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A special session at the ACSA International Conference,
Mexico City, June 11, 2005
Since the emergence of the modern profession of architecture in the
mid-19th century, practitioners and educators have shared the
responsibility for preparing future architects. At its best, this
collaborative partnership has served to enrich the learning
experience of students, faculty, and practitioners alike.
This EPN-sponsored session featured presenters from across the
Americas—including Roger-Bruno Richard, architect and
professor of architecture, Université de Montréal;
Thelma Lazcano, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; and Jorge
Rigau, FAIA, dean, The New School of Architecture, Polytechnic
University of Puerto Rico—offering their firsthand experience
of, and perspectives on, this partnership. The discussion,
moderated by David W. Hinson, AIA, architecture program chair,
Auburn University, and 2005 EPN chair, highlighted successful
strategies for architecture education, in general, as well as
approaches that are unique to the diverse programs represented on
the panel.
Roger-Bruno Richard, Architect and Professor of
Architecture
Université de Montréal
M. Richard provides an overview of the 10 schools of architecture
in Canada and reviews six Models of Educator-Practitioner
Collaboration. The students are quite eager to get
involved with practice, even if they sometimes are afraid that
practice will limit their creativity. The value of
educator-practitioner engagement is “to show students the
challenges and the joys of getting an idea materialized and to
inform them clearly about the processes to reach that stage.”
More
Thelma Lazcano
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
An External Engagement Experience at the
National University (UNAM): For almost a decade,
UNAM’s School of Architecture was engaged in a comprehensive
teaching reform initiative, built around a philosophy of external
engagement. New institutional capacities—integrating legal and
administrative skills and political abilities with academic
capacities—were developed. Through the office of
“Coordinación de Vinculación,” covenants
and agreements were signed between the university (through the
School of Architecture) and governmental and private-sector
entities enabling 86 professors, 435 students, and 117 advisers to
participate in 212 projects over an 8-year period. Among the
initiative’s goals and expectations are to broaden relations
with society, to build an academic program with indisputable
prestige, and to participate in decision processes concerned with
the urban development, infrastructure and quality of life, in
particular, in Mexico City. Documentation of completed projects is
published in two volumes, Proyectos de Vinculación
1996–2000 and 2001–2004. More
Jorge Rigau, FAIA
Dean, The New School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of
Puerto Rico
Engaging Professionals in
Academia is usually less of a problem than getting
students and academics alike enthused about the professional world,
began Mr. Rigau. At The New School of Architecture, practice is
introduced into the curriculum early in the program; faculty, 80
percent of whom are practitioners, discuss design and history,
design and theory, and design and technology as interrelated
subjects. Read more about the climate that feeds the curriculum and
the context that nurtures the climate.More
The AIA Educator-Practitioner Network wishes to thank the speakers
for their participation in this special session. The AIA is
grateful for the opportunity provided by the Association of
Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
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