Associate Professor of Architecture Elizabeth Petry Presents at International Conference

Associate Professor of Architecture Elizabeth Petry, AIA presented Professional Practice Meets Architectural Education at the 2019 Amps Education, Design, and Practice – Understanding skills in a Complex World International Conference. The conference was held June 17-19, 2019 at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Petry’s presentation focused on how professional practice meets architectural education initially in the academic world and eventually in the world of architectural practice. The Department of the Architecture at the University of Hartford in collaboration with architectural offices is introducing students to the realities of practice and the opportunities and challenges of making the transitions from the academy to practice during their academic years. 

About the conference:

Amps notes that the relationship between education and practice in any discipline is complex. In an ever-changing world, it is also in flux. In a context such as the built environment, it is also interdisciplinary. Today, educators in the liberal arts still identify learning as an end unto itself, and designers still draw on ideas about intuitive knowledge. By contrast, the businesses behind urban development or city and regional growth call for graduates armed with the skills required in practice from day one. At the same time local government and cultural or city management firms need creative thinkers capable of continual adaptation. In the industries and sectors such as construction, transport and engineering, managers focus on a foundational baseline and value engineers and designers as both pragmatic problem solvers and visionaries.

These alternative perspectives have been reflected in multiple changes to the practice and structure of the education sector. One such example was the Boyer-Mitgang report which restructured architectural education in the US to reflect other professions. As in other areas, it resulted in a ‘degree arms race’, with MAs and doctoral programs multiplying more rapidly than the research and teaching methods they required. At the same time, the ‘widening participation’ agenda produced an explosion of research and funding for new pedagogical approaches and initiatives. Attempts to fuse education with the creative arts, industry and business through university led partnership schemes also proliferated. More recently, changes in the financing of the HE sector in places like the UK, mean universities now stress educational efficiency and guarantees of graduate jobs.

Working within this context, educators in sectors connected with the design, management and construction of the built environment have developed new and innovative ways to teach, they have embedded collaborative practices into their pedagogy, have forged unique partnerships across disciplines and outside the academy, and much more. However, research into best practice learning and teaching in the classroom is still evolving and educational initiatives can sometimes be seen as contradicting on-the-job realities in practice. The Education, Design and Practice conference explores this complex and contradictory scenario from multiple perspectives, seeking examples best practice teaching and critique in the design, management and construction sectors.

The transition between education and practice has traditionally had its challenges but it is even more complicated in today’s climate of accreditation, experience component, and architectural registration examinations. With the common goal of most architectural students being licensure, it is essential to assist students in navigating this sometimes complicated path.  In Building Community: A New Future for Architecture Education and Practice, Boyer and Mitgang concluded, "that architectural education is really about fostering the learning habits needed for the discovery, integration, application, and sharing knowledge over a lifetime."  The sharing of knowledge from practicing architects to today’s students is essential. 

The unique opportunity for students to visit and have candid access to successful practitioners has become invaluable to our architectural students’ formal education. Key to this success is communication and collaboration. Architects in practice and architectural students find great benefits in the success of the collaboration between education and practice.