VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY
Abstract
This research presents the contribution of a pedagogical model from the past that looks to the future, based on the principle that ‘knowledge is the raw material for design’. Werner Seligmann, dean of the School of Architecture at Syracuse University between 1976 and 1990, centred his pedagogy on the belief that making faculty aware of the quality of their teaching is essential to achieving optimal design learning outcomes for students, creating a true ‘Art of Teaching’ and ‘Art of Learning’. Specifically, his teaching focused on ‘Teaching how to Teach,’ ‘Learning how to Learn’, building the foundations for ‘critical thinking in architecture’ as essential elements for learning and teaching architecture. Furthermore, the design studio—attended day and night—was spatially designed to foster personal contact between students and faculty, ultimately serving as the nucleus of the entire school and a manifesto of active, dynamic, and continually evolving knowledge. By establishing a pedagogy distinct from that of other architecture schools such as Cornell, Cooper Union, and ETH (1960s–1990s)–which, like all architecture schools in the 1970s, were in decline due to the loss of centrality of design–, Seligmann’s ‘Art of Teaching’ and ‘Art of Learning’ helped bring design back to the centre of architectural pedagogy. As the book “Werner Seligmann: The Power of Pedagogy in Architecture” explains, the ‘knowledge is the raw material for design’ principle has proven to be the foundation of a timeless pedagogical model, an effective paradigm in an uncertain context for architectural education, not dissimilar to today’s.
Caterina Frisone directs the Master in Architecture and Health at the Iuav University of Venice, a programme she founded after a five-year experience (2017–2022) in the British healthcare system. She holds a PhD from Oxford Brookes University (2021). She studied and taught at Syracuse under Seligmann (1986–1989), winning the teaching assistantship award. Finding a connection to architectural education, her recent book for Routledge (2024) helped gain approval for “Werner Seligmann: The Power of Pedagogy in Architecture” (Routledge, 2028), which she co-author with Richard Rosa.
Richard Rosa is an associate professor in the School of Architecture at Syracuse University. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University and a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University, where he was awarded the Faculty Design Award. Rosa is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a recipient of the Katherine E. Gordon Rome Prize in Architecture. He has held full-time academic positions at the University of Virginia, Harvard University, and Cornell University, and was the Hawkins Distinguished Professor at the University of Texas. He was the director of the Florence Architecture Programme and the Three Cities International Programme at Syracuse University. His independent competition awards include the Atlanta Summer Olympics Competition, the Yokohama Harbor Competition, the Rotch Traveling Fellowship, and the New York Foundation for the Arts Award.
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Thursday 25th June, 2026