Architectural Education In A Changing World

4.  The Importance Of Theory

Architecture is the coming together of culture (politics, sociology, and economics), theory and technology. What each of these means, is briefly described below:

1. Culture:Culture can be of a nation, a city or a class. Today one can add the corporate sector to this list. When an architect designs he has to have knowledge of the culture of his clients and of the users/visitors to his buildings. The groups that the architect has to deal with are:
   1. Low Income Communities: These are being pushed to the fringes of the city and are being supported by NGOs and poverty alleviation programmes.
   2. The Corporate Sector: This sector is introducing a new architecture and work environment and concepts that are more or less uniform throughout the world.
   3. The Mega Projects: All of them require inputs from architects but architects are not trained to make inputs into building elements related to transport, solid waste management, wholesale markets, cargo terminals and/or entertainment and recreational facilities.
   4. The lower-middle classes: These are rapidly becoming powerful players in the urban governance drama. Nuclear families are replacing extended ones; women are working outside of their homes; education for children has become an obsession; entertainment and recreation are important priorities. Most elected city representatives belong to this class. Yet, planning of housing complexes and their locations do not take into consideration these important changes. And then there is the issue of affordability.
   5. The elite: The elite has a close link with the corporate sector and over the years they have ghettoised themselves. Their needs are different from those of the other sectors and their increasing isolation is a threat to social harmony.
2. Theory: Apart from conventional theory, four important trends can be identified in architectural design theory. These are:
   1. The revival of modernism
   2. Post modernism (including its various other isms)
   3. Sustainability paradigm
   4. Regionalism

   An understanding of the theory of these isms and paradigms is essential and will have an impact on the reasoning and design processes of the student and can help prepare him for roles other than design such as journalism, teaching, research and criticism.

3. Technology: The most important aspect of technology is its relationship to the larger issues of ecology and climate.

5. Directions For The Future

Conventional architectural education should be modified to respond to the issues identified above. By the time a student finishes his three years he should acquire an understanding of these issues and should have done projects related to the five cultures mentioned in item 3.a. After that he should choose the cultures he wishes to cater to and the ism that he wishes to pursue without losing sight of the fact that all isms need to be related to a larger whole.

A meeting to discuss what has been suggested above would help in developing a curriculum that responds to the new global and local realities and would go a long way in laying the foundations for the evolution of a “vision” for the Department of Architecture at the University of Karachi.

This brief paper has not touched upon issues related to the rural built-environment. This is because the nature of education that is being promoted requires that the student experiences the context which would be difficult for someone living and studying in Karachi. However, this too can form a basis for discussion.

To make the discussion worthwhile, it may be necessary to collect relevant material on the subject and share it with the participants before a discussion takes place.