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The design studio's pedagogical landscape in built environment

The project involves survey and development of the pedagogical infrastructure and methods that create active students who independently drive themselves towards excellence in architectural education, to share knowledge about the student-centred learning format Design Studio to other KTH programmes.

Mapped principles

The project is mapped to the following framework principles:

P3. Active student-centered learning

P2. Ability to handle wicked problems for the sustainable societal development

P4. Assessment and examination for learning

P5. Available experimental environments

P7. User-oriented support services

Definitions of the principles

Contact

Malin Wennerholm

This project is implemented at the School of Architecture and Built Environment (ABE) within the Future Education programme (project no. 2303-ABE). 

Project context  

KTH's architecture programme has long experience and a solid educational tradition in active student-centred learning, wicked problems in Design Thinking, continuous assessments of student learning within the framework of the design studio model, and knowledge of the necessary pedagogical infrastructure and materials such as teacher density, peer-to-peer learning in the studios (”ritsalar”) and in different workshops. The majority of the student´s learning takes place within the project courses through the Design Studio model, where have excellent individual competencies within our learning environments, but we can and need to develop by acting together. 

The project includes all students and teachers ARKIT/TARKM, a working group of teacher representatives and the steering group for the architectural examination. 

Purpose (outcome) 

  • The aim is to clarify what should be retained and what should be changed in order for the architecture programme to remain relevant and executable in the future, and what other parts of KTH can benefit and learn from the methods and approaches used in the architecture programme. 

  • We want to achieve a fundamental change aimed at improving student learning in KTH's architectural education programme and improving and clarifying the teachers' conditions for teaching. 

Project results (output) 

  • Survey of the pedagogical methods and learning activities that create active students who independently drive themselves towards excellence via educational inquiry to all 22 studios within the framework of architectural education 

  • Investigation of the status of the architectural exam regarding broadened recruitment. 

  • Communication and cooperation in the form of workshops, dialogue with teachers, students and alumni. 

  • Current situation analysis of the design studio's pedagogical landscape, a model that is the dominant one in KTH's architectural education programme. 

  • Competence development on the pedagogical model of the architectural programme. 

  • Specific benchmarking of selected leading architecture schools such as ETH, Bartlett, UCL, etc. with a focus on updated design studio pedagogy to support the pedagogical development of KTH's established design studio model. 

  • Clarified model for Design Studio pedagogy 

  • Action plans and proposed measures for the future of architectural education at KTH-A. 

Time plan 

Start date: 2023-06-01
End date: 2026-12-31 

Project documentation 

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