Critting the Crit in the Education of Architects: From Bauhaus to Bolton Street

150 Pages·2017·9.48 MB·English

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Theses LTTC Programme Outputs
2005-01-01
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BBoollttoonn SSttrreeeett
Patrick Flynn
Technological University Dublin, [email protected]
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Flynn, Patrick: Critting the "crit" in the education of architects: from Bauhaus to Bolton Street.
Dissertation. Dublin, Technologicl University Dublin, 2005.
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Critting the' crit' in the education of architects:
from bauhaus to bolton street
A thesis submitted to the Dublin Institute of Technology in part
fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Masters (MA) in Third
Level Learning and Teaching
By
Patrick Flynn
August 2005
Supervisor: Anne Murphy
DIT Learning and Teaching Centre, Directorate of Academic Affairs
Declaration
I hereby declare that the material which is submitted in this thesis towards the award of
masters (MA) in Third Level Teaching and Learning is entirely my own work and has not
been submitted for any academic assessment other than part fulfilment of the award named
above.
Signature of candidate
Date
Abstract
This investigative study is concerned with examining the current methods of assessment of
architecture students in the system known as the 'crit' and the associated methods of giving
students feedback on their designs in a public forum.
The aim of the research is to identify the main weaknesses of the crit system and to explore
alternatives which perhaps would have more sustainable and transparent methods of
assessment and feedback.
Personal motivation for the research sprang from concerns regarding both the effectiveness
of the crit from the pedagogical perspective of student learning and from concerns about it
as a transparent and useful system of assessment for professional architects. Policy
concerns in the research were informed by three immediate issues: an in-house concern
regarding the relatively high number of examination appeals from architecture students
compared to other design degrees which use a crit system, a national concern, based on the
NQAI requirements that modules be expressed in terms of learning outcomes, and more
global concerns for the five year undergraduate system of training architects in Europe
generally arising from the preference for a three-year plus two-year degree systems
manifest in the Bologna Accord.
The research approach locates itself broadly within the postmodernist critical theory
framework which acknowledges the complexity of the issues under study and the need for
both the 'distant' and the 'close-up'. The research design is basically 'bricolage' which
allows for nonlinear exploration of discrete but related aspects of the study and which
facilitates a range of researcher stances including detached interpreter, insider-intervener
and dialogic commentator. A literature review, pedagogic interventions in class-based
teaching and in-depth interviews with architecture graduates from DIT and other colleges
were used.
The research findings show a remarkably similar experience of architecture education
through the crit system with broadly negative opinions on the value of the crit as a learning
experience. The fmdings from the class-based interventions indicate that the crit system
which involves large numbers of students and staff is highly ineffective compared to small
group crits and that the combination of oral and visual assessment feedback on designs is
more effective than the traditional oral feedback system.
The research offers a number of proposals regarding improvements to the crit system and
suggest areas where further research is urgently required to make the system of assessment
more effective and transparent and to ease the training system for architects towards the
inevitable structural changes resulting from the Bologna Accord.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisor Anne Murphy for all her helpful support and incisive
comments throughout the process.
I am grateful to my colleagues in the school of architecture and in particular the students of
the academic year 2003/04.
I am indebted to the interviewees who participated and who gave added impetus to the
research at a vital stage.
A sincere thanks and appreciation to Catherine Bates for her encouragement and patience.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
Background-the researcher's positionality ................................................ 1
Broad Research Aim in Context ............................................................ 2
Summary of Chapters ........................................................................ 4
Chapter 2 Context, Rationale, Aims, Objectives and Ethics
Introduction .....................................................................................7
Genesis and development of the term 'architect' ......................................... 9
The architecture course and the role of the professional bodies ........................ 10
Origins and ideology of teaching methods for architects ................................ 13
Description of the crit process ............................................................... 16
Aims and objectives of the study ............................................................ 20
Ethical issues ................................................................................... 21
Summary ....................................................................................... 22
Chapter 3 Research Design, Methodology and Methods
Introduction .................................................................................... 24
Research paradigms ........................................................................... 25
Bricolage : a justification ..................................................................... 28
Outline of research design ................................................................... 31
Summary ....................................................................................... 37
Chapter 4 Literature Review
Introduction .................................................................................... 38
Organisation of the crit ....................................................................... 39
Dominance of the crit ........................................................................ .44
Value of language and learning ............................................................ 46
The crit expert panel .......................................................................... 47
Type of knowledge ........................................................................... 49
Teaching of design ............................................................................ 52
Summary ....................................................................................... 54
Chapter 5 Findings: Interviews
Presentation of interviews .................................................................... 56
Class atmosphere and peer learning ......................................................... 57
Students perception of the role of the staff. ............................................... 60
Openness to learning: emotional impact ................................................... 64
Openness to learning at the crit .............................................................. 68
Perception of the crit as assessment ......................................................... 70
Perceived centrality of the crit ............................................................... 72
Learning in the crit. ........................................................................... 75
Atmosphere of the crit ........................................................................ 78
Methods of teaching design .................................................................. 81
Defining and protecting knowledge and the cult status of architecture ................ 89
Chapter 6 Presentation of Findings: Micro Action Interventions
Introduction .................................................................................... 92
Layout of space ................................................................................ 94
Verbal concepts .v. visual comments ....................................................... 103
Who participates at crits ...................................................................... 106
What is remembered at a crit ................................................................ 107
Propositions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 109
Chapter 7 Discnssion of Findings
Introduction .................................................................................... 113
The ethnographical/ sociometry situation of the students/staff. ........................ 114
The openness of the student to the learning experience ................................. 118
The centrality of the crit in the learning and assessment of students ................... 120
The origins and methodology of teaching design ......................................... 122
The definition and protection of the knowledge and status of architecture ............ 124
Summary ....................................................................................... 127
Chapter 8 Conclusions & Recommendations
Introduction .................................................................................... 128
Shortcomings of the research ................................................................ 129
Main findings .................................................................................. 130
Benefits of study .............................................................................. 132
Conclusion ..................................................................................... 134
Bibliography .................................................................................. 136
List of figures
Figure 1 Crit as observed in hour 0 to 1 ............................................. 95
Figure 2 Crit as observed in hour 1 to 2 ............................................. 96
Figure 3 Crit as observed in hour 2 to 3 ............................................. 97
Figure 4 Crit as observed in hour 3 + ................................................ 98
Figure 5 New layout hour 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 ......................................... 100
Figure 6 New layout hour 2 to 3 and 3 + ........................................... 101
Figure 7 Photograph of crit in progress ............................................. 102
Barlett School of Architecture, 2005
Available from: www.architect.com/schoolblog [accessed 18.08.05]
Figure 8 Concept diagram of building .............................................. 103
Figure 9 Same building as finished drawing ....................................... 103
Figure 10 Growth in availability of material.. ....................................... 134
from Architectural Review, August 2004:39

CHAPTERl
INTRODUCTION
The researcher's positionality
I teach in the architecture course in DIT and most of my contact hours are in the design
studio. I graduated as an architect in 1986 from UCD and after qualifying I worked in the
U.S. for a number of years. My experience abroad made me realise that the same system of
education for architects was widely used in most countries. In the practice office in the U.S.
there were graduates from Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland, Argentina and Chile as
well as American graduates from the universities of Harvard, Yale and Cornell. It was
interesting that all the architects from many different cultures had proceeded through, or
been processed through, a very similar method of education. The primary method used for
both learning and assessment in all of these contexts was the 'crit'. One only has to say the
word 'crit' to an architect and straight away, like a universal language, the architect, from
whatever nationality you are talking to, knows what you mean. What is interesting is that
this method of education has been dominant and unchallenged for so long! The role of the
architect and the available technology, both in terms of teaching and practice, has altered
dramatically over this period of time, yet the teaching method has remained relatively
untouched. The time gap between my education to my current teaching role stretches to
more than fifteen years, and despite fairly radical changes to the profession and the needs of
industry, the same method of exploring architecture still applies to the teaching of