Design and construction in architectural education: 1963-2003

Throughout the history of architecture, architects have transformed abstract ideas into tangible, built and meaningful reality. In these buildings of the past, an inseparable unity of design and construction processes existed. Today, however, a complex and segmented process nearly separates the architect from the builder. In recent years, design-build has swept through the building industry as a delivery method offering faster and more cost-effective buildings. These buildings, for the most part, have lost the connection to design that once existed in buildings of the past. These buildings tend to emphasize cost savings and efficiency over design process and rigour. This study is a wake up call to academia and industry to again see the connection between design and workmanship in architectural education. Architectural education, especially in North America, has mirrored this segmented process existing in architectural practice. It is very rare for architecture students to actually build something they design. In some cases, such as at the Dessau Bauhaus, students were encouraged to build in order to learn and pursue design intentions. This was Walter Gropius' intention as he set up the school as an antithesis to the Ecole des Beaux Arts educational system. This research investigates the recent development of design-build studios (DBS for the purpose of this study) in North America. The dissertation presents two process models and describes fundamental changes in the pedagogical intentions, which result in fundamental changes in the students' education at these programmes. But are these changes better than the traditional paper-and-model-only studio? Most of the existing publications and scholarly literature written on architectural education in North America tend to overlook the interacting factors in the DBS. This is the first study to identify and critically analyse the interweaving factors of design and construction seen against the complex backdrop of the students' experience and the professors' intentions and objectives. This is the first doctoral study to identify the DBS as a potential educational model and describe the potential pedagogical learning outcomes therein.