| Title |
Dilemmas in Teaching Modern Architecture |
| Keywords |
Bauhaus ; Texas Austin ; Cooper Union ; Basic Design ; Functionalism ; Language of Vision ; Architectural Education |
| Abstract |
By rejecting Academic principles and historical precedents modern architecture faced with a problem of teaching: How to teach architecture without a shared norm and formal principles. In order to solve this problem modernist at first had recourse to individual creativity, influenced by new educational theory developed by Froebel, Pestalozzi and others, then to program and function. However, these did not provide with a new educational principles which would replace the traditional formal norms. An ambiguous mixture of scientific process and individual creativity of functionalism could not solve the problem of form either. In the 1950's pedagogy of modern architecture based on formal principles and historical typology was developed at Texas Austin. But, this contradicted modernist ethos of pursuing newness and individual creativity and Cooper Union in the 60's returned to artistic education based on individual creativity. This situation reflects the current chaotic situation of architectural education since modernism rejected historical precedents, which has oscillated between artistic creativity, scientific program and typology. This is, I would argue, a field of negotiation which architectural education since modernism has been doomed to face. |