PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE is a graduate-level course dedicated to familiarizing students with the fundamental principles of architectural practice in the context of today’s rapidly evolving building industry. Divided into two parts—01 PROFESSION and 02 PRACTICE—the course will examine the complexities of the discipline, intertwined and complicit with broader global and local economic conditions, labor markets, political issues, and cultural representation.
01 PROFESSION will outline the foundational ideas and framework of the architecture industry including the privilege and duty inherent in the discipline. The course will contextualize the relationship between architect and the project, client, consultants, and peers. To do this, we will interrogate the implications through legal, financial, and social responsibilities. Students will review these topics through an audit of an operating firm to review how these principles are applied in practice.
02 PRACTICE suggests improving upon the fundamentals through routine and repetition. Working from this assertion, the course will consider the mechanisms and modalities available to the profession to promote a more just, equitable, and sustainably conscious discipline. The course will engage in new approaches to business, design, ownership, and access. Students will design a new direction for an existing practice, capitalizing on the skills of the architect and the forces influencing change.
Through lectures, workshops, case studies, readings, research, and team projects, the course will cover these essential elements and obstacles of the profession in order for students to critically examine the potential and agency of the architect.
Meets
Fri 8:30-11:30am 1360 A&AB