Associate Professor Heather Flood will lead The First Hundred Days, a session on beginning design pedagogy, at the next ACSA Annual Meeting. Her session will explore the first semester of architecture school (14 weeks x 7 days = 98 days) and its capacity to transform the intellectual landscape and technical abilities of students. The session will focus on how the first hundred days can transform a student’s time in school. Uncertainty, not yet shaken-off through experience, breeds a willingness to think new thoughts. And optimism, not yet soured by defeat, breeds a willingness to try new things.
For faculty, the uncontested atmosphere of the first hundred days is an ethical dilemma. At a time when the influence of the instructor is great and the power to dictate terms unquestioned, the knowledge imparted must be carefully considered. This session seeks papers that explore the ethical dimension of foundation courses. In particular, this panel asks: Is the ‘foundation’ of architectural education technical or conceptual? What is the role of critical thinking for a disciplinary novice? What constitutes the foundation of architectural education outside of the studio context? Can the rare circumstances of foundation studies generate a new model for architectural education that can be applied to advanced studies? The objective of this session is to uncover models of teaching that engage the opportunities and challenges of beginning education with ethical precision.