Students’ views of the architectural design review: The design crit in East Africa

Abstract

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-à-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 a truly discursive environment.

A qualitative investigation of stress related to studying architecture at degree level in the UK

“…The relatively small sample size (12 participants) clearly means this is not a generalisable study, but we suggest its findings are illuminative. The insights about studio review and tutors’ feedback are consistent with Olweny’s (2019) study, which was based in East Africa. Also, in our interviews, participants shared the news they read and the stories they heard from peers or other architecture schools – their experiences were widely shared.…”

“…Echoing Olweny’s (2019) findings, many participants found receiving tutors’ critiques stressful, especially so on a weekly basis and in front of the class. This was worse when the feedback was not constructive or when the tutor’s commenting style was off-putting.…”

“…Design review is unique to architectural education, where architecture students are asked to present their designs and receive critiques. Amongst East Africa’s architectural institutions, it has been found that instructors’ contradictory comments about students’ designs could confuse or even stress students (Olweny, 2020). However, the picture is not always sinister.…”

“…However, the picture is not always sinister. Olweny (2019) has shown that the tutors’ critiques were valued in that students could not progress or improve without them. Other evidence suggests that some students can be motivated to study under severe academic stress, as motivation and coping could mediate the relationship between academic stress and performance (Mills and Fullagar, 2008; Struthers et al., 2000).…”

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on architecture design studio pedagogy in Saudi Arabia

“…Such engagement with projects and the evaluation of design enhances the progress of dialogical interaction between tutor and student and between student and student, which promotes learning from one another and together. In addition, different pedagogical models, such as the master-apprentice, coach, reflective practitioner, and critical friend, enlighten different learning paradigms (Olweny, 2020; Yorgancıoglu and Tunalı, 2020).…”