Archinect - News

New 'Architecture for kids' podcast shares resources on the best engagement practices for children

2023-08-22T15:20:00-04:00

A new podcast series aimed at enhancing educators’ ability to teach architecture to school children is now available thanks to a collaboration between the UK's Built Environment Trust, Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University.

Hosted by Architecture for kids CIC founder Antonio Capelao, the ten-episode series engages with various practitioners, academics, and other experts in design education who are working at the field's leading edges with the long-term goal of encouraging wider participation in the built environment from a young age.

The producers share: "These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs an...

London School of Architecture has found its new school head and executive chief

2021-03-05T16:04:00-05:00

In July 2020, Will Hunter, founder of the London School of Architecture (LSA), announced his plans to step down from his chief executive position. Launched in 2015, the school aimed to provide "alternative routes to architecture." Hunter, the former Deputy Editor of The Architectural Review, was ambitious with the school's founding starting with 30+ postgraduate architecture students during the program's first cohort.

Archinect spoke with Hunter in the Fall of 2015 as a guest on our Archinect Sessions podcast. During our discussion with him, he shared his goals and intentions for shaking up architectural academia in the UK. Quoted during his interview with the podcast team, Hunter explained that he wanted to develop "a 'cost-neutral' model of architecture education, where students work part-time – for pay equal to the cost of tuition – while also attending courses."

The LSA's first graduating cohort (2017) Image courtesy of LSA Instagram

Since then, the school has grown into a thri...

North Dakota State University combines departments to ‘disrupt current design education’

2020-11-30T19:22:00-05:00

On November 24th, North Dakota State University announced its newest school, The School of Design, Architecture, and Art (SODAA). NDSU combined its architecture, landscape architecture, and visual arts departments into one school, hoping to diversify the learning outcomes students and faculty would gain as each field of study interacts with one another under one roof.

According to their school paper "The Spectrum," Anne Kesler reports, "NDSU is the only school in the state that offers architecture and landscape programs, and with the opening of the new school, the university will further its field of study for design and art education."

Previously covered on Archinect: The top-ranked schools with architecture departments, according to Times Higher Education World. Image courtesy of Image © Tamer Shabani

While students and professionals continue to navigate a trying time within the industry, the need for multidisciplinary approaches to architecture and design has grown. As professiona...

David Sharpe, IIT professor of 50 years, has passed away

2020-07-13T11:54:00-04:00

David Sharpe, an influential educator and architect, has passed away on June 20, 2020 at age 91.

Born on September 4, 1928 in Decaturville, Tennessee, Sharpe was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Tuskegee Institute after displaying great skill in architecture and engineering, according to Docomomo. He graduated from Tuskegee in 1950 and soon enlisted in the Air Force, where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant during the Korean War. After completing his military service, Sharpe spent time in Chicago, where he became inspired to apply to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Sharpe ultimately earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1960 and Master of Science in Architecture in 1962 from IIT.

After studying under notable architects Mies van der Rohe and Myron Goldsmith, Sharpe was hired at the Chicago Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM) office in 1964, where he worked for over 20 years, ultimately rising to the position of associate partner. While at SOM, Sharpe w...

10 libraries, schools, and learning environments for your Friday inspiration

2020-04-17T15:18:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Learning Spaces.

↑ Royal College of Pathologists in London, UK by Bennetts Associates; Photo: Gareth Gardner (Bennetts Associates was also recently featured in Archinect's Studio Visits series)

↑ Bavilion in Punjab, India by Studio Ardete; Photo: Ar. Purnesh Dev Nikhanj

↑ Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, NY by BKSK Architects, LLP in partnership with SmithGroup; Photo: Raimund Koch

↑ Edible Schoolyard PS216 in Gravesend, NY by WORKac; Photo: Iwan Baan

↑ The Children's Library at Concourse House in Bronx, NY by MKCA // Michael K Chen Architecture

↑ Swawou Girls' School in Kenema, Sierra Leone by Orkidstudio

↑ Bishop’s University Learn...

Princeton announces call for Field Studies colloquium proposals

2018-10-02T01:40:00-04:00

Princeton has announced a call for proposals for Field Studies, a doctoral student workshop hosted by the PhD program in History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University. The workshop will be held at Princeton University’s School of Architecture in March 2-3, 2019.

The state of the discipline, or as this inquiry more specifically terms it, the field, is currently undergoing a crisis of identity. Despite having increased in visibility in recent decades, the disciplinary position of Architectural History and Theory (AHT) is experiencing the adverse side effect of a rampantly expanded field: a loose center. Disoriented by numerous “turns” (the critical, the post-critical, the technological, the semiotic, the curatorial, the environmental, to name only a few), many doctoral programs in AHT currently operate in a disciplinary fog that hinders rather than enables fruitful discussion. Correspondingly, other disciplines often seem unclear as to AHT’s object of study, a response t...

10 inspiring examples of schools, libraries, and other learning environments

2018-09-14T14:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Learning Spaces.

↑ Stapleton Library in Stapleton, NY by Andrew Berman Architect; Photo: Naho Kubota

↑ Queen Mary, University of London: Graduate Centre in London, UK by WilkinsonEyre; Photo: Jack Hobhouse

↑ Alfriston School in Buckinghamshire, UK by Morris+Company

↑ Mississippi Library Commission Headquarters in Jackson, MS by Duvall Decker Architects

↑ New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ by Marvel Architects

↑ Rutgers Business School in Piscataway, NJ by TEN arquitectos; Photo: Peter Aaron/ESTO

↑ Abercrombie Building, Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, UK by Design Engine Architects

↑ Counter Culture Coffee Trainin...

Architecture apprenticeship model launching next month between UK schools and firms

2018-08-23T14:58:00-04:00

The first group of architectural apprentices will start at leading practices such as AHMM, Hawkins\Brown and PRP next month as a major new sector initiative gets underway. Practices AtelierWest, GPA (Get Planning and Architecture), Ingleton Wood, and To-Do Design are also pioneering two types of apprenticeships as a route into the profession in collaboration with London South Bank University.

Following the architecture apprenticeship initiative led by Foster + Partners, the first group entering the ‘earn while you learn’ program will begin next month in the UK. This approach will offer both professional experience and tuition-free academic training, while also providing a salary to apprentices.

Charles Egbu, dean of London Southbank’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment stated, "These apprenticeship courses will provide an alternative, more cost-effective route to ARB registration, while diversifying the profession and strengthening ties between the architectural industry and academia."

London Southbank’s School of Architecture will be the only one to offer Level 6 apprenticeship. Participating schools also include De Montford, Northumbria, Oxford Brookes, and Portsmouth offering Level 7 qualification.

Firms with wage bills of more than $3.8 million a year have been charged 0.5% of their total wage bill to fund these new apprenticeships. Smaller firms outsi...

Win a copy of Joseph Choma's “Études for Architects”, a book of pedagogical design games for architects

2018-08-08T12:25:00-04:00

Design Topology Lab founder and architectural educator Joseph Choma is back with a new pedagogical book called “Études for Architects”, which comes a few years after his acclaimed “MORPHING: A Guide to Mathematical Transformations for Architects and Designers”.

If you're a new student to design or maybe you want to refresh your skills, this book features a series of pedagogical games that architects can play as a means to design. Thanks to publisher Routledge and Joseph Choma, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to our readers!

Photo courtesy of Joseph Choma.

Written in straightforward text and featuring explanatory diagrams, the book's learning objectives include: computational thinking and making; introduction to design as an iterative, reflective, and rigorous process; ideas of continuity and discontinuity; and understanding the bias and constraints of analog and digital tooling. It also includes compelling examples of student work to e...

Knowledge spaces: 10 school, library, and museum designs that make learning fun

2017-10-20T12:52:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Learning Spaces.

↑ Learning Hub for St Andrew’s Anglican College in Sunshine Coast, Australia by Wilson Architects; Photo: Christopher Frederick Jones

↑ SUNY: Morrisville State College: Center for Design and Technology in Morrisville, NY by Perkins Eastman; Photo: David Revette

↑ Stanford University, GSB Highland Hall in Stanford, CA by Steinberg and Legorreta

↑ Burntwood School in London, UK by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)

↑ The French International School of Beijing (LFIP) in Beijing, China by Jacques Ferrier Architecture; Photo: Luc Boegly

↑ Toi Ohomai Health Sciences Building in Rotorua, New Zealand by MOAA Architects in...

University of Arizona appoints Nancy Pollock-Ellwand as new Dean of College of Architecture

2017-05-09T12:41:00-04:00

Formerly a professor and Dean of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary, Nancy Pollock-Ellwand will become the Dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Arizona starting July 31st. As University of Arizona Senior Vice President for academic affairs and provost Andrew Cormie explained to AZBigMedia, “Nancy brings a breadth of international expertise and insight to the UA, in her scholarly and professional work as well as in her extensive administrative experience at one of the top research universities in Canada. With a multidisciplinary approach to urban reform and heritage conservation, Nancy offers a collaborative perspective in the field of design, and she is known as a smart, thoughtful and engaging leader.”

Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times architecture critic, reviews Harvard's first online architecture course

2017-05-04T14:42:00-04:00

[K. Michael Hays] represents an approach to teaching architecture and architectural theory that has held sway in the American academy for at least a generation. This approach doesn’t simply treat architecture as a discipline separate from the rest of the world, with its own passwords and protocols. It guards that separation with its life.

A spirited Christopher Hawthorne reviews Harvard GSD's first online course as taught by K. Michael Hays, who appears to prize obfuscation and condescension as teaching methods (Hawthorne does explain the history behind this autonomous pedagogy, which resulted from architects of the 1970s needing to break away from corporate/political control). Still, the question of whether online courses are actually any different than the level of instruction you would receive in a classroom appears to be trending toward no, at least in substantive terms. The medium isn't the message, especially if you're taking instruction from a lecturer who thinks speaking at you, rather than engaging with you, is the way to go.

New USC Dean Milton Curry shifts pedagogical focus toward theory

2017-04-27T15:30:00-04:00

When you think about diversity and globalization and urbanization, you can’t do it without a theoretical underpinning. You just can’t. And I think that what we’re seeing in the discipline at large is the limit conditions of thinking a-theoretically about urbanism, about inequality, about what we should do about environmental challenges and sustainability. We’ve got to address it through a theoretical lens. - Milton Curry

In this interview conducted by Christopher Hawthorne as part of his pithy Building Type column, the soon-to-be-Dean of USC's School of Architecture Milton Curry talks about reintroducing a theoretical emphasis to the school's programs. Curry, who in his time at University of Michigan experienced Detroit's imploding urbanity first-hand, also wants to build greater connections between underserved students in Los Angeles and the university. "Los Angeles metro region is huge in its economic footprint, its land footprint," Curry explains. "I believe cities to some degree have more influence than merely being one of a combination of cities within one nation. They execute trade deals on their own, in some cases. They execute climate policies, other kinds of policing policies on their own. I think that some of those lessons will apply to Los Angeles."

Architecture education in the (even more) automated (near) future

2016-12-13T12:29:00-05:00

In a robot-proof education, we have to focus on what humans do that robots cannot do: think creatively, work with others, think about ethics. For instance, suppose a scenario where a self-driving car can either hit three people and hurt the passengers, or save the passengers but hit 10 people. What is it going to do? Who’s going to program that? Who’s going to decide? You.

In a Q&A between Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun and George Thrush, founding director of the School of Architecture, the two educators touched on the implications of automation for architectural education, among other things. "Creative thinking and innovation, entrepreneurship, critical thinking, thinking in a divergent way, ethics—that’s the purview of the human being," Aoun states.

Ten Top Images on Archinect's NEW "Learning Spaces" Pinterest Board

2016-10-21T17:37:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the brand new board Learning Spaces.

↑ Energy Positive Relocatable Classroom in Ewa Beach, HI by Anderson Anderson Architecture; Photo: Anthony Vizzari, Anderson Anderson Architecture

↑ Khabele Elementary Expansion in Austin, TX by Derrington Building Studio; Photo: Peter Molick Photography

↑ Eemhuis in Amersfoort, the Netherlands by Neutelings Riedijk Architects; Photo: Scagliola/Brakkee © Neutelings Riedijk Architects

↑ Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, FL by Santiago Calatrava; Photo: Julian Parkinson

↑ Academy of Art & Architecture in Maastricht, the Netherlands by Wiel Arets Architects

↑ Fladängskolan in Lomma, Sweden by Link Arkitekt...

Yale Dean Deborah Berke advocates pluralism in pedagogy

2016-07-28T13:45:00-04:00

Deborah Berke, a practicing architect with a firm of over 60 employees and former adjunct Yale professor, has replaced the inimitable Robert "Bob" A.M. Stern as the dean of the Yale School of Architecture. Berke has ideas about how to shape the future of the school's pedagogy. In an interview with the CTPost, she lays out her vision, which is centered on advancing the "history of pluralism":

In terms of curriculum, her definition of pluralism will expand to include more emphasis on how architecture can respond to the impact of climate change and globalization, both of which she emphasizes as “rapid.” For the student body, which is already about 50 percent female, and faculty, pluralism translates to broader diversity.

“Let’s put it this way,” she says, “the profession of architecture does not look like the population at large and I am going to work hard toward having the architects we train and the architects who teach be more reflective of the population at large.”

Woodbury Dean Norman Millar has passed away

2016-04-21T13:11:00-04:00

School of Architecture Dean Norman Millar, who previously taught at SCI-Arc, UCLA, Pasadena Art Center and was active on both the San Diego and Los Angeles campuses of Woodbury, succumbed to pancreatic cancer on April 14. He was 62 years old. Named "Educator of the Year" in 2014 by the AIA|LA and elected as President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) in 2012, Millar's legacy extended not only to his pragmatic pedagogy, but his dedication to fostering a culture of warmth and joy among his students. According to a statement released by Woodbury, he once said that “I exited architecture school with the intention of making good buildings, and discovered that teaching expanded my passion by fostering it in students."

The head of the Woodbury architecture program since 1999, Dean Millar saw enrollment in the program triple during his watch. According to a 2013 discussion with Scott Johnson, as a child Millar initially wanted to become an orthopedic surgeon, ...

The Yale architecture studio where students must pitch to "an actual client"

2016-04-07T13:08:00-04:00

“This kind of pedagogical approach, where students are engaged with a ‘real’ client, has the potential to be very informative for the design process ... Usually people view constraints as detrimentally restrictive, but I think in this case it allows students to always have parameters by which to judge their work.” [...] [Yanbo Li ’16] said that the studio is a “perennial favorite” among senior architecture majors from year to year, and said his own experience was not an exception.

Related on Archinect:

Mark Mistur named Kent State University College of Architecture dean

2016-03-24T19:30:00-04:00

Professionally, [Mistur's] experience includes his firm, the Troy-based Mark Mistur Architect, from 1993 to present, as well as time with Mistur Riebe Architects in New York City and Glynn, Spillane, Griffing Architects PC and Crozier Associates PC, both of Albany, N.Y. Mistur said in the release that he was honored to be chosen and said the college was “by all indicators a vibrant learning community.”

Formerly an associate dean at the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, Mistur hasn't announced what direction he plans to take the school in, although he did praise the university's new building (designed by Weiss/Manfredi,) as evidence of pre-existing institutional excellence.

“Opening an extraordinary new facility demonstrates a strong commitment to the college and to design excellence on the part of the university leadership and its alumni," Mistur commented. "Launching an architectural competition that attracted exceptional design firms from across the nation speaks volumes for the outstanding leadership and direction of the college.”

Curious about what's what in pedagogy? You'll undoubtedly enjoy these: