Transfer of design know-how from practice to education: Reflections of a nascent ‘practitioner- teacher’

Abstract

Architecture is the art of making. While a design studio in a school of architecture cannot cover everything that is done in professional practice, it certainly can and must rehearse them. Of course rehearsal is not the final production but it is essential for the success of the real act. Seen in this way, the teacher who enables this rehearsal has to take the responsibility for the transfer of know-how from practice to education.The author is fortunate to have been immersed intensely in the architectural industryby having worked at a significant practice that has a considerable reputation for good design in the manner in which form, spatial organisation, structure and fabric are assimilated; and the recognition of the value of integrated partnerships, whichcontributes to the success of projects. Using this background, and given the position of the author now as teacher, this paper reflects on ‘practitioner-teachers’ entering higher education, by investigating the transfer of design know-how by practitioners through teaching.