Brought to you by IE School of Architecture & Design:

By the Academic Director of the IE Master in Architectural Management and Design, Juan Lago Novás.

I’m sure most of us have seen the inspiring talk by Bjarke Ingels at TED about “Hedonistic sustainability”, but I would like to reflect about it from an educational point of view and the responsibility of educators about this.

One of the many positive situations that this world economic crisis has produced, is probably the fact that our teen age in the 21st century has finished. There are no more parties, no more “everything is going to be ok” and no more cash to spend in that last drink… Architects must start taking responsibilities towards our environment, and I mean an environment beyond trees on buildings or birds on trendy images. We all know by now the impact that the AEC industry has in the green environment. Over the last two decades, architects have done a big effort to design more sustainable buildings, sustainable cities or research in sustainable construction materials, some as a true belief, others as a trend… But interestingly enough, sustainability has been focused mainly on energy efficiency issues, leaving to a second plane any other inputs.

Parallel to this green design agenda, schools of architecture have been adding to their portfolios sustainability related subjects, but again, these are just from an energy point of view. And the main thing is that considering energy efficiency on sustainability is just the point of the iceberg. The real and main sustainability issue has to do with our economic environment. Most architects have never been concerned about it, but have to say that this is because of the lack of skills and knowledge that have never been taught at the schools of architecture. The profile of the architect must change in order to be able to take such responsibility and trace a new strategic economic agenda, and this can only happen if we bridge the gap between academia, professional life and society. We should start seeing new subjects like sustainable finance, economic environment or strategic design within the different architectural design programs so that the future architects are ready to take the lead identifying this new and promising opportunity. I’m not saying to forget about energy efficient, but instead I’m proposing to be aware of and add other inputs that in order to be applied must be considered by the academic community as the new paradigm of architectural education.

We have a huge responsibility towards our environment; we can be those that draw the new economic map. Designing new cities is no longer effective; redesigning the world and the people is the new challenge.

The party is over, are we ready to take the next step?

If you are interested in bridging the gap between advanced design and business management take a look at our program and faculty. Our participants will explore the relationship between architecture and management with top business professors and leading design professionals.

We are now accepting applications for our next February 2014 intake.  Join us!