Evolution of Practice in Undergraduate Architecture Education through Institutional Formations

Abstract

Practice has always had an important place in the basis of architectural education, which exists with the mentoringsystem. With the influence of studio culture, practice has been relatively more prominent than theory in architectureundergraduate education. While the practical tendency in architectural education, which became theoretical withBauhaus, takes place in workshops, an architectural education pedagogy is shaped in research-practice intersectionswith environments such as the Space Syntax Laboratory established at UCL. It can be said that technology plays anactive role in the orientation of education. This study investigates the question 'How has the practical approach inarchitectural education been transformed?’ By using the historical research method, it examines the methods andenvironments of the realization of practice in architectural education. It reveals architectural education within fivedistinct periods: The ancient period, the Renaissance period, the Modern period, the Post-modern period, and theContemporary period. The convergences and disconnections between the workplace, competition, studio, andlaboratory, which are determined as the environments of practice in architectural education, are analyzed. As a result,it aims to provide a critical analysis of the current opportunities and future practice possibilities that practice offers toarchitectural education.