Confronting Wicked Problems: Adapting Architectural Education to the New Situation in Europe

Project information

UAUIM and nine other partners led by Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) have received over 284000 Euros for an Erasmus+ strategic partnership project.

Project period: 1^st of September 2014 to 31^st of August 2017
Erasmus+ funding: 285.000,00 Euro

• Erasmus-Presentation-Article.pdf
• Erasmus-Presentation-Article.pdf

The project’s point of departure is the acknowledgement that architecture as an education, a discipline and a profession has to redefine and release its potential for problem-solving and innovation within a new economic and societal context. This new normal implies that the knowledge basis, teaching methods and role models transferred in architectural education have to be adapted to a new reality. There is a strong demand for diversification both in architectural education and in practice.

Generally the project raises the question of how to teach architecture in Europe today, and especially how curriculum and teaching should be adapted to the new societal and professional situation. The project aims at strengthening the architectural graduates’ ability to face this new normal and thus improve their social impact and employability.

The project partners are:

• The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO)
• The Faculty of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
• The Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucuresti, Romania
• EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education)
• ACE (Architects’ Council Europe)
• The CTU Faculty of Architecture in Prague, Czech Republic
• The Department DSA of Sciences for Architecture (Polytechnic School) at the University of Genoa, Italy
• The Faculty of Architecture and Arts, Hasselt University, Belgium
• Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Escola Tecnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB)

The project identifies three subtopics, or wicked problems, that will undergo investigation: (1) Teaching Architectural Design and Professional Knowledge (TADPK), (2) Sustainability and (3) Heritage. Three separate think tanks are set up to deal with each wicked problem.