How Is Education Shaping The Architects Of The Future?

This article first appeared in habitusliving 24 July 2020

Melbourne School of Design

Next generation architects will have to grapple with more complexity in the built environment than ever before, so how are universities helping students prepare for these challenges?

Australia has 19 universities that teach architecture and about 1300 students graduated from the five-year course in 2017 (the latest figures available); a 50 per cent increase over the previous decade. There are currently about 10,000 equivalent full time students in architecture schools across Australia; more than ever before, but the workforce they will enter is rapidly changing, even before the impact of Coronavirus is taken into account.

The broader construction industry spent most of the past decade recovering from the global financial crisis in 2008, and COVID-19 has already negatively impacted the profession, according to research by the ACA. Other threats include A.I. and robotics, prefabrication and digital disruption, and the impact of climate emergency on the built environment.

So how is architecture education responding to these threats?

One of the main shifts is towards resiliency and diversity, and changes at senior levels are instrumental, with nine of the 19 schools now being led by a female dean or head of school.

You can read the full article here.