Bridging the Gap between Architectural Education and Architectural Practice

Many freshly minted architects find, to their dismay, that there is a vast disparity between what we learn and what we really produce in the contemporary world, despite the fact that Architecture Education is a major contributor to the growth of the industry as a whole. This is a major problem. Despite the abundant "cut and paste" options available in the digital world, the prescribed systems and subject areas are now being taught very superficially and in isolation, and the prevailing teaching strategies for architecture are "Design Centric," ones that create "elevations," "3D views," and "walkthroughs.” While it is now common knowledge that the world's greatest buildings were all "hand-made," the phrase "skills of hand" has gone into overuse.However, this research seeks to close a knowledge gap by illuminating the obstacles in architecture education that reduce graduates' marketability and offering solutions to these problems. Former architecture students, current and former faculty members, and working architects were each given one of four surveys to fill out and return. The research shows that several strategies have the potential to close the gap between architectural education and practice. These include moving towards more practical teaching methods, forming non-governmental organisations, merging architectural schools and practices, and revising the undergraduate architectural curriculum.