And your project site is... Clemson
Over my past six years in Clemson’s
architecture programs I have had numerous projects that vary in scale, program,
and depth. The one constant in most all of these projects has been location.
Roughly 75% of my studio projects have been on or around Clemson, SC and that
statistic includes my two semesters abroad. How can Clemson’s architecture
programs rightfully claim that they are teaching critical regionalism if we are
only able to demonstrate our understanding of it in this one region? I
understand the practicality of having a local site but I don’t think that this
is the most helpful practice for students in the long run.
Clemson’s architecture faculty is
undeniably one of the most diverse groups of people that I have ever been
around so why do our project sites not reflect this diversity? The best way to
understand critical regionalism is to critically analyze and understand the
differences between two or more places and if our project sites are
consistently the same this is made impossible. I grew up in the south so I understand
the culture, and the architecture very well and embrace it but that should not
be the extent of my architectural education. For a university program that preaches
“Southern Roots and Global Reach” the latter falls very short.
I think your argument presented is perfectly valid, and I do think that a diverse range of professors should provide different project sites other than Clemson. We had a Spaniard, German, Turkish, and Brazilian architect last year but selected a site in Greenville, SC. In their defense I want to say that they try to select sites that are close to our school within driving distance because they want students to get a handle on site analysis and be able to walk the site in person to give the closest understanding to place. That being said, I would love to study a different culture and think it would have enriched our understanding of being able to study different places.
ReplyDeleteI ran into the same exact problem in my undergrad. Where almost all of our projects were located in or around our small little town. The issue is that you begin to understand your specific region very well, but fall short when it comes time to branch out. But maybe, if we learn to understand one place well, it may allow us to better understand others effectively in the future?
ReplyDeleteI agree to this aspect in architecture education and also with studio projects that sometimes have sites elsewhere, we are only able to research through the internet rather than actually visiting the site; which is another concern.
ReplyDeleteLittle did we know that our Genoa project was our only glimpse outside of the southeast
ReplyDeleteSo I actually agree with Juhee. While the idea of having international sites is appealing, how would you really learn about the culture or site context of that region? Even if you visited the place once, is that really enough to claim that you can understand that place critically?
ReplyDeleteHow many times have you actually been out to your Clemson site this semester?
DeleteI agree with what Michelle said, that understanding one place well might allow us to have the tools required to understand other places well. However, given our diverse faculty and student population, I think it would be very helpful to understand how to evaluate sites in other places because that's what we will have to do after graduation.
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