There is now a fourth school of architecture in New Zealand, after Auckland University of Technology (AUT) gained official accreditation for its new architecture course from the New Zealand Registered Architects Board this week.

Gaining accreditation hasn't happened overnight, of course. It has been in the planning for several years, and it isn't a done deal until the first Masters students graduate, which is happening this year.

Charles Walker, head of AUT's School of Future Environments Design and Creative Technologies, was invited to set up the programme in 2018, and it was clear at the outset, the school wanted "something different" from the other three architecture schools in New Zealand.

They envisioned Mātauranga Māori and the issues of being "part of this place", as well as the global community, would be key drivers: "Mātauranga Māori is really built into our programme in terms of the way we design the courses; the way we deliver them, and the way we collectively develop and assess them," Walker says.

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"The other thing we decided to do was not to have a traditional 'silo' architecture school, but to develop what turned out to be the School of Future Environments or Hui Te Ao, which means to change the world, a play on AUT's old strapline, 'a university for the changing world'."

In other words, the architecture school is all about collaboration – it is combined with courses on built environment engineering, construction, supply chain management, project management and creative technologies.

'Very loose curriculum'

Walker says the architecture school has a "very loose curriculum", so it can respond to what's happening in the world.

"The students have a lot of autonomy in what they learn and how they learn it.

"Our whole kaupapa is based on how we address our collective future. We understand future environments as not just built or natural, but also social, cultural, environmental, political and economic. We recognise they are connected in various ways, so the idea is to look at regenerative design and a holistic systems approach to how we design and build, and organise our environments."

Walker says the courses are still structured, but the content is flexible, and that is most noticeable in the creative technologies programme.

"We work with external partners to identify themes and topics of interest, and students can respond to those by using new technical platforms, new apps or new ways of working. We encourage students to be very entrepreneurial in that programme. About a third of our graduates (in that course) go on to set up their own companies."

The architecture course is a three-year undergraduate course, plus a two-year Masters programme. And Walker says it is the Masters programme that is now recognised for architecture accreditation, which means the undergraduate programme becomes more flexible.

Diversifying access into the profession

"What we've done in setting up the Master of Architecture, is to recognise that we could take people into the programme from potentially different backgrounds. They don't all have to come from an undergraduate architecture degree.

"We are interested in diversifying access into the profession. Architecture schools typically tend to be quite silo-ed, and architecture students are taught by architects. What we are saying here is we have the potential (to have) students taught by engineers or computer scientists, project managers or ecologists, a range of people, as well as by traditional architects."

Walker says students don't miss out on "the basics".

"All architecture schools cover design, technology, environmental performance and social, theoretical and historical aspects. What we've done is to integrate these much more than is normal, so that typically in our design programmes we run studios, or wananga, a space for more collective debate."

Not about validating 'great man, great building'

"Traditional architecture schools typically focus on individual creativity – they validate 'great man, great building'. We've moved away from that, to a much more collective and shared, collaborative endeavour."

Walker says that's how students will work in practice; they will work with other people.

"They won't all become Frank Gehry. They need new skills, so every semester we run theory or technology papers, or papers around building ecology alongside studio projects. We are not separating out different thinking or strands of knowledge.

"It can be intensely rewarding for students. They can see the value to the purpose of the different things they learn coming together. Most architecture is about integrating design, structure, materials, detailing and the more complex things like human behaviour. Then you have economics, regulation, legal requirements, aesthetics.

"It's actually quite a complex profession. For us, the core of the profession is having the ability to resolve or integrate these often quite diverse areas. It makes sense to us to bring them together in some way."

Walker says potentially students could graduate with architecture and engineering degrees and be accredited in both disciplines.

"It makes us unique. At least since the Christchurch earthquake architects, engineers, public bodies and experts have been saying that architects and engineers must work more closely together to address structural, earthquake-type problems, so it makes sense that they work together, but they are educated in completely different ways.

"What's interesting about this school is that we're bringing these two groups together and educating them in the same place. So we're moving engineers towards more of a project-based learning, and the architect (graduates) will become more technically proficient."

'There has to be optimism'

Walker says students are already "on board" with environmental issues and climate change, and they want to know how to fix it.

"The thing I've really tried to do with this school is acknowledge that we can't be pessimistic or fatalistic about something like climate change. We're inviting young people to come in here and learn, and we have to be optimistic that they can change things. I think that's really crucial.

"Generally thinking, I don't think young people are scared (of the future). We have to be optimistic that the next generation will be better than us.

"In any creative discipline, you cannot afford not to be optimistic."