Francis Duffy

Les Hutton

These essays, written over a third of a century during a time of huge ideological, technological and methodological upheaval, witness British architecture's unceasing negotation with a vast and rigorous set of constraints and its eventual emergence as a truly modern profession - a special interest group responsive and answerable to social changes but shaped and informed by values and principles that may be on a longer cycle and perhaps a loftier plane. The backdrop to this debate is the term of presidency of the RIBA held by Francis Duffy, Chairman of DEGW, UK, between 1993 and 1995. During this period the architectural profession faced major challenges and threats. The book looks at the relationship between the architectural profession and the built environment in the context of the great political and social cycles in the British post-war period. Francis Duffy's writings provide additional insights and viewpoints to the subject.

The Idea of a Profession

Architectural Knowledge

Andrew Harrison

The whole landscape of space use is undergoing a radical transformation. In the workplace a period of unprecedented change has created a mix of responses with one overriding outcome observable worldwide: the rise of distributed space. In the learning environment the social, political, economic and technological changes responsible for this shift have been further compounded by constantly developing theories of learning and teaching, and a wide acceptance of the importance of learning as the core of the community, resulting in the blending of all aspects of learning into one seamless experience. This book attempts to look at all the forces driving the provision and pedagogic performance of the many spaces, real and virtual, that now accommodate the experience of learning and provide pointers towards the creation and design of learning-centred communities. Part 1 looks at the entire learning universe as it now stands, tracks the way in which its constituent parts came to occupy their role, assesses how they have responded to a complex of drivers and gauges their success in dealing with renewed pressures to perform. It shows that what is required is innovation within the spaces and integration between them. Part 2 finds many examples of innovation in evidence across the world – in schools, the higher and further education campus and in business and cultural spaces – but an almost total absence of integration. Part 3 offers a model that redefines the learning landscape in terms of learning outcomes, mapping spatial requirements and activities into a detailed mechanism that will achieve the best outcome at the most appropriate scale. By encouraging stakeholders to creating an events-based rather than space-based identity, the book hopes to point the way to a fully-integrated learning landscape: a learning community.

Les Hutton

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