Much has been written of the changing role of architects over the past decade. We are simultaneously omnipotent, obsolete, underpaid, overworked, and may not even end up producing ‘architecture’ as it is traditionally understood. In a competitive, global world, architects struggle to claim the relevance they had a scant half-century before. 

Surely then, addressing the way, or ways, in which architects are educated might illuminate how we can better prepare ourselves for the rapidly changing context of our collective future. The design of a new architecture school in Aarhus offers a means through which architecture can both give representation to, and find solutions for, the precarious situation in which we currently find ourselves. Perhaps the discussion needs to shift from a concrete idea of who the architect is, to what the architect needs to be.

Formally, the building is arranged around the placement of two large, terraced studio spaces which slope past eachother in opposite directions, connected by a bridge in the middle. Here the studio landscape provides an innovative framework for learning – each platform can be dramatically reconfigured into a potentially endless number of individual or group arrangements, whilst still being connected to a broader whole, fostering a sense of community and connectivity.