How can we transform architectural education to better prepare architects for the future?
Who is the next generation?
There is no way we can have a diverse profession without a diverse group of students entering it. How do we find students from untraditional backgrounds and inspire them to become architects ? Should we expand the career discovery programs that some architecture schools have launched and turn them into feeding grounds for the next generation of architecture students? Do we attract enough people into the schools in order to replace us and fill the future needs of the profession?
Can Architecture School be Free?
In 2018 NYU upended medical education in the US by making tuition free. Columbia quickly followed suit as did half a dozen major medical schools in the US. Pretty much the only option for a free architecture education is Cooper Union. Everyone else graduating today is carrying significant debt which given the state of starting salaries will take decades to pay off. If we want to attract diverse students, then we need to set up a system to make education affordable.
Since neither the AIA nor our members can afford to underwrite architectural education except in a limited way, we need to find a creative alternative. The low hanging fruit is to look to companies who have a stake in creating the best future architects. Some of them already partner with us or sponsor our programs such as building products, furniture, real estate or developers. Others such as Apple and Tesla might if we ask them. We should make it a robust program to pair companies and schools and perhaps identify a group of ‘Maharam or Porcelanosa Scholars’ who would get an education and would have to participate in internship programs with their sponsor.
Do we need to reinvent architectural school?
With the advent of EdX , Coursera and Zoom, architecture education has already expanded out of the classroom. It is amazing to realize that over a million students have taken Harvard’s CS 50 (Introduction to Computer Science) online to date. Not a lot of architecture courses end up online. We need to change that and reach out to the schools to ensure that the best content is available so that current (and future) students (and the rest of us) could have the opportunity to learn. We already have assembled AIAU and perhaps that could provide the platfform to make it broader to attract a wider audience.
What has Abby done to expand the traditional boundaries of an architectural education?
Students never go beyond conceptual design in a semester long studio. Is it possible to simplify the design problem so that students can go through the entire experience from concept through product launch in a 3 months.
2006 Surface Over Structure : Competition Advisor
Abby Suckle conceived and organized a competition for students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design to design wallcovering with Wolf Gordon. The program was given in February and juried 3 weeks later. The winning designs were manufactured in April. They were introduced at the International Contemporary Furniture in May where it earned an Editor’s Choice Award for New Designer and June at Neocon where it earned a Best of NeoCon Innovation Award.
‘Light ‘ – Designed by Corinne Ulmann and Isamu Kandu
When Students graduate they have little or no experience in construction. Is it possible to mentor them through a project from Cradle to Grave so that they would have some built work in their portfolio?
2005 Harvard Club Guest Rooms Renovation : Competition Advisor
The Harvard Club of New York has 75 guest rooms. Every summer they take 20 of them out of commission for ‘refreshment’. Instead of hiring an interior designer, they invited their recent alumni from the Graduate School of Design to propose design solutions. This was a competition meant to celebrate the club’s connection to its alumni. Each room is dedicated to a class (eg - 1940) with memorabilia from the Club’s Art and photo Collection. The winning scheme based their design on celebrating that achievements of members of the class. Bathroom tiles were made with names of some of the alumni. All of the furniture including the light fixtures were designed by GSD alumni. In addition to organizing the competition, Abby worked with the winners to develop construction documents, bid the project, and supervise construction.
Guest Room - Designed by Hunter Tura and Jeannie Kim
How can we supplement an architectural education by giving students the opportunity to get outside the classroom by having an interesting design problem and collaborate on it with a range of architects and architectural firms who they may want to work with?
2002 : 2021 cultureNOW Internships
The program began in 2002. It has evolved into a summer long cultural mapping project where students look at what impacts design and how to understand place. The projects have varied depending on the students interests but have always included research, programs and a project. There is always an advisory board and an academic partner.
2002: 2021 New York (NYU, Columbia, Penn, Stuyvesant High, GSD, City College, Pratt)
2012: 2016 BSA Space (summer and January Term with Harvard GSD )
2013: AIA Los Angeles (with USC)
Kevin, Chuen Chung, Lindsey, Paula, and Soha with Debra Gerod FAIA and Mike Enomoto FAIA at Gruen Associates
Zhanina, Nick and Miriam at the BSA Space
Barton Phelps FAIA with Lindsay Miller in his Los Angeles office
2013 with Cesar Pelli FAIA; 2009 Students at the opening of their exhibit Mapping the Cityscape at the Center for Architecture in New York; 2013 With Adam Yarinsky FAIA in New York, ARO; 2013 With Anne Lewison AIA from Snohetta at Ground Zero (Clockwise)