ACB Evaluation Executive Summary Barcelona Architecture and Design, CIEE Study Center at the ELISAVA Escola Tècnica Superior de Disseny/Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat International de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Spring 2011 Drawing on a wealth of resources in Barcelona, the AD program at the CIEE Study Center in Barcelona aims to offer students a unique cultural perspective on the history and practice of architecture and design in contemporary Spain. The program has only been in existence since Spring 2008 and seems to have finally achieved a critical mass in terms of enrollment (see enrollment statistics below the current semester, at 23 students, is the largest ever for the program). Although the review team members had not seen the program in operation in its earlier semesters, from all accounts substantial improvements in the program have already been made based on feedback from faculty, students, and sending institutions. Given the specialty nature of the subject matter, regularly soliciting this academic feedback from faculty in the discipline and subsequently incorporating that feedback into enhancing the program, is critical. The Resident Director has practiced this continuous improvement since the program s inception. Based on discussions with faculty who had seen the program first-hand in past years, and based on student evaluations from the early semesters, it is likely that the AD program was implemented before it was fully ready. The early critiques centered around the very academic core of the program namely, how architecture can and should be taught abroad. Studio space was inadequate, program courses disorganized, host institution courses were not completely relevant for architecture students, etc. Every one of the earlier concerns has been addressed, and the program as it is today is an excellent choice for both architecture and design students. The addition of the studio space at the CIEE Center, and its fitting with substantial specialized equipment/furniture, has transformed this program from one which dabbled in architecture education to one that offers the serious student of architecture or design an outstanding international experience that will translate into usable credit at their home universities. The courses have been re-organized, with the most important change being separating the beginning studio students from the more advanced ones. Recognizing that architecture and design are by nature highly specialized, with knowledge and skills that build on each other in a cumulative fashion over the course of a student s four-year degree, the past practice of mixing advanced students with more beginning-level students was totally unacceptable. However, with the small number of participants in the early semesters, it would have been difficult to fully differentiate between the various academic levels of the students without resorting to 1-on-1 instruction for everyone (something that is neither desirable nor feasible). The addition of another host institution (ESARQ), one focusing on architecture and offering courses taught in English, is a tremendous enhancement to the program. Prior to this semester, architecture students were limited to taking classes at ELISAVA, which is a very good school, but one that focuses primarily on design. Although scheduling difficulties limit the type and amount of courses available to CIEE students, being able to take high-level architecture courses alongside Spanish students represents an outstanding academic and cultural opportunity for our students. CIEE Action Plan Page 1 of 7
The program as currently designed is an excellent program. The review team felt that the real result of this evaluation is the development of a list of recommendation to enhance the program, but not to correct any major deficiencies. Given the importance of the academic core of the program namely the architecture and design courses (especially the studio courses) - a substantial part of this review focuses on a thorough evaluation of the specific courses, facilities, and instructional methods of those courses. CIEE Action Plan Architecture and Design, CIEE Study Center at the ELISAVA Escola Tècnica Superior de Disseny/Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat International de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain December 2011 Overview The Action Plan outlines the key recommendations from the Evaluation and the specific steps CIEE plans to follow to address the recommendation. While the Action Plan is authored by CIEE, staff solicited input from the ACB team leader from the evaluation (Dr. Kathleen Fairfax, formerly Arizona State University, now South Dakota State University) and, where appropriate, from the other member of the evaluation team, Ozayr Saloojee, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Minnesota). The Action Plan should be read in light of the ACB Evaluation and with reference to the detailed description of the program available from CIEE. CIEE staff are pleased to provide this Action Plan in response to the Academic Consortium Board (ACB) report on the Barcelona Architecture and Design program. The report of the site visit was received by members of the ACB at the Spring 2011 meeting. After review, the ACB accepted the report, and presented it to the Academic Consortium. The ACB Plan for Program Evaluation, the Evaluation report, the Action Plan, and program details are available at www.ciee.org. ACB Recommendations Student Resources The review team suggests an advance reading list for the City in Visual Culture course be provided for students in their pre-departure orientation. Since the course is a required course for all students, an advanced reading list might help prepare the students for the type of academic learning that takes place on the program, which may vary significantly from what the more advanced architecture students are accustomed to. The review team suggests the continual and indexed compilation of work examples from the City in Visual Context course (papers and presentations in digital format) as a possible resource to help orient new students on how to frame their work. Students should be made aware, in advance, of requirements and expectations regarding rapid prototyping equipment and whether they will form a part (if at all) of the design studio. Many students depend more heavily on digital technologies for design and their analogue skills are not as critically developed. This should be anticipated and planned for. CIEE Action Plan Page 2 of 7
Actions Beginning in Fall 2011, students have been provided with an architecture-focused general reading list during the online pre-departure orientation. An additional reading list for the CIEE core course City in Visual Culture is also provided during the online orientation and students can download it. The Enrollment department also makes this reading list available within the student enrollment system. Students will leave copies of all presentations and papers on the server and a selection of the best ones will be made available for all students to use as a resource on how to frame their work. CIEE instructors do not require that students use rapid prototyping and no student has ever expressed an interest in using these facilities. However, CIEE is in negotiations with ESARQ about the possibility of paying a flat fee for this service. ACB Recommendations Facilities and Infrastructure The review team suggests the center consider providing storage space for models and drawings (either as shelves or lockers) for students in the Studio classes. The review team feels that an IT infrastructure plan for the Center (as it relates to the AD program) should be developed and implemented (potentially, depending on funding and expenses) as a phased plan. The plan should anticipate software and hardware advances and should develop an upgrade plan for equipment as necessary to provide better capacity and efficiency (routers, bandwidth, better printers and scanners, etc.) The review team suggests the AD program invest in baseline software packages (Multilicense Education Rate Costs) for the AD program students. This should include the Adobe Creative Suite 5 (which contains Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat, Flash and Dreamweaver), as well as Google SketchUp and AutoCAD. An IT plan would include the costs of software upgrade costs as new versions are released. The review team suggests that providing server storage space would be useful for students during the semester, and also for digitally collecting and archiving work produced. The review team felt that having more and consistent technical support would be very useful for technical troubleshooting and, where necessary, advising. If the focus for the foundation design studio is hand/analogue drawing, CIEE AD should equip existing tables with Borco covers and Mayline rulers. If hand drawing is to remain a core component of the CIEE AD program, it would be advisable in the long term to consider upgrading all tables in all studio sections so that table surfaces can be raised or inclined/angled for drafting/modeling- thus allowing students to work in multiple ways and formats. CIEE Action Plan Page 3 of 7
Actions In coordination with the architect that remodeled Study Center and the studio instructors, the Resident Director has designed shelving which has been installed and will be ready for student use from spring 2012 onwards for students to store drawings, models, supplies, etc The Study Center has invested in three Adobe CS5 Extended Student and Teacher Edition software licenses and a large format laser printer for 2011-12 academic year and has a plan to upgrade and add equipment as needed. After consulting with instructors which programs were most important to have, it was determined that for this year, the adobe cs5 licenses were most important. The remaining packages will be considered in future fiscal years. As of Spring 12, each student is being assigned 1 gb of server storage space. As of this September 2011, the Study Center has an IT person working daily who can provide technical troubleshooting. The instructors do not believe Borco covers are worth the investment as cardboard will provide the same function. CIEE is keeping in mind the longer term recommendation to buy new studio tables. The Studio already has Mayline rulers but as most students do not use them, they were not on the tables at the time of the evaluation. ACB Recommendation Portfolio and Placement The CIEE AD program students by nature will be diverse. This is both a strength and potential challenge for the studio program, especially as it relates to student skills and capacity. At present, there is no portfolio requirement for admission and no standard for the portfolio submission for (architecture) studio placement. Students self select their desired studio. In concert with the (architecture) studio instructors and the AD program learning objectives, the review team strongly feels that a submission portfolio be required as part of the admissions process to the program, and should include both a writing and graphic component. This will help identify committed and passionate design students; it will help reduce the inherent subjective ambiguity of a portfolio review and will likely assist sending institutions in helping to clarify and appropriately market the program to potential students. These portfolio requirements can and should be refined over time; a good starting point would be to develop an initial attempt using the portfolio policies of the major sending institutions. Action Students previously selected their desired track while providing a required portfolio and their transcript. With these two tools, the architecture studio instructors were equipped to make adjustments to the studio level. For Spring 2012 forward, students are told that they will be assigned a studio section (Intermediate or Advanced) after a review of their materials. Architecture studio instructors have been consulted on the contents of the portfolio. Their primary interest is in seeing examples of students most recent work and graphic skills. Studio instructors examine the portfolios in conjunction with the students transcripts where they can CIEE Action Plan Page 4 of 7
see how many design studios each student has taken. Emphasis has been placed on ensuring that students include their most up-to-date work which they had not always done in the past. Students are also surveyed separately by CIEE s enrollment area about the total number of studios they will have taken by the time they get to Barcelona. These are the specifics for the portfolios for Fall 2012 forward: - All sections: students are required to upload their portfolios to Flickr web photo platform or similar (students are already required to provide a link to a website instead of sending a CD) - All sections: Images must be posted at a resolution of at least 1280 x 800 pixels and contain captions stating the title, medium, size, date, course name and number, name of studio instructor and the names of any collaborators.. - Foundation students are expected to include examples of previous experience in drawing, sketching, model making, fine arts, photography, graphics. - Intermediate and Advanced students must upload a portfolio of past studio projects that they did at their home school. The portfolio should include examples of drawing and model making and an explanation of the studio projects. They may also include fine art works such as painting, sculpture and photography. They must bring their most current project to Barcelona in case it is not included in the portfolio. In May 2012, CIEE will propose to the ACB that the foundations level be dropped. The numbers of intermediate and advanced students is growing while the amount of foundations students stays very low. Therefore, at this point, dedicating one of two studio spaces and one of two studio instructors to Foundations seems to directly work against the quality of the resources dedicated to the Intermediate and Advanced sections, with many more students and with a greater growth potential according to all indicators. A survey of sending institutions indicated that in the summer, more students might be interested in Foundations. CIEE has launched a Barcelona Architecture program, geared towards beginners, to begin in summer 2012. A personal statement is and has always been required as part of the admissions process. Most students focus on the development of their design and aesthetic capacities within this statement. ACB Recommendation Academic Program Local building/architectural and urban precedents and vernacular types are critical for students studying abroad. Being able to incorporate lessons (without cheap copying or imitation) is extremely important for cultural and architectural nuance. The review team felt that a stronger bias towards incorporating this component in the foundation design studio would be very useful. Getting students to know and understand what the traditions of building, craft and material are can assist in making sure that their first real design efforts are less subjective or personally willful, and grounded not only in skill and knowledge, but by their experiences in Barcelona. The review team felt the analysis component of the initial projects was good. The review team felt that it was important to try to level the playing field in terms of student skill and facility in the required modes of working - namely hand-drawing and CIEE Action Plan Page 5 of 7
modeling in the Foundation Design Studio. Incorporating skill teaching and building (eg: rendering techniques, drafting conventions, light and shadow in drawing, etc.) workshops would be enormously useful. It is recommended that the Foundation studio syllabus include a set of learning objectives tailored to the design studio and to addressing the two questions noted above. Students and instructors benefit from additional voices to studio work. The review team suggested regularly bringing in good and engaged local architects and educators to help with project reviews. The review team felt that the students would benefit from a single project (instead of two) for the intermediate/advanced studio. Breaking up the project with a series of related charettes, exercises, and precedent studies could be very useful. Attempting to resolve, to an appropriate degree of completeness two complex (but very interesting) projects may be beyond the capacity of certain students. CIEE should consider making alternate arrangements for internship placement. Obviously the number of interns on the Architecture and Design program (currently one) does not warrant hiring an additional staff member, but perhaps the combination of internship placements on all Barcelona Study Center programs (especially the Business and Culture program) is of sufficient proportion to add at least a part-time staff member, who is dedicated to CIEE and CIEE students, to coordinate internship placements. Actions As of Fall 2011, each of the six small project assignments in the Foundation Studio is accompanied by a lecture in which precedents relevant to the project are explained. These precedents are comprised of both canonical works by well-known figures as well as Spanish / Catalan vernacular examples. Furthermore, the studio theme itself addresses vernacular building types: this term, for example, a brick structure originally built as an electrical transformer station is being renovated into a small restaurant by students As of Fall 2011, requirements for submission of studio work include hand-drawn renderings, chiaroscuro, shade and shadow, and color in certain drawings. Hardline pencil drafting on Strathmore type paper is also being required. Workshops to impart and practice these techniques form part of the studio instruction, both in the lectures as well as during individual assistance. Revised Learning Objectives- Foundations Architecture Studio At the end of this course the students: Will become familiar with basic methods of sketching, drawing, drafting, model-making, site-analysis, conceptual and detailed architectural design, and the preparation of oral and graphic presentations. CIEE Action Plan Page 6 of 7
Will gain an understanding and appreciation of architecture s relationship to place by way of design considerations involving culture, climate, landscape materials and local vernacular traditions. Will be able to analyse a site and resolve basic structural principles, compositional considerations as well as the programmatic requirements of a building project in a cohesive and rigorous manner. Budget has been increased to having more guest speakers and critics come to the studio class. In Fall 2011, the following guest critics were brought in: - A professor of design and theory from the University of Porto was invited to to participate as an invited critic in the midterm review - A local architect and civil engineer who has worked for EMBT, a major architecture firm, on major projects and who has her own practice was invited to give individual desk crits to advanced students to help them with structural aspects of their projects. - Two local architects were invited to act as critics in the final reviews. For the intermediate and advanced students, two separate projects were set up based on student skills and background: the number of studios, computer skills etc. Both projects were set in the same urban area, so in the initial phase of research about urban conditions, students could share information and approaches. The projects have been broken down into clear phases of development, leading to a more fully resolved project. These involved urban analysis, precedent studies, preliminary design proposals, design development, structural definitions, construction details and the development in detail of one aspect of the project at a larger scale. One of the architecture instructors is now the internship coordinator for the Architecture and Design program. CIEE Action Plan Page 7 of 7