Studio Culture Summit 2004

Proceedings
On the weekend of October 8-10, 2004 the 2004 Studio Culture Summit convened. This was a meeting of practicing architects, interns, architecture students, professors of architecture, professors of related fields, authors, representatives of each of the five collaterals, deans, authors, psychologists, a lawyer and a gifted facilitator. The Summit served as a forum for engaging these parties with investments in architectural education. We learned a little bit about the history of studio, a little bit about why studio exists as it does today and a lot about studio's potential as an educational model.

For four years the AIAS has been talking about Studio Culture. A question often heard was, "why?" "Stop complaining," they heard, "we all went through it and we've all turned out just fine." In fact, there was a lot of complaining. That can be attributed to, more than anything else, the lack of information on the subject. When someone demands change to a culture, without first understanding the history, statistics and policies shaping that culture, they can rarely maintain an argument that holds water.

However, by Sunday evening, we had embraced the culture that we had only recently (unofficially) held as fundamentally flawed. So, we need a cultural change, not a new culture, not a new model. Dean Thomas Fisher of the University of Minnesota took us back to studio's roots in apprenticeship. Illinois' Kathryn Anthony, described the fundamental lack of respect present in the studio model. Both of these presentations helped shape a series of breakouts and group discussions on what happens when studio functions at its best and the ideals of the 'perfect studio.'

The Summit began to transform from a critical to optimistic, thorough disection of studio. Dr. Van Weigel then presented to us opportunities for digital and virtual integration in studio. We learned about new ways of teaching and new, innovative means of educating designers. Dr. Richard Farson empowered us with a presentation on leadership and it was at this point that the group began to realize just how clear the necessary improvements were, and that it would not be as painful as many expected, to implement them.

We left the meeting with 9 initiatives. Because the studio is so central to an architect's training it is vital that it be a productive learning environment and we see these 9 initiatives as the rather simple set of means to lead to a healthy, cooperative, collaborative, integrated model which will serve as an inclusive discussion of the educational model in architecture. Through an open critique of studio culture, attendees may identify avenues for implementation of the suggested improvements outlined in The Redesign of Studio Culture (AIAS, 2002).

List of Attendees
See who took part in the conference.

Photo Gallery
See some of the images from the summit.

Participant Feedback
Read some of the thoughts of the summit participants

The Summit was sponored by:

Titanium
The American Institute of Architects
AIA Large Firm Round Table

Gold
Boston Society of Architects
American Institute of Architecture Students

Bronze
AIA Minnesota
AIA Nebraska
ArchVoices