Curating school cultures: Studios in the context of school agendas

Burke, AJ

Curating school cultures: Studios in the context of school agendas

Burke, AJ

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Publisher:: The Association of Architecture Schools of Australia
Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: Designing/Education: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of The Association of Architecture Schools of Australasia, 2013, pp. 212 - 221
Issue Date:: 2013-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Burke, AJ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0777-8379	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Ramirez-Lovering, D	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Alexander, J	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Fairley, A	en_US
dc.date	2013-10-03	en_US
dc.date.issued	2013-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Designing/Education: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of The Association of Architecture Schools of Australasia, 2013, pp. 212 - 221	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	978-1-921994-29-6	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/26903
dc.description.abstract	Studios are consistently assumed to be the focus of Architectural education. This paper proposes alternatively, that the success of?any studio is fundamentally determined by the explicit design of?the context in which it sits. What remains little examined within studio pedagogic discussion is the design of the culture of studios at individual schools and the role, positive and negative of larger school agendas within that shape meaningful studio outcomes. Rather than ask how does one design a studio, a better question might be how does one design the research environment in which they thrive? This paper interrogates the assumptions of studio independence and posits the positive relationship between designed and curated school cultures and studios as a means of repositioning the debate around studio education. This raises many issues for currently accepted studio practice which include; assessing the value of individual intellectual property structurally embedded within current studio models, the role of heads of programs as skilled curators, the coherency of a school of architecture and the subsequent capacity for commitment to common research goals, the scale of the current studio model against research potentials, the positioning of schools within a competitive education market place, and the role of specific school agendas and positioning in the context of notions of generalized architectural education. Within the context of the contemporary education system, there are many reasons why the typical studio model has been so resilient, however, larger agendas requiring change in educational structures and focus is one action with the potential to drive the evolution of studios in a design research context beyond the limits of current boutique project development. What then is the relationship between a school agenda and the success of studio projects? By examining two contemporary school models (Columbia University's studio X, and the UTS "all school": Metropolis project) as a starting point, and drawing on conversations developed initially at the international conference "20/20 The Evolving Architectural Education; Innovation in Teaching and learning in Asia" conference hosted in 2012 at CUhK around the importance of cultural activation within Architecture Schools, this paper draws out the relationship between an overall explicit school positioning or agenda, and the success of studio culture within those schools where this is clear.	en_US
dc.publisher	The Association of Architecture Schools of Australia	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Designing/Education: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of The Association of Architecture Schools of Australasia	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Association of Architecture Schools of Australasia Annual Conference (AASA)	en_US
dc.title	Curating school cultures: Studios in the context of school agendas	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.location	Melbourne	en_US
utslib.location.activity	Melbourne, Victoria	en_US
utslib.for	1201 Architecture	en_US
dc.location.activity	Melbourne	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Architecture
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CCDP - Contemporary Design Practice
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.finish-date	2013-10-05	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	Melbourne	en_US
pubs.start-date	2013-10-03	en_US

Abstract:

Studios are consistently assumed to be the focus of Architectural education. This paper proposes alternatively, that the success of?any studio is fundamentally determined by the explicit design of?the context in which it sits. What remains little examined within studio pedagogic discussion is the design of the culture of studios at individual schools and the role, positive and negative of larger school agendas within that shape meaningful studio outcomes. Rather than ask how does one design a studio, a better question might be how does one design the research environment in which they thrive? This paper interrogates the assumptions of studio independence and posits the positive relationship between designed and curated school cultures and studios as a means of repositioning the debate around studio education. This raises many issues for currently accepted studio practice which include; assessing the value of individual intellectual property structurally embedded within current studio models, the role of heads of programs as skilled curators, the coherency of a school of architecture and the subsequent capacity for commitment to common research goals, the scale of the current studio model against research potentials, the positioning of schools within a competitive education market place, and the role of specific school agendas and positioning in the context of notions of generalized architectural education. Within the context of the contemporary education system, there are many reasons why the typical studio model has been so resilient, however, larger agendas requiring change in educational structures and focus is one action with the potential to drive the evolution of studios in a design research context beyond the limits of current boutique project development. What then is the relationship between a school agenda and the success of studio projects? By examining two contemporary school models (Columbia University's studio X, and the UTS "all school": Metropolis project) as a starting point, and drawing on conversations developed initially at the international conference "20/20 The Evolving Architectural Education; Innovation in Teaching and learning in Asia" conference hosted in 2012 at CUhK around the importance of cultural activation within Architecture Schools, this paper draws out the relationship between an overall explicit school positioning or agenda, and the success of studio culture within those schools where this is clear.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/26903