Towards a broader horizon

Resumo

In a time of uncertainty and continuous change in architectural education, our discipline urges debate, reflection and renewal of its traditional subjects as a response to external forces that Architecture is increasingly exposed to.

This paper will offer a reflection on how a design studio culture can contribute to the renewal of our discipline and its educational principles through the consideration of three horizons. Firstly, the horizon of the College of Arts in Alta de Coimbra, drawing on its typological nature and topographical condition to make a critical reflection on the sense of indulgent isolation of the design studio culture in the School. Secondly, the horizon of Architecture as a discipline and its willingness to acknowledge the benefits of interdisciplinary engagement. Thirdly, the horizon of the world as seen (and remade) from the design studio, a platform for learning to understand (and remake) the world in which we live through positioning the work of the students in a wider frame of reference.

To fulfil its role as a form of cultural expression, the renewal of Architecture as a discipline depends on opening its educational principles to what is beyond the fatigued horizon of our territorial, disciplinary and cultural boundaries.