A Focus on Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper explores the pedagogical potential of experiential learning within architectural education through the lens of a renovation to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Architecture Hall. As most inhabitants of Architecture Hall are students of architectural design disciplines, this renovation provides an excellent opportunity for students to learn from the professional design process due to their empiric perspective and contextual familiarity with the site. Experiential learning is defined as “learning in which the learner is directly in touch with the realities being studied.”1 However, in architectural education, “educators tend to offer students hypothetical experiments in the form of hypothetical design projects where many contextual variables are neglected.”2 It is estimated that “less than 10% of all capital projects on college and university campuses are used as learning labs.”3 This renovation serves as a case study for future campus projects to develop UNL’s experiential learning opportunities. Through a designed approach, a select group of students will be given access to project materials and the opportunity to attend design meetings and site visits. In addition to witnessing the design process, students will recognize areas they determine could be beneficial to include more holistically within architectural education. Lastly, these students are responsible for documenting and disseminating their experience and learned architectural knowledge through informal lectures to the larger student body. In this practice, students take on an active pedagogical approach in creating materials to bridge the gap between design education and practice conventions.