Architectural Education: Studio +
"The studio format is the sacred cow of architectural education. I hesitate to question it and do not argue its demise. But in studio it is impossible to exercise distribution of design responsibility, or to deal with the sharing of values and qualities among designers, or to handle issues of change. Studio can no longer be the only format for teaching design. Other ways must be invented." - John Habraken
When I read this segment from Habraken's article I had to reread it make sure that I was reading it correctly. This was the first time that I had read or heard of a need to improve upon the "studio" aspect of architectural education. To me, studio culture is unique to design and only those who have studied design or more specifically architecture understand it. I couldn't imagine not having studio as part of my day to day studies. Having said that, I do not think the studio culture is perfect. There will always be things that could be improved upon. Habraken criticizes the studio format and claims that we need to create new ways to teach design. How can we do that? I don't think that restricting classes to simply lectures and studio is the answer, but what else can we do to better our design thinking and learning in an educational environment? How do we create the next level of design education, Studio +?
When I read this segment from Habraken's article I had to reread it make sure that I was reading it correctly. This was the first time that I had read or heard of a need to improve upon the "studio" aspect of architectural education. To me, studio culture is unique to design and only those who have studied design or more specifically architecture understand it. I couldn't imagine not having studio as part of my day to day studies. Having said that, I do not think the studio culture is perfect. There will always be things that could be improved upon. Habraken criticizes the studio format and claims that we need to create new ways to teach design. How can we do that? I don't think that restricting classes to simply lectures and studio is the answer, but what else can we do to better our design thinking and learning in an educational environment? How do we create the next level of design education, Studio +?
I think this is where cross-disciplinary design projects could start to come into play. Working with other fields and practicing this delegation of design roles and responsibilities would be beneficial to both parties.
ReplyDeleteThe ideas of studios is pretty old and coming back to the Beaux Arts movement in France. It was devided into 4 elements: the Ecole, private ateliers, the Salon, and café life. Our Studios are like those private ateliers, we try to simulate the office environment, to get as close as possible to reality. I am not sure if it is the right way to go. We still lacking two other elements - Salon and 'cafe' life - exhibitions/shows and discussions.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Kaitlyn that we tent to move towards cross-disciplinarity. We are isolating ourselves in Studios from other disciplines.Today architecture is not about autonomy, more about integration and collaboration. Saying that, why non of us is working in the library? In other departments? As for me, there can be different forms of teaching design, more collaborative ones. Word 'Design thinking' is becoming more and more relevant and it is not only owned by architectural department.
I agree with both Kaitlyn and Kate. The cross-disciplinary design projects are lacking. Because we don't mingle with other disciplines when we get out into the professional world there is an alienation between different professions. I am not saying that working more with other disciplines will completely eliminate the divide the occurs but it has to help. It should help each discipline see how the others work and ultimately help bridge the gap. It would be nice in the future to see these collaboration efforts start to effect the real world applications. Maybe more architecture firms will hire in-house engineers, landscape architects, etc and then these walls that form will begin to crumble.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents.. Studio culture is strong and I feel like I know and love my studio mates. But we are no longer in each others lives, in each others heads. Remember back to first year when we all discussed each others projects on a daily basis and gave each other our opinions as to what was working and what wasn't? Gave each other advice as to how to improve or where to go seeking inspiration. I then knew everything about everyones project far before they were pinned on the wall and felt comfortable speaking up in reviews and pinups about my opinions. Today.... I don't know a thing about Matt and Max's project, and they are sitting right next to me. I sit in pinups and have never seen these projects before, and on top of that everyone is on their phone or taking a nap. When did we all become so disconnected? When did we stop having round table discussions about design? Why don't we as students help each other out anymore? All we are are slaves to our projects and computers... and at the end of the day/project we throw it up on the wall, defend it, and go back to napping while the next group goes... I think we should go back to talking to one another and being a little more investigative when it comes to design.
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