Architectural educator, critic, and author Aaron Betsky has published an editorial reflecting on the value and failings of the studio culture in architecture schools. Betsky, who is Director of the School of Architecture + Design at Virginia Tech, published the piece on Architect Magazine, the journal of the American Institute of Architects, under the title “Don’t Kill the Design Studio  — Make It Better.”

Betsky’s piece explores the question of whether the studio culture in architecture schools is “productive, efficient, or even fair” in its current format; a question to which Betsky categorically answers “no.” Much of Betsky’s argument centers on the high financial cost of an architectural education relative to many other degree programs, including the need to high-spec laptops, drawing and model material, and travel expenses.

While Betsky’s focus rests primarily in undergraduate and postgraduate studios, the issue of affordability in architectural education can also be extended to the ARE, where a recent report by NCARB and NOMA found that only 26% of ARE candidates feel confident they can afford the ARE, with almost 50% spending $500 or more on study material.

To Betsky, such financial obligations result in a profession less representative of wider society. “Studio culture is based on the assumption that students come from privileged families who have the resources and backgrounds that allow them to take full advantage of the learning resources we offer, while that network supports them in their college and university pursuits,” Betsky says.

The same NCARB/NOMA study also notes this disparity across ARE candidates leading to race and gender imbalances. Among the findings by the organizations, data showed that African American candidates were 14% more likely than white candidates to report personal debt as a factor impacting their ability to afford the ARE. The issue of representation and privilege in architecture is also not confined to the USA, with a recent report in the UK finding that 73% of workers in the country’s architecture industry were classed as privileged; one of the highest proportions across the economy.

Despite his systemic critique of the education system, Betsky nonetheless sees value in retaining and reforming studio culture. In addition to calling for increased financial assistance for students through scholarships and tuition reform, Betsky calls for “making the studio culture even more of the core of an architecture student’s education.”

“We need to focus our resources on making it available to all,” Betsky explains. “We need to promote its adaptation as a learning model before college and after graduation. We need to see it as a way of developing critical and integrative thinking, applied knowledge, skills, and ways of seeing and knowing, and as a model for community building.”

Betsky’s full piece is available to read on Architect Magazine here.