Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

This paper, ‘Research in Practice and Academics: The Two Cultures’ is part of a doctoral research titled ‘Rationale of application of theory inputs in Architectural practice’. This research aims to explore the missing links between the continuous chain of architecture education and the current state of the profession that leads the future and propose optimizing solutions to strengthen the link between architectural education and architectural practice. This paper examines the term ‘Research’ and its usage in architectural academics and professional practice. The ‘Research’ component can be well understood in terms of research activities, research projects, research paper writing /publication culture, research methods and techniques in pedagogy and curricula, research in professional practice, thesis dissertation, etc. This study involves a literature study, First-hand observation, a case study of 15 institutions across the nation, and corresponding results of a questionnaire survey conducted in 2019-2020 The survey was conducted amongst practicing architects, academicians, students, and young graduates across the nation. India has been categorized into 5 Zones namely North, South, East, West, and Central, for a simpler understanding and functioning of the research process. This paper, ‘Research in Practice and Academics: The Two Cultures’, attempts to comprehend the research-to-practice gap by examining and understanding the Research culture and structure in academics and professional practice. It tries to analyze and comprehend the role of ‘Research’ in undergraduate architecture curricula and its way forward in architectural education and professional practice in India.