Beyond Competency

Disciplinary Efficacy

Abstract

This paper argues that the architectural academy is guilty of producing architects who might be competent, but are not effective in putting their training into socially relevant use. It examines what follows then is a set of 7 nested and increasingly institutionally-scaled observations – formalism, design, analysis, curricula, pedagogy, academia, and administrative institutions – about architectural education that attempt to locate the various arenas which require re-thinking for a relevant and empowered discipline. It ends with a call to arms for architecture academics to unite to produce the radical change needed to address our current, crisis-driven world.