Teaching Architecture

I've been studying architecture in many different ways since I entered NYU. Gallatin has allowed me do take architectural history courses at CAS, studio courses and courses like this one at Gallatin, as well as an entire year of architectural studio, history and theory classes at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. Having been exposed to the more formal methods of teaching architecture - students holed up in studios for hours on end - and having been exposed  to the most conceptual of thought and teachings (at Columbia) it was so refreshing to take this class.

While it is important to think radically and to create, this class allowed me to really think deeply and ground all of the things I've been learning for the past four years. It was something like an overview, yet delved deeply into important topics. We learned things theoretical but also factual and most importantly learned to experience and think about the places that we occupy everyday. 

Reflecting on this course has me questioning why we don't learn about architecture as part of our fundamental education. We learn art and music alongside the fundamentals, but unless we choose to study it, we don't learn how to experience and think about places. Perhaps if we revamped the entire teaching process of architecture - implemented it at an early age, made sure we taught classes like this one before we started designing in studios - perhaps we would have more places in our world that evoke a great sense of place and less of the buildings and cities that do nothing but propogate social and economic problems. 


my photo of the architecture studio I took at Columbia