviting Douglas Gordon Richard Wright (Turner
students to “belong” to the group that they want (Turner Prize winner, Prize winner, 2009)
to join – becoming an architect. However, this 1996)
system also provides ample opportunity to Roderick Buchanan Toby Paterson (Beck’s
exclude students who struggle to conform, (Beck’s Futures Prize Futures Prize winner,
normally manifested in a disengagement from winner, 2000) 2002)
the design studio. As long as imbalances in Jim Lambie (Turner Rosalind Nashashibi
gender, race and class remain within the Prize nominee, 2005) (Beck’s Futures Prize
profession and wider society, the vagaries of this winner, 2003)
socialising system will continue to create barriers Martin Boyce (Turner Alan Currall (Beck’s
to the widening of participation. Prize winner, 2011) Futures Prize nominee,
(Beck’s Futures Prize 2003)
As described above, contemporary architectural nominee, 2000)
education is striving to maintain its institutional, Nathan Coley (Turner Louise Hopkins
academic and professional relevance; has Prize nominee, 2007)
created unintended pedagogical consequences David Shrigley (Beck’s Tom O’Sullivan
associated with the dominance of both design as Futures Prize nominee,
a subject and the design studio as an entity; and 2000)
is struggling to remove the barriers to a wider Craig Richardson (also Joanne Tatham
participation that the design studio creates. MFA)
Could any of these issues be addressed if the Ross Sinclair (also Julie Roberts
teaching and learning of architecture occurred MFA)
outside the architectural design studio?
Jonnie Wilkes (also Fanni Niemi-Junkola
MFA)
This paper will focus on two possible points of Claire Barclay (also Anne Ooms
divergence from the mainstream of the MFA)
contemporary architectural design studio-based Toby Webster Lucy Byatt
model. The first, live projects, are often viewed Jacqueline Donachie Jim Hamlyn
as “building” projects happening outside the
Rachel Mimiec Peter McCaughey
design studio. The second, art education, is a
related discipline that is traditionally studio-
based. The paper will look at the influence of the
Fig. 2. Some notable graduates of the Environmental
Glasgow School of Art Environmental Art
Art and Masters of Fine Art courses at Glasgow School
Department on its graduates such as Christine of Art. Names of graduates found in Lowndes (2012).
Borland, Douglas Gordon and Martin Boyce (see Data on Turner Prize (Tate, 2013). Data on Beck’s
figure 2). Environmental Art is a discipline which Futures (Lowndes, 2012 and Wikipedia, 2013)
shares outward-looking preoccupations with
Architecture such as context and society. The Cast Adrift. Neither here nor there
paper demonstrates why these projects can be
viewed as live projects and discusses the
relevance of this to architectural educators. What are the dangers and rewards for tutors and
students who cast adrift from the shelter of the
design studio? A radical early example is Walter
Through analysis of a programme of year one
Gropius’ experiment to connect the Bauhaus
live projects (OB1 LIVE) at Oxford Brookes
with industrialisation and mass production during
a time of hyper-inflation, seen in their 1923 structure will stand up?” “Can’t I just assume that
Exhibition. The work on show gained widespread disabled people won’t want to visit my building?”
acclaim and remains significant today. At the
time it was a mixed financial and artistic success. We introduced a live project on the first day of
There was conflict among teachers and students first year as an experiment to see if it helped to
about what was lost in this shift in direction. remove the barriers to learning that the need to
Local craftspeople felt threatened by the negotiate reality provided. An early project in
potential competition and the public resented the 2008 was to design environmental play
use of their taxes to fund the institution. The structures for Donnington Doorstep Family
perception that profit motivated the actions of the Centre where the vulnerabilities of both the pre-
Bauhaus may have contributed to some of the school children and our first-time designers
negative reactions to their bold experiment. required us to carefully structure contact with the
From experience of running live projects, I would client and negotiate an appropriate project
suggest that the physical product should not be outcome. Students made prototypes and used
viewed as the primary motivation. The real these to help them make D.I.Y instruction
product is the learning gained by the students. booklets for parents to make the play devices
with their children. This project was followed by a
An oppositional relationship still exists today traditional studio project. Having had experience
between those seeking to protect the role of the of designing for real people as well as working
university to provide a place of free thinking within the design studio making their prototypes,
(theory) and those seeking to engage at first the usual confusion between imagination and
hand with the world outside (practice). However, reality ceased to trouble students during the
both activities are complimentary and should traditional design studio project. The shared
inform one another. Activities associated with endeavour of the initial live project had
theory and practice are mixed up in any design established a level of trust and mutual
project. A tutor may be pursuing a piece of understanding between students and tutors that
research while students are engaged in was beneficial to all participants in the design
scholarship by learning about it from their tutor. studio. We found that while students are
Original discoveries or innovations may be made engaged in a live project outside the studio, the
in the course of the project by either tutor or design studio remains significant as a place of
student. The practical aspects of design can production, preparation and learning. They are in
range from the simple practising of skills to an the studio physically but their imaginations are
early application of innovative research. rooted in an external reality.
Learning by doing can lead to original discovery
by doing. The central activity of architecture is In 1968 David Harding became the town artist in
the production of space and as this is essentially the New Town of Glenrothes, involving local
within the experiential realm, architects need to people in the making of public art works. In 1978
learn to connect their imagined spaces to he developed the “Art in Social Context” course
experienced spaces. at Dartington College and between 1985 and
2001 he was head of the Environmental Art
One criticism I would like to make of the design Department at Glasgow School of Art.
studio-only model is of the issues arising from Environmental Art was a new specialisation
the imposed reality of theoretical design studio- taken by students after year one for the
based projects. Such briefs require students to remainder of their four year undergraduate
negotiate with their tutors the terms of the reality course. Their studios were located outside the
that they must imagine and work within. This can School of Art building in the redundant Girl’s
lead to imbalances of power between tutor and High School in Scott Street where they had lots
student. The tutor is the arbiter of the legitimacy of space and sources of inspiration to
of the reality that the student imagines. The experiment with interior site-specific work.
conflict that this induces in students is often Harding’s teaching partner Sam Ainslie (1997,
counter-productive to their learning. This can be p.68) recalls a project by Rachel Mimiec in 1991
seen most clearly when teaching year one that responded to the imminent sale of an
students, the vast majority of whom are outdoor auditorium in Kelvingrove Park,
simultaneously negotiating the shift from expressing the loss of public space and shared
classroom-based learning to studio-based experience by pasting photographs of clapping
learning. As novices to this system, they are not hands on the tiered seating. For this project she
afraid to point out its idiosyncrasies to those of would have been asked to research the context,
us immersed in it. At first questions betray a negotiate with the owners and users of the
partial belief that the project is real: “Why did the space, identified herself as a student connected
neighbours not know that we were proposing a with the Glasgow School of Art and agreed to
cinema next door, and why did they seem so make a work (presumably self-funded) prior to
alarmed?” “Will this design get planning the site’s sale. The projects were collaborative,
permission?” Once it becomes clear that the multi-disciplinary and process-driven. Simon
project is fictional, the questions shift, revealing Starling explains the influence of this radical
negative consequences arising from the approach to learning on his practice: “this idea of
realisation that this is not real: “If it is not going the artist just sort of leaving the studio and going
to be built, why do I need to demonstrate that the and sort of making work in the world in a
conscious way. That sort of made sense to me ensure that it is a structured piece of learning.
from a fairly early point” (Irving, 2012) Timescale is an inevitable factor and it can be
difficult to make live projects fit within the
All Hands On Deck. Collaborative ways of academic calendar. We found that a broader
working view of the possibilities inherent in the other
factors, particularly brief, product and client
enables more imaginative ways to achieve this.
Lave and Wenger (1995, p.29) describe their Client: we questioned whether it was acceptable
concept of Situated Learning through Legitimate for projects to be self-initiated. If the students are
Peripheral Participation as a theory of learning effectively the clients, this is a marginal case,
rather than a pedagogical technique. In a well closer to a design studio project but if all the
structured live project students acquire other factors are there and it occurs in the real
legitimacy for their activities outside the world, we decided that it can still function as a
institution by their membership of it. In OB1 LIVE live project. The group of participating students
and the Environmental Art course, students’ are the client. Often their institution is actually
identity as learners is kept explicit, keeping them the client. A budget is inevitable but often
on the periphery of fully legitimate practice, overlooked, even if operating on a make do and
protected by the presence and accountability of mend basis. The necessity for a product is not
the institution. Learning in situ, either through contentious but some forms of output tend not to
live projects or apprenticeship is not enough to be acknowledged as “live” such as prototypes or
ensure that relevant situated learning will occur. ideas generation. Institution: we were slower to
(Lave and Wenger, 1995, pp.76-9). However, I think of this but it is the most obvious factor that
would propose that OB1 LIVE and the distinguishes a live project from a professional
Environmental Art course both employ live project in practice.
projects and that these projects are structured in
a way that encourages situated learning through
We saw that even very diverse project types
legitimate peripheral participation.
shared characteristics and constraints. We
recognised that what differentiated them was
Working with year one students placed us on the where on the spectrum of each characteristic or
peripheries of recognised live project activity. constraint they sat. For example, the nature of
With low-to-no budgets and inexperienced the client relationship could range from a
cohorts, projects and products emerged that commission to a collaboration to a self-initiated
were very different in nature from the typical “live project. For our online resource, the Live
build” projects seen in the architectural press. Projects Network (Anderson and Priest, 2013) to
We were forced to question whether our projects connect students, clients, tutors and researchers
were legitimately “live projects”. In the absence involved in live projects, we identified a series of
of an agreed definition of the term “live project”, spectra that can be used by them to find case
in a paper written by the author with Colin Priest studies with similar contexts and resources. The
(2012) we describe the process by which we identification of these spectra enabled us to
analysed case studies in order to find a definition develop a flexible methodology to analyse the
of a live project. We had experimented with structure of a live project:
different formats, using them to test different
hypotheses: “Are self-initiated projects live?”
“A live project comprises the negotiation of a
(“Now Showing”, 2011) “Are student-led projects
brief, timescale, budget and product between a
live?” (Tactile model for the blind, 2009).
client and an educational institution. The
(Anderson and Priest, 2009) We were using live
availability of resources offered by each of these
projects to teach conceptual design and had
factors creates a spectrum and reveals positions
moved beyond the compartmentalised technical,
along it that the live project can occupy.”
participatory or professional training labels, often
(Anderson and Priest, 2012)
applied to live projects. This enabled us to
position ourselves within a broad spectrum of
live project practice. The inclusiveness of the definition and the
flexibility of the methodology enable a broad
range of projects to be connected as live
We identified six factors common to all live
projects, including those beyond the discipline of
projects and formed a definition explaining their
architecture. Live projects have the potential to
relationship: “A live project comprises the
teach any academic core subject or anything
negotiation of a brief, timescale, budget and
else that may occur within a professional project.
product between a client and an [educational]
It is the role of the tutor as agent (Anderson and
institution.” (Anderson and Priest, 2012)
Priest, in press) to negotiate a structure and
focus for the project that ensures students will be
Some factors were more contentious or difficult able to learn what they need to learn. This could
to identify than others. It was accepted that a be a very specific academic core subject (Care,
real project and its brief was essential for any Jary and Parnell, 2010) or a much broader range
live project. It was observed that some would call of skills and knowledge as is normally found in a
a project live if this factor alone was present but design studio project.
without the other factors it is impossible to
distinguish this from a professional project or
What can we learn by connecting diverse live their city, a place that inspired many of their
project types? We can connect live project earliest projects. A contemporary response to a
practitioners and participants, opening up new similar situation can be found in the University of
methodologies, exchanging best practice and Northumbria’s Graduate Retention And
expanding dialogue about the role of live Development (GRAD) programme established to
projects in contemporary education. It is hoped respond to the lack of opportunities for
that the Live Projects Network is one step architecture graduates as well as address some
towards achieving this. In the more specific case of the development needs of the region.
of the Environmental Art course, much can be (Messer, 2012)
learned because the lapse of time and visibility
of its graduates allows us to see what happened In hostile social, political and economic climates,
next. it can be seen that institutions can provide an
important shelter for collective activity that is
The Storm. Are the studio and university still both creative and educational. The sum
relevant? becomes greater than its parts and is particularly
conducive to collaborative and inter-disciplinary
working. These institutions can be established,
The number of artists who have risen to
such as Glasgow School of Art; be self-forming,
prominence from the Environmental Art
such as the Free University; or be appropriated,
Department since it began in 1985 is significant,
such as the artist-run Transmission Gallery.
particularly because they were in many ways
peripheral to the artistic establishment
The Harbour Mouth. Between university and
(Lowndes, 2012 and Irving, 2012). Harding and
Ainslie’s radical teaching approach connects world.
them as artists, as must the influence of the
contemporary art scene that was struggling to This paper began by acknowledging the sheer
emerge in Glasgow. (Sharratt, 2012). Perhaps strength of the current created by university
inspired by Joseph Beuys who made a series of design studios as the location for the majority of
influential visits to Scotland from 1970 to 1981 architectural education. We can of course
and who had c.1974 had established a Free choose to reject this and seek to establish
International University, in January 1987 a group alternative structures. There is certainly an
of Glasgow writers and artists including Malcolm argument for increasing connections between
Dickson, James Kelman and Alasdair Gray universities and supporting other institutions
started a Free University that lasted for five along the model of artist-run or not-for-profit
years. The Flyer for the inaugural event read: organisations such as Transmission. There is
“part free university, part late/cheap cafe, great potential for mutual support and joint
unemployed centre, artspace etc. DEMAND THE endeavour here.
IMPOSSIBLE”. (Lowndes, 2012, p.94) The
nature of the educational institution, its This paper however finds value in the potential
accessibility and its structures were open to strength of the existing university institution as a
question in this predominantly socialist climate harbour for creativity. With increasing
where there was a widely-held belief among professionalisation of university teaching skills,
artists that they had a responsibility to work for the intellectual freedom, access to the latest
their community. research, the potential for inter-disciplinary
collaboration, the accountability and control of
In her book, Social Sculpture. The Rise of the quality that contemporary universities can
Glasgow Art Scene, (2012), Sarah Lowndes provide, they should be in a very strong position
describes the determination of Harding and to allow large numbers of students to participate
Ainslie’s alumni as they chose to stay in in and access an excellent, intensive and
Glasgow, the city that had inspired their earliest relevant education. This might seem counter-
works. They continued to work collaboratively intuitive at a time when funding for university
and took over the running of the artist-run education is being challenged and when
gallery, Transmission. They invited established opportunities for access to that education are
artists from outside Glasgow such as Lawrence made uncertain by changes to fees. The same
Weiner to collaborate with them. This effectively inclement economic, social and political forces
extended the institutional support that they had are also acting on the profession and graduates,
found in the art school with which they retained leading to calls for a radical shift in working
close connections. The decision to stay was not practices. These should be viewed as one
an obvious one in a post-industrial city with system, just as the tide in the harbour ebbs and
almost no art market and very little public flows with the sea outside. If we choose to work
funding forthcoming for conceptual art. Their for change within an existing educational
self-sustaining and supporting group is a useful institution, we can harness its strength and
model for the situation faced by many stability to transform the existing design studio
architecture graduates in the current economic model into one which harbours outward-looking
climate. This group of artists formed an early creative, collaborative and inter-disciplinary
identity through undergraduate live projects and opportunities for students, staff and the wider
remained loyal to itself as a group, their art and community.
Live projects are one way to address this Care, L., Jary, D and Parnell, R., (2010) Healthy
imperative and are particularly well suited to Design, Creative Safety. Approaches to health and
disciplines concerned with context and society safety teaching and learning in undergraduate schools
of architecture. RIBA and Health and Safety
such as architectural education and
Executive. [online] Available at:
environmental art. By defining live projects and http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBAProfessionalSer
understanding how to structure them to ensure vices/Education/2012/HealthyDesignCreativeSafety-
that significant situated learning can occur within FinalreportMarch2012.pdf [Accessed 26 February
them, we can improve dialogue and share best 2013]
practice across disciplines and institutions.
Iain Irving, 2012. BBC Imagine. Glasgow – The Grit
and the Glamour. [video online] Available at:
Although the work of an architect is concerned <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2XwOXTSAic>
with, and is manifested in the world outside the [Accessed 21 Feb 2013].
studio, significant parts of the design process are
Messer, S., 2012. The G.R.A.D. Programme: an
located within the design studio. Therefore the alternative form of practice. In: Oxford Brookes
educational design studio as a proxy for the University, Live Projects Pedagogy International
professional design studio remains important for Symposium. Oxford, U.K. 24-26 May 2012. Abstract
the learning of studio-based disciplines. As the only. Available through: Northumbria Research Link,
paper shows, live projects are located in both the Northumbria University. Available at:
world outside and the design studio. The <http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/8001/> [Accessed 24
presence of live projects alongside design studio February 2013].
projects enables us to be explicit in our methods Sharratt, C., 2012. Fact, legend and the Glasgow
for exploring an expanded range of imaginative Miracle. A new exhibition traces the 'Glasgow Miracle'
possibilities from the speculative to the evolved. back to the 1970s and the foundation of the city's Third
Perhaps we should view educational design Eye Centre. (a-n The Artists Information Company)
studios as public space in a way that is similar to [online] 20 August. Available at: <http://new.a-
n.co.uk/news/single/fact-legend-and-the-glasgow-
the art gallery as a public space, engaging the
miracle> [Accessed 9 Feb 2013]
wider community in its cultural endeavour. This Tate, 2013. Turner Prize: Year by Year. [online]
view shifts the perceived location / position of the Available at: <http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-
design studio as a physical space located within britain-other-venues/exhibitionseries/turner-prize-
the university to a metaphysical position series/turner-prize-year-year> [Accessed 9 February
straddling the institution and the world. 2013].
Wikipedia, 2013. Beck’s Futures. [online] Available at:
References <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beck's_Futures>
[Accessed 9 Feb 2013]
Print:
Harding, D. Ed., with Buchler, P., 1997. Decadent.
Public Art: Contentious Term and Contested Practice.
Glasgow: Foulis Press.
Lave, J. & Wenger, E., 1995. Situated learning:
legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge :
Cambridge University Press.
Lowndes, S., 2012. Social Sculpture. The Rise of the
Glasgow Art Scene. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Luath Press
Ltd:
Unpublished:
Anderson, J. & Priest, C., 2012. Developing a live
projects network and flexible methodology for live
projects. In: Oxford Brookes University, Live Projects
Pedagogy International Symposium. Oxford, U.K. 24-
26 May 2012.
Anderson, J. & Priest, C., (in press) The Live
Education of an Architect: John Hejduk and OB1 LIVE,
imagination and action; Journal for Education in the
Built Environment. (Accepted for publication December
2012).
Online:
Anderson, J. & Priest, C., (2009) OB1 LIVE Blog.
[online] Available at
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e/ob1/index.html [Accessed 24 February 2013].
Anderson, J. & Priest, C., (2012) Live Projects
Network. [online] Available at
http://liveprojectsnetwork.org [Accessed 24 February
2013].
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 ON BEGINNINGS IN DESIGN STUDIO
to as the 'poetic approach'. The aim of this paper

On Beginnings in Design is to establish the beginning phase of the design
Studio Teaching, a Poetic studio as an explicit condition with related
features discussed and evaluated in context.
Approach This is done alongside discussion, examples and
exploration of theoretical material on the subject.
Amos Bar-Eli
HIT – Holon Institute of Technology, Israel
Introduction
"…I love beginnings" L. Kahn
What is it in the "beginning" that draws the

attention of Kahn? What power does it possess
over him? Kahn's words suggest a preference to
the origin of "things", an urge toward purity and
1
mystery that possibly reside in the point of Fig. 1. Starting blocks
departure.
Theoretical Background
'Beginning' can suggest the concept of 'origin',
which is constant backward looking approach, It is not surprising to find the tremendous amount
looking back as means for progress. It also of research and debate that exists around the
implies to the question of how and in what way beginning phase of architecture education and a
to begin, assuming that the starting point will well-known focus on first year as a condition all
have considerable impact on the outcome. It of its own. There exist a varied and large
represents a belief that a starting point can amount of research in the field of architecture
encompass within it all possible continuations education concerning issues such as,
and outcomes. Moreover, it shifts the focal point curriculum, relation to the profession, and
from the solution to the process. Following this institutions position toward education1. Alongside
line of thought draws our attention to beginnings abundant material on studio specific issues such
in the design studio, to How a design problem is as methodology, problem solving, learning
approached, presented, and specifically how to styles, and more 3. Yet there is somewhat less
begin a design studio. research on psychological and educational
issues such as the role of the instructor, his
The first impression in the design studio; the skills, student-instructor relationship, etc. I
teacher architect\designer walks in…presents assume that this lack is due to the fact that
the first exercise, the paradigm for the semester, majority of instructors in the studio are
the starting point for a period of learning, professionals, not educators.
research, and design. Is it just a brief moment in
which 'the ice' needs to be broken? An awkward As great deal of attention directed toward such
situation that stands in the way of the 'deep issues as problem solving and the relevance of
involvement' long awaited for? Or is it a phase of the problem presented, but the question of How
great importance and consequence that can and to begin a design studio remains rather
should be acknowledged, understood, and take neglected. An exception to this is Johannes
its proper position in the design studio Itten's approach and emphasis to the beginning
educational process. time in the studio. Bauhaus teacher Itten was
most influential in constructing the 'basic design'
This paper explores the 'beginning phase' in the course 4. As part of his unique approach to
design studio from two angles. First, it defines design and art education, he also emphasized
and elaborates it as a period with specific goals the need to release a creative potential of the
and possibilities, which require deeper and student through freedom. He also stressed the
further research. The second is a description of relation between the physical movement and
a specific case study, a starting method referred creativity; a holistic relation of body and mind as
means to enhance creative freedom. Within his As mentioned above there exist rather large
interest and experiment with the basic design amount of research and discussion relating to
course developed at the Bauhaus, Itten the studio as a whole, its relation to the
acknowledged the importance of the beginning curriculum, and also about first year design as a
time in the studio. As exemplified by this unique condition. The focus this paper is on the
statement by Wick: beginning of the design studio regardless of the
year of study. Moreover, although my personal
"As a rule, Itten began his course with experience as a teacher comes mostly from
gymnastics, in order to "enable the body to undergraduate studio, the theoretical approach
express itself, to experience things, to awaken presented can apply to graduate design studio
these things in it."" 5 as well. The 'beginning phase' is not defined
precisely via a time frame but rather on the
Another issue relating to beginning can be found issues raised and method of approach delivered
in the definition of the process of problem during initial contact in the design studio. This is
solving. Problem solving process is researched most generally relevant to the first and second
comprehensively its structure and its phases are meetings of the class, but not limited to, and can
widely discussed and elaborated on. The in some cases be prolonged.
beginning part is referred to as "problem
structuring", or as the "analysis phase" 6. There In the beginning phase of the studio, as is
exist a focused attention on methodology as a common in every meeting, introductions are
whole, different approaches to it, and many being made which also include some 'ground
issues that are raised via it. rules', such as: attendance, expectations,
presentation of syllabus etc. The more significant
Many studio researchers present a creative and portion of the beginning includes the
innovative approach to design studio teaching. presentation of a design problem sometimes
Within this the beginning is well thought out and presented as an exercise, project, or research
planned, but this does not mean that it is parameter. The paper focuses on this part,
specifically treated as a unique situation that defining the main issues that are of importance
requires attention as such. There are many to this phase and such topics that have
descriptions of studio work and exercises in relevance throughout the studio but have unique
which the beginning is crucial and interesting. It or importance in the beginning.
cannot be said that the significance of the
beginning has gone unnoticed, on the contrary, Preliminary bias: It is well documented and
as is exemplified in this statement by a typically widely researched that we tend to be biased on
enthusiastic studio instructor: primary knowledge. We put more weight on
earlier information, while later information is used
"our crazy laughter on the first day is one of the positively only to reassure prior one. It is even
most important moments of the project." 7 more so with designers who tend to proceed to
possible solutions prior to receiving full
Among the many innovative approaches to the knowledge of the problem, or changing the
presentation of the problem in the design studio, problem parameters all together 10.
the approach that evolved in the 'Cooper Union –
School of Architecture' under the guidance of the Cognitive and social psychologists have
late John Hedjuck is worth mentioning 8. Ideas accumulated formidable amount of research that
like the 'Analysis Problem' that took the "end points to issues of 'first impression', bias on
product" as the starting point rather than the bases of primacy of information, and bias based
other way around, or the 'Cube Problem' in on prior knowledge. Research in those fields
which the problem is to define a proposal to a offers three major explanations for the 'primacy
given form (a cube). Both problems are relevant effect': a. the fatigue, boredom which causes
to this discussion in the sense that they assume decrease in attention b. the assumption that later
to redefine and reposition the starting point of information is of less value c. people tend to
the architectural problem within the studio create first impressions and use later information
context 9. in a biased way so it will strengthen earlier
concepts and ideas. It is a human tendency to
The Beginning Phase explain reality so it will confirm to initial
impressions even to the point that it contradicts it
11
. This statements from Rabin and Schrag's method, and such awareness could further the
research testifies for this: expression of an idea." 16
"Psychological research indicates that people Psychological \ educational: As design

have a cognitive bias that leads them to educators, we are first of all designers not
misinterpret new information as supporting educators. Most design teachers have no
previously held hypotheses. (people) … may background, not to say knowledge of educational
come to believe with near certainty in a false matters. For that, they depend on instinct and
hypothesis despite receiving an infinite amount personal experience and rather less on theory
of information." 12 and knowledge. This lack is acknowledged by
Ochsner, who claims:
Problem definition: The problems of design are
problematic in their formulation and meaning, it "Given the relative lack of any developed
can be said that in their educational format, in analysis of design studio instruction or instructor-
the studio, it is even more so 13. In that respect student interaction within the architectural
the issue of 'how' to state the problem or what literature, this essay will look outside architecture
problem to define in the design studio becomes to the literature of psychoanalysis for clues to
very important. This is well stated by Cross: understanding the studio process." 17
“It is also now widely recognized that design It is not my intention to revolutionize the system
problems are ill-defined, ill- structured, or of education in the architectural studio but to
‘wicked’ … They are not problems for which all point at the importance of
the necessary information is, or ever can be, psychological\educational issues.
available to the problem-solver. They are Acknowledging them refers to the fact that
therefore not susceptible to exhaustive analysis, educational questions in the design studio
and there can never be a guarantee that ‘correct’ should be raised also in the way the problem is
solutions can be found for them." 14 presented not only by its content. In other words
importance should be given to the How- in
It is important that an 'ill-defined' problem should psychological\educational terms not only to the
be well thought about. Not only how it is solved, What- in professional architectural terms.
but also on how it is defined, and for that matter
how it is presented. This will not make the Problem structuring: In research concerning the
problems less "ill" but it will educate the students issues of problem solving the beginning phase is
toward this reality in the context of the studio defined and is given importance. In this phase,
environment. the structuring of the problem takes place. Given
the ill nature of design problem and the unique
Creativity: As the aim of design education, or at process taking place during the beginning of the
the least one of its main goals, is to teach and dialog with the problem, it becomes essential to
enhance creativity. The creative teaching relate to the time frame in which this occurs. As
process that takes place in the design studio is is declared by Restrepo:
sometimes referred to as "reflection-in-action", a
term used by Schön to explain the uniqueness of "Problem structuring occurs mainly in the
the way designers are educated15. Should it not beginning of design process…we called the
be essential to begin with a creative way of representation of these first interpretations "early
presenting the problem? It is presumed that a representations". These early representation
design problem is given to students and then have a great influence on how the process
creativity emerges. It can be argued that continues." 18
creativity can reside not only in the outcome of
students work but also in design educators Directness and Indirectness: Some issues
actions and problem definitions, and for that should be approached "indirectly" and
matter right from the start. As is stated by Wiley: prolonged. This concept, presented by the
educator John Dewey is rather of a philosophical
"Altering the instruments, tools, and the process and psychological nature. The reason and
used during design increases the students' consequences of this approach, although widely
awareness of the influences exerted by their discussed by philosophers such as Merleau-
Ponty, and Walter Benjamin, and writers like
Milan Kundera, to name a few; remains Following two examples are presented for such
essentially of personal preference. Yet, whatever triggers given in past design classes. The first
approach selected it presumes that the starting example is the artwork: "The Bride Stripped Bare
point should be considered an essential part of By Her Bachelors, Even" known as the "Large
the process and of a definitive position toward Glass" (1915-1923), M. Duchamp
setting the pace of the design process.
Case-study: The Poetic Approach
For the past 15 years, I have taught a design

studio class, the case study methodology
described is based on this experience. In this
methodology, there is emphasis on the process.
As such, the architectural problem is not the
main protagonist of the 'story'. It is usually
reached at by the students and instructor via a
discussion based on the students work and
premises. This leads to a necessity of isolating
the beginning as unique and defined. The full
methodology done in the studio, and for that
matter final students' work produced, are less
relevant for the current discussion.
Poetic approach: The design studio class starts

with a presentation of a 'starting object' rather
than a direct design problem 19. The design
problem is not ignored but is not presented
directly at the start; it is 'arrived at' later in the
process. Essential concept in this methodology
is to approach the problem in an 'indirect' way, a
postponement of the problem. This is one way of
tackling the uncertainty of the 'ill-defined' nature
of design problems 20.
This 'start object' is a cultural object, such as a Fig. 2 "The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors,
short story, piece of music etc. After its Even" known as the "Large Glass" (1915-1923), M.
presentation, the students are requested to: Duchamp
"react to 'it' in a visual way". So, this cultural
'start object' is coupled with an ambiguous, This is a seminal work of art; there exist plenty of
undefined, improper request to 'react visually'. writings about it. It has forms; it contains ideas
These are the components of the 'poetic both conceptual and material, and it establishes
approach' to the beginning phase. Some general a premise of uncertainty. All of these can be
discussion takes place around the issues referred to and be used as foundations for the
presented by the 'start object'; this is all. Defined students' 'visual reactions'.
as a 'trigger' or a 'starter', a point is made not to
elaborate or explain further. The visual reaction The second example, is of different type, it is
that the students are required to produce is left more elaborate and presents a 'concept'. In this
for their own interpretation, and it is not case the 'trigger' is made up of 3 different
considered research neither a solution. This 'objects' that relate in different ways to the
starting trigger aims at generating and facilitating selected concept which is stated as:
a thought process and curiosity that leads in a Order\Chaos\Meaning. The 'triggers' are:
non-linear path, a path that not necessarily
results in a solution or conclusion. The approach 1. Music: "Musical Offering – Crab
focuses on thinking through drawing rather than Canon" (1747), J.S Bach
an attempt to resolve or structure a problem.
2. Visual: Pioneer – Gold Plaque Creativity: this starting method requires the
(launch date 1972) 21 student to make connections, find options, and
make his or her own judgment about what is
3. Literature: "The Analytical Language of relevant and what is not, about how to begin and
John Wilkins" (1937-52) J.L Borges to respond creatively. It does not start from
'research' or even from analysis; it demands a
creative response. It puts the creative before the
analytical.
Psychological \ educational issues: The 'poetic

approach' does not tackle this topic directly, but
it acknowledges the issues and attempts to
clarify them early on in the studio. In a way since
the 'design problem' is "not there yet" it liberates
space for other concerns.
Problem structuring and Indirectness: As Dewey

mentions, some issues should be approached
'indirectly'. The 'poetic approach' stems from the
assumption that education in design should be
such an issue. It should be presented in an
Fig. 3 Pioneer Gold plaque indirect way, we as educators should proceed
toward the design problems not in a direct
The students are requested to 'react visually' for manner, we should take caution in presenting
the three of them separately, and after a while to them, and not as if we have solutions, as if we
join their reactions. The most common response know the answer, or as if we know the method to
of students that participated in this studio is solve them. If we wish our students to be
"surprise". They are not ready for such a
inquisitive, curious, and creative – then we
stipulation to be presented in that point of time, should present them this path; and we should do
they expect a design problem to be given. They this right from the beginning rather than expect
do not go off balance, but they do mention that them to be so in the end.
they find themselves having to "think". This
"thinking" about what is before them has a Discussion
lasting effect, which they take with them further
into their learning experience. This paper defined the starting phase in the
design studio and described a case study that
As a whole, the 'poetic approach' responds to responds to it. Yet, it left room for further
the relevant issues raised in the starting phase research of the issue and plenty of questions to
of the studio, as explained earlier in the paper. be explored. What are the effects of such a
methodology? In what other ways can the
Preliminary bias: Presenting 'none-relevant' 'starting phase' be acknowledged and be given
information in the preliminary stage questions
importance? What is the relation between early
the importance and relevance of all following presentation of a 'problem' in the studio and its
data, this methodology is not presuming to be effect on the results, if any? Either way I believe
good or right design methodology but it aims at that acknowledging the starting phase of the
being good education of design methodology.
studio, understanding its unique position within
the process of the semester, and giving it its
Problem definition: The poetic approach
proper response, in whatever way relevant to our
presented attempts to reconcile with the
individual teaching style, will benefit ourselves as
difficulties that exist in the definition of design
educators and our students as future architects.
problems and attempts to 'go around it'. This
As reality, which the design studio assumes to
method does not make the design problem less
mimic, becomes ever more conflicting and
'ill-defined', but it rather puts emphasis on this
ambiguous, the 'poetic approach' attempts to
condition and forces students to respond to it
offer means that can both reconcile and resist it.
and deal with it.
Reality constantly has proven our inadequacy or
inability to control a world full of contradictions,
14
flaws and errors; a world that is paradoxically full N. Cross, 'Designerly ways of knowing'. Design
of hope and infinite optimism. Studies, Vol. 3, Issue 4, (October 1982), pp. 221–227
15
D. Schön, 'The Architectural Studio as an Exemplar
of Education for Reflection-in-Action'. Journal of
Architectural Education, Vol. 38, No. 1, (1984) pp. 2-9
16
K. Wiley in Intersections 2006:350
17
J. Ochsner, 'Behind the Mask: A Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Interaction in the Design Studio'.
Journal of Architectural Education Vol. 53, Issue 4,
(May 2000) pp.194–206, p.194
18
J. Restrepo & H. Christiaans, 2004
19
Other methodologies can serve as precedents for
such a methodology such as the "Hermeneutic-
Phenomenological Approach" presented by Hisarligil
for instance which utilizes Kafka's writings or
Bermann's studio mentioned earlier among many
Fig. 4 Student 'reaction'
others. The issue here, of course, is the focus on the
beginning phase and its implications.
Notes
20
1
Starting blocks are a device used in the sport of track 21
Pioneer Gold plaques are a pair of gold-anodized
and field by sprint athletes to hold their feet at the start
aluminum plaques which were placed on board the
of a race so they don't slip as they push out at the
1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft,
sound of the gun. The first starting blocks are credited
featuring a pictorial message, in case either Pioneer 10
to being invented by Australian Charlie Booth and his
or 11 are intercepted by extraterrestrial life
father in 1929.
22 rd
3 year student M. Assif work done as a 'visual
2
Fro example: N. Teymur, Architectural Education, reaction' to Mozart's piano concerto No. 23 in A major
(London, ?ustion Press, 1992) K. 488
3
For example: I. Marjanovic & C. Robinson, eds.,
Intersections, Conference Proceedings, Iowa State
University, 2006
4
R. Wick, Teaching at the Bauhaus, (Germany ,Hatje
Cantz Publishers, 2000)
5
Ibid. p. 103
6
J. Restrepo & H. Christiaans, 'Problem Structuring
and Information Access in Design'. Journal of Design
Research, (2004)
7
K. Bermann, 'Pre-Architecture Studio: The Pattern
Project'. Journal of Architecture Education (May 2002)
pp. 268-272, p.268
8
Hedjuck presided as dean for 25 consecutive years;
in a small and prestigious institute, he was able to
have innovative and well documented impact.
9
B. Horn in Intersections proceedings, 2006:151
10
11
P. Tetlock, 'Accountability and the Perseverance of
First Impressions'. Social Psychology Quarterly, V. 46,
No. 4, (1983) pp.285-292
12
M. Rabin & L. Schrag, 'First Impressions Matter,
Quarterly Journal of Economics'. (1999) p.37
13
R. Buchanan, 'Wicked Problems in Design Thinking'.
Design Issues, Vol. 8, No. 2, (Spring 1992) pp. 5-21
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 MAKING & INQUIRY
Making & Inquiry:Cultivating throughout its development it adheres to the

core principles and strategies outlined in this
Process in the Beginning paper.
Design Student
Balancing Technique and Enquiry
James Eckler and Stephen Garrison
Marywood University School of Architecture First-Year, as it always has been, is burdened
by extraordinarily complex and diverse
teaching responsibilities. Students leaving the
First-Year must be prepared with diverse
“An architect must use round wheels, and he must technical skills for drawing, sketching,
make doorways bigger than people. But architects modeling, and analyzing spatial conditions.
must learn that they have other rights… their own Additionally, they must possess a fundamental
rights. To learn this, to understand this, is giving the sensibility for leveraging those skills in a way
man the tools for making the incredible, that which that is generative of the architectural idea.iii
nature cannot make.”
i They must learn to think through the act of
making.iv
- Louis Kahn
Successful First-Year pedagogies cultivate
More than anything else, the goal of First-Year design process. To the student, this represents
architectural pedagogy is getting students to think like a shift in the way knowledge is acquired.
designers. This is becoming increasingly difficult as Instead of using technique and methodology
primary education in the United States continues to to arrive at the correct answer, the student is
devalue many of the ways of learning so crucial to asked to use technique to test variations
ii
architecture . Today’s student is typically one that heuristically and iteratively. The goal is to
has only ever been faced with single solution problems discover the scope of possibilities and
solved by formulaic method. That student is one that imagine the results of implementing them.
regards process, discovery, invention, and varying
degrees of success with skepticism. Students are asked to take the risk of
experimentation, often to satisfy simple
This reality has caused a necessary shift in First-Year curiosity. Without the safety net of a single,
design pedagogy – its goals, priorities, and methods verifiable solution they are almost guaranteed
for evaluating success. For a long time, First-Year to fail, over and over again. This is the nature
curricula of any architecture program has been a re- of inquiry in a heuristic design process. It
tooling of the way the student thinks and observes requires that one crafts toward an idea, learns
their environment. This is still the case, but how is it from its inevitable failure, and makes a new
accomplished when a student feels that there is just version built from the knowledge gained. It is
one correct way to arrive at a predetermined answer only through such a design process that true
and looks to the instructor for step-by-step directions? innovation might be found.
This demands that First-Year architectural pedagogy
respond with new techniques for delivering design The breadth of crafting experiences also builds
content and encouraging self-motivated exploration. a kind of design intuition such that the student
will eventually be able to accurately predict
This paper proposes a Fist-Year pedagogical model certain outcomes and engage in progressively
that presents acts of making as forms of inquiry. It is in more complex and sophisticated
its infancy and has grown and developed along with the investigations. Establishing a heuristic
Marywood University School of Architecture. Which is
just now looking to graduate its first undergraduate
class. Like any design initiative this pedagogical
model continues to evolve, but
sensibility provides the foundation upon which future confidence on the part of the student and models a
design endeavors will be built. It requires instruction successful design process. In the next stages
in the techniques of craft, but also the encouragement students are asked to define ever-greater proportions
to apply them in ways that aren’t conventional. of project scope. Here they are introduced to
analytical and interpretive skills and expected to make
The Key is Structure… and then the Lack of it critical decisions based upon them. The rules
established earlier can be broken with adequate
Accomplishing the educational goals described earlier justification. As student design priorities begin to
is dependent on pedagogical sequencing. Central to emerge assessment is largely based on adherence to
our proposed First-Year model is rigor and structure their own established goals and criteria. The results
at the outset followed by gradually relinquishing that are wildly divergent. Students are able to see a much
control to the students. In the first stage of instruction wider range of possible designs and methods for
students are given clear rules to hone skills and implementing them. The provided opportunity for a
techniques of craft and representation. The scope of cross-pollination of ideas contributes to a growing
the project is almost entirely defined by the instructor repertoire of design applications.
and the results are largely predictable. This builds
Fig. 1. First-Year, first semester curricular structure. Technical and crafting skill tied to design exploration.
This logic has implications, not only in the course extraordinarily complex set of variables necessary to
development of a beginning design studio, but also in produce a building, they are instead asked to focus on
the larger undergraduate curriculum. In the First-Year tectonic assembly, spatial composition, and ordering
when students are most skeptical about this approach systems. In each subsequent section of the
to thinking, they are given very rigorous highly curriculum, students are able to leverage knowledge,
structured assignments. During this time they are technique, and application through process in the
able to build-up a diverse skill set of crafting generation of gradually more complex architecture
techniques (Figure 1). Additionally they are provided (Figure 2). They do not leave the lessons of First-
with numerous opportunities to experiment with those Year behind, nor do they replace them with new
techniques in the pursuit of newly generated ideas. lessons. Instead, the goal is to expand upon them,
Buildings are not the goal. Instead of the
and find new and more sophisticated ways to architecture. But, that is not its most important
examine themv. accomplishment. The graduates that emerge from a
model like this, one very much dependent on First-
The larger curricular model produced by this kind of Year design pedagogy, are prepared to explore new
pedagogical structure produces graduates that have disciplinary challenges as they arise and continue to
thoroughly examined many facets of the discipline of evolve as designers.
Fig. 2. First-Year, second semester curricular structure. Crafting skills advanced. Student design process more self-motivated.
A Snapshot of our First-Year important thing; it requires the student to determine

the degree of enclosure necessary to constitute a
In the First-Year at Marywood students are surprised space. This immediately begins developing their
to discover that they will design no buildings. Instead visual sensibility and forces them into a scenario
the focus is on space, and the tectonic elements that requiring multiple iterations to generate an adequate
define and configure it.vi Students focus on the outcome. Thus, design process is introduced.
crafting of those elements to precisely affect space.
And, they do it in a way that demands constant As students experiment with various configurations of
experimentation with regard to the performance of cuts, scores, and folds the project becomes a vehicle
elements and joints that express their behavior for developing other crafting skills. They are asked to
through the way they are built. The road toward draw different versions using a variety of media and
cultivating process is begun by dismantling techniques. Organization and ordering skills are
preconceptions and replacing them with imagination. introduced as strategies for arranging spaces. And,
new crafting techniques are learned as students are
Fall Semester is highly structured. It begins with a forced to abandon the simplicity of cutting and folding
deceptively simple project – The Fold. For this in order to add thickness and structure.
students are asked to construct as many spaces as
possibly by cutting and folding paper along a
predetermined grid without ever completely dividing
the page. Despite its apparent simplicity, it does one
Fig. 3. Fold Project. Making/Defining/Understanding

Space
The Fold project is important as an introduction to

thinking, making, and the crafting skills required
throughout the rest of the semester (Figure 3). It
establishes a level of rigor that is maintained
throughout subsequent projects.
The rest of the semester is comprised of multiple Fig. 4. Compositional analysis of Mural. Later
short projects culminating in the construction of a synthesis of information studied.
tectonic sheltervii . The process begins with each
studio building drawing skills by collaboratively Students interpret their mural and translate
reproducing a masterwork painting or drawing. That compositional information into spatial informationix.
mural forms the basis of remaining study. Once This process requires many versions and reflection.
complete students conduct a compositional analysis Throughout, students move back and forth between
of it indicating instances of alignment, pattern, edge, physical construction and drawing. The end result is
boundary, and territory (Figure 4). These analyses a tectonic shelter (Figure 5). The shelter is not a
are then used as a catalyst for constructing spacesviii . building, but a spatial construct that enables students
to study issues of spatial proportion and ordering. It is
positioned within a field, also derived from the
analysis of the mural, as a rudimentary introduction to
contextual response.
Whereas the Fall Semester is broken into many small

projects that introduce design process and skill
development, the Spring Semester is dedicated to
applying those skills to fewer, more complex projects.
It focuses on building existing skills and applying
design process toward inquiry and generating ideas in
Fig. 5. The Tectonic Shelter. A culmination of design a more self-motivated way. The curricular structure
principles and crafting skills in the first semester. begins to loosen.
Marywood University’s Foundation Design sequence

terminates in what we call the Promenade Project. It
is still not a building, but it is as close as any of our
students have come to designing one. Toward that
end the semester is phased in such a way as to
promote more specific material, spatial, and a set of spatial experiences that have been carefully
experiential investigations. The students are still choreographed by the studentx (Figure 7).
concentrating on craft and its ability to foster ideas.
However, the nature of those ideas has grown from
simple composition and ordering systems to include
issues of habitation: light, material, and spatial
sequence.
Students begin with an analysis of film and look for

ways that filmic information can be translated into
spatial information. To do this they are introduced to
new techniques for diagramming to build upon those
already introduced in the prior semester. Based off of
this analysis they construct shadowboxes to observe
the behavior of light relative to material, proportion,
and assembly (Figure 6). The shadowboxes are
motivated by vignette and aim to recreate certain Fig. 7. The Promenade Project. The shadowbox is
phenomenal conditions observed in the film and extended into a multi-spatial, tectonic construct
analyzed in the diagram. responsive to contextual masses.
Successes and Reflection
“…let us assume that we are equally inspired by our

faith in the things we create: you with your thirst for
knowledge and I, with a devotion no less great, a
devotion, based on experience of forty years,
impelling me more than ever to new discoveries.”xi
- Le Corbusier
The shift proposed in this pedagogical model is a

subtle one. The outcomes of student work may not
differ tremendously from other models. The real shift
Fig. 6. The Shadowbox. Students experiment with is in priority. Instead of focusing exclusively on
material, proportion, and assembly toward representation skills, this model focuses on the
manipulating the behavior of light and making an application of those skills toward generative process.
experiential environment. It is also a model that has proven crucial to our
School of Architecture. As Marywood University’s
As design tools applied in the film become more clear, School of Architecture is in its infancy our students
and are translated into an architectural language, the have very few previous cohorts to serve as
shadowboxes are expanded to encompass multiple exemplars. We do not have either the burden or
scenes as a sequence of spaces. The construct is luxury of tradition. So, in place of the tremendous
given context. Relationships of movement and archive of student work on which other schools rely,
transition are not only explored internally as one we are relying on more introspective approach. It is
moves from space to space, but also externally as one that is more focused on the route of exploration
one crosses from inside to outside. Promenade is than any precious outcome. It based on craft and not
understood as the circulation of an occupant from one product.
space to the next entertaining issues of threshold,
transition, encounter and discovery. The outcome is Despite the shift in priority away from product – and
away from skill training – our students have
consistently produced extraordinary outcomes, as result of ambitiously perfecting craft and its ability to
well demonstrated great technical proficiency. The lend clarity to concept.
pedagogical model that has guided these students
through their introduction to architecture explains a These are sensibilities that are applicable to every
result like this one. When content is layered and stage of design education. Throughout subsequent
integrated students learning is compounded. Craft is studios these skills and motivations will be developed,
not learned for its own sake but rather as a generator extended, and built upon in ever more sophisticated
of ideas. Ideas are not dreamt, but built up through architectural proposals. In this pedagogical model
rigorous trial and error. And, product becomes a design process is not taught, nor is it a result of pure
talent. It is, in every respect, cultivated.
Notes
simplicity is, above all, a triangulation of the experimental field.”
in Gregotti, Vittorio; Inside Architecture; MIT Press; 1996.
i
Kahn, Louis I.; Louis I. Kahn: Conversations with Students; vii
Using Gottfried Semper’s four tectonic elements aids students
Architecture at Rice 26; Princeton Architectural Press;1998
in understanding the spatial implications of form without
ii
Understand Howard Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligences resorting to fantastical formalism. No matter the complexity of
gives us insight into the changing climate of First-‐-‐-‐year design form “the original constituent parts can still be distinguished” by
education. With primary education emphasizing the “Logical-‐-‐-‐ virtue of these basic elements. Semper, Gottfried. The Four
Mathematical Intelligence” and very nearly eliminating studies Elements of Architecture and Other Writings. Translated by Harry
that cater to “spatial intelligence” students are no longer as Francis Mallgrave and Herrmann Wolfgang. Cambridge:
equipped to “perform transformations, and modifications upon Cambridge University Press, 1989.
one’s initial perceptions.” Gardener, Howard; Frames of Mind: viii
This is the sort of diagram that design can be extracted from
The Theory of Multiple Intelligences; tenth anniversary edition;
that Kwinter refers to: “The diagram is an invisible matrix, a set of
HarperCollins; 1983.
instructions that underlies-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐and most importantly organizes-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐the
iii
James Eckler (one author of this paper) presents an array of resevoir of potential [forces] that lies at once actively and stored
design principles, analytical techniques, and crafting skills and within an object or an environment. It determines which features
their potential to foster new ideas and be used in design process. are expressed and which are saved. It is in short, the motor of
Much of Marywood University’s First-‐-‐-‐Year curriculum is based on matter, the modulus that controls what it does.” from Kwinter,
the objective to “discover what something can be, rather than Sanford; Introduction (titled The Judo of Cold Construction) to The
identifying what it is” Atlas of Novel Tectonics by Jesse Reiser and Nakano Unemoto;
iv Princeton Architectural Press; 2006.
The idea presented by Juhani Pallasmaa that “only embodied
ix
knowledge divorced from conscious attention seems to be useful Gottfried Semper provides insight into the extent to which
in creative work” lends credence to our goals of linking craft and fundamental elements of form influence design at many scales,
conception such that the architectural idea is permitted to across the allied “technical arts.” Through architecture “we also
emerge from the act of making. Pallasmaa, Juhani; The Thinking encounter those simpler works to which the artistic instinct was
Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture; John first applied.” This notion is the basis for introducing process
Wiley & Sons; 2009 using simpler structures from allied artistic disciplines. In this
v instance we use painting in another we use film. Semper,
In the same way that Hutchins describes the multi-‐-‐-‐step structure
Gottfried. Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical
of ocean navigation, we use the accumulation crafting skills and
Aesthetics. Translated by Harry Francis Mallgrave and Michael
their various applications to design as a framework for structuring
Robinson. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, J. Paul Getty
curricula. “In an external representation, structure can be built up
Trust, 2004
gradually-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐a distribution of cognitive effort over time-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐so that the
x
final product may be something that no individual could represent Here we expand on the understanding and application of
all at once internally.” from Hutchins, Edwin; Cognition in the tectonic logic to include overarching strategies for bringing
Wild; MIT Press; 1996. cohesion to the architectural construct. Bötticher “distinguished
vi between the Kernform and Kunstform; between the core of the
The idea that process and experimentation are prioritized over
timber rafters and the artistic representation of the same
product is underscored by Vittorio Gregotti who reminds us that
elements” in his understanding of tectonic “as signifying a
“...an interior right in interrelations rather than in form for which
complete system binding all parts of the Greek temple into a
single whole.” In contrast Semper’s tectonic taxonomy

divided the building into multiple built systems and
distinguished only between “two fundamental procedures:
the tectonics of the frame and the stereotomics of the
earthwork.” Frampton, Kenneth. Studies in Tectonic
Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and
Twentieth Century Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press,
1995
xi
Le Corbusier; Talks with Students; Princeton Architectural
Press; 1999
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 FUNDAMENTALS OF THE FOUNDATION: SUSTAINING THE BASICS
curriculum in the face of what we may call the

Perpetual Crisis of the Zero-Sum.
Fundamentals of the
A familiar problem vexes accredited schools in
Foundation: Sustaining architecture throughout North America, and (we
can only assume) beyond. In order to meet the
The Basics stringent requirements imposed by program
accreditation processes, a fundamental range of
Jeffrey Balmer and Michael Swisher skills and capacities are incorporated into the
base set of degree requirements and
University of North Carolina – Charlotte assessments. Further restrictions are imposed –
from within or without – on the number of in-
house credits in a well-meaning effort to ensure
a broad-based liberal arts experience. Host
institutions, under increasing pressure to
Take Nothing for Granted graduate students in a timely manner, may
additionally restrict the maximum number of
Most people are visually illiterate. Why should it credit hours taken before surcharges and other
be otherwise? We have a text-based culture. penalties ensue.
Our educational systems teach us to value text
over image. Thus, for a number of historically inextricable
and valid reasons, we face the crisis of the zero-
Just because you have eyes does not mean to sum. In short: to add something new, we must
say that you can see. From childhood, when we first drop something already in place. In order to
are persuaded to learn the alphabet, through be responsive to notions of new content –
adolescence, when we are taught to amass Sustainability, for instance, we must
vocabulary and word skills, to adulthood, when simultaneously entertain a list of what constitutes
we never finish polishing our ability to ‘old’ content. To ask this inevitable question –
communicate through words, proportionately, in what is dispensable? – we must raise an even
our culture, very few people spend as much time earlier question in the sequence: what is
and patience and intelligence reading images as indispensable?
they do reading text.
In schools of architecture, foundation studies –
what we also call Beginning Design classwork –
Our sophistications of communication are text-
is already pretty full. Like that of subsequent
based, in the spoken and the written word. By
years, it is full of new ideas to be learned, and
comparison, the interpretation of the
skills to be mastered. The proper, indeed the
manufactured image in our culture is
necessary, charge for a First Year program is to
undernourished, ill informed and impoverished.
prepare students to pursue an architectural
education.
Peter Greenaway, from Rembrandt’s J’Accuse
A cynic might suggest that our post-Beginning
Because Nothing is Granted Design colleagues would prefer that all skills be
taught in the first year, freeing them to indulge in
pursuits less onerous than actual pedagogy.
Recent years have seen the necessary and
Cynicism aside, First Year is a preparation for
inevitable return of broadly-based ecological
study: its fundamental nature ensures that
consciousness. Among the effects of this
decisions regarding what to include and what to
change, far more a paradigm shift than a
postpone are crucial, and fraught with
passing fad, are calls to overhaul the curricula at
consequence.
schools of architecture to reflect the new
challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for
For simplicity’s sake, we refer to these
both the profession and society at large.
necessary modes of preparation as The Basics.
As beginning design educators, we argue that
For reasons both obvious, and too numerous to
such fundamentals need be design pedagogy a
list, this curricular overhaul is universally
In the long run, The Basics comprise Beginning
recognized and already well underway. Not
Design’s only necessarily sustainable practice.
surprisingly, we embrace it wholeheartedly. But
change, no matter how necessary or urgent,
never comes without difficult choices.
As foundation design educators, our concerns

for sustainability follow several entwined paths:
some defined by current conventions, others
less so. Among the latter, and the primary
subject of this essay, arises the problem of
sustaining an effective and sufficient First Year
Beginning courses in architecture [should]

provide students with the means to design. This
includes a large dose of learning to visualize
architecture. Toward that end, start with a
working definition of architecture as the
organization of material and form toward
purpose. If sustainability is not a mere list – is
not only about data – but holds potential for
changing what architecture is and what it is
about, then at some point that has to show,
somewhere, somehow as form. This is part of
our concern.
The approach that we take at our school in
teaching first year students prominently trains
them to interpret form diagrammatically. In this,
students not only compose, but also analyze the
composition of form. Thus far, we find that
students can in a relatively short amount of time,
understand the creation of formal relationships,
spatial relationships and sequence, and visual
and physical paths among those forms. This
Fig. 1. Architectural design is premised on visual capacity is at the heart of the diagram as an
‘graphicacy’. Basic exercises in figure-ground lead to analytical and generative tool. It is also a by-
more advanced awareness of syntax of figural and product of visual skill. To speak to any issue
including sustainability, requires a level of
volumetric composition.
capacity to speak at all.
Our argument rests on a parallel supposition:

that students provided with these basics will
ultimately be better able to integrate sustainable
practices. The underlying premise is to
understand the implications of any part of a
practice; one must first understand the general
premise of that practice, and its underlying
principles. Evaluations of architecture require an
understanding of what characterizes
architecture, just as an appreciation for poetry
requires an understanding of what characterizes
poetry
And just as poetry draws upon higher functions

of language itself, architecture draws upon
higher functions of visual and physical modes of
knowledge. Most of us don’t remember learning
language, but it was difficult, and took years.
And before we could have meaningful
discussions, we first had to learn how to put
meaning into those discussions. So, the first task
in beginning design is to measure and augment Fig. 2. Four studies of defined and implied fields
a student’s ability to see and sort through visual derived from the initial figure-ground study in Figure 1.
phenomena, and learn to articulate criteria to The ability to see, and to subsequently construct visual
those observations. In a nutshell, that comprises order isn’t an intrinsic skill, despite widespread claims
the entirety of what we describe as The Basics. that we inhabit a ‘visual’ culture: such capacities must
be learned, and it can be taught.
What Can We Sustain?
Toward a New Basis for The Basics
We begin our direct address on sustainable
practices with a question: is sustainability show-
able? Does it have a significant visual We present an argument here for what is
component or is sustainability a data-driven commonly mislabeled as visual literacy as a pre-
feature of design? Because we are design requisite to competent design. We begin with the
teachers, we concern ourselves with design as a definitions of three abilities:
skill set. Certain aspects of practice, theory and
critique must await basic competence to be
either understood or effective. 1 Literacy: the ability to recognize, interpret
and use letters to represent language.
2 Numeracy: the ability to recognize, and use We argue for leadership from designers, not
numbers to represent mathematical ideas. merely compliance. What follows is one mode of
demonstration to clarify the underlying logic.
3 Graphicacy or graphic ability: the skill to
recognize, interpret and use visible Figure-Ground
elements to represent visual concepts.
We recognize that often a description of formal
All three of these abilities can range between learning raises the specter of formalist thought.
rudimentary and expert. For this narrative, our Our response is simple. In order to read, we
focus is on defining the degree of graphic ability learn the alphabet and the syntax of language.
that is most vital and necessary to beginning Speech occurs all the time without that formal
design education. Furthermore, the sort of learning. However, define literacy as that set of
overall cognitive development fostered by competencies. Recognition of formal structure is
graphic skill needs explication in the face of the the equivalent graphical ability.
real pressure to de-visualize architectural and
design education. Seeing form begins with figure-ground
recognition: it is both a psychological framework
Along with other newfound capacities vying for and an intellectual structure. It makes visual both
inclusion, sustainability as a criterion for objects and their context. It is the foundation of
architectural education appears to presuppose contrast in our visual cortex and, arguably, thus
the ability to design. Yet the fact remains that finds its ways as a term the way that we perceive
fundamental criteria, including conceptual, and organize ideas. Ironically, because of its
contextual, structural and material organization fundamental nature, we often take it for granted
remain dependent on the capacity for making in routine culture. Part of a college education,
order. All of this suggests that formal design skill which includes architecture, is learning to identify
needs to come first. and question what a student formerly
unconsciously assumed.
It is for those reasons - recognition and
interrogation – that figure-ground is indispensible
as a formal idea. It facilitates analysis of single
and multiple relationships among figures and
with the ground. Even in its most diagrammatic
form, the resulting visual model prompts and
tests the clarity of our understanding.
Sustainability as a property blossoms once we
can establish multiple grounds for multiple
observations (See figures 1-3).
The components – distinct observations – thus
become open to arguable order. Simply put, we
can then visualize competing venues for action
in order to determine distinct outcomes. The
judgment as to which outcome is optimal or most
desirable presupposes the clear construction of
alternatives.
Constructing alternatives is the soul of design.
The construction makes ideas see-able. It
makes them graphical. It makes them drawings.
Fig. 3. A simple diagram illustrating other possibilities This is why we draw: to record and provoke
for defined and implied space, in this case using a relational speculation. Drawing proves the
base composition of four figures. Fields shown are
observation of three-dimensional relationships in
a manner akin to the ways that writing explicates
implied by subdivision and proportion.
language.
What follows here is a rather brief synopsis of a However, drawing in its fundamental structure,
sequence of principles tied to exercises that pair offers an intrinsic, distinct epistemology
drawing with design skills acquisition. From this compared to language. It creates a graphical
foundation, we have found that our students are field of action and observation, analysis &
better able to analyze and organize toward a speculation that is native to our response to
purpose. Sustainability is, after all, an outcome, visual evidence.
a set of criteria for acting in the world. Visual Skill
Furthermore, sustainability as a sophisticated set
of relations requires pattern recognition in a Honing the skills of observation/recording and
meaningful way. analysis/speculation within the visual model
defines the expert potential of the graphical
domain. Skill at intelligent visual practice is the
equal of both literacy and numeracy. As such, it the nature of diagramming, particularly its ability
requires distinct training with specific results to to present compound ideas, teaching
develop toward expertise. sustainability must use existing skills or run the
risk of seeming secondary, or even irrelevant.
When we ask what architecture students’ exiting The best strategy for sustainable practices is to
skills need to be, our answer will always
supplement fundamentals of design, not
presuppose competence at utilizing a supplant them.
sophisticated body of knowledge. The base
intellectual skill however, is simple pattern
recognition among both qualitative and
quantitative states of affairs. This ability to
discern, sort, categorize and engage is
intrinsically formal and recognition of formal
pattern needs to be manifest in order to assess
skill. (see figure 4)
Fig. 5. Our research has led us to publish a general

Fig. 4. Basic gestalt principles are tied to fundamental introduction to visual ‘literacy’, with a specific focus on
phenomena of proportion and volume, establishing the principles of formal composition, Diagramming the Big
basis for the student’s nascent development of Idea (Routledge, 2012)
architectural vocabulary.
Diagramming
A beginning design course can either test for
visual skill or teach those skills explicit in
In foundation-level design classes, the relevant
developing expert practice. The best argument
properties of the diagram fall under two
for establishing drawing as a necessary skill is its
categories: strategic form and tactical elements.
utility for both demonstration and assessment,
The strategic forms are reduced drawing,
something it shares with writing and
abstraction and drawing with overlay. The
mathematics. It also supports the argument for
tactical elements are ensigns, figure/ground
design as a practice and not a commentary or
elements. While there are certainly other terms
intent.
possible, the strategies and tactics hold. In
One of the exciting challenges presented by realizing sustainability as an issue, and
sustainability is that, thus far, conversations considering how to teach it, scholars and
have largely relied on data and verbal teachers must recognize those elements which
description. It is our contention that demonstrate themselves (and to what limits)
conversations regarding sustainability rely on within this diagrammatic framework, and which
data. It is our contention that effective teaching do not. Solar orientation certainly is an easy fit.
of sustainability must move to the visual. This Control of apertures, likewise, has a ready
presents two particular opportunities: presenting presence. Material lifecycle, on the hand, is
the sustainable visually and diagramming its nearly impossible to diagram, being a dominantly
effect on quotidian design. We see presentation fact-based concept.
as a fundamental issue of drawing.
In constructing an effective curriculum, issues of
The diagram is fundamental to the design studio sustainability need to separate into fact-based
and studio instruction. Furthermore, because of manipulations, and diagram-based, graphical
ordering. It is incumbent upon upper-level

researchers to consider this if their findings are
to reach the broadest disseminations. Failure to
do so will result in pedagogic isolation from
foundation education, as well as confused and
ineffective future practitioners.
Both for the reasons listed above, and because

of the dearth of existing texts with which to
instruct students on the grammar of architectural
diagramming, we set out three years ago to
develop our own text. Our findings are based on
primarily on our experience as foundations
instructors, but our research was also directed
toward a establishing more broadly-based
discourse on diagramming within the larger
realm of what we have earlier called
‘graphicacy’.
The result of this work, Diagramming the Big

Idea (Routledge, 2012) is designed as a general
introduction to visual ‘literacy’, with a specific
focus on principles of formal composition. Meant
to be useful to beginning students as well as
experienced designers, our aim has been not to
deliver a definitive treatise on the subject, but to
open up a fundamental premise of Foundations
studies for a more energetic discourse, re-
focusing conversations surrounding first
principles in architectural education.
Conclusion
Often the parity of literacy, numeracy and

graphical ability in defining human intelligence
obscures the particular significance and
contribution of each. They ought to work
collaboratively, as partners rather than
antagonists. Parallels exist, translations occur
and correspondences appear. The key to
research in any specialty or concern in design is
balance. The challenge in pedagogy is one of
appropriate timing and fit as regards learning
outcomes, not competition over desired
architectural outcomes. In the end, the more
practiced students are across a variety of
cognitive systems, the more profound their basis
for insight. This holds for architecture. It holds for
sustainability.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 SIMULATION IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN EDUCATION
to use, light and fluid simulation engines. In
Simulation in parallel we are seeing increasing regulatory

requirements for accurate building energy
Architectural Design models which mean that innovative design must
be allied to effective use of simulation throughout
Education -Report on, the design process (Hobbs et al., 2003).
and assessment of, an What this means for architectural education is

that simulation is likely to become an
integral approach within increasingly important part of the design process
and so its incorporation into the design studio, in
the Design Studio ways that are compatible with the way architects
think and work, is an important issue. This paper
Stephen Roe & Chiafang Wu describes 3 design studios which explored this
issue and discusses them in the context of
Feng Chia University Taiwan & National previous research on both the integration of
simulation in the design process and the nature
Taiwan University of Science & Technology
of design-thinking more generally.
Introduction Example Studios 500
The Design Studios discussed in this paper were

carried out at the Architectural Association (AA)
This paper documents and assesses the in the UK and Feng Chia University in Taiwan at
introduction of simulation tools into the taught different levels but generally Part II or graduate
architectural design studio from the early stages level. The overall academic approach in the two
of the design process. And in the process schools is very different, reflecting their different
attempts to initiate a discussion on how academic emphasis and student experience but
architectural education can address this in both contexts the incorporation of simulation
technology, allowing students both a level of into the design studio has been explored and the
comfort with, and a degree of control over, an work done, while very different, is not unrelated.
increasingly important part of the sustainable
design process. The use of simulation in the Design studio
began as a way to access and represent the
Software Developments inherent dynamics of our environment. While this
work was always concerned with low-energy
Up until quite recently simulation tools have sustainable design, simulation was not used only
been the preserve of engineering consultants, for energy calculation but also to generate
large architectural practices with "in-house" design ideas which make apparent this inherent
consultants, or researchers. In recent years , dynamic of the environment.
however we have seen the development of more
user-friendly simulation software such as Example Studio 1: Architectural Association
Ecotect, CFDesign, DesignBuilder, etc. and plug-
ins such as Open Studio for Sketchup, Diva for For example in a Diploma Level Unit at the AA
Rhino and Geco for Grasshopper which called "the Weather Unit" students studied the
integrate simulation into 3D modelling software dynamics of specific weather phenomena -snow,
environments. These tools increasingly allow fog, turbulence, rain etc.- and used simulation
students and architects to run rudimentary tools to develop abstract temporal diagrams of
simulations early in the design process and to these phenomena. These diagrams were then
quickly manipulate their designs as a result. This aligned to specific material performances for
process is only likely to accelerate and which they became the organizational diagrams.
integration is likely to become even more smooth By identifying variations in spatial qualities -light,
as can be seen in Autodesk's Project Vasari enclosure, active or restful moods- the resulting
(currently in Beta) which integrates the tectonic systems were used to create varying
parametric, building information modelling atmospheres within the city. Thus a link was
environment of Revit with, quite basic, but easy
made between dynamic simulation and have a professional degree in architecture or a

geometry at the tectonic scale. related discipline. Students must take 12 credits
a semester in addition to which they must
As an example one student, Billy Choi, studied produce a written research thesis. This seminar
the phenomenon of saltation -the rising of wind- was 3 credits each semester for 2 semesters.
blown snow near the ground. This phenomenon Students had no previous experience of using
was simulated in Maya software using its simulation tools. The seminar course was
particle-dynamics engine to incorporate virtual entitled "Tectonics of the Envelope" and was
analogies of physical forces which then drive the focussed on developing innovative responsive
complex, non-linear movement of particles. facade systems for buildings in the sub-tropical
climate of Taiwan. This climate is characterized
Maya was chosen because, through the toolset
by a long cooling period with intense sunlight in
of Softbodies, it allows a direct translation of
the summer and a shorter "heating" period with
such particle dynamics into geometry. However,
strong winds in the winter (though heating is
as has been recognized, it is not a true physics
rarely used). Students began with case-studies
simulator (Kirkegaard et al. 2008).
of existing facades, they then looked at climate-
responsive natural systems, abstracting them
through a process of modelmaking. These
kinetic prototypes were then remade in the
computer using parametric modelling techniques
to allow the production of different
configurations. These different configurations,
while still at an early stage of development, were
then tested using simulation software (in this
case Ecotect). A notional commercial building in
a built-up area was given as a test site. This
"site" was analysed (again in Ecotect) to identify
varying performance requirements which
produced a "map" of performance criteria. The
performance possibilities of the individual
components were then aligned with this map
Fig. 1. AA Student Billy Choi's Development from while the prototype was refined and the number
Particle Simulation to Tectonic Organization of possible configurations reduced. Based on
this several large scale prototypes (1:2) were
In effect this process is less result-driven and produced (see figure 2).
more playful in its use of simulation tools. The
results of this design process are not necessarily The student illustrated here, Jimmy Diao, began
sustainable or energy-efficient per-se but, with plant stomata as a natural system from
through the process, concepts of dynamics, which a folded paper model was developed the
openness of which could be adjusted. Simulation
pressures, forces etc. which are very different
showed that this could become an effective
form the conventional object-centred way of
adjustable shading device placed in different
working, conventionally employed by architects,
positions according to different outside light-
are introduced. This would hopefully have the
levels and sun-angles. Simulation in this case
related benefits of familiarizing architecture
was used from the very early stages to develop
students with this way of thinking without the
the functional concept (shading); to test the
need to produce scientifically verifiable results. effectiveness of this (and adjust the prototype
And this familiarity may, in turn, help to accordingly); to analyze site conditions (the
overcome the lack of impact of simulation on shading requirements) and to test the final
design (observed by Venancio et al., 2011 implementation.
Hobbs et al., 2003).
This was a much more conventional use of
Example Studio 2: Graduate Programme, Feng simulation than at the AA, using it to test
Chia University, Taiwan performance throughout the design process and
to test/ demonstrate the final result. The project
The second example was done as part of a also stayed within the relatively straightforward,
graduate-level research seminar at Feng Chia and well developed, sunlight-simulation in
University in Taiwan. This is a research-oriented Ecotect.
Masters programme for students who already
could be adjusted to accommodate the varying

climatic requirements of the different
programmes.
These latter two design assignments take a

more conventional approach to simulation to the
studio carried out at the AA however the
intention is not entirely different. It is intended
that the students use the simulation software
and become familiar with the concepts it is
based on and how it works but, given the
pressures of other courses and indeed the actual
design process itself, it is not possible, nor
expected to always produce scientifically
accurate, verifiable results. On the contrary the
intention is to "play" with the tool and to allow
students to become comfortable with using it as
part of a creative process.
Fig. 2. Kinetic Prototype (1:2 Scale) Developed by
Jimmy Diao, a student at Feng Chia University Assessment of Studios
Example Studio 3: Undergraduate Programme, It is intended that the design processes

Feng Chia University, Taiwan described here fit more with the way architects
learn and acquire skills than the way simulation
A third example of the use of simulation is is most often taught to architects (or more
provided by an undergraduate design studio commonly architectural-researchers (Venancio
carried out as part of the 4th year of a 5 year et al., 2011)) which is based on engineering
professional architecture degree programme at paradigms of problem-solving. Those techniques
Feng Chia University in Taiwan. Unlike in the UK while essential and important for training
relatively few credits are given for studio design professional simulation consultants and
(3 credits per semester out of up to 25) The researchers would form a barrier to the
amount of time spent on design does not reflect incorporation of simulation into architectural
this but it does make it challenging to introduce teaching (as a result of limited time, limited
new design concepts. The studio had a defined technical ability and incompatibility with the
programme (a Museum of World Climate) and a design process) and by extension into the
site an intermediate semi-rural area between two architect's own set of conceptual tools which is
densely developed urban areas (a not the long-term aim.
uncommon condition in Taiwan) zoned for
"Cultural/ Recreational Uses". The intention was Lawson who has researched and written
that the Museum would recreate past climates extensively about how designers think (2006)
through the interaction of the building with the and what they know (2004) emphasises the
real local climate, using as little energy as importance of 'Knowing by doing" for designers
possible. So in some areas (the Ice Ages) there and how the learning process is based around
would be requirements for cooling while in others this core insight -carried out through the design
there would be heating. These were given as a studio- and how this is fundamentally different
list of climate conditions in the brief. Students from how engineers are educated and learn.
began by looking at different types of leafs and Davies (1985) who carried out extensive one-to-
the relationships between form and constraint one interviews with esteemed designers
and form and performance -in terms of light and discovered the importance of what many called
fluids. From these they developed adjustable "intuition" to their design process, however
paper models which could vary shape through digging deeper it was revealed how this
the manipulation of one or two parameters (e.g. "intuition" was based on extensive experience. In
edge-length, curvature, fold-angle etc.). These this context it can be important to "play" with the
were then recreated in the computer using tools which we are to use as it gives the freedom
parametric design software and the design was to approach them from different angles, or even
tested. Lighting performance was again tested in misuse them but from this play we gain
Ecotect while air-flow performance was tested in experience which becomes part of our the
CFDesign (Figure 3). Based on these prototypes background of later intuitive decisions.
a variable roof prototype was proposed which
It is hoped that by the end of the studio students (indeed not all students in the studios mentioned
would have acquired enough skills to be able to were able to do so) and it certainly takes a long
use rudimentary simulation at the early design time to master these tools to the point to be able
stage themselves, to understand results, their to effectively set up, control and interpret the
implications and limitations, and to be prepared simulation. This is especially true of CFD
to engage proactively with consultants for more simulation which, even in the relatively user-
precise simulation in the later design stages, friendly interface of CFDesign, requires detailed
understanding and respecting the specialized and careful setup to even start simulation and
nature of this skill. this difficulty is then exacerbated by the non-
linear and sometimes unpredictable nature of
(In this way we see some analogy with the the results. This, combined with the many other
traditional teaching of structures in architectural things students at this level today need to learn
design courses, where students learn the basic in design studio, can lead to a feeling of
concepts and should be able to design "information overload" for some students,
reasonable structural designs at schematic stage especially those struggling with other aspects of
but also recognize that at later stages any the curriculum. While these studios were
structural calculations must be carried out by designed to make use of the richness of
those qualified to do so i.e. structural engineers.) information produced this could easily become a
hindrance. Therefore means to manage and
prioritize large quantities of information need to
be developed. For instance even "simple" solar
simulations produce variable data for different
days and different times. How to use this vast
range of possibilities requires the development
of an understanding of temporal change but also
a prioritizing and "statistical" approach to design
optimization.
One of the dangers with this kind of software

being used by untrained architects and students
is "garbage-in, garbage-out". This is inevitable
but, if we see the use of these softwares as the
beginning of a process of education -and not as
an end in itself, then in the wider context of
exposing students to the techniques used by
their engineering colleagues, and which are
Fig. 3. Ecotect and CFDesign Simulations of Roof likely to become more widely used in future
Components by Chasin Chen, a student at Feng Chia architectural practice, this may be less of an
University. issue. Nevertheless it is hoped that students can
gradually become more, if not expert, then
It is also hoped that a more fundamental proficient in inputting relevant information and
conceptual "shift" has taken place from seeing obtaining meaningful results.
buildings as isolated objects and forms to seeing
them as performative "instruments" which are
intimately linked to the flows of light, heat and
Abductive Decision-Making
fluids within which they are immersed. It is this
understanding that is potentially the most Richard MacCormac has been quoted as saying:
important and of most long-term benefit. For, "I don't think you can design anything just by
whereas softwares change quickly and are soon absorbing information and then hoping to
out of date, the more fundamental issue of synthesize it into a solution. What you need to
buildings' relation to the environment is not going know about the problem only becomes apparent
to go away, certainly not in the professional as you're trying to solve it" Alvelos (2011). This
lifetimes of today's students where it is, on the Alvelos takes as an example of what March
contrary, likely to become increasingly critical. (1976) called, following C.S. Peirce, "abductive
thinking" ("Deduction proves that something
Issues
must be; induction shows that something
actually is operative; abduction suggests that
On the other hand it must be acknowledged that
simulation software takes some time to learn something may be.") and is particularly prevalent
in design. Abductive thinking means that the into architects' working methods throughout the
problem & solution are "emergent", emerging design process.
into clarity together through the process of
design. As Alvelos writes: As a counter to this problem Venancio et al.
(2011) propose, following Nigel Cross' (2006) so-
"Emergent properties are those that are perceived, or called "Designerly" approach to the use of
recognised, in a partial solution, or a prior solution, that simulation tools. The ambition was to reduce the
were not consciously included or intended. In a sketch, reliance on purely qualitative methods in design
for example, an emergent aspect is something that
and to introduce more useful quantitative
was not drawn as itself, but which can be seen in the
overlaps or relationships between the drawn
information into the process. According to Cross
component s. In the process of designing. the problem (2006): "Due to the ill-defined nature of the
and the solution develop together." Alvelos (2011) design problem, the definition of design solutions
is made according to a solution-based approach,
What is important in the context of the teaching in contrast to the scientific problem-based
described here is that it is through doing, through approach" so it was proposed to use simulation
working with the problem that the problem to provide answers to design "dilemmas" but
becomes clarified and the solution emerges also possibly to identify the "dilemmas". Some
synchronously. The corollary of this is that if the of the assumptions provided in the paper are of
issues raised by simulation are not worked with, most interest in this context:
solutions will not arise, as the problems are not
visible. In these studios the design decision- - One of the most significant is that simulation for
making process is altered by the integration of design can be less accurate, freeing up time
simulation into design from the very beginning of from inputting highly detailed and irrelevant data.
the process, rather than close to, or at the end,
as is more common. Simulation gives the - Dilemmas consist of both pragmatic constraints
students the possibility to understand, work with (which can be directly input) and abstract
and clarify the issues of energy in building constraints (which need to be processed by the
through working directly with the interaction of designer before being input into the simulation) -
matter and energy through the tool of simulation. In this case the architect becomes integral to the
Simulation gives not just another tool, but simulation process, and actually reduces the
another way of visualizing the problem and problem of "garbage-in, garbage out" as the
moving towards a solution. designs inputted take account of the many
intangibles that purely pragmatic constraints
Comparison to previous research cannot.
Morbitzer et al. (2001, 2003) describe some - Shortcuts -precedents, experience etc. are an
admirable work in developing tools to important part of the process in practice, and
incorporate simulation into the working methods cannot be discounted.
of an architectural practice. However as
Venancio et al. (2011) have already pointed out, All of this points towards the benefits of a closer
the tools are specifically intended for use at 3 integration of simulation into the design process
distinct design stages and as such correspond and counter-intuitively how the recognition of the
more closely to the model of "internal consultant" importance of qualitative, abstract criteria can
rather than reflecting true integration into the actually make simulations more accurate and
architects' design process. As Venancio et al. quantitatively more useful.
also point out this analysis at discrete points in
Conclusions
the process is not related to the way architects
actually think (see above). One reason for this
The following conclusions can be drawn from the
approach was that, at the time that research was
teaching and research described:
carried out (over 10 years ago) simulation
software was very expensive, and, even with the - From recent developments in software and
improved interfaces designed by the researchers regulation it is clear that simulation is likely to
required quite a bit of time to set up and to run become an increasingly important part of the
simulations (hence the need for "QA" or design process for architects.
restriction of access which is emphasised in the
papers). Today however simulation software is - One approach to overcoming the current lack
more easily available, and easier to learn so of impact of simulation on design is to increase
there is more potential for a seamless integration architectural students' familiarity with the
software, its processes and protocols.
- "Play" is an important part of this process of International IBPSA Conference Eindhoven,

familiarization. Netherlands, August 11-14, 2003, pp. 491-498
Kirkegaard, P.H.; Hougaard, M.; Stærdahl, J.W. "On

- A conceptual "shift" is needed, from seeing Computational Fluid Dynamics Tools in Architectural
buildings as isolated objects and forms, to Design" in DCE Technical Report No. 55, Aalborg
seeing them as performative "instruments" which University, 2008
are intimately linked to the flows of light, heat
Lawson, Brian. What designers know. Architectural
and fluids within they are immersed.
Press, Oxford, 2004.
- Simulation software takes some time to learn Lawson, Brian. How designers think: the design
but using and "playing" with it while being learnt process demystified. Architectural Press, 4th ed.
can accelerate the process. Oxford, 2006.
March, Lionel. ”The Logic of Design" in The

- Students need to develop the means to
Architecture of Form, Cambridge University Press
prioritize large quantities of information and use
(1976, reissued 2010)
this effectively in their designs.
Morbitzer, Christoph; Spires, Brian; Strachan, Paul;
- "Garbage-in, garbage-out" is less critical than it Webster, Jim; Cafferty, David. "Integration Of Building
would be with purely analytical research, though Simulation Into The Design Process Of An Architecture
it is still an issue. Practice" in Proceedings of the Seventh International
IBPSA Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 13-
- To truly become part of architects' design 15, 2001 pp. 697-704
process simulation must be incorporated into the
"abductive" reasoning process.
Future research:
Future teaching in this direction would look at:
- Streamlining workflow between different

softwares so that the focus can be on simulation,
interpretation and design rather than, as is
currently still often the case, issues of software
compatibility, data translation etc.
- Teaching students to manage and prioritize the

large amounts of information they produce
- Continuing to develop "playful" ways of using

simulation as an integral part of the design
process.
Notes
Alvelos, Heitor. "Too Much by Too Many? In search of

a role for Design in 2010" in Notes on Doctoral
Research in Design - Contributions from the
Politecnico di Milano, Milan, 2011, pp. 13-16
Cross, Nigel "Designerly ways of knowing: design

discipline versus design science". in Design Issues,
(2001) 17(3), pp. 49–55
Davies, Robert. A Psychological Enquiry into the Origin

and Implementation of Ideas, M.Sc. Thesis,
Department of Management Sciences, University of
Manchester. 1985
Hobbs, Dan; Morbitzer, Christoph; Spires, Brian;

Strachan, Paul; Webster, Jim. "Experience Of Using
Building Simulation Within The Design Process Of An
Architectural Practice" in Proceedings of the Eighth
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 ARCHITECTUAL DESIGN PEDAGOGY

Architectural Design Pedagogy: building technology, theory, history and practical

skills such as drawing or model making, it follows
Improving Student Learning that there is merit to finding out how learning
Outcomes effectiveness in taught subjects can be
maximised by extending its influence.
Rokhshid Ghaziani, Azadeh Montazami and
Frazer Bufton Coventry University
An often-tenuous connection between design
modules and taught modules can mean that
information is a lot about broad principles and
Introduction
ideas and lacks the focus of a specific
application to the students’ design project. Often
The design studio lies at the heart of
these ‘taught’ modules are delivered by
architectural education where learning through a
specialist tutors, who may differ from those
well-documented pedagogical process of
delivering studio projects and their ability to
‘learning by doing’ forms the primary student
reference specific aspects of design projects
experience. Architectural education is
may be compromised as a result. The results
necessarily imperfect. Teaching architectural
emerging from our initial module evaluations,
design means different things to different people;
feedback, student forums and personal tutor
each educator teaches according to his/her own
groups, has demonstrated that the students are
set of ideologies and beliefs and in a manner
frustrated by the poor relationship between
that is distinct from others. Concomitantly, there
taught modules and their work in studio.
is a tremendous diversity of contents, areas of
Repeatedly the criticism was not about the
emphasis, and methods of teaching in different
specific delivery or content of these modules, but
schools and even within one school (Salama,
‘how do they inform my design projects?’ and
2006).
‘how are they relevant to my work?’ This study
has endeavoured to find out how we might
improve the students’ learning experience by
strengthening the link between taught modules
At Coventry, like many schools of architecture,
and studio projects.
the design studio is the meeting point where
what is learned in all the subjects is
demonstrated. However, as a new course we
The purpose of this study is to investigate
are aware that in our efforts to establish a course
whether the Cultural Context and Construction,
which meets the requirements and criteria of not
Technology and Environment modules taught to
just the ARB and RIBA but is also a reflection of
undergraduate architecture students are
our own aspirations in the teaching of
transferred into their studio work. It also attempts
architecture there may be a disconnection
to identify how changes to the teaching and
between the teaching and learning occurring
programme can strengthen this relationship.
‘outside’ in taught modules and that which takes
Background
place within the design studio. This can result in
a failure to transfer relevant learning, skills and
The status of design education generally and the
understanding to design projects through
design studio especially, appears to have
effective discussion and feedback seeded by the
reached a critical stage at the present time and
material delivered in taught subjects. Where
many writers agree that radical changes have to
Cultural Context and Technology are taught as
occur. What can be argued is design education
part of the architecture course, the design studio
has suffered from a lack of intellectual rigour
ethos may fail to support or draw on their
which has in part been caused by the subjective
learning outcomes (and vice versa) and
knowledge and irrational creativity that have
therefore isolate, undermine or marginalise this
existed at the core of design process in the
part of the curriculum.
design studio.
If we accept that the pedagogical approach of

the design studio gives us the best opportunity
Often an emphasis on original and ‘creative’
for teaching architecture and all aspects of
designs outweighs designs which ‘work’ (serve
architectural ideas, including formal aesthetics,
functional requirements, are buildable, etc) and
students imitate the style of fashionable (1984), who developed ideas from earlier models
architects without understanding the context of of experimental learning. In Kolb cycle (Figure
their creation, the implications for users of their 1), firstly, learners are involved fully and freely in
project or the appropriateness of their solutions new experiences (CE). Secondly, they must
for the local context in which they are placed. In have enough time to be able to reflect on
this situation less experienced students view experience from different perspective (RO).
architectural design as an opportunity to express Thirdly, learners need to form, re-form and
their inner creative urges, rather than as a process their ideas and integrate their new idea
challenge to resolve a complex set of technical and understanding into sound, logical theories
and social issues (Gross and Do, 1997). (AC). These middle two parts in the cycle can be
Architectural instruction further aggravates the strongly influenced by the feedback from others.
problem whereby in many architectural schools, Finally, moving forward, the fourth point (AE) is
teaching is divided between the design studio, using the enhanced understanding to make
where the design projects are ‘tutored’ and decision and solve problem, and test implication
lecture-based modules where the historical and and usage in new situation. It is suggested that
technical subjects are ‘taught’. learning process can be started from each points
of Kolb cycle and it depends on the tutors and
learners. This cycle should be repeated
Considering a taxonomy of educational constantly to improve the learning outcome.
objectives, Bloom's developed a classification
framework for writing educational objectives
which is certainly applicabale for architecture
education. In this classification by Bloom
developed by Anita Harrow (1972), cognitive
domain is divided to:
1. Knowledge: recognise or recall information.

2. Comprehension: demonstrate that the
student has sufficient understanding to organise
and arrange material mentally.
3. Application: a question that asks a student to
apply previously learned information to reach an
answer.
4. Analysis: higher order questions that require
students to think critically and in depth.
5. Synthesis: higher order question that asks the
student to perform original and creative thinking.
6. Evaluation: a higher level question that does Fig. 1 The Kolb Learning Cycle (Fry, 2009)
not have a single correct answer. It requires the
student to judge the merit of an idea, a solution
to a problem, or an aesthetic work. The student Like many schools of architecture, Coventry
may also be asked to offer an opinion on an University states that learning from all the
issue. subjects outside the studio should be
demonstrated in the studio, and that the studio is
the meeting point for all other input. However,
In view of bloom’s taxonomy and the nature of whilst there should be integration among lecture-
‘design’ which is a process that involves phases based modules and design studio projects to
of analytical understanding, critical thinking, and enhance understanding and design quality,
creative decision making (Salama, 2005), students themseleves often face difficulties in
architecture students should be able to apply effectively integrating and applying the
what they learn in studio for the distinct phases knowledge gained into their design.
of analysis (analytical understanding) and
synthesis (creative decision making) of their
design work. In addition, the most widespread The literature review demonstrates that the
theory of learning is called experimental relationship between Cultural Context and
learning, which is associated with David Kolb design studio has never been thoroughly studied
before. It can also be argued that architectural stage of design synthesis due to the influence it
design and Cultural Context are treated as two will have upon the design.
distinct disciplines with an unresolved and
largely indistinct relationship. Whilst the learning
from lecturers in Technology can be obviously Methodology
reflected in studio projects, that from Cultural
Context lecturers is not so easy to identify and is This study focuses on the course objectives and
often relegated to a search for precedents, method of teaching Cultural Context, and
promting authors such as Deborah Howard to Construction Technology & Environment and in
write, ‘…the direct relevance of the taught history particular to their integration into design studio
courses to design work is not always easily from Year 1 to Year 3. Semi-structured
identified’ (Howard, 2002, p 349). Some authors interviews were carried out to gather view of 15
acknowledge difficulties in the relationship architecture students accross a range of abilities
between history and studio and describe projects in each of these year groups studying
carried out to address the perceived problem. architecture at Coventry University. The
Interviews asked questions regarding the
application of Cultural Context and Construction
Wilson and Stewart (2007) argue that history Technology and Environment modules in design
and theory is either not impacting on the studio studio. As a developing course in only its 4th
project or its impact is not recognised; its role year, the BSc (Hons) in Architecture, it is well
would be strengthened if it was seen to have an placed to consider how current practice can be
impact. However, Flora Samuel (2001) of the investigated to improve student engagement and
Welsh School of Architecture appeared to study learning outcomes in this area and ultimately
the relationship between history and studio. Her give depth and credibility to our students’ work.
paper describes a first year student assignment Overall, 50 questionnaires were collected from
as a vehicle for this assessment. The students in the three years to be analysed. The
assignment was specifically a studio questions were principally based on rating scale
assignment, based round the reading of a text. (from 1 to 5) but in addition, there were three
Samuel concludes, ‘the history lecture or open questions asking the students’ views on
seminar provides an excellent forum for the how we might improve the link between the
discussion and development of habits of criticism design studio and two lecture-based (taught)
and enquiry’ (Samuel, 2001, p 7). modules.
When looking at Construction Technology and Results and Discussion

Environment, we are continually faced with the
same question: why are architecture students Students’ perception about the tutors’ level of
having difficulty in integrating technology into delivery and tutors’ level of expectation for the
their design. According to a research integration of taught modules in design studio
collaboration carried out by the Universities of were questioned. The results show a significant
Buffalo, Utah, Florida, Oregon, and Virginia, the difference among the students’ responses
answer is because of three basic problems across the department about the level of delivery
namely; the structure of the curriculum, the of Cultural Context (ANOVA T test, n=44,
teaching methods and the instructional tools, p<0.05). About 90% of the Year 1 and Year 3
which are often borrowed from engineering students think what is delivered to them is at the
courses and do not satisfy the architecture right level and easy to understand; however only
students’ need (Vassigh, 2005). It was further less than half of year 2 students (40%) have
concluded that the teaching of a structure course similar opinion. It needs to be mentioned that
within architecture programmes faces a major around half of the students do not have any clear
problem in the delivery systems (teaching idea whether the level of expectation is high or
methods) because the architecture students low. About 38% believe it is high and only 15%
struggle with a traditional engineering-based think the level is low. This could be related to
approach to structures instruction, which is the nature of Culture and Context module, as it
increasingly unsuitable (Hyett, 2000). However, is not directly ask students to reflect anything in
the integration of structure (and construction their design module. In addition, there is not a
technology) should be considered in the initial significant difference among the students’
responses across the department about the level In addition, there is not a significant difference
of delivery and expectation (ANOVA T test, among the students’ responses across the
n=44, n=43,P>0.05) for the Construction departmnet about having the deisgn project in
Technology and Environment module. Around relation to Construction Technology and
74% of students believe that materials are at the Environment, and Cultural Context modules
right level and easy to understand while around (ANOVA T test, n=44, P>0.05). Interestingly,
half of the students think that tutors’ expectation 63% of students believe having design exercises
is higher than what it is taught. related to their design project within Construction
Technology and Environment, and Cultural
Context modules would be beneficial for their
It can be concluded that the students cannot design project. It can be argued that having
move through taxonomy levels to reach to small design projects within the thought modules
‘application’ level. This issue may be changed by with the focus of what is learned in these taught
involvement of tutors who teach for the taught modules would develop this integration.
modules in the design studio. The students’ Therefore, the following Kolb learning cycle is
perception were also questioned regarding the suggested to integrate taught modules with the
involvement of taught tutors in design module. It design module. The outer circle shows the
needs to be mentioned that in year 1, students process of learning (according to the Kolb
have the benefit of having their Construction learning cycle) in the design studio. The inter
Technology and Environment tutors in design circle shows the taught modules. As illustrated in
studio. In year 2, students do not have this Figure 2, it is suggested that at different points,
benefit. In year 3, students do not have any the taught and design modules should be
Construction Technology and Environment integrated effectively.
module while they have the advantage of the
tutors who teach Construction Technology and
Environment in other years in design studio.
Based on the result, there is not a significant

difference among the students reponses across
the departmnet about the involvemnet of
Construction Technology and Environment tutors
in design module (ANOVA T test, n=44, P>0.05).
The result shows that 93% of year 2, 73% of
year 3 and 60% of year 1 believe the
involvemnet of Construction Technology and
Environment tutors would have benefit for design
studio. In addition, some students suggested
more interactive sessions for group tutorials or
asking questions as well as visiting real projects.
Regarding the involvement of Cultural Context Fig. 2 Suggested Kolb Cycle for Architecture Course
tutors, in year 1, students do not have the benefit When students have tutorial, tutors should have
of having these tutors in design studio while in a tutorial with cross-referencing the information
year 2 and year 3 they have this opportunity. that have been delivered in the taught modules.
The result shows that on average, more than Therefore, it would be beneficial for students that
half of the year 1 (55%) agree with the the taught module tutors can be involved in the
involvement of the Cultural Context tutors while design studio. Students also have highlighted
in year 2, 53% and in year 3 , 40% disagree. It this issue. They think tutors of taught modules
can be concluded that the benefit of such an should be familiar with the design brief, and
involvement is not notably clear. However, teach them relevant materials useful for their
among the comments, students express their design projects.
interest in learning new theories in architecture
and having lectures about how architects
develop their ideas. In addition, when students reform (improve) their
design projects, it would be beneficial for them to
do some small design exercises as part of their
4
taught modules. The outcome could help them Howard, D. Teaching Architectural History in Great
to apply the relevant information in their design Britain and Australia: Local. Conditions and Global
and move from ‘comprehension’ and ‘knowledge’ Perspectives. Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians, 61 (2002). p 346-354.
level to ‘application’ level of the bloom taxonomy
to be able to complete the analysis, synthesis 5
Hyett, P. Architectural Students Must be Properly
and evaluation phases of their design as part of Equipped to Practice. The Architectural Journal, 212
this cyclic process. (2000).
6
Salama, A. “A Process Oriented Design Pedagogy:
Conclusions KFUPM Sophomore Studio” .College of Environmental
Design King Fahd University of Petroleum and
The design studio is the core of the architectural Minerals- KFUPM - Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. CEBE
Transactions, 2 (2005). p 16-31.
education in most if not all UK schools of
architecture. Therefore, it is perhaps obvious 7
Salama, A. “Design Studio Teaching Practices:
that the studio assignments should form the
Between traditional, revolutionary, and virtual models”.
basis for the majority of the teaching and College of Environmental Design King Fahd University
learning. These projects should be taken and of Petroleum and Minerals- KFUPM - Dhahran, Saudi
cross-referenced throughout the other modules Arabia. 2006.
to enhance their relevance, understanding of
8
application and the students’ understanding of Samuel, F. “Lower Case History and the
the benefits of a holistic design approach. Development of Reflective Practice in Studio”. Paper
presented at AEE2001 (Architectural Education
Exchange Conference) 11th-12th September 2001,
The tutorial is a key teaching approach in the
Cardiff University. Available at:
design studio which has a strong and valid
http://cebe.cf.ac.uk/aee/sessions/dis2b.html, accessed
tradition in architectural education; therefore, 20 February 2013.
asking lectures who teach outside the studio to
actively participate in teaching and development 9
Vassigh, S. “Structure Learning Center Home”. 2005.
of the studio projects is recommended. Available at: www.learningstructures.org/home.asp.
Consideration should be given to firmly linking accessed 20 May 2009.
the theoretical, technological and cultural context
10
of teaching and learning with design studio Wilson, L. and Stewart, M. “Cultural Context and the
Studio: the relationship between history teaching and
projects. Finally, projects and assignments
studio learning”. Edinburgh College of Art. CEBE
should be chosen which allow students to
Transactions,
explore different contexts, cultural perspectives
and experiences, including their work and
workshops, seminars and open discussions
which can form part of the taught subject
curriculum to discuss ideas coming out of studio.
Notes
1
Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education. 3rd ed. Taylor and
Francis group: London. 2009.
2
Gross, M. D. and Do, E. Y-L. “The Design Studio
Approach: Learning Architectural Design”. College of
Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology.
September 8-9, 1997, Atlanta. Available at:
http://depts.washington.edu/dmgftp/publications/pdfs/e
dutech97-eyd.pdf, accessed 10 February 2013.
3
Harrow A. “Taxonomy of Education Objectives”.
1972. available at:
http://www.humboldt.edu/~tha1/bloomtax.html,
accessed 25 February 2013.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 FINDING VALUE IN MATERIAL INVESTIGATIONS AND INNOVATIONS
often time and budget constraints require that
Finding Value in Material research be done quickly and efficiently. The

period of architectural education is an ideal time
Investigations and to nurture the skills that create a foundation for
such empirical research.
Innovations
Academic Context
Lisa Huang
Models for directly engaging students in
materiality and assembly exist in various forms.
Design/Build programs such as Rural Studio and
the Howard S. Wright Neighborhood
Design/Build Studio at the University of
Introduction
Washington provide students an opportunity to
When the development of building projects spend a year working hands-on on full-scale
survive in economic downturns, architects building projects. Rural Studio is a well-
typically have to contend with a client’s established and well-funded program that
unwillingness to spend on “excessive” design. If functions as independent entity within Auburn
architects submit to these limitations producing University’s Architecture School. Another
buildings that are merely efficient, it compounds alternative is students independently engaging
the problem of diminishing the cultural the design of small objects at full scale to deal
contribution of architecture. An architect with material issues at a manageable size.
unwilling to generate mediocre design must Currently the most prevalent method of material
invest more effort in finding ways to be investigations by students is group projects
innovative within strict parameters. focused on the design and assembly of full-scale
Phenomenological theory has brought to our installations. In the spirit of minimalist sculpture,
attention the ways that occupants engage can material engagement be practiced as an
buildings through visual and tactile experiences essential set of skills required to work through
and valorized material presences within the built material understandings and assemblies? Would
environment. To avoid marginalization in the the development of these skills be beneficial in
physical manifestation of their design, architects the realm of professional practice?
must intimately understand material behaviors,
processes and possibilities so that they have In design education, the degree to which a
substantial influence on the construction process typical design student engages materials
and make intelligent design decisions that permit research in studio varies. In our curriculum at the
both innovation and efficiency. University of Florida, materials and processes
are often remote horizons in a student’s design
Practice Context studio work. During the design process,
drawings and models are produced at
What lessons can we extract from professional manageable scales and conceptual ideas on
practices that conduct a kind of materials building materials rely on simulated materials.
research through their projects? Can these help How could one fold in the lessons of material
to inform pedagogical objectives on material engagement into architecture education if a
thinking in architectural design education? Can hands-on design-build program is not an option
this cross-fertilization develop creative processes due to prohibitive issues of timing, logistics and
that become beneficial in future practice? cost? In a workshop seminar focusing on
Numerous architectural practices (Williams + material investigations, we explored the question
Tsien, Herzog & de Meuron, Office dA) of whether there is value in a student’s direct
foreground issues of materiality and create physical engagement with building materials and
testing grounds to engage material exploration whether a course on materiality in a workshop
whether in the context of full-scale mock-ups or format is sustainable. A series of pedagogical
in the context of project commissions. Many of goals were developed which focused on
these practitioners are themselves design experimentation and failure. The premise of the
educators who find ways for the academy to workshop was testing the limitations and
infiltrate in their practice. Each commission is possibilities of selected materials and using
approached as a research project. However, empirical feedback to consequently uncover new
and possibly innovative ways to work with these processes. Materiality was an issue that
materials. emerged in the forefront of every project and
often informed spatial and formal design
This paper investigates the reciprocity between decisions. Time and budget allowances for
material thinking in practice and the academy. It experimentation was not always built into the
reflects on pedagogical objectives and findings project, so consequently we had to find ways to
in an attempt to fold material thinking into sneak in opportunities to test materials in half-
creative process and future practice. scale or full-scale mock-ups. We spent countless
hours talking to fabricators and manufacturers to
understand the parameters when working with a
material. If we could not test it on our own, we
convinced fabricators to test samples for us.
The most challenging aspect was negotiating

with contractors in the U.S. to build details that
were construed as ‘too complex’ because they
deviated from conventional construction
methods. It was critical to prove that you
intimately understood the implications of these
design details in order to avoid a ‘simplification’
or elimination of your design efforts. For several
projects, Northeastern Multi-faith Spiritual center
and Mantra restaurant, contractors were
convinced that certain design elements were
impossible to build. As a response to
demonstrate the contrary, Office dA took on the
Fig. 1. Cast aluminum experiment. Process photo: responsibility for construction and design team
Calvin Di Nicolo members built these design elements without
any difficulty. This stresses the importance of
Cultivating Material Thinking: Learning from thinking through the assembly and the physical
Practice manifestation of a design proposal and
understanding how to work within material
The professional practice of architecture design conventions and parameters.
does not exist only in the built realm. It is
common for most architects to have a large Advancements in and the prevalence of digital
percentage of projects that remain speculative fabrication tools in the construction industry have
and never materialize which parallels the typical increased the possibilities for inventiveness in
academic design studio experience. Even in design and provided ease in construction
practice, the architectural design process methods. New technologies still require a
straddles between theoretical proposition and designer to contemplate the interface between
physical manifestation. Because of the materiality and the fabrication process. Knowing
unpredictable nature of project commissions, it is how to work with the materials and tools in terms
easy to conceive of an architecture practice of limitations and parameters is essential in
where every project is a testing ground and creating opportunities for inventiveness.
research opportunity.
The critical lessons learned from this
Before teaching at University of Florida, I worked professional practice experience were
for nine years at Office dA in Boston where both developing the ability to adapt and respond
firm principals were deeply engaged in their quickly and cultivating the skills to ensure that
practice but also in their academic any innovative design cannot be value-
responsibilities. Within the office, there was no engineered out of a project.
boundary between academy and practice. Each
project was approached as a speculative Enhancing the creative process of material
investigation as expected in the academic studio thinking is intimately linked with hands-on
setting. Each project was an opportunity to material engagement, iterative making, and
challenge our creative thinking and design strategic research methodologies. This could be
considered the basis for an architectural

designer to develop critical skills that enhance
an understanding of how to work with the
medium of building materials. The ultimate goal
in professional architectural practice is motivated
towards constructing physical manifestation of
creative design work that is then engaged by
human use and occupation. Within the
architectural design education, it would seem
prudent to work with matter at full-scale and
cultivate a material thinking as part of the
development of a creative process.
Cross-Fertilization: Attempted Methodology
In the 2012 Fall semester, I conducted a

graduate level workshop seminar at the
University of Florida that focused on material
explorations and was motivated by reflections on
practice and its potential contributions to a
pedagogical discourse. Each student in the
workshop selected a material of his/her choice to
research and engage for the semester. The
course was not supported with external funding,
so considerations of material availability,
accessibility and affordability were paramount.
The students began by researching material
characteristics, fabrication and manufacturing
processes, typical applications, specifications
and case studies. In the second phase, they Fig. 2. Investigating rubber and wood joinery.
physically experimented with the material to Drawing: Huajing Huang
develop ways to join two material components
together. Very simply, the students were asked
to abut or turn a corner with these materials. The
inherent qualities of the materials (flexible, brittle, Embracing Failure: Pedagogical Objectives and
heavy, delicate, directional, etc.), the operational Findings
logic and methodology (aggregating, weaving,
casting, forming, layering, stacking, etc.) and the The approach of the course centered on
characteristic of the joint (exposed, hidden, enhancing creative ways of thinking generated
loose, tight, interlocked, stitched, lapped, etc.) through iterative making and empirical research.
were to be addressed in each attempt. (Fig. 2.) Most students in the workshop had limited
Throughout the semester’s process, students professional practice experience and had very
were asked to document their findings and to little construction knowledge. The student
speculate proposals for their next attempts using projects generated in this course were not
various drawing techniques. In the final phase, expected to be practical as building materials or
they designed through drawings and built at full- assemblies. With lessons extracted from practice
scale an architectural construct that evolved in mind, a series of pedagogical objectives for
from their earlier investigations. the course concentrated on developing skills in
thinking, designing, and working with materials:
Figs. 3+4. Experimenting with light transmitting did not need to contend with the physical
concrete. Drawing and process photos: Timothy resistances that accompany working with
Beecken the actual material (Fig. 5). The awareness
of material behaviors and the struggle with
• Developing investigative skills. At the basic material tolerances and alignments are
level, they need to be rigorous when consequential experiences in developing
searching for information. In the beginning, material thinking. Many students were
a number of students’ “research” started and surprised to discover that their physical
stopped at Wikipedia or the first product constructs did not turn out as they had
they found. It is necessary to understand drawn or imagined.
that products typically had multiple
manufacturers with variations in products
offered. In professional practice, broadening
the range of manufacturers enables more
competitive opportunities to find
manufacturers and fabricators eager to work
in new ways with their product.
• Working hands-on with physical matter.
Most of our architectural design students will
not pursue opportunities to become master
craftsman, but the experience of casting
concrete, constructing a formwork and
removing a formwork, even at a small scale,
does provide an understanding of timing
and procedure within a construction
process.
• Creating an assembly. Through drawings
and physical constructions, the students
worked on methods of joinery as a way to Fig. 5. Proposal to join two materials in an assembly.
demonstrate the multitude of manners in Drawing: Kevin Fitzgerald
which two materials can connect together. In
their design studio experience, the students • Understanding the scale of the material
were mostly accustomed to physically itself and the full-scale installation. Initially,
working at small scales where adhesives students attempted to conserve material
are the primary means of making physical and produced constructs that worked
connections. During this process, the against the inherent scale of the material.
students discovered that in drawings, they Students worked on 1:1 scale experiments
and installations to develop an ability to charged with methodically changing slight

move between large scales and the small parameters to observe and compare
scales that are typically exercised in design resulting conditions. The premise centered
studio work. Working at a 1:1 scale on knowing through making and learning to
addressed the issues of testing their quickly respond and readjust.
installation in space and engaging the • Understanding that failure was acceptable
viewer. (Fig. 6) and desired in their experiments in order to
expose the possibilities and to understand
the limitations of the material. Most
importantly, the course attempted to foster
fearlessness and most students had
difficulties adjusting to this mindset. They
tended to expect achieving perfection in the
first attempt or they tried to figure everything
out before even making an attempt. The
students had to train themselves to accept
that not everything produced would be
beautiful, but that each experiment offered
learning experiences that could lead them to
new possibilities.
Next Time Around: Reflections and

Readjustments
The efforts made in developing this course

based on my personal experience in
professional practice. The development of
pedagogical objectives for this course would
benefit from a deeper study into how other
creative professional practices have integrated
materials testing and material thinking in their
design process. Many architecture programs
have materials libraries available to students, but
what does a materials workshop look like in
practice and academia?
Fig. 6. Full-scale installation working with plastics and
polarized film. Construct: Carolina Valladares At an administrative level, this course was
offered as a workshop seminar, but ideally, it
• Training the instinct to execute a procedure would operate best as a design studio option. As
that integrates materials into design. In a workshop, it was demanding in time and effort,
physically working with matter, it so it was difficult for students to juggle both
consequently informs the ways that they design studio and this course. The seminar
could be utilize in other applications. The format was the only opportunity to pursue this
more thorough the investigation into a research in our current graduate curriculum, so
material’s behaviors and the processes of I’m eager to develop methods to streamline the
working with it, the more focused and course as a workshop seminar. The workshop
precise the research becomes. was also only offered to graduate students, but
• Valuing experimentation and curiosity. The University of Florida also has a vibrant four-year
students were encouraged to follow undergraduate design program where
empirical feedback even when not designing undergraduates enroll in eight semesters of
anything in particular. The process of design studios. There is the great potential to
iteratively making provided a training ground explore the impact of working with materiality
to allow and recognize when unexpected and developing material thinking in early design
and interesting results occurred in their education. In addition, the experience of this
tests. In attempts to reproduce or improve course clarified the challenges working with
upon characteristics, the students were materials hands-on without any external support
or funding. Efforts will be made to procure

material donations and resources to ease the
financial burden for students.
Looking at the course, failures in the workshop

course structure resulted in low productivity and
a lack of depth in student output. Numerous
adjustments could be made to provide more
guidance in the process. The intention of the
course was to develop skills that can benefit
future practice. Projects in practice are rarely
produced by individual efforts; there is always a
design team working together. Collaborating in
groups of two or three students would be more
realistic to the way the design field operates.
Student would not only benefit from developing
collaborative skills, but also increase the amount
of effort and expand ideas in the research. In
order to encourage interest and fuel energy
dedicated to the research, students could chose
their materials. The material selection has to be
edited to ensure that the research is
manageable.
Since this was the maiden voyage for the

course, I was not certain how to account for
timing and how to manage my expectations. My
assumption was that the students would be self-
motivated to advance the project, but in actuality,
they needed more guidance in seeing the
possibilities. A revamped course would require
more structure to efficiently utilize time allotted
for the workshop. This could be achieved
through a series of concentrated and quick
assignments that would simplify the issue being
investigated while also inherently encourage
rigorous efforts in testing.
The students who engaged in this workshop will

graduate in a year. Whether the skills in this
course make an impact on their professional
practice has yet to be seen.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 LEARNING IN ARCHITECTURE: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE ARCHITECTURE STUDIO
In Uganda, the first school of architecture was

Learning in architecture: Students’ started in 1989 at the Department of Architecture
and Physical Planning, Makerere University. The
perceptions of the architecture second school was started in 2000 at the Faculty of
studio the Built Environment, Uganda Martyrs University.
The studio spaces in both schools are made up of
Harriet Tumusiime
dedicated workspaces, generic classrooms and
Faculty of the Built Environment, Uganda computer laboratories with pin-up space.
Martyrs University, Uganda
Introduction
In architecture education, the design studio has

long been regarded as the centre of teaching and
learning. As a learning environment, the studio is
the physical site for learning and teaching, where
active interaction between students as well as with
faculty takes place. The studio is where the
enculturation of students into the profession occurs,
and where students undergo a transformation that Figure 1: Dedicated workspaces at Makerere University.
Area 150 sq.m
influences the way they relate to the built
environment, to their peers, and to their tutors.
While the studio environment has been promoted

as an ideal educational setting (Boyer & Mitgang,
1996; Schon, 1987), few studies touch on the
physical environment of the studio and the
associated social dynamics that result from the
point of view of architecture students. (Ahrentzen &
Anthony, 1993; Groat & Ahrentzen, 1996; Boyer &
Mitgang, 1996; Wallis et.al, 2010.)
This paper reports on a qualitative study

undertaken on the nature of the design studio in two
architecture schools in Uganda. The study was
carried out to gain students’ perspectives and Figure 2: Computer lab used as studio at Uganda Martyrs
opinions about their experiences of the studio as a University. Area 70 sq.m
learning environment and its impact on their
learning in architecture education. Background
The significance of the study is based on the
discourse about newly defined educational Shannon (1995) describes the studio as “a physical
expectations of learning environments that has space as a site for teaching and learning
resulted from a global transition towards the design experiences, and to an interactive culture between
of more effective learning spaces. This is further the students and staff developed within this physical
illustrated by the (a) learning outcomes needed to space.”
meet the changing roles and responsibilities of
architects; (b) features of the physical environment Cuff (1991), describes the studio as the
that enhance learning processes; (c) the rarity of combination of home and work place. Not only does
writings about architectural education and learning the studio provide students with a physical work
environments in East Africa. environment, it places them in extended one-on-
one contact with faculty and in daily (and nightly)
The Ugandan Context contact with student peers. Because of the
extensive periods of occupation of the studio, its
social dynamics are likely to have a substantial
impact on students' university experience. (Groat Social practices, formal instruction, and informal
and Ahrentzen 1984). Student experience of studio social interactions change the nature, use and
pedagogy is central to understanding their experience of space. How children relate to the built
interpretations of architectural education. The large environment is, and remains in adulthood, is
amounts of time that are spent in the studio create informed by their own experiences. However, for
certain patterns of behaviour that might affect their the aspiring student architects entering higher
perceptions of the space around them. (Koch, education, they undergo a distinct transformation in
2002). However despite the studio’s centrality to how they relate to the built environment, a process
architectural education, there is a gap in the continued in professional life. (Brown & Yates,
literature concerning students’ relation to and use of 2000:49). Experiential learning theory describes this
this physical space as a learning environment in process as the knowledge created through the
centres of higher education. transformation of experience.
Learning takes place in a physical environment with The architecture studio by its nature provides
quantifiable and perceptible physical students with opportunities to construct and
characteristics. The richness of a learning determine their own learning styles. This is the case
environment is predicated upon its ability to for project and problem- based learning. However
preserve a sense of awareness within the students. the importance of the physical aspects of learning
(Ream & Ream, 2005: 594). According to Kolb & environments in this type of learning is not clear.
Kolb (2005: 194), learning is best conceived as a (Wallis et.al, 2010). To elaborate the formation of
process, not in terms of outcomes. The process of learning styles, Kolb & Kolb (2005) use the concept
creating knowledge that results from a synergetic of learning space. Learning space uses a number of
transaction between person and environment. ideas such as position, region, locomotion,
Whereas educators and architects inscribe equilibrium of forces, conflict and goal. In order to
themselves onto environments such as schools, develop these ideas further, literature on the more
these environments respond by inscribing extensively researched learning environments of
themselves onto the students who dwell in them. pre- university education is reviewed (Blackmore,
(Ream & Ream, 2005: 592) Learning spaces 2011; Department of Education and Early
mediate the relationship and social practices of Childhood Development, 2009; Fisher, 2004). The
teaching and learning, and are only one factor research studies highlight some of the aspects of
among many in the complex relationships of the physical environment that underpin better
teaching that inform learning outcomes (Oblinger learning outcomes. These could be summarised as
2006). climate and thermal control, ventilation, light and air
quality are the most important individual elements
The concept of the hidden curriculum can be used for student engagement, achievement and
to understand this complex relationship. Dutton wellbeing. Other factors include: acoustics of the
(1987) describes the hidden curriculum as those space, colour (in relation to student morale and
unstated values, attitudes, and norms which stem efficiency), flexibility of the space, furnishings, and
tacitly from the social relations of the school and privacy.
classroom as well as the content of the course. The
concepts of the hidden curriculum brings into focus Design studio and studio culture have both been
questions concerning the ideology of such lauded and questioned in regard to their
knowledge, and the social practices, which educational benefits. (Wallis, Williams & Ostwald,
structure the experiences of students- physical or 2009: 4). The architectural studio model has its own
otherwise. (Dutton, 1987).One school of thought culture and values that are as influential in a
related to the hidden curriculum is that which is student’s education as the actual projects they
expressed in the school environment. Gordon complete. (Abdullah et al 2011). To this end, design
(1982) categorises the school environment as the: studios play a sizable role in reinforcing ways of life
cognitive environment, and the physical and social while making others invisible. Schools and
environment. With regards to the physical and classrooms can be more than a place to inhabit:
social environment, the learning spaces contain they can also acquire an emotional significance.
hidden messages about the physical setting and Austerlitz & Aravot, (2007) state that emotions also
social relations that contribute to a student’s have a significant influence on many aspects of the
learning process. learning experience such as motivation, values,
goals, actions and student-tutor relationships.
Research Method proportion, scale, colour and texture. One student

states:
st
This study employed the grounded theory and Of course in 1 year you don’t really
interpretive ethnography to identify and describe understand when your lecturer comes to
students’ perceptions of their learning spaces. The class, gives you an example of maybe 3
advantage of the grounded theory approach in this metres is this long or high, by the end of
regard is that because the theory is drawn from the sem. (or year) you know how the
data, it is more likely to offer insight and enhance length of your class,...
understanding, and provide a meaningful guide to
action. (Groat & Wang 2002: 181). An ethnographic There was a consistency in the responses to the
approach was also employed as it is intended to physical attributes mentioned above signifying an
capture and understand lived experiences. (Denzin, overall user satisfaction of the spaces in terms of
1997). light, scale and colour. There was a marked
dissatisfaction with the acoustics of the studio
A two-stage method was adopted; the first stage spaces in both schools.
involved a pilot study of architecture studios in
Uganda and the second a series of interviews and Sometimes you can be trying to
focus groups with students in the two schools. In concentrate on something and then next
order to engage with the biggest number of door there is a presentation going on and
students, the pilot study comprising six questions you hear a harsh comment and you hear
was developed and tested. The content of the study who has given it, of course you become
was formulated through a combination of issues fearful when he/she is on your jury. I would
raised in a literature review of learning rather not hear anything...
environments. The second stage of the process
was initiated with an analysis of the survey findings. While the above comment led five students to
These results were used to develop a set of open- recommend smaller compartments as opposed to
ended questions that formed the basis of a series of larger classrooms, another student contradicted
semi-structured interviews and focus group that by stating:
discussions. Students were invited to participate in
the interviews and focus groups where a total of 40 But if you do that, then you end up with
students from both schools volunteered. Patton spaces that are so rigidly defined. I think
(1990) states that sampling a modest group of one of the good things about our studio is
participants, provides rich and in-depth data than that it has loose boundaries that can be
the superficial responses of many. The questions changed with time. It also allows you to
were split into three parts, each part asking the see what a bigger number of people are
students to consider the different aspects of the doing; sometimes you need that for
architecture studio. Part one sought to determine motivation or even get to learn new stuff.
the experiential perceptions of students about the
studio as a learning environment in architectural Students were also asked to consider the physical
education. Part two aimed at investigating the space in terms of sources for knowledge,
students’ perceptions of the social setting of their motivation, and inspiration. A student states:
studio spaces in relation to the activities that take
place. Finally, part three examined the effects of the Sometimes you are stuck with your work,
physical and social settings of the studio on the so you stay in studio hoping to get
students’ learning styles and how it could possibly inspiration but all you see around you is
be improved. white walls...you look outside and no one
is passing by. If I was allowed to, I would
Results and Discussion paint the walls bright in some places and
dark in others.
The students’ experiential perceptions of the studio
were varied. Most of the students agreed that it was The above responses highlight the difference in the
more than just a classroom; it was a flexible space needs of the students. The smaller spaces are seen
for most types of activities. A space that facilitates as a need for privacy but also as a result of the new
several activities creates an awareness of aspects type of students, the mobile one, who does not
of the physical environment such as light, form, need much in terms of (dedicated) workspace.
Consider, for example, the following transcript in
which students discuss the issue of physical space, The unoccupied classrooms can be attributed to
size of that space and privacy in terms of personal two factors as stated by the students: poorly
space. equipped spaces and lack of student commitment.
A student explains:
A: I can’t imagine studio, the teaching
method, being separate from the working I feel inconvenienced when I have to go to
area because in order to learn anything, studio just for a lecture and then go back
you have to interact with your classmates, home. It is not a place that I look forward
the lecturers in an actual space… to going to especially to spend most of the
C:…I don’t really agree because I think it day like some of my classmates.There is
can be anywhere. It doesn’t have to be no furniture, not even a stable internet
that one place… connection. Sometimes when my
H:…So what makes that one place classmates are not going for the lecture, I
different from ‘anywhere?’ also don’t attend it. Maybe I also have
I: I guess-um-the fact that a lot of stuff another job to do.
goes on in there…lectures, studio time,
presentations, all nighters, modeling…a lot With regard to learning styles and how the studio
of stuff space facilitates this, several students noted that
H: Why is that? the visual interaction between peers, student and
K: Could be because of the size of the space were most helpful in terms of learning new
space. Nothing is fixed, you just move stuff concepts.
around like furniture and it works.
N: Talking about moving stuff around, it Sometimes you are just observing what
gives little room for personalizing space. people are doing around you and you
Tomorrow an electrical engineering actually learn something. You don’t have
student can be using it. There is no to get up from your seat and walk around
attachment to the space, it is only yours for because you can easily see every corner
a couple of hours, and then someone else of the space.
uses it. You can’t leave your stuff lying
around, you have to keep moving with it. The students’ responses showed an overall
O: That’s why you end up putting signs like appreciation for the level of visual interaction with
rd
‘Stop! Architects only’ on the 3 year other students in the class. The level of interaction
studio door. was viewed by some as a source of motivation,
thus making them more eager to learn. This was
The students noted the size of the studio space as further elaborated by positive responses to the size
being advantageous in terms of the multiplicity of of the space in relation to the number of people with
activities it could allow. However, visits to the whom they related. It was noted that students in the
studios revealed that they remain largely bigger studio spaces related to a smaller number of
unoccupied with the exception of timetabled lecture people who they related to most. For that reason,
and tutorial time. Some of the students noted that some usually sat in groups of about 4-6 people.
the classes were oversized and this diminishes the This is in contrast to the students in smaller studio
efficiency of the space. spaces who claimed to relate to all or most of their
peers.
The students’ responses illustrate that the studio

environment is very much a physical environment
as it is a social one.
At the end of the day, the amount of time I

spend in the studio is directly related to the
people who are around. Sometimes it is
the number of people, other times it is the
Figure 3: The oversized studio space. Many students take kind of people around...as in my friends...
up seats along the edges of the room leaving most of it
unused. Another student’s response to the nature of the
social environment is:
You have to understand people’s strengths Blackmore, J. et.al (2011) Research into the connection
within the class because that can help you between built learning spaces and student outcomes.
when you are stuck or whatever. So you [online]: http://www.education.vic.gov.au. Accessed on 06
September, 2012.
sit next to someone and you can help each
other learn.
Boyer, E.L., and Mitgang, L.D. (1996) Building
Community: A New Future for Architecture Education and
In order to enhance student learning, the students’ Practice. Princeton NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the
responses were geared toward having more hours Advancement of learning.
spent in the studio to improve student motivation
and commitment. Several students felt that the Boys, J. (2011) Towards Creative Learning Spaces: Re-
most efficient way to do this is to equip the studios Thinking the Architecture of Post-Compulsory Education.
with basic requirements. Some still felt that it was New York: Routledge.
time to engage in other versions of the studio such
Brown, R and Yates, D., M. (2000) ‘Seeing the world
as a virtual studio that was not limited by the
through another person’s eyes’ in Nicol, D. and Pilling, S.
location or size of space. By making the studio
(ed.) Changing Architectural Education: Towards a new
environment more engaging by use of texture and professionalism. London: Spon Press. pp 49-57.
colour, other students felt that this was one way of
enhancing student learning. Cuff, D. (1991) Architecture: The Story of Practice.
Cambridge: MIT Press.
Denzin, N.K. (1997) Interpretive Ethnography:

Conclusion st
Ethnogarphic Practices for the 21 Century. London: Sage
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This study focused on students’ perceptions of their
physical and social learning environments. The Department of Education and Early Childhood
st
findings have shown that the studio has a very Development. (2009) Building schools in the 21 century
active social environment which in turn affects the and Current thinking about learning for a lifetime.
way students experience this space. This paper Melbourne: Education Policy and Research Division Office
speculates that the nature of the learning for Policy.
environment of the studio has as much an effect on

Dutton, T.A. (1987) Design and Studio. Journal of
the students’ enculturation into studio culture as the
Architectural Education, 41(1): 16-25
curriculum, and engagement in the learning process
as formal instruction. Some aspects of the type of Edwards, B. (2000) University Architecture. New York:
interaction that goes on within this space can be an Spon Press/ Taylor & Francis.
avenue for future research.
Finlay, L. (2008) Introducing Phenomenological Research.
Notes [online]: www. lindafinlay.co.uk/… Accessed on 09
September, 2012.
Abdullah, N.A., Beh, S.C., Tahir, M.M., Che Ani, A.I., and
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[online]: www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/Resources/external.../sfc- work(s): Reconceptualizing Architectural Education for a
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2012. Architectural Students. Journal of Architectural Education,
49(3): 166-183.
Anthony, K.H. (1991) Design Juries on Trial: The
Renaissance of the Design Studio. New York: Van Groat, L. and Wang, D. (2002) Architectural Research
Nostrand Reinhold. Methods. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Groenewald, T. (2004). A phenomenological research Tuan, Y. (1977) Space and place: The perspective of
design illustrated. International Journal of Qualitative experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Methods, 3(1). Article 4. [online]:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/3_1/pdf/groenew Wallis, L., Williams, T., and Ostwald, M. (2009) Sustaining
ald.pdf Accessed on 13 September, 2012. the studio: A snapshot of academics’ perceptions towards
studio in 2007. Paper presented to Sustainable theory/
th
Koch, A., Schwennsen, K., Dutton, T., and Smith, D. theorising sustainability. Proceedings from the 5
(2002) The Redesign of the Studio Culture: A Report of International Conference of the Association of
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September, 2012.
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nd
Education: An Example from India. Journal of Architectural Architectural Education. Paper presented at the 2
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of South Wales Sydney, 28 June-1 July: 1-5
Miller, H. (2009) Adaptable spaces and their impact on
learning. [online]: Weiss, S.S. and Kelly, O. (eds.) (2011) Future learning
http://www.hermanmiller.com/research/research- spaces. Paper presented at Designs on e-learning, The
summaries/adaptable-sp.... Accessed 15 September, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Aalto University,
2012. Helsinki.
Oduku, N.O. (2000) ‘The Colonial face of educational

Space’ in L.N.N. Lokko (ed.). White Papers, Black Marks:
Architecture, Race, Culture. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.
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Identity in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 61(3):
381-396
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Roofs to Towering Spires: Towards a Heideggerian
understanding of learning environments. Educational
Philosophy and Theory, 37: (4): 585-597
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Architectural Education, 34(3): 29-31
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Studies, 20: 195-209.
Saghafi, M.R., Franz,J., and Crowther, P.,(2012)

Perceptions of physical versus virtual design studio
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6(1): 6-22
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Produced Within Interpretive Approaches? Organizational
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Towards a new design for teaching and learning in the
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www.studioteaching.org/?page=case studies. Accessed
on 21 September, 2012.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013 THE (RE)CURRENCY OF WHAT REMAINS UNCHANGED
Through an understanding of the physical world,
The (re)Currency of what design studio must contribute to the awareness

of the cultural dimension of the horizons of our
Remains Unchanged cities. History and Theory has a fundamental
role in understanding our current architectural
Bruno Silvestre and Noel Cash culture. Issues of construction and tectonic order
are pressing subjects in a time where craft urges
Oxford School of Architecture, Oxford to be redefined, now almost obliterated by the
Brookes University advancement of construction technology.
Drawings, models and images are the
compositional and representational instruments
that substantiate students’ envisioning of how to
Introduction remake the world.
When Giorgio Agamben argues that “those who

The Architecture Studio
are truly contemporary, who truly belong to their
time, are those who neither perfectly coincide
1 The practising of Architecture has been
with it nor adjust themselves to its demands” ,
significantly transformed as a result of a variety
he is opening the issue of currency and how an
of external forces that have invaded, and
individual relates to the currency of things in his
therefore reduced, the traditional territory of the
own time. Drawing on a note by Roland Barthes
profession. A new generation of design
(The contemporary is the untimely) and on the
instruments and construction management along
Untimely Meditations of Nietzsche, Agamben
with new forms of procurement and
further asserts that it is “precisely because of
commissioning have emerged in our recent past
this condition, precisely through this
with the objective of optimising the financial
disconnection and this anachronism, they are
aspects of architectural projects and
more capable than others of perceiving and
2 construction. Under new procurement structures
grasping their own time” . If we define ourselves
architects have become exposed to the interests
as contemporary architects and educators, if we
of the construction industry. As a consequence,
do not dispute the design studio as the place for
little attention is given to the art of Architecture
contemporariness in architectural education,
with the increasing focus being shifted towards
then we must collectively endeavour to enable
the business of construction. The value of
our students to form a critical understanding of
architectural design has been engineered,
our time – a critical understanding formed by an
perhaps obliterated with the obsessive
informed observation of what is current in our
preoccupation with cost and the speed of
time, “which adheres to it and, at the same time,
construction. Construction databases accelerate
keep a distance from it”
the process of business-modelling the
architectural project, making it increasingly
How can we construct contemporariness in
challenging to give consideration to tectonic
architectural education? How can architectural
solutions traditionally considered as craft. The
education reassure the cultural role of
proliferation of specializations within and at the
Architecture in our societies, both as a
margins of the profession has fragmented the
profession and a discipline? We believe that, in
process of architectural design. The architectural
our field, the pressing issues of our time can
design process has been compressed, often
only be addressed if design studio teaching
unrealistically so, in order to satisfy political and
reclaims the currency of what has been taken for
financial schedules. The technological
granted (and perhaps neglected in our time) as
development of building construction has also
the basis for the advancement of architectural
reduced the time of site construction. Time for
thinking – the world as our physical context, the
reflection, experimentation, interrogation and
history and theory of our discipline as the
consideration has been eradicated from the
intellectual foundation for architectural work, the
design process. Despite all of these significant
tectonic thinking as the articulation of
transformations, the architects’ ethical
architecture’s physical substance, the
responsibility to give form to the world in which
architectural drawing as the ultimate expression
we live remains unchanged. Eric Parry recently
of student’s understanding of the world . reassured our students that, “architects are the
arbitrators and are still the only ones who can
materialise a multitude of thoughts and based on what we collectively share, the

intentions in the form of a building”3. If the common ground of the material topography of
cultural role of the profession is to be reassured, our cities and landscapes.
one can argue that architectural education’s
primary task is also to interrogate the premises Vittorio Gregotti, writing on the work of Alvaro
of current architectural practice. Design Studio Siza, stated that architecture springs “from
should perform as a critical and inquisitive archaeological foundations known to him alone –
simulacrum of professional practice. signs invisible to anyone who has not studied
the site in detail through drawings with steady,
The World focused concentration”6. Embracing the ethos of
this statement, in our studio we instigate the
The notion of global culture today has been deep knowledge of the physical world by
exponentially amplified by the development of prompting the students to develop precedent
digital technology and the expression of our studies of the sites they will later return to in
societies in the virtual space. Digital order to develop an architectural proposal. This
globalization is not confined to a geographic initial study, called Material Unprecedent aims to
territory. However, globalization is not new to our transcend the notion of a measured or
world. In the past, maritime nations have dimensional survey and the descriptive purpose
disseminated their cultural norms, religious of a model.
beliefs and rituals throughout the expanse of
their empires in order to promote commerce and
wealth. Culture was first imposed, subsequently
exchanged and ultimately overlapped. In this
instance, globalization was territorial, manifested
in our cities, streets and squares, places and
buildings that form the basis of collective
memory. The topographies they form prevail as
the primary manifestation of the patterns of our
shared and inherited cultures.
The physical world is therefore the outcome of

architectural production, and intrinsically the
context where our work finds its place. With this
in mind, and interrogating the current focus on
the individual expression of the architect through Fig. 1. Dika Lim, Material Unprecedent, London Wall,
the form or skin of buildings, we believe that City of London, BA Unit F, Oxford School of
Architecture, in order to accomplish its role as a Architecture
form of cultural expression, it must find its
bearings in the relationship it establishes with Set in an intensely urban environment, it
the city, and other works around. These consists of translating the materiality of a given
relationships materialize “common ground” building, into a 1:50 model of which construction
through discovered or re-enacted continuities in material and technique express totally different,
the topographical and material involvement with sometimes opposite qualities to those of the
the surrounding context – the city as a actual building. The model aims to achieve
topographical setting and the city as material autonomy, transcending its representational
ensemble. purpose in order to reinvent the material
expression and hence the architecture of the
Dalibor Vesely asserted that, “architects are building. This shift in material expression aims to
more aware of the differences that separate identify the architectural essence of the building
them, giving their work an aura of novelty and through the features that remain evident in the
originality”4. This, he continues, “leaves behind translation into a diverse technique. The
the common references and goals that accompanying set of drawings aims to describe
contribute to the long term cultural relevance of the model making technique as opposed to the
their work”5. Our argument is that, in Design constructional arrangement of the actual
Studio learning, the aspiration for the long term building. In this instance, drawings hold the dual
relevance of architectural work can only be role of portraying the form of the building at 1:50
and the construction of the physical model at The Worlds of Others

1:1. Through this exercise, students will form an
understanding of the expression of building Mark Wigley once defined the idea of
archetypes, their construction technology, foreignness in architectural travelling as “a
material expression and the hierarchy of passionate embrace of leaving the familiar world
architectural components. behind and having all one’s assumptions
challenged by the strangeness of the encounter
The complementary counterpart to this exercise with things that are thoroughly other, palpably
is on urban topography; Immaterial Precedent, alien”7. Conversely, in the midst of these things
consisting of the production of a sectional model that are thoroughly other, traces of familiarity
at 1:500 of modernist housing set within a and expressions of universality emerge in the
Georgian landscape. In this instance, the focus realisation of prosaic affairs of life, enabling the
is the topographical configuration of the terrain in cultural bridges to be surpassed. We all live,
relation to the existing architecture of the Alton work and learn, we all dwell and relate to nature,
West Estate in Roehampton, southwest London. regardless of our cultural territory. Within our
Design Studio, travelling is the vehicle for
learning from the world of others, a world we
partly belong to. The house is the cultural
condenser, the micro-cosmos embracing the
entire range of values and culture of others.
Thus houses are the primary destination of our
study journeys. Habits of living are
accommodated by a familiar programme,
architectural thought emerges from a specific
cultural setting, and forms of construction derive
from a local material culture and establishing a
specific web of relationships to the topographical
Fig. 2. Richard Bryant, Immaterial Precedent,
setting. The fundamental characteristics of
Roehampton, London, BA Unit F, Oxford School of
Architecture are condensed in a scale students
Architecture
can control and understand in depth. Hosted by
Together, twenty five sectional pieces generated the architect, the client, sometimes both merged
a collective model of this modernist landscape. as one, in these long visits students observe as
Based on the immaterial expression of a they listen, discovering and studying the
twentieth century painting, the study aimed to essence of the Architecture through an intense
explore how light, colour, geometric composition afternoon of sketching.
and texture in the flatness of the canvas can be
It is not only the works of architecture which form
translated in order to capture the essence of
the itinerary of our learning journeys. Equally,
topographical and architectural expression of the
our visits to architectural practices and local
setting. Students were able to form an
schools of Architecture (where lectures, debates
understanding of the relationship between
and workshops are organised with local students
architecture and landscape, urban scale and
and professors), take the students to the depths
density as well as the relationship between the
of the local architectural culture. Architecture as
parts and the whole.
a discipline in the school, as a profession in the
Notwithstanding the erratic condition of our practice and as a form of cultural expression in
architectural culture and the propensity of the city is complementary and comprehensively
architectural production for indulgent image understood. In our studio, continuous revisiting
making of objects belonging nowhere, History and Theory of Architecture gives context
Architecture remains as the physical framework to this learning journey, not as a matter to be
for social engagement. It is built somewhere in inertly professed by professors, but rather more
our world for human practical needs. Design importantly as means to interrogate the present
Studio, must therefore concentrate on the and understand our culture in relation to the
creative power of understanding the given culture of others.
condition as a perennial instrument for the
foundation of enduring cultural relevance of
Architecture.
In order to crystallise the learning experience, a imposed largely by the urgency of post war
site is chosen amidst the natural landscape – reconstruction, having since developed a wide
humanised and transformed over time for range of construction techniques now on offer. In
common practical purposes just like our cities – peripheral Portugal Siza’s early work evolved
is elected to develop a project. Back in the through the close dialogue with builders, artisans
studio, the work will express students’ and craftsmen, learning from the long
challenged assumptions, revealing the established techniques of vernacular
strangeness of the encounters and their construction, continuously developed, gradually
experience with the other culture. Whenever transformed and modified over the long course
possible, the once hosting professors travel to of history. Siza summarises the experience
Oxford as visiting critics to offer their views on recognising that “exposure to construction in the
the work produced. Here, different approaches North of Europe prepared me, in a certain
are confronted, architectural cultures are cross manner, to face the technological change we
referenced and the student’s horizon is were undergoing in Portugal”8. Apparently
broadened. diverging, the intersection of these two cultures
– the assemblage of pre made architectural
components and the on-site routines of crafting
raw materials – is a pressing issue in
architectural production today. Therefore, it is
upon this intersection that Design Studio must
base the debate and set the lines of inquiry into
the current tectonic and material culture. Whilst
we must accept that compliance with regulation
and technological standardisation can no longer
be avoided in Architecture, we must also
recognise that craft, as the tangible human
dimension of construction technology, is still
appreciated and current in our time. If
Architecture is to reclaim the lead in the
construction of our cities, the idea of craft urges
to be redefined. With the use of water and the
Fig. 3. Ruby Wilson, The Hermitage, Tavora Valley, cutting and moulding of raw materials removed
Northern Portugal, BA Unit F, Oxford School of from the routines of site construction, with
Architecture craftsmen replaced by installers and assembly
technicians, craft in Architecture resides in the
Returning to a site and a city closer to home, ability of the architect to construct a sense of
students develop their main project to which wholeness from the fragmentary nature of pre
interests have already been identified and an made components. These, of multiple origins,
approach initiated through the earlier precedent bear no relationship with site until assembly
study and latent ideas from abroad remembered takes place. And it is when assembly takes
and translated. It is our belief that learning from place that the architect’s ability to craft is
travelling and designing in an unfamiliar cultural expressed. The articulation of architectural
and geographical setting dissolves the border elements will give the once siteless pre-
between local values and universal quests, fabricated components a place in the world,
positioning the work of the student in a wider contributing to the formation of the setting
frame of reference. through the enactment of topographical and
material relationships between the architectural
(P)re Making a Crafted World object and its physical context. Craft has shifted
from the hands of the artisan to the drawing
When Alvaro Siza arrives in The Hague in late board of the architect. Design Studio must
1980’s to continue to build his first generation of therefore acknowledge that “standardisation of
works outside Portugal he acknowledges the construction remains partial because the unique
difficulty in the encounter with a tectonic culture characteristics of sites, climates and
that is thoroughly other. In northern environments always influence building
industrialized Europe standardization, regulation practices, unlike the stable situation of a factory
and construction efficiency had already been or a workshop interior”9. Articulation of materials
and components with site conditions remain instruments sets the relationship with the design
fundamentally current in architectural practice. process at the opposite end of the spectrum.
This level of articulation is developed through From the simple task of aiding the design
the elaboration of the architectural detail. The process, digital instruments have developed
articulation of façade materials in relation to the their potential towards fabrication and
time of nature, anticipating the ageing of the production, initiating the post digital era, “closing
building and weathering process of its surfaces, the circle in the return to materiality”11. This
devising ways of joining or separating materials, move from aided to generated to produced
negotiating changes in surface texture and tone means an increasingly autonomous and self-
in relation to exposure to natural light, physical contained design process. Software packages
contact or ground, dimensioning joints and can now generate building forms of extreme
window reveals to disclose depth or emphasize geometric complexity, and from a three
surface planarity in relation to orientation; all dimensional model generate plans, sections,
these considerations are the tangible elevations, structural diagrams, even physical
manifestation of an architectural idea that will models, schedules of components and bills of
dictate the appearance of the building, its quantities. Digital experimentation in
architectural expression and urban presence architectural education today is at the risk of
over time. In our profession, what we mistakenly annihilating rather than complementing the more
call “production information” is the essential traditional instruments of the architect – the
stage of design that ultimately defines the sketch drawing, the sketch model, the plan, the
material topography of our cities. section, and the elevation.
Design studio must recognise that the full

tectonic, spatial and ultimately cultural potential
of Architecture stems from its capacity to
articulate the poetic and the technical qualities of
its own physical substance. We must promote
the sense of responsibility in the work of our
students, through the consideration of issues of
tectonic order, to address the temporal
dimension of currency and committing to the
long term cultural significance of our
architectural work. It is in the meticulous and
thoughtful articulation of pre made components,
crafted in relation to place and time that
contemporary architecture must lay the
foundations of a revised tectonic culture.
Architects do not make buildings nor architecture
students see their projects erected, therefore
great emphasis must be placed in the capacity
of the architectural drawing to express the
students’ understanding of building production.
Drawing the World Fig. 4. Diana Grecu, Material Topography, Moorgate,

City of London, BA Unit F, Oxford School of
“When one travels and works with visual things – Architecture
architecture, painting or sculpture – one uses
one’s eyes and draws, so as to fix deep down in These have always supported the conception of
one’s experience what is seen. Once the architectural design as instruments of spatial
impression has been recorded by the pencil, it composition, of prospective representation of an
stays for good, entered, registered, inscribed.”10 idea, but fundamentally as instruments of
For Le Corbusier, sketching and drawing were reciprocal control throughout the process, before
instrumental to develop a continuously becoming instruments of external
deepening intimacy with the object being seen or communication. In architectural design, in the
designed. Nearly a century after Le Corbusier’s same way that a drawing cannot be entirely read
statement, a new generation of digital in isolation – always referencing other drawings
to fully describe its partial content –, no design permanent values of our discipline – the
instrument has ever encompassed the full relationships with the physical, historical,
generative power to work in isolation. This theoretical, material, technological, and
insufficiency was already acknowledged in the ultimately cultural context, prospectively
famous composite drawings by Palladio where expressed in the architectural drawing – is the
the architectural composition of a villa is genuine currency of what remains unchanged.
represented in part sectional, part elevational
drawing aligned with a plan. In 1899, engineer
and historian Auguste Choisy12 publishes a Notes
series of axonometric projections of historical
buildings combining the three dimensional 1
Agamben, Giorgio. “What is the Contemporary?” in What
projection with plan and section aiming a is an Apparatus? And other Essays, Standford University
comprehensive description of the architectural Press: Stanford, California, 2009, p 40
structure.
2
Ibid, p 40
Different instruments of architectural design 3
Eric Parry statement occurred in the context of an
attest to issues of different order. Proficiency in informal conversation with a group of undergraduate
handling a certain design instrument is not a skill students from Oxford School of Architecture in a visit to the
in itself. The skill of the architect is to office.
comprehensively represent an architectural idea 4
Vesely, Dalibor, in Architecture in the Age of Divided
and describe the way it can be executed. This
Representation The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
can only be achieved through the continuous
2004, page 12
dialogue between design instruments of different
5
natures. Digital instruments should be Ibid, p 12
incremental to the architect’s way of describing 6
Gregotti, Vittorio, in Thoughts on the Work of Álvaro Siza,
the world. Sketch drawings and models, plans essay published for the 1992 Pritzker Prize awarded to
and sections remain relevant voices in the choir Álvaro Siza, The Hyatt Foundation, Los Angeles, California
of instruments and reveal qualities and issues 1992
otherwise unseen. Therefore, Design Studio 7
Wigley, Mark “The Myth of the Local” in Architects’
must prompt our students to develop a critical
Journeys, Building, Travelling, Thinking Buckley, Craig and
approach to the methodologies of architectural
Rhee, Pollyanna (edition), GSAPP Books, New York, 2011, p
design. In discovering the intrinsic relationship
209
between design process and the architectural
8
outcome, architecture students must aspire to Siza, Alvaro, “Getting through turbulences: interview with
demonstrate that “several ways of seeing things Alvaro Siza by Alejandro Zaera”, in El Croquis 68/69, El
are integrated into one way of knowing the Croquis Editorial, Madrid, 1994, p 27
world”13 . 9
Leatherbarrow, David, “Architecture is its Own Discipline”,
in The Discipline of Architecture, Piotrowski, Andrzej and
What remains unchanged Robinson, Julia (edition). University of Minnesota Press,
Minneapolis, 2001
If we, like Louis Kahn, believe that “no greater 10
Le Corbusier, “1900-‐1918”, in My Work, The Architectural
service an architect can make as a professional
Press, London, 1960, p37
[man] than to sense that every building must
11
serve an institution of man, whether the Cruz, Marcos, “Testimonial: Architecture is Slow to
institution of government, of home, of learning”14 ; Absorb New Concepts”, in Jornal dos Arquitectos 244,
if our schools of architecture are amongst those Published by Ordem do Arquitectos, Lisbon, 2012, p 34
institutions of learning; if amidst the variety of 12
Choisy, Auguste, Histoire d’Architecture, 2 volumes,
our cultural backgrounds we identify common Gauthier-‐Villard, Paris, 1899
ground to set the foundations of our shared 13
Leatherbarrow, David, ibid
values; if our schools of architecture are true
14
schools of thought rather than ordinary places of Kahn, Louis I, Conversations with Students, Architecture
employment, then our mission must be to give at Rice Publications Princeton Architectural Press,
our students the opportunity to develop and Houston,Texas, 1998, p 19
consolidate the knowledge of the fundamentals
of architectural design. This will not be possible
if we refuse to acknowledge that in the
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
0.4 Posters
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
0.4 Posters
Collected posters are arranged by order of conference programme and into alongside submitted
abstracts.
The Académie Royale d'Architecture and current architectural studio culture

Alex Griffin, School of Art, Design and Architecture, The University of Huddersfield
Towards an (ex)change Design: Digital Architecture

Ana Nevado, PhD candidate, ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute; DINAMIA’CET-IUL
The Practice of Practice

Margaret Fletcher, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, Auburn University
Playing with Architecture – A Pedagogical Approach

Sima Rouholamin, Dublin School of Architecture
The Architect’s Table: postcards from the studio:.

Simon Beeson
Making space for conversation: The design studio and the currency of civic
engagement
Leo Care and Dan Jary, Sheffield University
Learning from Student Initiated Projects

Chris Maloney and Robert Hyde, Manchester Metropolitan University
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
The Académie Royale d'Architecture and current architectural studio culture

Alex Griffin, School of Art, Design and Architecture, The University of Huddersfield
This paper argues that the architectural teaching and learning traditions that were formed at the
Académie Royale d'Architecture remain relevant today, and examines how these traditions predicate
studio culture at almost all current schools of architecture.
The Académie Royale d'Architecture was the first institution to be devoted solely to the study of
architecture and its school was the first to be dedicated to the teaching of student architects. It was
inaugurated in 1671 by royal consent and abolished during the French Revolution in 1793. The
architectural Académie was first directed by Nicolas-François Blondel and remained the only
architectural institution of its kind in Europe until 1743. Although the school was officially closed
during the French Revolution, a remnant of the architectural academic tradition was sustained by a
small group of devoted academics and later fully revived to form part of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
The contribution that the Académie has made to architectural education is unrivalled and the success
it achieved in training architects during its lifetime has caused it to have a significant influence on
almost every subsequent architectural school.
At the Académie students were required to demonstrate their worthiness before enrolling, they
worked for credits, and they tailored their designs to impress the Patron. Many students worked over
and above conventional hours so as to amass the material required for a critique, only for it to be
judged in minutes. The basic pedagogical system involved a Patron enjoying a position over those
who offered up their work for judgement, although outspoken rebels existed. As did a strong studio
camaraderie, teamwork, raucous celebrations, and disappointments. When style is disentangled from
the educational system employed at the Académie, it is evident that the values and methods of this
founding institution remain in architectural schools throughout the world today.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Towards an (ex)change Design: Digital Architecture

Ana Nevado, PhD candidate, ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute; DINAMIA’CET-IUL
The status of architectural studio within pedagogically, professionally and culturally scopes, in
Portugal, has evolved throughout the application and impact of studio teaching and the challenges
triggered by the contemporary society. Although Historiography claims the birth of architectural
teaching in 1572, democratization of the profession occurred only in the XXth century. The increase of
a social and critic ethics and the number of Architects was emphasized since the 1930’s – influenced
by opportunities and demands of the Modern Movement and by inclusion of architectural design
research and practice in the political, cultural, intellectual and artistic vanguard -, throughout the
1960’s (by social movements) and the 1980’s (by new technologies, the increase of Architects and
schools of architects), until now.
We questioned: the transitional role of architectural design research and practice within the theoretical
and experimental processes; the relevance of researching and debating design as a process of
reflection; what is the design value (in society and architectural teaching); the contribution of
synergies (of information technology and media, sociology, public policy, anthropology, economics
and management) amongst architecture teaching/practice and design; the mediums of exchange in
architecture; the relation between external design studio outputs and architectural education; the task
of design in creative processes.
Considering those aims and scope, we considered the School of Architecture and Urbanism of ISCTE
– Lisbon University Institute as a study case, due to its innovative approach of teaching. The available
courses explore trends of design, such as digital technologies that revolutionize contemporary
Architecture, focusing on ecology and sustainability. The existing digital laboratory Vitruvius FabLab-
IUL urges a scientific design research through several industry partners and digital technologies
applied to architecture, in order to experiment, export and import design as currency in architectural
practice and as a creative process.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
The Practice of Practice

Margaret Fletcher, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, Auburn University
Studio teaching is often defined through the physical outcome of projects and the specific, tacit skill-
based objectives these outcomes directly address. However, it should be the constant flexible, nimble
negotiation of the instructor to maintain a fluid emergent ecology of expectations achieved not through
project completion but rather through the collective experience of the studio.
The project sequence in the first year architecture program is often a difficult progression to design.
The sequence as described herein relies upon the teaching of the intangible through a variety of
individualized and collaborative projects. Objectives and outcomes are not only defined by the
resultant artefact but also through the process of production. The sequence relies heavily on
fabrication, prototyping and a series of detailed analysis exercises that focus on non-traditional
architectonic exercises. This shift from normative projects provides a studio atmosphere where
students are encouraged to learn in an environment where no one (not even the instructor) is an
expert. In this model the value of design is measured in behavioural outcomes.
The experience relies upon the strength of the collective to develop skills around collaboration as well
as self-reliance. It relies upon the constant drive toward the development of a curious mind that
understands the value in persistence, of work as an investment, in disengaging in order to re-engage,
in multiple streams of investigation, in material creativity, in delegation and dependence of and in
others, in adaptability and agility, in the difficult but true reality of studio culture…. the success of
failing and understanding that this means failing forward—the value of habits of mind and habits of
work. The application of complex problems that create an atmosphere where all (students and
instructors) must rely on each other—no experts in attendance— generates a model of practice more
associated with the design atmosphere found in the profession rather than in the academic studio.
This model describes how the pedagogy stays current—it does not chase trends or technology.
Rather, it relies on the development of focused methods to teach the design skills that are elusive in
nature
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Playing with Architecture – A Pedagogical Approach

Sima Rouholamin, Dublin School of Architecture
This paper forms part of on-going research in architectural pedagogies, in particular the role of critical
thinking and its importance to the future of the profession. It suggests that architectural education
needs to evolve to maintain its relevance in a setting of rapidly changing technological, environmental,
social and economic demands. Accepting the premise that it is no longer feasible for a learner to gain
all the necessary available knowledge of a profession through formal education, the suitability of a
different type of learning experience and formation to one which simply imparts static knowledge and
skills is discussed.
In human psychology and behavioural science, play and self initiated play is accepted as a
fundamental form of learning. This is learning that is gained through exploration and the associated
experience rather than being taught something specific. This pedagogical approach, with its emphasis
on the role of play in design education, was introduced by Johannes Itten and later by Josef Albers at
the Bauhaus. This formed part of the primary educational structure and ethos at the Bauhaus and it
can be traced back to Froebel’s Kindergarten formation and John Dewey’s reflective practitioners’
theories of learning.
Through ongoing application, this paper examines play as a creative pedagogical approach in
fostering critical thinking skills within the students design process in studio. The outcomes indicated
that learning through the act of play empowers the learner to experiment. It enables the learner to
learn through curiosity, interest and above all enjoyment which pushes the boundaries of their
knowledge and perhaps even the boundaries of existing architectural knowledge.
Playing with Architecture proposes a change in the process of design to allow play as the driver for
the student’s learning, a central pedagogical approach, where nothing is predetermined, everything is
up for grabs and anything is possible.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
The Architect’s Table: postcards from the studio:.

Simon Beeson
In his seminal work on pedagogy, Donald Schon defined 'the crisis of the professions' as the growing
inability of the protected knowledge of a profession, to be able to resolve the problems of its field in an
1
increasingly complicated world . Thirty years on, the rate of technological advancement is increasing
resulting in an ever greater complexity of issues facing the practicing architect, and the syncretic
2
natures of both the praxis of architecture and its attendant education . The field of Architecture is
currently at a point where it is unfeasible for one to predict the form of the profession in 7 years - the
(minimum) time it takes a student, from commencing their first year of studies, to achieve professional
registration - with any degree of accuracy.
Beyond technical skills, these technological advancements are having profound effects on society,
which in turn impact on the field. In his thesis for a new secondary education model, Tony Wagner
notes the differences in motivation, skills, and ambition of a generation, raised in an environment of
3
high speed, mass communication devices and networks, to their predecessors . Social changes have
also been highlighted in the motivations of students entering the architectural education system in the
4
UK . It follows that lessons learned from students can in turn be used to inform the discussion of
design studio within architecture education, as well as the wider field beyond.
Over the last four years, the Manchester School of Architecture has been involved in supporting a
range of student initiated projects (SIPs) at differing scales:
th
International: 30 European Architecture Students Assembly
National: Architecture Students Network
School: MSA events
Drawing from these examples, this article will discuss the benefits to educators - both direct
(grades/employability) and adjacent (motivational) - of such SIPS, and provide guidance for their
implementation and support by a faculty.
1. Schön, D. 1983. The Design Studio. London: RIBA
2. Ockman, J (Ed), 2012: Architecture School: Three Centuries of Architecture Education in North
America. London: MIT
3. Wagner, T. The Global Achievement Gap, 2008. New York: Basic Books
4. 2011 The Future for Architects report; how will architects be educated in 20 years time?
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Learning from Student Initiated Projects

Chris Maloney and Robert Hyde, Manchester Metropolitan University
In his seminal work on pedagogy, Donald Schon defined 'the crisis of the professions' as the growing
inability of the protected knowledge of a profession, to be able to resolve the problems of its field in an
1
increasingly complicated world . Thirty years on, the rate of technological advancement is increasing
resulting in an ever greater complexity of issues facing the practicing architect, and the syncretic
2
natures of both the praxis of architecture and its attendant education . The field of Architecture is
currently at a point where it is unfeasible for one to predict the form of the profession in 7 years - the
(minimum) time it takes a student, from commencing their first year of studies, to achieve professional
registration - with any degree of accuracy.
Beyond technical skills, these technological advancements are having profound effects on society,
which in turn impact on the field. In his thesis for a new secondary education model, Tony Wagner
notes the differences in motivation, skills, and ambition of a generation, raised in an environment of
3
high speed, mass communication devices and networks, to their predecessors . Social changes have
also been highlighted in the motivations of students entering the architectural education system in the
4
UK . It follows that lessons learned from students can in turn be used to inform the discussion of
design studio within architecture education, as well as the wider field beyond.
Over the last four years, the Manchester School of Architecture has been involved in supporting a
range of student initiated projects (SIPs) at differing scales:
th
International: 30 European Architecture Students Assembly
National: Architecture Students Network
School: MSA events
Drawing from these examples, this article will discuss the benefits to educators - both direct
(grades/employability) and adjacent (motivational) - of such SIPS, and provide guidance for their
implementation and support by a faculty.
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
0.5 Contacts
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Contacts
Victoria Farrow
Senior Lecturer
ARK114, Arkwright Building
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham
NG14BU
Marisela Mendoza
Senior Lecturer
ARK114, Arkwright Building
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham
NG14BU
Sponsors
- Higher Education Academy, HEA
- Nottingham Trent University
- Laurence King Publishing
Supporting Bodies
Thanks must be paid to the following companies and organisations who supported us on the day,
exhibiting and presenting their work:
- Autodesk
- Vectorworks
- Trada
- Tata Steel
- Architecture Is
- Wiley Press
- Laurence King Publishing
- CIAT
- Higher Education Academy (HEA)
AAE CONFERENCE 2013
Nottingham Trent Unviersity

ISBN 978-0-9576009-1-1

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AAE CONFERENCE 2013

Association of Architectural Educators

AAE Inaugural Conference

The conference's key aims:

• To encourage research and scholarship of teaching and learning in architectural education.

Nottingham Trent Unviersity

Conference Planning Team

Conference Committee Team

Paper Reviewers and Additional Moderators

Among many others we would like to thank the following:

Victoria Farrow, Nottingham Trent University

Conference Topic Chairs

Victoria Farrow, Nottingham Trent University

Kamran Surizehi, Nottingham Trent University

Supporters of the AAE

National Conference of the Beginning Design Student, USA

0.1 Conference Themes

0.2 Keynote Speakers

0.1 Conference Themes

0.1 Conference Themes

Interdisciplinary, chaired by Marisela Mendoza & Valeria Carnevale

Live Projects , chaired by Paul Collins & Leo Care

Drawing and Representation, chaired by Hannah Vowles & Victoria Farrow

Virtual Design Studio, chaired by Benachir Medjoub & Chris Maloney

Professional Practice, chaired by Ruth Morrow & Victoria Farrow

Responsible Design, chaired by Marisela Mendoza & Valeria Carnevale

Integration of Technology, chaired by Chris Heuvel & James Brown

0.2 Keynote Speakers

0.2 Keynote Speakers

Professor Sir Peter Cook RA

Designing within a Different Culture – The case for designing overseas

Common Currency Between Water and Cities: Architecture Education in

Dialectical Currencies between Architectural and Theatre Pedagogy.

Air rights by room + cities

Studio Lab: Directed Experimentation Towards Focused Innovation

Detours and Denouements

Four-in-One: A Democratic Approach to Diversifying First Year Design

Architecture As Cabaret : From Genius Loci to Locus Genii

The Design Studio as Liminal Space

Socialisation in Architecture Education

Situated Learning in Architecture: The pedagogic benefits to practioners

A Live Currency: Introducing the Live Projects Handbook

The Unrecognised Value of the Architects 6B pencil Sketch

Translations from Mapping to Seeing (and Back Again)

#TwitterCritter : Extending the Reach of Studio

The Imperative of the Metastudio

Rethinking Architectural education: a focus on creativity

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Architectural Education

Demystifying the SCI-Arc Design Studio: 1972-1976

The Interim Design Review

From Pedagogy to Didactics: looking at the theoretical presuppositions of

Exploring the design studio as a social context for developing creativity

The opportunities for inducing socially responsible design thinking in

Unstable Currency: the ‘Culture of Learning’ architectural drawing

Hand Craft and Computational Design Thinking in Basic Design Teaching

Design decision making as effected by differing models of human

Drawing thinking: a lost currency?

Learning Outside the Lecture Space

Making Arguments in Practice and in Studio

Design Studio and the Potential Renaissance in Contextual Buildings

Regionalising Architectural Education

The Transdisciplinary final design studio – process, product and a

Design —The Direct Revolution