Architecture 101 (Reconsidered)
from metropolismag.com
Globalization is transforming practice, but are the schools keeping up?
By Laurie Manfra
The West has become the architectural role model for the rapidly modernizing East, and the services of American and European-trained architects are now global commodities. These facts, of course, are old news. Nevertheless, when the National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB)—the organization that certifies professional schools in the United States—introduced a long overdue revision to the “non-Western studies” requirement, most educators failed to take notice. The change, effective last semester, asked that students develop an understanding of non-Western cultures as opposed to acquiring an awareness of them. The NAAB’s revision—well-meaning but ultimately feeble—was an attempt to convey the extent of globalization’s impact on the practice of architecture, but it offered me little assurance that students enrolled in design schools nationwide would receive the kind of preparation they need to become sensitive and effective global practitioners.to continue reading click here:
http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20060116/architecture-101-reconsidered
