The world’s best universities in the fields of architecture, design and art are often characterised by a strong tradition in the education of art, which is integrated with design, commerce and technology.
Their success is more and more based on a close integration of research, teaching and artistic activity, as well as co-operation with industry and business to maintain a grip on reality. Because of the importance of interplay, multi-disciplinary research and cross-disciplinary artistic activities could create a foundation for a future university. Education becomes supported by cross-disciplinary, user-centred and practice-based research and artistic work.
A multi-disciplinary approach create a foundation for the development of social and cultural innovation
Such a future university will respond to a change in innovative thinking where human and user-centred attitudes are emphasised along with a technological approach. A multi-disciplinary approach creates a foundation for the development of social and cultural innovation, as well as for production-related, financial and structural solutions required for sustainable development. The former mythological cultural background of design education will be turned into a pursuit for more calculable machinery for international academic and commercial success.
As art, architecture is part of the reorganisation or merging of the production of the built environment and media. As design, it is part of the communicative change and demands for social innovation in society. Consequently, there are changes in the roles of so-called creative professions:
From product and service towards user experience and the user-centric
From the role of design professionals, at the last stages of a project, towards designers having a strong role in the idea and concept stages of projects
From specialising towards a multi-disciplinary culture and scale management
From a dialogue within professionals towards communication that has an effect on society with inter-field discourse
From process management towards value-based leadership.
We are also encouraged to implement changes in our modes of action:
From training professionals for technical roles towards deep academic thinking and development
From graduates to work in the domestic market towards graduates to take on international tasks
From local instructors towards instructors from abroad
From study and instruction towards learning experience
From visibility as a primary goal towards changing the world and society
From independent projects towards co-operation
From independent work towards energising and inspiring communal discussion
The future of our profession requires new areas of competence included in curriculums, such as:
Sustainability
Wellbeing (humanitarian help)
Collaboration/co-design
Project management and development
Architects’ changing role and the development of society require us to create new kinds of products, and to utilise new methods in attaining multi-professional design, integrated research and teaching. I assume, students will also become active in the development of their own environment.
