Architecture Union
ACADEMIC PROJECT：DESIGN FOR FUTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL
2019-2020
The AU is a call to action – to transform architectural education in the 21st century that differs radically in form, content and delivery to the prevailing model of the 20th century. The AU is premised on the understanding that Architecture is expanding its mission to society and to the environment. This proposal supports the idea of a networked community of shared interests composed of the academy, the profession, industry and their allied partners and associations, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.
Locating in Winnipeg, Canada
The AU is located in Winnipeg, Canada. The location is geographically, socio-culturally and economically significant to its intellectual apparatus. Winnipeg is a ‘mid-city’ geographically, it is located in the middle of North America. Winnipeg is a space at the centre and separated by substantial distances from the exterior limits; it plays an intermediary role between two extremes (social, cultural, economic). Winnipeg is a mid-node in in the global cities network (the notion of ‘capital cities’ and ‘financial and cultural centres’ is antiquated and does not address the flow of ideas and goods adequately). Winnipeg is a mid-city, neither large or small, neither experiencing exaggerated growth cycles or economic decline - it supports the emerging reality of a ‘no growth’ economy. The AU, like Winnipeg, strives to advance the interests of the radical middle.
Advancing the Mission to Architecture
The AU is committed to advancing architecture through the ‘critical engagement’ of the built environment. It strives to advance an architecture that is both pragmatic and poetic, supported by a sense of conviction, efficacy, and innovation. The AU seeks to locate architecture through the lens of its historical trajectory and through contemporary thought and practice from a range of allied disciplines i.e. pluralistic. Its criticality and instrumentality are conditioned by its trans-disciplinary nature in a dialectical relationship, between the academy and the practice and in relation to the built world of possibilities. The notion of a ‘praxis’ best describes the pedagogical apparatus of the AU. The AU supports humanity’s right to architecture.
Living, Working, Playing and Learning
The AU supports architectural education that is incremental, fluid, and measured over a lifetime of learning and practicing. Boundaries between formal education, practice and community engagement are permeable. Professional degree and non-degree programs are offered locally and globally through national and international partnerships with allied institutions, practices, and organizations. The AU encompasses the changing nature of the learning and working worlds by providing the context for these to occur simultaneously in real and in virtual space. In an increasingly knowledge-based society, links are fostered between these worlds and learning occurs in a variety of contexts including the classroom, the office and workplace, the community design centre, the research lab, and over the Internet. Shared knowledge, skills, and values between academics, practitioners, industry and cultural producers form the basis for a strategic shift in architectural education and practice.
An Independent School
The AU is structured organizationally similarly as an NGO. It is open, anarchic, and flexible – it is non-hierarchal, representative, and cooperative. It supports academic, professional, industry and community interests. It is funded by public and by private sector interests. Academically, it is supported by the NAAB and allied architectural jurisdictions, locally, nationally, and globally. The AU is committed to social engagement, environmental well-being, and the advancement of architecture in the built environment. The program supports progress in 21st C technologies, as well as humanist perspectives, directed towards a sustainable planet:
