Educators Sofie Pelsmakers and Cíaran Malik on teaching climate literate design

Episode 36. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. In this episode, Pelsmakers argues that teaching values must be at the heart of architectural education. She believes students are bombarded with too much technical information on sustainability and that a strong grounding in architectural ethics is essential in order to apply technical knowledge for the best possible built environment and social equity outcomes. This approach requires not only new curriculum content, but a shift from master-apprentice to more democratic and inclusive peer-to-peer learning.

Sharing insights from having taught recently in seven different schools of architecture, structural engineer and educator Cíaran Malik notes that curriculum reform has not kept pace with students’ demands for change and that retrofit remains a minority topic. Malik argues that once students develop an intuitive understanding, grounded in evidence, they can begin to experiment with results that are both ‘beautiful and exciting.’

For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts