Demystifying Construction

Abstract

Construction is often seen, among both students and staff at schools of architecture, as a distinct subject taught separately from design. It is often delivered by lectures, divorced from design studio and relying heavily on published sources. Even when it is integrated into design studio, it is often conducted as an add-on project, a separate exercise set after the design is ‘finished’. This is, in the author's opinion, a flawed train of thought that is largely accountable for the increasing ill-preparation of architectural graduates for the realities of working practice and the corresponding frustration of the profession and industry who receive them. This paper presents an alternative approach to the teaching of construction in schools of architecture. Based on a model successfully implemented at the University of Nottingham, it explores the teaching methodology, learning outcomes, methods of assessment and possible implications for both schools of architecture and the profession as a whole. In doing this, it suggests a strategy to help bridge the widening divide between academia and architectural practice.