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What needs to be changed in the education of the Architect?

18 December 2016

To teach methods of gaining knowledge, rather than transfer information; to strengthen values education, rather than transmit ready-made solutions; to teach and learn at the same time — what needs to be changed today in the school of architecture? This question became the main issue of our «Open City» Conference, and we are continuing an analysis of its outcomes.

Why new teaching methods need to be introduced?

Availability of information has changed the education system dramatically — with the advent of the Internet, knowledge can be accessed by everyone and everywhere. Therefore, according to Vincente Guallart, former Chief Architect of Barcelona and co-founder of IAAC School, the linear structure of knowledge transmission from a teacher to a student is changing radically.

«From the time when the first universities in the XVI century appeared and till the industrial revolution in the education system, there has been a clear role separation: a professor, on the one hand, who knows everything and has all knowledge, and a student, on the other hand, who doesn’t know anything. Today everything has changed: in addition to lectures at their university, students are free to listen to any lecture online, even from Harvard sessions. They can understand the computerization of the profession even better than teachers do. So nowadays, the optimal condition of learning is the interchange of information.»

Education has become much more international, adds Guallart, and the fact, that I’m sitting here saying in English that students can learn anywhere in the world, really changes it. Education is becoming more united.

What kind of specialists should be graduated from schools of architecture?

According to Vincente Guallart, perhaps only about 15 percent of the graduates of his school will be working as true architects — i.e. will design specific buildings. It’s like the situation with lawyers, and, for example, most doctors will become just doctors who are treating patients in hospitals. Why is this happening? The programme of modern architectural schools is changing the notion of those who create the city — these are not only architects, but also government, business, and residents. It is time to redefine this new role of the architect as a creator of the city, said Guallart.

«We should teach future architects the culture of creating projects, so that they will able to visualize the future and identify the technical tasks that are required for its transformation.»

Modern school also needs to respond to this developing specialization, said Nikita Tokarev, Director of the Architectural School MARCH. Today the idea to create integrated courses that cover a large area of knowledge and large field of competences — like classical universities, where many courses should help the student to form a kind of mosaic — fails to be this effective today. This occurs in connection with enhanced specialization of knowledge: you have to know more details and fewer subjects. Therefore, the number of courses must become less — MARCH School, for example, has only four of them, and they include a variety of fields of study.

What kind of specialists should be graduated from schools of architecture?

According to Vincente Guallart, perhaps only about 15 percent of the graduates of his school will be working as true architects — i.e. will design specific buildings. It’s like the situation with lawyers, and, for example, most doctors will become just doctors who are treating patients in hospitals. Why is this happening? The programme of modern architectural schools is changing the notion of those who create the city — these are not only architects, but also government, business, and residents. It is time to redefine this new role of the architect as a creator of the city, said Guallart.

«We should teach future architects the culture of creating projects, so that they will able to visualize the future and identify the technical tasks that are required for its transformation.»

Modern school also needs to respond to this developing specialization, said Nikita Tokarev, Director of the Architectural School MARCH. Today the idea to create integrated courses that cover a large area of knowledge and large field of competences — like classical universities, where many courses should help the student to form a kind of mosaic — fails to be this effective today. This occurs in connection with enhanced specialization of knowledge: you have to know more details and fewer subjects. Therefore, the number of courses must become less — MARCH School, for example, has only four of them, and they include a variety of fields of study.

Humanization of education

Many modern teachers believe that work with architectural issues is impossible without good knowledge of human sciences — sociology, history, philosophy. According to Nikita Tokarev, although the contemporary architect is obtaining new competences and it is harder to remain an architect in the traditional sense, there is still a core of the profession that is inherited and transmitted.

This core is related to the matter of values. According to Eugene Ass, Rector of MARCH School, the task of institutions as knowledge transmitters is no longer indispensable, since nowadays knowledge is unfocused; but formation and transition of values, which can only go with those who share these values, — this task comes to the fore. And in this context, the school retains its role.

Teaching how to learn

Advanced schools have long ago started to realize the educational process that is based on students’ independence — it is up to you what and how much you will take. To teach how to learn is our main task, so that a person will be able to get knowledge himself after graduation, said Nikita Tokarev.

Vincent Guallart says, «I love teaching because I love to learn. We opened our school in Barcelona because we wanted to learn something from other people. Two the most influential architectural schools of the XX century — Bauhaus and Massachusetts Institute of Technology — were in fact laboratories where teachers taught and did research together with the students at the same time. I think the new education should be based on this kind of learning through the specific work. Another important point is to find the definition of what a talent is, and, of course, active interaction and exchange of students and teachers.»

* The article contains materials used in the discussion «Redefining teaching methods and academic programs — new tools/new models», October 28, 2016 as part of «Open City» Conference.


Images: Images: Vasily Bulanov

 

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