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EVALUATION REPORT 2015
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A practice period/internship is valued both from the student
perspective and in the professors´ experience, preferably
between the Bachelor and Masters stages. It is a question
how this can be organized so it will be a possibility for the
students who want such an experience.
The tools one needs as an architect are introduced in the
Bachelor years. One gets the impression that perhaps not
enough emphasis is placed on digital tools – a general,
precise drawing tool and 3-D program. To finish five years of
education and design buildings in Adobe
Illustrator
, as some
students say they do, gives a very unprofessional impression
and should not be possible.
Values
Values are quite outspoken, and are one of the aspects that
students are proud of. There is a world consciousness, and
a belief that one may have an impact as an architect. In this
picture is the Master in Sustainable Architecture (which,
oddly, has only foreign students and none from NTNU)
important? There is also high expertise in relation to third
world cities, slums and interest in other parts of the world.
The ideal of team work and design processes in groups, is
also strong, in terms of team work rather than hierarchic
structure, and a belief in the collective design product. It is
important that this way of working is supported by individual
projects where each student needs to take responsibility and
experience being in charge.
The architect
If one suggests that the products of this education are archi-
tects, one could divide them into the following groups:
• The good building architect: There is a strong willingness
in NTNU to explore and widen the traditional architecture
role. This means that one may educate architects that have
other skills than those one is accustomed to. However, 77%
of architects from NTNU still get jobs in architects offices,
mainly working on building projects. This is also reflected in
the Master thesis produced by the School. We recommend
keeping the building architect in focus, as the master builder
is an increasingly complex and demanding role. This is the
core product of the School.
• The global urbanist: NTNU has a very particular position in
Norway and perhaps Northern Europe (one they might not
be fully aware of) as a very strong urbanistic branch. There
are at least three courses doing seemingly high quality ur-
banism projects, most importantly in rather different modes.
This is a great strength in a growing field, which seems to
fit the values and potential of this university very well, and
particularly in terms of global responsibility, team work and
transdisciplinary projects. This field is established, and can
easily be developed as something that puts NTNU even more
clearly on the map.
• The unknown architect: There seems to be a conscious-
ness in the School about the future architect who does
not necessarily belong to either of the above groups. It is
claimed that ‘all architects will not necessarily work in
architectural offices’, and that the educated architect may
have an important role in a variety of society arenas in the
future. This may be, but these arenas should be addressed
and clarified, as this ‘architect for the unknown’ might need
slightly different skills and experiences than the more tra-
ditional architect, instead of being left as a mysterious grey
cloud. Where will those areas be? In politics? In real estate?
In art?
Stakeholders’ view
The evaluation Committee also had interviews with the
stakeholders, the consumers of newly educated architects
– the offices hiring architects. In general, they felt that many
newly educated architects had less experience in building
design than they would prefer. However, they all stressed
that what they were looking for in new employees, was not
that they were familiar with building laws or knew everything
about detailing. What the stakeholders were looking for, was
a strong belief in architecture and new ideas, conceptual
thinking, and the ability to learn.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
NTNU is an architecture school with a willingness to
change. In its best form, change will be to strengthen the
qualities particular to this educational institution, as well as
defining new fields of competence and interest.
Special qualities, as the Committee sees it, are the field of
urbanism, the Live studio experiences and the tradition of
cross-disciplinary work. It is also important to envisage the
variations of the future role of the architect as clearly as pos-
sible. But the education of the building architect is still the
core value in the institution, and must not be undermined.
This is in itself a very complex study to cover in five years,
and needs focus and care.