Architectural design pedagogies define a complex field of inquiry: its tools are diverse and multifaceted. The aim of the call is to explore how the physical space of learning, namely university buildings as pedagogical devices, bears specific intentions linked to particular aims, educational programmes and learning objectives.
The analysis of the physical space where the teaching of architecture defines a field of investigation that intersects with multiple discussions.
As cultural institutions, these buildings determine ways of understanding education, its conditions, methods, and objectives: these buildings are tangible entities that grapple with the possible relationships between pedagogical theories and spatial configurations. It is precisely within the school that architecture tests criticalities and potentialities of becoming a significant pedagogical tool, demonstrating in virtuous cases a significant expressive potential in the form of spatial experience, managing to accommodate or even suggest multiple and novel forms of space use.
As physical structures, schools of architecture beget original relations with cities and landscapes. They are never neutral in their relationship to the context in which they are located, sometimes even becoming a means of theorising, and researching.
Finally, as places for teaching architectural design, they reveal a wide range of possibilities to what a project might be. From a more practical to more experimental ones, from entirely digital explorations to involving hands and bodies, schools of architecture express multiple orientations on what it means to do (and teach) design.
The purpose of this call is to gather contributions that articulate the notion of the non-neutrality of schools of architecture, exploring their specific and unique relationships between spaces and programmes. This involves critically selecting a number of exemplary cases to reflect on how buildings constitute powerful educational tools that shape not only the thinking, but also the attitudes and ideals of aspiring architects.
More information and submission instructions can be found in the full call here.