On architectural education. La formación en arquitectura

Abstract

Over the last 25 year, the evolution of the profession and discipline of architecture has faced cultural, societal, and technical changes that have had an inevitable impact in both professional practice and institutional education. The environmental crisis, social inequity, fluctuating demographics, the eruption of digital technology and technological progress, and the absence of universal pedagogical models are just a few among many converging factors that invite us to reflect on the present and future of the discipline and of the institutional education of architects. In the past, there were only a few models of architectural pedagogy that were adopted by educational institutions regardless of their geographical location and cultural identity. However, the globalization of the profession, the democratization of education and the worldwide increase of schools of architecture (both public and private) in the 25 years has led to the emergence of new models. Furthermore, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously posed challenges and opened new avenues for educating future architects that deserve serious considerations. The schools of architecture of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ETSA-Vallès, Spain), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA) jointly organize a series of panel discussions dedicated to the current status of architectural education.