Gemma Louisa Adeler-Bjarnø Holdaway
Supervisor
Abstract
Architectural Education and its Fringes in Planetary Crisis
This research explores the contemporary developments in ‘planetary pedagogies’ within architectural education in the UK, both within institutions and their shadows, as liminal spaces in the age of planetary crisis, and pedagogical positioning within the archive.
Key theories such as Mark DeKay’s development of integral thinking through his Integral Sustainable Design (2011) are applied to illustrate the depth of the planetary as a concept. On the other hand, the exploration of the role of fringe spaces as liminal spaces is seen through theories of liminality by anthropologists and ethnographers van Gennep (1960) and Turner (1969). Here, the mobilisation of care in crisis through architectural pedagogical practice is highlighted through processes of transition and processes of unlearning existing structures to learn new responsive ones. The concept of liminality builds on van Gennep and Turner’s view of it as a transitional space, facilitating a dismantlement of existing learnt structures, in this case traditional architectural education, and a re-evaluation of the practice within the contemporary
planetary crisis. The other side of the research continues to build upon my research into mapping the relationships between institutional archives and pedagogies, and the historicisation of contemporary planetary pedagogical practices. Previous research in this field has been conducted by Edward Bottoms, Head of Archives at the Architectural Association, and Eleanor Gawne, Librarian at the Architectural Association (London, UK), titled ‘Drawing on the Archive: Architectural Education and Archival Practice’ (2020), presenting the problem of the absence of pedagogical documentation in architectural institutions (ibid). Seemingly, the abstract proposes a mapping of archives in UK architectural institutions to understand the archival landscape and how sharing of archival processes could benefit students and practitioners (SAHBG et al., 2020). The institutional archive is in focus as a key to documenting pedagogical shifts and their narratives. Further contributions from this research have yet to be published, allowing for my research to respond to a current gap in the field. Furthermore, it aims to explore emerging fields of interdisciplinary study, branching beyond seeing architectural education as isolated in a traditional sense, but into the shadows, uncovering diverse responses of care in crisis in architectural practice.
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Prof Dr Ines Weizman
Professor of History and Theory of Architecture
Head of PhD Programme
School of Architecture
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore, London
SW7 2EU
ines.weizman@rca.ac.uk
School of Architecture, Royal College of Art
Postgraduate Research (PGR) Programme