November 2nd, 2016: Dr. Constantin Spiridonidis, visiting Associate Professor at Canadian University Dubai (CUD) has opened the School of Architecture and Design lecture series on ‘The New and the Familiar’ with a presentation on theories and trends in architectural education.
Under the title ‘Airing some latent truths in architectural education’ Dr. Spiridonidis examined the evolution of education content and frameworks from the 1950s to the present day.
First discussing the ‘rational’ approach that defined the mid-twentieth century, he revealed how academic content was based on technical knowledge and ergonomics, and how the design studio was used as a scientific laboratory of architectural form and functionality.
Moving on through the ‘intuitive’ era of the late 1960s and the ‘political’ era of the 1970s, he continued to reveal how semiotics, history, gender studies and cinema impacted upon the study of architecture in the mid-1970s-1980s ‘cultural’ era, when the studio became a place for investigation of architectural language.
Charting the more recent history of architectural education, he discussed the late 1980s ‘individualistic’ outlook, driven by philosophy, animation and visual arts, concluding with the ‘algorithmic’ approach of the mid 2000s onwards, which builds on technology, artificial intelligence and robotics to promote experimentation and innovation.
Dr. Spiridonidis went on to explore the extent to which teaching and pedagogical approaches are evaluated and updated, how resistance to change can be addressed, and how a hybrid approach can bring forward creative, strategic, and lateral thinking.
The second lecture in ‘The New and the Familiar’ series will be held on Wednesday November 9th, and will discuss new strategies for architectural education in a fast changing context.
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