Massimo Santanicchia, Program Director in Architecture/ Associate Professor in Architecture at Iceland University of the Arts, and I (Ruth Morrow,) have been talking for some time about what it is to set up a course of architecture. (Massimo – is it correct to say that you are establishing a Masters of Architecture course in the university?) I was involved in a similar process a few years ago – (I wrote a little bit about it here) Like any design process I worked from the context up. In the context lies the resources, surrounding culture and ultimately the potential. Sadly in my experience Architecture courses tend to be defined by two things – the criteria of the professional body (which typically concerns itself with knowledge needed for today’s normative practices) and the architecture courses that those who teach architecture once learned from. Of course that creates a tight (almost unbreakable) self-referential circle – difficult to break out of and restricting to those who may not represent the norm. But it also means that architecture courses sometimes sit uncomfortably within the institutions that host them and remotely from the cities that surround them. So I am interested in the challenges and opportunities that Massimo and his colleagues face. What is it to teach architecture in Iceland? How does that differ from Ireland? and or what do we share? And the fact that there is only one letter difference between Iceland and Ireland makes it a somewhat serendipitous interconnection.
This Blog records the thinking before, during and after Ruth Morrow‘s , visit to Iceland in March 2019.
Iceland Architecture Ireland 