Faculty of the Built Environment

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Browsing Faculty of the Built Environment by Subject "Architectural education"

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    Introduction - Radical Discipline.
    (Folio, 2020-08-15) Olweny, Mark R. O.
    It has been a privilege to work on the Radical Discipline section of FOLIO Vol. 2, dedicated to endeavours that inform and (re)define architecture as a discipline in the context of sub Saharan Africa. ‘Radical’, in this context, concerns explorations that challenge the status quo, and seek to define ‘paths of change’. The lens of enquiry is through architectural education, appreciating that ‘if you wish to understand why professions develop as they do, study their nurseries, in this case, their forms of professional preparation.’¹ It is through these explorations that we address the types of education necessary to ensure architects are prepared for the myriad challenges across the region. Radical explorations are Olweny, M.R.O. (2020). “Introduction - Radical Discipline.” Folio: Journal of on temporary African Architecture, Vol. 2 Noir Radical, pp145-147. not alien to architectural education in sub-Saharan Africa, and were a core element of the establishment of the architecture programme at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (then the Kumasi University of Science and Technology), the first postcolonial school of architecture in subSaharan Africa. Responding to the aspirations of newly independent Africa, John Lloyd, inaugural Dean of the School, suggested that, for architecture to ‘. . . truly contribute to the future of the [African] continent, [it] must drastically redefine a new the task of an “architect”’.² Similarly, at the University of Nairobi, South African-educated Selby Mvusi, was an advocate for the decolonisation of the programme there. According to Magaziner, ‘Mvusi theorized what would happen if Africans’ contemporary “thoughtprocesses” were taken seriously instead of being dismissed as either inauthentic or archaic. Contrary to those who saw only binaries such as developed/underdeveloped, rural/urban, African/Western, or traditional/modern, Mvusi insisted, “Underdevelopment is not monolithic. Neither is it exclusive nor static. It is itself active and dynamic, and is forever pacing development.” To be poor and rural and African was not to be behind, but rather to be.
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    Online architectural education: reflections on COVID-19 emergency remote learning in East Africa
    (Sage, 2022-08-18) Olweny, Mark RO; Ndibwami, Alex; Ahimbisibwe, Achilles
    This paper investigates how students in two schools of architecture in East Africa, engaged with educational activities during the early phase of the COVID-19 lockdown. The COVID-19 lockdown and shift to emergency remote teaching and learning raised a number of questions for architectural education. These relate to access, equity and pedagogical approaches, which emerged through this study. The paper presents the findings of the study carried out in the University of Rwanda, and Uganda Martyrs University, along with the implications of the findings for architectural education. Making use of an online questionnaire distributed via QualtricsXM, the study attracted 70 student participants. The paper concludes with some suggestions for architectural educators as they rethink the embedded pedagogical traditions of architectural education, and how these must adapt for the future in order to cope with future shocks and disruptions.
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    Socialisation in architectural education: a view from East Africa
    (Emerald Publishing Limited, 2016-09-24) Olweny, M. R. O.
    Concern for the state of architectural education in East Africa was a catalyst for this exploration of socialisation, which sought to understand socialisation and its influence on educational outcomes in the region. Socialisation within architectural education has long been known to influence how students acquire important aspects of the profession, building both values and a cultural ethos in the process. An appreciation of these processes in the context of East Africa adds to the wider understanding of the implicit curriculum in architectural education. The paper aims to discuss these issues. An ethnographic study was undertaken in five architecture schools across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, making use of a mixed method approach incorporating document analysis, a questionnaire study, participant observations and focus group discussions as the data gathering instruments. Focus group discussions, as the primary data gathering method, acknowledged the social context of the study, with data gathered from multiple sites across the region. As an integral component of architectural education, socialisation was evident at all stages of the educational process. Within the educational realm, contrasting expectations of students and instructors were evident, leading to conflicts that influenced the values acquired by students. This was seen in attitudes towards contemporary architectural issues within architectural education, and suggests that socialisation can at times have pronounced negative consequences. The wider study represents the first comprehensive review of architectural education in the context of East Africa, and contributes to the global appreciation of the influence of socialisation on educational outcomes.
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    Students’ Views of the Architectural Design Review: The Design Crit in East Africa
    (Sage, 2019-06-19) Olweny, Mark R. O.
    The design studio and the associated design review can be regarded as the signature pedagogy of architectural education, where students garner the essence of what it means to be an architect. Here, novices are transformed into architects through the acquisition of architectural cultural capital. This paper investigates the design review in East African schools of architecture from a student’s perspective, garnered from focus group discussions carried out in five schools of architecture, and corroborated through observations. Findings indicate challenges in the design review, vis-a`-vis the broader goals and objectives of architectural education. However, it did uncover attempts at change, via a ‘back seat instructor approach’, for example, breaking down the stereotype of the design review as a hostile environment for students. The paper concludes with a few recommendations to help recast this signature pedagogical approach as atruly discursive environment.
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    Towards an ecosystem-of-learning for Architectural Education: reflecting on a network of six pedagogical clusters
    (Association of Architectural Educators (AAE), 2021) Morkel, Jolanda; Delport, Hermie; Burton, Lindy Osborne; Olweny, Mark; Feast, Steven
    This research is situated in the context of our collective exploration of a new ecosystem-oflearning for architectural education, as a catalyst for change following the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. To move online architectural education beyond emergency remote teaching, requires a total reset of current thinking and practices. In this essay, we propose a complex network of six new pedagogical clusters, namely Anthropy Pedagogy, Catalytic Pedagogy, Synergic Pedagogy, Cogenerative Pedagogy, Spatio-temporal Pedagogy, and Meta-morphic Pedagogy. We approached our research using an iterative and reflective narrative inquiry method. Examining the development of these complex pedagogical clusters, we highlight the most promising potential contributions towards a responsive, resilient, and replicable ecosystem-of learning approach for architectural education.