Report On The Education Of The Architect In The United States Of America

Whether historians or architects (and several have trained in both areas), the essayists all share the belief that contemporary concerns about architecture affect the way history is constructed. Because they view architecture as a body of knowledge evolving over time, they have resisted the wholesale espousal and rejection of modernism that has often polarized the examination and practice of architecture in the second half of this century.

This is the first in-depth study of how the architectural profession emerged in early American history. Mary Woods dispels the prevailing notion that the profession developed under the leadership of men formally schooled in architecture as an art during the late nineteenth century. Instead, she cites several instances in the early 1800s of craftsmen-builders who shifted their identity to that of professional architects. While struggling to survive as designers and supervisors of construction projects, these men organized professional societies and worked for architectural education, appropriate compensation, and accreditation. In such leading architectural practitioners as B. Henry Latrobe, Alexander J. Davis, H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Stanford White, Woods sees collaborators, partners, merchandisers, educators, and lobbyists rather than inspired creators. She documents their contributions as well as those, far less familiar, of women architects and people of color in the profession's early days. Woods's extensive research yields a remarkable range of archival materials: correspondence among carpenters; 200-year-old lawsuits; architect-client spats; the organization of craft guilds, apprenticeships, university programs, and correspondence schools; and the structure of architectural practices, labor unions, and the building industry. In presenting a more accurate composite of the architectural profession's history, Woods lays a foundation for reclaiming the profession's past and recasting its future. Her study will appeal not only to architects, but also to historians, sociologists, and readers with an interest in architecture's place in America today.

"Histories of Architecture Education in the United States is an edited collection focused on the professional evolution, experimental and enduring pedagogical approaches, and leading institutions of American architectural education. Beginning with the emergence of architecture as a profession in Philadelphia and ending with the early work, but unfinished international effort, of making room for women and people of color in positions of leadership in the field, this collection offers an important history of architecture education relevant to audiences both within and outside of the United States. Other themes include the relationship of professional organizations to educational institutions; the legacy of late nineteenth-century design concepts; the role of architectural history; educational changes and trans-Atlantic intellectual exchanges after WWII and the Cold War; the rise of the city and urban design in the architect's consciousness; student protests and challenges to traditional architectural education; and the controversial appearance of environmental activism. This collection, in other words, provides a relevant history of the present, with topics of concern to all architects studying and working today"--

This report examines the problems and possibilities of architecture education as it has evolved in the United States and proposes a new framework for renewing architecture education and practice. In order to assess the need for reform in architecture education, students and alumni from 15 representative campuses were surveyed as to whether they would attend their School of Architecture again. Survey questions also dealt with preparation of graduates for their profession, salary expectations, reasons for entering the architecture profession, feelings about the profession, and the School of Architecture's reputation on the university campus. A model of architecture education based on seven separate but interlocking priorities was proposed: (1) an enriched mission; (2) a more inclusive institutional context based on the principle of diversity with dignity; (3) a goal of standards without standardization; (4) an architecture curriculum that is better integrated with knowledge both within and outside the architecture discipline; (5) establishment of a supportive climate for learning; (6) a more unified profession based on partnership between schools and the profession; and (7) preparation of architects for lives of civic engagement. (Contains reference notes for each chapter.) (CK)