Lecture 7: Architectural Education

What do you wish you can learn in Architecture school?

In the early century of architecture, architecture students learnt the technical drafting skill and modeling skill, every drawing were used manual hand drawing. Not only that, design thinking skill is also one of the learning outcome. They learnt design thinking by using sketches, thinking will not create the idea, but sketches will.

Nowadays, architecture is getting more plane. Their building has no soul at all because most of the time, the architecture student design the building by using computer skill such as SketchUp, Photoshop, Autocad, and so on. Computer skill won’t create a soul to a building, it might be create a very aesthetic building but in deep of the meaning of a building, computer skill has do nothing.

But what is the different between old style architecture student and new style architecture student? Old style got the soul in their building design, because they have no computer skill to design it, everything goes by hand drawing.

But for me, there is no big different between them. Old style architecture student might be very good in primitive architecture skill, and new style architecture might be very fast in technical drawing by using computer skill. But all of this is not enough, architecture student should do more than that. All those thing can be consider as a very basic skill in architecture. Good in that won’t make you different in architecture students and won’t make you become famous.

So, What I wish to learn in architecture school is to learn how to create own identity in architecture field. To become famous and the different between others is to create own identity of thinking to architecture. This is a kind of doing and designing a building in own way and own style. Why create own identity is important, because architecture students has the different thinking mind compare to normal person and looking an object in different way. But when you create your own identity, you will be different compare to architecture students.

You don’t really need to create by yourself, but you can inspire by some of the architect has their own identity. For example, Tadao Ando is one the famous brutalist in the world. Nowadays, every architect want to create a very aesthetic building like having a huge glass curtain wall, fancy façade. But Tadao Ando still remain by using plane façade, play with concrete. This is also called Monochrome Architecture. He is a Master by using concrete and using light and shadow to define a space.

This is what Tadao Ando do with corridor. Light and shadow

Church of Light by Tadao Ando

For me, brutalism is my favorite architecture style because brutalism did not play with aesthetic façade and fancy design. It only communicate with space and concrete, brutalist like to give a soul to a space. Using different feeling to experience the space. This is why brutalism is a very important to architecture students and also architecture field. Brutalist make the balance of architecture.

Below is some of the master piece of Brutalism

Salk Institute by Louis Khan

Geisel Library by William Pereira

Yale University's Art and Architecture Building by Paul Rudolph