Aims

The conference invites contributions on the theme of learning through practice, considering both the signature traditions of studio-based teaching and alternative emerging models of architectural education.

 The conference will be a space to explore the contexts in which we learn to become architectural practitioners, and how these shape the very nature of practice itself.

• The established pattern of architectural education is under question for its value, the relevance of its curriculum and its longevity. So there is a need toreflect on the role and value of studio based teaching practice, and examine its contribution to profession of architecture.
• Conversely there is renewed interest in reflective learning within professional practice above and beyond the need to maintain technical knowledge. The conference aims to examine how architects can develop and sustain creative learning in professional practicein the face of everyday pressures?
• Meanwhile there is a wealth of cross-disciplinary and applied research being undertaken in professional practice running in parallel with that in academia. The conference aims to explore means by which practice based research can be articulated in an academic context and vice versa, and to ask how do these very different contexts shape the research being underaken?

These aims will be examined through three broadly chronological strands thus: to explore how our traditions of studio teaching have emerged, how current innovations and speculative models of learning architectural practice challenge these traditions, and question how new and diverse models can continue to embody the valued practices of critical research and reflection, and practical reasoning.