1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/Chapter 1 final_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/23/10 8:51 PM Page 16
The design studioArchitectural educationCan architectural design be taught?There are elements of architectural education that retain
some mystery for both students and tutors. The design
studio, the role of the design-studio tutor and crits, also
known as reviews – all are ubiquitous and carefully protected
despite the fact that, although they seem to work, nobody
appears to agree on why or how, or whether they could be
replaced by something better. While it could be argued that
it is possible to learn how to become an architect, there are
doubts whether art (and by extension, parts of architectural
design), can be taught. The essential problem is, how can
you teach someone to generate ‘great’ architecture and how
do you teach someone to find ‘inspiration’?
In his book Why Art Cannot Be Taught, James Elkins
defines six different answers to this question. To read them,
substitute the word ‘architecture’ for the word ‘art’:
1 Art can be taught, but nobody knows quite how.
2 Art can be taught, but it seems as if it can’t be since
so few students become outstanding artists.
3 Art cannot be taught, but it can be fostered or helped along.
4 Art cannot be taught or even nourished, but it is possible to
teach right up to the beginnings of art, so that students are
ready to make art the moment they graduate.
5 Great art cannot be taught, but more run-of-the-mill
art can.
6 Art cannot be taught, but neither can anything else.
Like art, architecture is always searching for greatness
among its ranks and can never satisfactorily define the
reasons for, or moment behind, inspiration. This need not
undermine the exercise of architectural education, however.
In fact, this struggle fuels the constant reinvention of both
architectural education and practice.1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/
TextChapter 1 final_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/23/10 8:18 PM Page 16