Pedagogy 2025
Abstract
It is high time that architectural education reconsiders and redefines its relationship with Live Projects. Over a decade has passed since the publication of Architecture LIVE Projects: Pedagogy into Practice (Harriss & Widder, 2014) and Sheffield’s Live Projects Handbook (2013), both seminal texts that catalysed interest in “live” pedagogies. Yet the landscape in which Live Projects now operate is radically different from a decade ago. This presentation proposes a new handbook that reflects the expanded scope of Live Projects today. Hybrid learning, parametric tools, AI, and immersive environments are reshaping how Live Projects are recorded. The climate emergency demands that carbon literacy and circular economies are considered. And debates around decolonisation and representation require critical reflection on who Live Projects serve, whose voices are heard, and how power is negotiated in community partnerships. This means that contributors should reflect a wide range of “live” settings and pedagogical objectives. Over recent years, the bodies that regulate architectural education have mandated a greater emphasis on engaged learning – “Engagement is an essential tool to the built environment, it should be used far more widely and purposefully than we often see it applied” (RIBA, 2024). We hope this new handbook will act as both pedagogical guide and manifesto – for socially just, technologically agile, and environmentally responsible architectural education. We know Live Projects are hard work, but, as Ruth Morrow reminds us, “we still need to frame, test and question… in order to share the Live Projects love.” This book aims to do exactly that.
Emily Crompton is currently a Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Architecture at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She is an architect and urban designer with a desire to involve as many people as possible in the design of cities, neighbourhoods, buildings and spaces. Emily has taught on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, she currently leads MSA LIVE programme as well as the Foundation Year lead. She is a registered Architect with ARB, a founding member of QuEAN (Queer Educators in Architecture Network), and is actively involved with the Participatory Design Conference community.
Sam Brown is currently a University Teacher at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture and Landscape, United Kingdom. He is an award-winning Architect and educator and has led the School’s Live Projects programme from 2020-2025, receiving Advance HE’s Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) for his work with the School’s Engaged Learning team and its Live Works project. Sam has taught Live Projects and presented on the subject nationally and internationally. In practice, Sam has won an RIBA Award for design and also works as a Community-Led Housing Advisor, facilitating community leadership in development projects that address the crises in housing and climate.
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Thursday 20th November, 2025