Architectural Education

ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION. The functions of the architect to-day are manifold and of a highly technical nature. He must first of all be expert in the actual planning of buildings, that is, he must be acquainted with the practical requirements of the accommodation of various kinds of structures, often of a complex order, such as factories and commercial buildings, hotels, theatres, hospitals and schools.

He must know how to arrange the several parts of these build ings in the most economical and convenient manner, for the art of planning is the very basis of the art of architecture.

He must have a thorough understanding of the ordinary methods of building construction, and sufficient knowledge of the prin ciples of steel and ferro-concrete work to enable him to employ those modern structural resources as an artist.

A considerable body of applied science is now involved in archi tectural practice, but it is always part of the means and never the end of architecture. The architect must be instructed how to make the technical sciences the servants of his art. Not only methods of construction, but surveying, sanitation, hygiene, heat ing, lighting, ventilation and acoustics come within this category, as also do such ancillary subjects as the law and finance of build ing.

It is necessary too, that the training of the architect shall in clude the study of perspective, sciagraphy, rendering (see RENDER ING, ARCHITECTURAL) and the preparation of working drawings (see DRAWING, ENGINEERING).

In addition, a knowledge of materials, their practical charac teristics and the effects which can be obtained from them, is an essential element in the architect's education, since they determine the durability of the fabric and its appearance. The application of all this varied knowledge is implied in design in architecture.

And it is with design that the architect is primarily and ulti mately concerned.

Architectural design involves thinking simultaneously in three dimensions, visualizing the work in plan, section and elevation in such a way that the resultant composition is expressive and beau tiful. For this, efficient creative ability of a special order is re quired and no system of training can generate that ability. But training can make possible its fullest development, can direct it along the most profitable lines and can place at its disposal, in the best manner, the accumulated experience of the past. These are the objects with which the present systems of architectural edu cation are chiefly concerned.

It is generally agreed that the study of architecture should be preceded by a liberal education. As one of the fine arts, his torically associated with the arts of painting and sculpture, and as the background of civilized society, it demands both for its practice and its appreciation some measure of general culture. The tendency to-day is, therefore, for schools of architecture in Europe, the British Empire and America to require from candi dates for admission evidence of a broad non-technical education ; and in a number of cases liberal studies are pursued during at least the earlier portion of the professional course. A general sur vey of architectural education at the present time shows that it is principally administered in America by universities, and in Europe and the British Empire, either by universities or by insti tutions virtually of university rank, such as the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, the High School of Architecture in Rome and the Viennese academy. Sometimes the teaching of architecture has the advantage of being conducted under academic auspices in asso ciation with painting and sculpture. In certain schools the curricu lum has a strong mathematical bias, whilst in others, emphasis is laid on preserving and developing traditional methods of design. Such differences are due to national and local influences. They do not materially affect the broad cosmopolitan character of modern architectural education. That education, it is now more and more realized, is the proper responsibility of the practising profession in each country. In France the fact has always been recognized, and, since academic education was instituted in Paris in the I 7th cen tury, the most eminent architects have themselves undertaken educational obligations. The result has been that in no other coun try has the practice and teaching of architecture been so com pletely and successfully related. Elsewhere in the early days of the scholastic system the attempt was made to divide the architectural profession into two classes—theoretic non-practising teachers, and architects who practised and did not teach. But architecture could not be taught by theorists any more than medicine and the ex periment has been definitely abandoned. To-day architectural education in all countries is in the hands of practising teachers. Direct connection between the instruction given in the school and the experience of actual practice is thereby assured; the world of the school is not isolated from the world of the architect's studio or office. At the same time scholastic training cannot of itself complete the education of the architect. The conditions of practice must inevitably differ from those of theoretic training. For this reason, to effect a transition between the two, most sys tems of architectural education now in operation provide for some part of the school course being devoted to gaining actual experi ence of practice.

Italy.

The emergence of Italy as a unified nation in the i9th century finally closed that phase of architectural development in which the training of architects was undertaken by the independent academies founded during and after the Renaissance. Hence forth the State itself assumed the responsibility and established two types of institutions to discharge it—schools of civil engineer ing and institutes of fine arts. Architecture was taught in the first as a structural science and in the second as an art of design asso ciated with painting and sculpture. The inherent defects of this arrangement were not long in showing themselves. By divorcing the study of modern constructional methods from that of com position, two separate classes of experts were created, structural engineers and architectural decorators. The former were well equipped in the scientific technique of building, but could not use their knowledge as artists; the latter, insufficiently trained in the material and practical aspects of their subject, were accomplished as a rule only in superficial design. As was inevitable in an age which exalted applied science and mechanical skill, the profession of structural engineers soon acquired a superior authority to that of the architects, with consequences unfortunate both for the latter and their work. To remedy this state of affairs a number of proposals and tentative experiments were made in the latter half of the century. The final outcome of these was the estab lishment in 1919 of the High School of Architecture in Rome, a school of university rank, which requires from entrants a liberal education and previous artistic training. It is the central insti tution for architectural education in Italy. Its professional course extends over five years and the curriculum provides for a properly adjusted balance of scientific and aesthetic studies. In the provinces, other institutions modelled on the Roman High school, are in process of being established or developed at Milan, Florence and Venice. Special provisions have recently been made by the State further affecting architectural education in Italy. An official qualification has been introduced which is awarded on examination after a certain period has been spent in acquiring practical experience subsequent to the completion of the school course. In addition, a carefully worked out scheme has been de vised to secure candidates for the profession from as wide a field as possible and to ensure that their previous education is of the most suitable kind.

France.

The State control of French architectural education dates from the foundation under Colbert of the Royal Acad emy of Architecture in 167o. This control, temporarily inter rupted by the Revolution, was resumed in 1795, when in the newly created Institut de France an academy of fine arts, embrac ing architecture, was included. The private school of architecture, set up by Leroi during the Revolution, was then taken under the protection of the Institut, incorporated with the other art schools administered by that body, and finally, in 1816, accommodated on the site which it now occupies, under the name, famous through out the world, of Ecole des Beaux Arts. Under Napoleon III., a decree was issued in 1863 which, drastically altering the organ ization of the school, rest ricte2d the authority of the Academy of Fine Arts over it, and introduced the regime which is in operation to-day. The school became directly a State institution, with a director at its head appointed by the minister of fine arts. Its professors were nominated by the educational council and its courses extended and increased in number. In addition to the pro fessors who lectured, patrons or heads of ateliers, were officially appointed to the staff. The problem of style, which the dissensions of the Romanticists and Classicists had made an acute issue, was solved by eliminating it. There were no longer any prescribed or proscribed periods. All designs were judged by logical stand ards and matters of taste were permitted to remain matters of taste. Compositions might be submitted in any style or in no style at all; their value would be assessed upon grounds that had nothing to do with the question of architectural idiom. By thus adopting an attitude of the most complete catholicity the school was able to stabilize its position and to emerge from the trials of the i9th century with increased rather than diminished prestige.

To-day the teaching of architecture in France is still centralized in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris; although the influence of leading modern architects opposing the Ecole des Beaux Arts is spreading fast among the younger generation. So far, the regional schools in Lille, Rouen, Rennes, Lyons, Marseille, Strasbourg, and other provincial cities are still branches of the Paris Ecole, work ing on the same programs and conducting simultaneously the same competitions amongst their students. All of this work is sent to Paris and judged there side by side with that executed in the capital, on the same terms of anonymity. Thereafter the best de signs are exhibited in the provincial schools, which in this way are acquainted with the general standards required and are stimulated to maintain and surpass them.

The course of studies leading to the government diploma in architecture is elaborate and difficult. There is first of all the preliminary training for admission to the Ecole itself. Students are prepared for the entrance examination either in certain spe cial ateliers which devote themselves exclusively to this task or in the large ateliers mainly concerned with the subsequent design work of the course. The examination comprises tests in design, drawing and modelling, mathematics, descriptive geometry, science and the history of art. Normally the number of entrants is about 45o; 6o only, including 15 foreigners, are passed. After admission to the Ecole the work falls into three sections—second class, first class and the great prize competitions, of which the most important is that for the Grand Prix de Rome. Before pro motion from the second to the first class further tests must be passed in science, mathematics, geometry, perspective (q.v.), con struction and design. Concluding the studies in the first class there are final examinations in physics, chemistry, building laws, regulations and design.

On the results of these the diploma is awarded after a course which, from the time of admission to the second class, usually ex tends over at least four to five years.

Great Britain and Dominions.

So long as English archi tects followed, as they did throughout the 17th and most of the i8th centuries, a single architectural tradition, and were content simply to develop it ; and so long as the technical requirements of building were relatively simple—the pupilage system was adequate for the education of the profession. But the foundations of this world of commonly shared artistic convictions and prac tice began to be undermined when architects ceased to be satis fied with giving to the style of the Italian Renaissance a national character, and sought their inspiration in the antique origins of that style. The re-study of Roman forms was followed by the discovery and copying of Greek, with the result that by the end of the i8th century the architectural student had already lost his certainty of outlook. The variety of the prospects opened up to him was further extended by the Romantic movement. This, finding its architectural expression in the Gothic revival, completed the confusion which had been initiated by archaeo logical research. The orderly development of English architecture was lost in a "battle of the styles," and the offices of practising architects, which had formerly served as the instruments of a common professional education, were reduced to dissociated units, each of them the vehicle of a personal concept of archi tecture. Finally, by the latter half of the 19th century, the prac tical requirements of building and the methods of construction employed had greatly increased in range and complexity, so that the technical equipment required for their mastery alone had become more than could be supplied by the normal office. All these factors combined to render the pupilage system no longer a satisfactory method of education for the profession. Institu tional training had to take its place, and during the last 5o years considerable progress has been made in establishing and developing schools of architecture devoted to giving systematic courses of instruction in the whole technique of building, and endeavouring to replace the lost traditions of design by teaching based on rational principles.

There are to-day in Great Britain four types of institutions giving instruction in architecture : technical schools, schools of art, independent professional schools and universities. With few exceptions the first two offer courses of not more than three years' duration, and the classes are in many cases held at night. The main function of schools of this order, which are usually under municipal control, is to supplement the pupilage system in those parts of the country, still of considerable extent, in which it yet survives. But the real qualifying work is undertaken by schools whose course is a full day-time one, extending over five or more years.

The full five year course was formally introduced at the Liver pool University School in 1920, when the Architectural Associa tion school in London adopted one of similar character. Such courses, when taken at a university by matriculated students, lead to a degree; when taken at an institution of non-academic rank, to a diploma similar to that granted by the universities to gradu ates who have not matriculated.

At the present time the largest school of architecture in England is that of the Architectural Association and the next largest that of Liverpool university. Both these schools show definite tenden cies away from the Beaux Arts influence and towards contempo rary architecture, period design having been dropped almost en tirely. In Scotland the Glasgow school has the greatest number of students. Through its affiliation with the University of Glasgow it has, since 1925, been able to offer a B.Sc. degree with honours in architecture. In Ireland a single school has been established, that of University college, Dublin. Here a course of three years in the school, followed by two spent in gaining practical experi ence, leads to the degree of Bachelor of Architecture. In the over seas dominions of the British empire—Canada, South Africa, Aus tralia and New Zealand—university schools of architecture have been founded which conduct courses of study varying from three to five years in length. Particularly in the case of Canada and Australia, English influence in architectural education is accom panied by American, with the result that the complete transition from pupilage to training under university auspices seems likely to be more rapid in these countries.

The normal curriculum of the larger qualifying schools in Great Britain provides for the study of design and construction throughout five years. In addition to the work done in the school studios, courses of lectures are given on the theory of de sign and construction, history of architecture, descriptive geom etry, sciagraphy, perspective, sanitation, hygiene, surveying, spec ification, estimates, contracts, professional practice and other cognate subjects. Provision is sometimes made for specialization during the last two years, the course being then taken with hon ours in either design or construction to meet the demand for ad vanced qualifications in both these spheres. In certain of the academic schools the first year's programme of study includes such liberal subjects as languages, social history and literature. A portion of the concluding part of the course is always spent by the students in gaining practical office experience. The Liverpool school, having established connection with offices of American architects, each year sends over a number of selected students to acquire such experience in the United States. Town planning (see TOWN AND CITY PLANNING) is now a recognized subject in most schools of architecture. Two of them, Liverpool and London university, have departments of civic design with professorships established respectively in 1912 and 1914, and both award certifi cates and diplomas in civic design.

From its foundation in 1835 the Royal Institute of British Architects has been the supreme controlling authority of the pro fession throughout the empire. At no time, however, has the R.I.B.A. itself undertaken the teaching of architecture. But by setting up, in the latter half of the Last century, a centralized sys tem of examinations when no professional tests existed in the country, it performed a notable service in raising the general level of professional knowledge. Through its board of architec tural education it has now delegated to certain approved schools the task of qualifying candidates for admission to the institute, only maintaining its own centralized examinations for students not seeking entry through scholastic channels.

The following schools of architecture are now recognized for exemption from the R.I.B.A. final examination (except in the subject of "Professional Practice") : Robert Gordon's colleges, Aberdeen ; Edinburgh College of Art ; Royal Technical college, Glasgow ; University of Liverpool ; Architectural association, London; University of London; University of Manchester; Mc Gill university, Montreal, Canada; University of Sydney, Aus tralia. The schools of architecture in the following institutions are recognized for purposes of exemption from the R.I.B.A. in termediate examination : School of Art, Birmingham ; Royal West of England academy, Bristol; University of Cambridge; Techni cal college, Cardiff ; Leeds College of Arts; Leicester College of Arts and Crafts; Northern Polytechnic, London; Armstrong col lege, Newcastle-on-Tyne; University of Sheffield; Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, Southend-on-Sea ; University of Tor onto; Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay. In both classes the mainte nance of the requisite standard is assured by the periodic inspec tion of a visiting board, appointed by the R.I.B.A. board of archi tectural education, which reports to the institute on the work of the various schools granted or applying for exemption. The insti tute further requires to be satisfied as to the preliminary general education of students, and evidence has now to be submitted upon this point in each individual case. As scholastic training in archi tecture has tended to become increasingly lengthy and expensive, it has been feared that a certain proportion of potential talent might be excluded from the profession on that account. To meet this contingency the R.I.B.A., with its provincial allied societies, has instituted a scheme of maintenance scholarships which are competed for annually and are tenable at schools of architecture "recognized" by the institute. A number of valuable prizes and studentships are offered by the R.I.B.A. each year for competition amongst architectural students throughout the empire. Further open to students who are British subjects is the Rome Scholarship in Architecture, established in 1913 by the royal commissioners of the exhibition of 1851. The annual competitions for this scholar ship are conducted under the direction of the faculty of architec ture of the British school at Rome and the scholarship itself is tenable at that school for three years.

Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Other European Countries.—Architectural education in Germany, Holland, Switzerland and the former Czechoslovakia is given by a variety of institutions—technical institutes of university rank, colleges, and schools of applied art. After the World War, modern Euro pean architects turned the educational system, particularly in these countries, toward more functional design and toward closer con tact with contemporary productive methods. In Germany the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar (and later in Dessau) had started the combining of artistic training in modern design with practical training in crafts and building—a method which has since influ enced various architectural curricula. As far as other European countries are concerned it may be said that the tendency is gen erally to make architectural education the business of specially organized schools. Belgium provides for the training of architects in municipal academies of fine arts and in the professional schools known as the St. Luc academies. At present the Royal Academy of Art is the only institution that provides a complete training for architects in Denmark. Norway has made architectural edu cation a State responsibility and, in the Technical university estab lished at Drontheim, a four years' course leading to a diploma is in force. The organized training of Swedish architects is divided between two institutions, the Architects' Professional school of the Technical High school and the Building school of the High School of Art. A period of six years covers the total course, four being spent in the Professional school. The technical colleges of Austria are of university rank and two of them, those of Vienna and Graz, give technical and artistic training in architecture. In addition, the Viennese Academy of Plastic Arts comprises two "master colleges" for architecture, which carry the education of students to a higher stage. State examinations are held, and for those who qualify there is legal protection for the title of archi tect. A special faculty of architecture in the Royal Joseph Techni cal university at Budapest is responsible for the professional edu cation of Hungarian architects. A diploma is awarded on the successful conclusion of the course and, as in Austria, the title of architect is legally protected. In Spain architectural training is given at the High School of Architecture at Madrid, which is affili ated with the university, and at the Barcelona school.

United States.

Organized architectural instruction in the United States was first given in the schools of technology, where design was taught as early as 186o as a part of the science of building. Prior to 186o the English pupilage system had been the only method of qualifying for practice. The first independent courses in architecture were established by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1866, by the department of engineer ing of the University of Illinois in 187o, and by Cornell univer sity in 1871. From the beginning these schools and others estab lished at Columbia university and Harvard university in 1881 and 189o, took an active part in fostering the development of classic architecture. At a time when most architects in America were under the influence of English romanticism, the schools taught a system of design based upon the formulae of Vignola. The pre cision of this system no doubt appealed to the practical minds of the engineers in charge of them ; but an impetus was given to more liberal teaching by the growing number of architects re turning from study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. These architects introduced into the American schools the methods of the Ecole, gradually eliminating the control of the engineering faculties. To further establish their system they brought French professors of design to America. The success of the latter, who were among the most brilliant teachers in the American schools, completed the supremacy of the Beaux Arts methods in the United States. And finally, a society of Beaux Arts architects was formed which supports the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, an organiza tion that by the regular issue of programs and judgments intends to complement the work of the collegiate schools. However, cor responding to the new scope of architectural education abroad, the influence of the Ecole des Beaux Arts is now fading. Reaction against the former separation of practice in building from aca demic learning is growing, and emphasis on training in functional contemporary design and construction is gradually displacing that on period design and decorative design. The main representatives of these modern methods of training are: The Graduate School of Design, Harvard university, Cambridge, Mass.; Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago, Ill.; Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloom field Hills, Mich. Other important schools are : University of California, Berkeley, Calif.; Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Columbia university, New York city; Cornell university, Ithaca, N. Y. ; Georgia School of Technology, Atlanta, Ga. ; University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. ; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. ; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. ; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.; Ohio State college. Columbus, 0.; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Princeton university, Princeton, N. J. ; Yale university, New Haven, Conn.; University of Virginia, Charlottes ville, Va.

Mexico.

The training of architects in Mexico is now, after passing successively through Spanish and Italian phases, being conducted on French lines by the Mexican National Academy of Fine Arts, an institution recognized as of university rank. The Academy course is a four years' one, modelled essentially upon that of the Beaux Arts and largely administered by pro fessors who have had direct or indirect experience of the French system.

Japan.

.Since 1873 Japanese architectural education has been organized in the Western manner. It is entrusted to high techni cal schools and to universities. Both have three year courses in which chief attention is paid to the constructional aspect of architecture. There are three universities with architectural de partments in the faculties of engineering, the Tokyo and Kyoto Imperial universities and the Waseda university. In the imperial universities two years of post-graduate research may lead to the conferment of a degree.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-M.

H. Morgan, Vitruvius (trans., 1914) ; William Bibliography.-M. H. Morgan, Vitruvius (trans., 1914) ; William H. White, Architecture and Public Buildings—their relation to School, Academy and State (1884) ; A. D. F. Hamlin, Architectural Education in America (1909) ; R. Atkinson, Report on the Education of the Architect in the United States of America (1922) ; A. T. Bolton, Architectural Education a Century .4go (Soane Musa publ., 1924) ; R1.B.A. First International Congress on Architectural Education: Proceedings (1925) ; Martin S. Briggs, The Architect in History (1927) ; F. H. Bosworth and Roy Childs Jones, A Study of Archi tectural Schools (5932); Walter Gropius, The New Architecture and The Bauhaus (i937) ; "Education of the Architect," Architectural Record, vol. 8o, p. 201-214 (Sept. 1936) ; Le Reunion internationale d'architectes, Milan, Conference rapports (Sept. 1933) ; L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Boulogne-sur-Seine, vol. 4, Oct.–Nov. 1933, p. 1-52., S. Giedion, "What Should We Do to Improve Architectural Educa tion?", Architectural Record, vol. 75, P. (May 1934) ; Walter Gropius, "Training the Architect," Twice A Year, No. 2, Summer (1939)• (L. B. B.; W. Gs.)