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| Pressure builds for change in Britain's schools of architecture | Pressure builds for change in Britain's schools of architecture |
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| Wiry contraptions hang from the ceiling, while globular fungal forms nestle on tables between the spidery legs of 3D-printed creatures. A post-apocalyptic confetti of scalpel blades, empty Pot Noodles and cans of Coke is scattered among this landscape of foreign objects, while a sleeping bag pokes out from under a desk – perhaps with someone still in it. | Wiry contraptions hang from the ceiling, while globular fungal forms nestle on tables between the spidery legs of 3D-printed creatures. A post-apocalyptic confetti of scalpel blades, empty Pot Noodles and cans of Coke is scattered among this landscape of foreign objects, while a sleeping bag pokes out from under a desk – perhaps with someone still in it. |
| It is a familiar scene, repeated in the studios of UK architecture schools over the past few weeks, as bleary-eyed students prepare their portfolios for the final reckoning and begin sprucing up work for the summer exhibitions. The masochistic, sleep-deprived chaos may be nothing new, but beneath the usual end-of-year mayhem a deeper discontent appears to be brewing. | It is a familiar scene, repeated in the studios of UK architecture schools over the past few weeks, as bleary-eyed students prepare their portfolios for the final reckoning and begin sprucing up work for the summer exhibitions. The masochistic, sleep-deprived chaos may be nothing new, but beneath the usual end-of-year mayhem a deeper discontent appears to be brewing. |
| With the recent hike in tuition fees to £9,000 a year, along with the increased costs of field trips, living expenses and access to ever more elaborate model-making machines, architecture students can now expect to graduate, after a minimum of five years' study and two years' work placement, with debts of £100,000. And the reward? If they are lucky enough to find a job in the current climate, the salary of a newly qualified architect starts at £25,000. As consumers paying over the odds for professional training – when the value of that training, unchanged since the 1960s, is increasingly questionable – young architects are finding themselves in an ever more precarious position. | With the recent hike in tuition fees to £9,000 a year, along with the increased costs of field trips, living expenses and access to ever more elaborate model-making machines, architecture students can now expect to graduate, after a minimum of five years' study and two years' work placement, with debts of £100,000. And the reward? If they are lucky enough to find a job in the current climate, the salary of a newly qualified architect starts at £25,000. As consumers paying over the odds for professional training – when the value of that training, unchanged since the 1960s, is increasingly questionable – young architects are finding themselves in an ever more precarious position. |
| "The fees are so high that thinking independently is now a risk," says one final-year student at UCL's Bartlett school of architecture, which has topped the Guardian's university league table for the third year running. "There is no time to sleep or go for a jog, let alone to think whether the project is truly meaningful." | "The fees are so high that thinking independently is now a risk," says one final-year student at UCL's Bartlett school of architecture, which has topped the Guardian's university league table for the third year running. "There is no time to sleep or go for a jog, let alone to think whether the project is truly meaningful." |
| Attending final presentations as an external critic, it has been striking quite how far students are marshalled under the prescriptive dogma of their tutors in a lot of schools, producing projects with astounding graphic flair, but with a tenuous grip on reality, and often little sign of a critical position. Taught by the same people who mark their work, many students said the safest thing was to keep their heads down and follow the prevailing agenda – or else literally pay for the consequences. | Attending final presentations as an external critic, it has been striking quite how far students are marshalled under the prescriptive dogma of their tutors in a lot of schools, producing projects with astounding graphic flair, but with a tenuous grip on reality, and often little sign of a critical position. Taught by the same people who mark their work, many students said the safest thing was to keep their heads down and follow the prevailing agenda – or else literally pay for the consequences. |
| "It's a rotten system," says Max Lacey, who tried the Architectural Association and the Bartlett, before leaving to complete his studies at what he saw as the more grounded realms of London Metropolitan University and Kingston. "People were designing things with no relation to the real world, all focused evangelically in favour of one particular style. It's an inbred, self-serving structure." | "It's a rotten system," says Max Lacey, who tried the Architectural Association and the Bartlett, before leaving to complete his studies at what he saw as the more grounded realms of London Metropolitan University and Kingston. "People were designing things with no relation to the real world, all focused evangelically in favour of one particular style. It's an inbred, self-serving structure." |
| With all energies directed towards the climax of the final exhibition – conceived as a salesroom for students and tutors alike – the emphasis is too often weighted on creating a dazzling polished product, rather than the rigour of the process of getting there. Seductive alien imagery trumps the perceived banality of buildings, with the visual cacophony masking the lack of underlying spatial ideas. | With all energies directed towards the climax of the final exhibition – conceived as a salesroom for students and tutors alike – the emphasis is too often weighted on creating a dazzling polished product, rather than the rigour of the process of getting there. Seductive alien imagery trumps the perceived banality of buildings, with the visual cacophony masking the lack of underlying spatial ideas. |
| "There is an erosive culture in many of these pseudo-conceptual schools," says Tom Emerson of the London practice 6a Architects, who teaches at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, a university staffed by high-profile practising architects with substantial built portfolios – and lower tuition fees. "They set up a polar opposition between 'building' and being 'radical', as if to say: 'If you've got ambition, you can't be interested in buildings, cities, life and people.' In Switzerland there is a great deal more belief in what architecture can do for society. That's where our crisis comes from: in the UK there is very little confidence in what it means to be an architect." | "There is an erosive culture in many of these pseudo-conceptual schools," says Tom Emerson of the London practice 6a Architects, who teaches at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, a university staffed by high-profile practising architects with substantial built portfolios – and lower tuition fees. "They set up a polar opposition between 'building' and being 'radical', as if to say: 'If you've got ambition, you can't be interested in buildings, cities, life and people.' In Switzerland there is a great deal more belief in what architecture can do for society. That's where our crisis comes from: in the UK there is very little confidence in what it means to be an architect." |
| The common retreat into introspective dreamworlds can be directly correlated against the dissolution of the architect's powers, which are increasingly superseded by specialist consultants for every stage of the process. From façade design to lighting, space planning to landscaping, the skills formerly handled by one office are now subcontracted elsewhere, leaving the architect progressively isolated. Some schools are trying hard to bridge the gap between education and practice, with live building projects and collaborative studios that engage with real development sites. But the question remains: does it really need to take seven years? | The common retreat into introspective dreamworlds can be directly correlated against the dissolution of the architect's powers, which are increasingly superseded by specialist consultants for every stage of the process. From façade design to lighting, space planning to landscaping, the skills formerly handled by one office are now subcontracted elsewhere, leaving the architect progressively isolated. Some schools are trying hard to bridge the gap between education and practice, with live building projects and collaborative studios that engage with real development sites. But the question remains: does it really need to take seven years? |
| "Our generation got an enormous amount out of the length of the course," says Emerson. "But we didn't pay for it. When you come out debt-ridden, you think: 'Did I need all of it, or could I have got what I needed in three or four years?'" He cites the example of former students who have gone on to get their part 2 qualification through working in practice, as an alternative to going back into education. "It turned out they didn't need to be in school to be able to develop an accomplished, critical project." | "Our generation got an enormous amount out of the length of the course," says Emerson. "But we didn't pay for it. When you come out debt-ridden, you think: 'Did I need all of it, or could I have got what I needed in three or four years?'" He cites the example of former students who have gone on to get their part 2 qualification through working in practice, as an alternative to going back into education. "It turned out they didn't need to be in school to be able to develop an accomplished, critical project." |
| Learning by doing is a sentiment echoed by the UK architectural education review group, whose recent report recommended shortening courses, as well as letting students carry out their studies alongside paid work, to open up access into architecture beyond the privileged bow-tie wearing gentlemen of yore. "The existing three-part system is far too rigid to allow alternative pathways into the profession," says the group chair Alex Wright, who is optimistic that "there's a growing realisation that maintaining the status quo is no longer an option". | Learning by doing is a sentiment echoed by the UK architectural education review group, whose recent report recommended shortening courses, as well as letting students carry out their studies alongside paid work, to open up access into architecture beyond the privileged bow-tie wearing gentlemen of yore. "The existing three-part system is far too rigid to allow alternative pathways into the profession," says the group chair Alex Wright, who is optimistic that "there's a growing realisation that maintaining the status quo is no longer an option". |
| So why has the UK system continued to trundle along oblivious for so long, sticking to a model that emerged from the 1958 Riba conference on education? | So why has the UK system continued to trundle along oblivious for so long, sticking to a model that emerged from the 1958 Riba conference on education? |
| "The difficulty is achieving consensus between all the statutory bodies," says David Gloster, head of education at the Riba, who insists that the institute is "in dialogue with schools to develop more flexible models that best suit the needs of 21st-century practice". | "The difficulty is achieving consensus between all the statutory bodies," says David Gloster, head of education at the Riba, who insists that the institute is "in dialogue with schools to develop more flexible models that best suit the needs of 21st-century practice". |
| But pressure is beginning to grow. Terry Farrell, recently commissioned by the government to undertake a year-long and alarmingly vague review of architecture, says his most pressing concern is education. "The most important thing is the length of the course," he told Building Design, "and finding hybrid ways to learn." | But pressure is beginning to grow. Terry Farrell, recently commissioned by the government to undertake a year-long and alarmingly vague review of architecture, says his most pressing concern is education. "The most important thing is the length of the course," he told Building Design, "and finding hybrid ways to learn." |
| Encouraging hybrid models is an encouraging step, but there is a danger that the desire to bring courses closer to practice could see architectural training become a purely technical pursuit. | Encouraging hybrid models is an encouraging step, but there is a danger that the desire to bring courses closer to practice could see architectural training become a purely technical pursuit. |
| Ryder Architecture, a corporate purveyor of large sheds, whose work graces the pages of the Bad British Architecture blog, is in the process of launching a course, which it is looking to trial at UCL in 2015. Based on a bachelor in engineering, it will feature such topics as "leadership, project management, cost and risk management, sustainability and digital engineering", as well as covering legal aspects, contracts and programming. Its graduates will no doubt be capable of detailing a jazzy cladding system to liven up their latest shed, but are these really the people we want to be making our cities? | Ryder Architecture, a corporate purveyor of large sheds, whose work graces the pages of the Bad British Architecture blog, is in the process of launching a course, which it is looking to trial at UCL in 2015. Based on a bachelor in engineering, it will feature such topics as "leadership, project management, cost and risk management, sustainability and digital engineering", as well as covering legal aspects, contracts and programming. Its graduates will no doubt be capable of detailing a jazzy cladding system to liven up their latest shed, but are these really the people we want to be making our cities? |
| Everyone, it seems, is in agreement that something has to give, but there is reluctance to commit to what the replacement should be. | Everyone, it seems, is in agreement that something has to give, but there is reluctance to commit to what the replacement should be. |
| "We don't want to change one inflexible model for another," says Gloster. "We are resistant to one size fits all." No one has the answer yet, but at least students' plaintive pleas for relevant teaching are finally being taken seriously – and they may soon have an alternative to costly years trapped in fantasy factories. | "We don't want to change one inflexible model for another," says Gloster. "We are resistant to one size fits all." No one has the answer yet, but at least students' plaintive pleas for relevant teaching are finally being taken seriously – and they may soon have an alternative to costly years trapped in fantasy factories. |
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