Architecture + Structures: Ethics and Responsibilities in Academic Design/Build Studios

This paper examines the ethical underpinnings in integrating structural and construction knowledge into academic design/build studios using two different models of collaboration. The paper investigated the implications of each model on the students’ learning experience as well as its related issues of risk and responsibilities within the host institutions. Both studios were conceived at non-NAAB accredited undergraduate four-year programs in architecture in two different countries (Turkey and the United States respectively). Both studios engaged students in designing and building projects from conception to realization, working with real clients, city officials and engineers. The Turkey studio involved collaborating with an ‘academic’ structural engineer, while the US studio utilized collaboration with a ‘practicing’ structural engineer. In the presented two cases, the ethical dimension between the product and the process was explored through rigorous participation from both the students and the collaborators. The result of both studios exceeded the sole delivery of the physical object into installing a profound understanding of the role of structural knowledge integration into architecture. This paper reflects on the two experimental models and evaluates the value of integrating building technology into the design and construction education