Programme Updates ARCHITECTURE

by Dale Taylor (Programme Director)

Twenty-fifth anniversary greetings from the faculty and students of the Architecture programme. At a significant milestone like this, it's fun to remember the beginnings--those heady times of ten-day design camps and five-year MDPs. Who can forget High River and the Town Farm and the Train Station? Or the raising of the Gate at the Silver Creek Ranch? Or the cabbage rolls at the Polish Hall, after a week of scraping and painting in the Crowsnest Pass? Last year we went to the Zoo. We hope to recognize the adventures and achievements of our alumni with the compilation of a directory of current whereabouts and historic activities. As the founders anticipated, it will cover the range, with successful design offices across Canada and in places like New Mexico and the Grand Caymans, Building Science and Programming consultancies, government and university architects, teachers in high schools and universities, one successful fishing boat captain in the Inland Passage, and more. It's a talented and diverse group, to be sure. Make sure you're included by dropping us a line by e-mail or snail-mail. In the last five or six years, the teaching programme has struck a balance between rigourous individual achievement in the making of space and form, and the Faculty's long-held environmental and collaborative values. The result is a body of work which has earned us enthusiastic recognition by the Certification Board, and active interest from a core of the profession--particularly in Edmonton--in becoming a more integrated part of our teaching and research programmes. This professional validation has also allowed us to accept that--architects being what they are--there will always be some who wouldn't touch us with a three-metre pole and we might as well just live with it. We can now focus on the positive interest and recognition which reflects well on all of our graduates, and we hope that it spurs your interest in and support for the Faculty. We are moving to capitalize on this energy and support, and are examining in detail the idea of the Teaching Office--a variation on the co-op programme. We have already begun a Professional Practice block course programme with the Innovative Practice Group in Edmonton, which is reported on on page 14. We hope to correct our greatest weakness--which, according to the Certification Board Visiting Team, is the lack of a strong and accurate public awareness--with the development of a programme of electronic and print publication. These initiatives to build on our achievements come at a time when the Faculty is beginning a restructuring in response to resource constraints and to a changing professional world. The constraints will be tough and programme interests divergent, but as designers, we optimistically see this as an opportunity. The Faculty plan is to be in place by October, so organize your participation accordingly. It is characteristic of this era that the next twenty-five years will probably go by in ten, so keep watching and don't blink!

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