Change Now, Architecture Later delivers a personal and situated insight into architectural education as experienced by current students, graduates and educators motivated to pursue transformational agendas. Focussing on the network I have built up over five years at Natural Building Lab (NBL), I use a mixed-method research approach borrowing from ethnographic, practice-based and performative traditions to investigate how transformational aspirations make the transition from university to practice.

Rather than formulating a universal solution for the future of architectural education, the thesis uses a novel set of methods to investigate architectural education through the experiences and actions of those directly involved. It documents an approach to architectural education rooted in collectivity, student empowerment and practical experimentation, thereby contributing to institutional knowledge that can drive wider transformation processes. Furthermore, the thesis provides a vehicle for me to rigorously challenge and critically reconstruct my practice as an architect, teacher and researcher. By pursuing the trajectories of our students and graduates from university into early practice, I aim to understand what educators can do to better support them in pursuing transformational agendas in the university and beyond.

More Info (via matt-crabbe.de)

Key Literature

• Barosio, M. et al. (2024) Architecture’s afterlife: the multisector impact of an architecture degree. London New York: Routledge.
• Cuff, D. (1992) Architecture: the story of practice. 2. print. Cambridge, Mass. u.a.: MIT Press.
• Deamer, P. (2020) Architecture and Labor. Routledge.
• Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age. Reprint. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Harriss, H. et al. (2022) Architectures Afterlive – Final Report. Available at: http://architectures-afterlife.com/files/file/outputs/IO2_ARCHITECTURES-AFTERLIFE-REPORTS-BOOK-1.pdf (Accessed: 22 November 2023).
• Harriss, H., Hyde, R. and Marcaccio, R. (eds) (2020) Architects after architecture: alternative pathways for practice. New York, NY: Routledge.
• Hartmann, K. (2022) Black Turtleneck, Round Glasses: Expanding Planning Culture Perspectives. JOVIS. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783868599893.
• James, S. (2017) Making a Living, Making a Life: Work, Meaning and Self-Identity. London: Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315593241.
• Latour, B. (2007) Reassembling the social: an introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. 1. publ. in pbk. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press (Clarendon lectures in management studies).
• Samuel, F. (2018) Why architects matter: evidencing and communicating the value of architects. New York: Routledge.
• Sennett, R. (2013) Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of co-operation. London: Penguin.
• Starker, V. and Hoppe, J. (2024) New Work in der Architektur. Rossberg. Available at: https://rossberg-verlag.de/rossberg (Accessed: 29 January 2024).
• Susskind, R.E. and Susskind, D. (2022) The future of the professions: how technology will transform the work of human experts. Updated edition. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://webreader.mytolino.com/library/.
• Terkel, S. (ed.) (1977) Working: people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books (A Peregrine book).
• Thompson, J. (2019) Narratives of architectural education: from student to architect. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group (Routledge research in architecture).
• Ziemer, G. (2013) Komplizenschaft: neue Perspektiven auf Kollektivität. Bielefeld: Transcript (X-Texte).