来自Andrea Velasco和Ana Antoni的论文作品（2020年春季）。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Thesis work by Andrea Velasco and Ana Antoni (Spring 2020). Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
建筑教育的新形式：SCI-Arc的Marrikka Trotter和Tom Wiscombe的对话
A New Form of Architectural Education: A Conversation with SCI-Arc's Marrikka Trotter and Tom Wiscombe
由专筑网邢子，小R编译
对于一个高中生来说，找到一所合适的大学，并不是一件容易的事情，更不要说要学习的专业了。虽然学生可能对特定的专业充满热情，但不同的院校对待这些专业的教学方法和侧重点却截然不同。
在美国西部被认证的项目中，SCI-Arc以其学生作品的质量和为职场带来的前沿技能脱颖而出。我想调查一下，这所“建筑思维的学校”究竟有何与众不同之处？一个申请SCI-Arc的学生会带着什么技能离开？在如此活跃的学生和教师队伍中，学校还提供了哪些我们还不知道的东西？Archinect想更多地了解这所学校的本科项目如此成功的原因，希望能让大家对这所备受追捧的学校有更多的认识和了解。
Finding the right college for any high school student, let alone a program to pursue, is not an easy task. While students may be enthusiastic about specific professions, different institutions approach these professions with radically distinct teaching methods and emphases.
Among the accredited programs in the Western USA, SCI-Arc stands out for the quality of student work and the cutting-edge skills its graduates bring to the workplace. I wanted to investigate what makes this "school for architectural thinking" different. What would a student applying to SCI-Arc leave with? With such an active student body and faculty, what else does the school offer that we don't already know about? Archinect wanted to learn more about what makes this school's undergraduate program so successful and hopefully shed light and add some clarity to what makes this highly sought after.
我与本科生项目主席Tom Wiscombe和历史/理论协调员Marrikka Trotter进行了交流，以获得更多的见解。在谈话中，他们讨论了SCI-Arc培养本科生进入行业的方法，分析了本科生教育需要什么以及应该如何改变，并谈到了剖析建筑教学法的“坚硬的壁垒保护下的深层系统性问题”。
除了其超视觉的项目、对数字领域的执着以及打磨学生作品之外，SCI-Arc目前是如何对待建筑教学法的？他们对未来有什么希望？下面他们以曾经的学生、现在的导师和实践者的身份，分析了这个项目的目标和自己在学术界的经验。
I connected with Undergraduate Program Chair Tom Wiscombe and History/Theory Coordinator Marrikka Trotter to gain more insight. During the conversation, they both discussed SCI-Arc's approach to preparing undergraduates to enter the industry. They broke down what an undergraduate education needs and how it should change and spoke about dissecting the "hardened castles protecting deep systemic problems" of architectural pedagogy.
Besides its hyper-visual projects, a penchant for the digital realm, and polished student work, how does SCI-Arc currently approach architectural pedagogy? What do they hope for the future? Below they break down the program's goals and their own experiences in academia as former students, current instructors, and practitioners.
来自Abel Maqueira和Phoebe Ouyang的学生作品。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Student work by Abel Maqueira and Phoebe Ouyang. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
“很多时候，建筑学学士课程培养出来的毕业生缺乏灵活的技能组合，这无意中为他们的职业生涯设置了一个跑步机式的系统，需要他们花费巨大的精力和资源来不断更新或调整他们的技术知识和能力。”——Marrikka Trotter
“Too often B.Arch programs produce graduates with an inflexible skill-set, inadvertently setting them up for a treadmill career which requires them to spend enormous effort and resources to continuously update or adapt their technical knowledge and abilities. - Marrikka Trotter
来自Dutra Brown的毕业论文作品（2020年春季）。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Thesis work by Dutra Brown (Spring 2020). Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
Marrikka Trotter：很多时候，建筑学学士课程培养出来的毕业生缺乏灵活的技能组合，这无意中为他们的职业生涯设置了一个跑步机式的系统，需要他们花费巨大的精力和资源来不断更新或调整他们的技术知识和能力。如果你的技能是你在市场上的主要价值，你必须这样做才能保持价值和相关性。这可能会让人精疲力竭，士气低落，就像爱丽丝梦游仙境一样，你发现自己跑得很快，只是为了保持在同一个地方。那SCI-Arc如何寻求不同的教育方式，着眼于更长远的职业可持续发展、成长，甚至幸福感？
Marrikka Trotter: Too often, B.Arch programs produce graduates with an inflexible skill-set, inadvertently setting them up for a treadmill career that requires them to spend enormous effort and resources to continuously update or adapt their technical knowledge and abilities. If your skills are your primary value in the marketplace, you must do this to remain valuable and relevant. It can be exhausting and demoralizing; like Alice in Wonderland, you find yourself running fast just to stay in the same place. How does SCI-Arc seek to educate differently, with an eye toward longer-term career sustainability, growth, and even happiness?
来自John Wang为Tom Wiscombe带领的4A工作室创作的学生作品。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Student work by John Wang for 4A Studio led by Tom Wiscombe. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
“你说的对，现在仍然有一种感觉，就是我们需要培养 "会实践"的学生，我们的存在就是为了以某种方式应对市场，并且掌握Revit技能。是时候思考建筑师今天的角色是什么了，它并不是世人所认为的那样，我们不应该为资本力量和大众的想法而做出回应。”——Tom Wiscombe
“You are right, there is still the sense that we need to produce “practice-ready” students, and that we exist to somehow feed the market and keep those Revit seats occupied. It’s time to think about what the role is today for architects-- it is not what the world thinks it is, and we should not be responding to what capital forces and the general public think anyway. - Tom Wiscombe
来自Esin Karaosman的作品——Maxi Spina领导的4A工作室。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Work by Esin Karaosman - Studio 4A led by Maxi Spina. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
Tom Wiscombe：是的，建筑学本科教育需要被推倒，并重新思考。你是对的，现在仍有一种感觉，认为我们需要培养"会实践"的学生，我们的存在是为了以某种方式应对市场，并且掌握Revit技能。现在是时候思考建筑师今天的角色是什么了,我们不是工程师，我们不是装饰工，我们也不仅仅是服务的提供者，我们是公民领袖。今天的建筑师需要能够向庞大的利益相关者、工程师、建筑商、用户和我们的同行们阐述和说服我们所做的事情很重要，以及我们如何创造一个比项目更重要的新世界，他们需要能够以不断变化的表现形式和修辞来展示和捍卫自己的想法。也许，他们需要填补我们在城市领域经常看到的领导力的空白，并与它的平庸化作斗争。
Tom Wiscombe: Yes, architectural undergraduate education needs to be torn down and rethought. You are right; there is still the sense that we need to produce “practice-ready” students and that we exist to somehow feed the market and keep those Revit seats occupied. It’s time to think about what the role is today for architects—we are not engineers, we are not decorators, and we are not just service providers. We are civic leaders. Architects today need to be able to address and convince huge groups of stakeholders, engineers, builders, users, and our peers that what we do matters and how the vision we are proposing creates a new reality larger than the project. They need to be able to present and defend their ideas in constantly changing forms of representation and rhetoric. Maybe, they need to fill the void in leadership we see so often in the urban realm and fight its creeping banality.
来自Ong ChuWen为Kelly Balliet领导的5B工作室创作的作品。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Work by Ong ChuWen for Studio 5B led by Kelly Balliet. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
“建筑学本科教育需要经过重新思考。现在是时候思考建筑师今天的角色了——我们不是工程师，我们不是装饰工，我们也不仅仅是服务的提供者，我们是公民领袖。”——Tom Wiscombe
“...architectural undergraduate education needs to be torn down and rethought [...] It’s time to think about what the role is today for architects—we are not engineers, we are not decorators, and we are not just service providers. We are civic leaders. - Tom Wiscombe
来自Alejandro Loor的学生论文作品。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Student thesis work by Alejandro Loor. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
SCI-Arc的本科课程其实和普遍的学校是相反的——它认为学校是一个公民空间，它的学生是公民。我们在5年前重新规划了课程，将其重新聚焦于人文科学，而不是应用性学习，也就是说，我们是在为学生准备长期的游戏，而不是短期的技能培养，短期的技能培养离过时总是差一毫米。我喜欢你把这种方法与幸福联系起来......而幸福与总揽全局、重视道德和思想、保持好奇心和精神的生活方式直接相关。
“我同意，建筑教育的最高和最好的目标是结合创造性的奇迹——对世界和可能的世界持开放和感兴趣的态度，以及对一套价值观和一个专业领域的坚定承诺。”
MT：我同意，建筑教育的最高和最好的目标是结合创造性的奇迹——对世界和可能的世界持开放和感兴趣的态度，以及对一套价值观和一个专业领域的坚定承诺。专业知识不同于技能，它是一个深厚的知识储备，可以通过任何方式和不同技能来应用。有趣的是，以人文为基础的教育，强调批判性思维和想象力，往往被认为只适合或提供给精英阶层，好像以技能为重点的学位更容易实现或更实用。作为一个来自社会经济地位较低的人，我自己也获得了一个技能型的建筑学学士，我知道就业能力是我关心的问题。后来我越来越相信，这样的道路是自我限制的，实际上是剥夺了来自代表性不足背景的学生的权利。根据定义，服务专业人士并受制于他们所服务的对象，这限制了他们的创造潜力，因为他们的工作范围仅限于解决已知的和现有的问题，而这最终只是加强了现今的等级制度和不平等的现状。我也相信，快乐和满足是有价值的、可以实现的目标。建筑学应该是一种快乐的实践——虽然辛苦但快乐。在这里，SCI-Arc的文科课程相当激进：哲学、艺术史、科学史和数学、修辞学等必修课构成了核心课程的一部分。但同时也强调学校整体是一个公共的、公民的空间，这一点是如何实现的呢？
SCI-Arc’s undergraduate program is really the opposite of a trade school- it is a civic space, and its students are citizens. We completely rebuilt our curriculum 5 years ago to re-focus it toward the humanities and away from applied learning, which is to say that we are preparing our students for the long game rather than short-term skill-building, which is always a millimeter away from obsolescence. I like that you connect this approach with happiness… happiness is directly tied to having an overview, valuing ethics and ideas over what’s right there in front of us, and committing to a life of curiosity and intellectual engagement.
“I agree that the highest and best goal for an architectural education is a combination of creative wonder -- being open to and interested in the world and what it could be -- and hardcore commitment to a set of values and an area of expertise.
MT: I agree that the highest and best goal for an architectural education is a combination of creative wonder -- being open to and interested in the world and what it could be -- and hardcore commitment to a set of values and an area of expertise. Expertise is different from skills in the sense that it’s a deep reservoir of knowledge that can be applied in any number of ways and with any number of different skills. It’s interesting that a humanities-based education, with its emphasis on critical thinking and imagination, is often seen as only appropriate for or available to the elite as if skill-focused degrees were more attainable or more practical. As someone from a lower socioeconomic bracket who earned a skills-based B.Arch myself, I know that being employable was one of my primary concerns. I’ve since become more and more convinced that such paths are self-limiting and actually serve to disenfranchise students from underrepresented backgrounds. Service professionals are, by definition, subject to those they serve. This limits their creative potential by restricting their reach to solving known and existing kinds of problems, which ultimately simply reinforces the status quo with its present-day hierarchies and inequities. I also believe that happiness and fulfillment are valuable and attainable goals. Architecture should be a joyous practice -- hard but joyous. Here the Liberal Arts curriculum at SCI-Arc is pretty radical: required classes in philosophy, art history, the history of science and mathematics, and rhetoric form part of the core curriculum. But there’s also an emphasis on the school as a whole as a public, civic space. How is this achieved?
来自由Devyn Weiser领导的2019年春季垂直工作室的Nicholas Y. Wu和Sicheng Dex Hu的学生作品。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Student work by Nicholas Y. Wu and Sicheng Dex Hu for Spring 2019 Vertical Studio led by Devyn Weiser. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
“专业知识不同于技能，它是一个深厚的知识储备，可以通过任何方式和不同技能来应用。”——Marrikka Trotter
TW：让我回到这个问题上。首先，我完全同意你关于建筑教育自我限制的方式，建筑学校是坚硬的壁垒，保护你所描述的深层系统性问题。其中一个不常被讨论的问题是，学术界可以成为一个恐惧和失落深藏在表面之下的空间。我想强调这一点，因为我认为作为教师，我们需要尽量避免给学生打上烙印，我们需要在某种程度上当好父母。我们有时都会感到恐惧和失落，但当它成为系统性的问题，当一个学校的教师退出实践时，我认为我们必须意识到这对孩子产生的影响。SCI-Arc设计工作室的教师是由执业建筑师组成的，这一点很重要——因为实践终究是一种乐观和勇敢的行为，尤其是在这个时代。
所以，对于你的问题：我们的文科课程远不止是一套课程，当然，这是它的核心，是一种理念，即建筑学既是自身学科专业的产物，也是在各种环境下外向型社会关联的产物。如果学习建筑而不学习它的人文学科的相关领域，特别是在本科教育中，就会使学生失去沉醉于其中的能力：建筑向世界借鉴的内容最终也会回报给世界。因此，我们教授文科的方式并不是 "跨学科"——所谓把所有的东西结合在一起，变成一个非专业的混合体，这是我所不能忍受的。在这里，我们有很多专家并肩作战，教授他们所知道的东西，为我们的学生布置一种复合式的内容。我们的学生必须以自己的方式，以不同的重要性，把所有的内容重新组合在一起，这是一种创造性行为。
“Expertise is different from skills in the sense that it’s a deep reservoir of knowledge that can be applied in any number of ways, and with any number of different skills. - Marrikka Trotter
TW: Let me come back to that. First, I totally agree with you about the way architectural education can be self-limiting. Architecture schools can be hardened castles protecting deep systemic problems as you describe. One of those problems that is not often discussed is that academia can become a space where fear and loss run deep under the surface. I want to call this out because I think that as teachers, we need to try to avoid imprinting students with our own demons. We need to be good parents in a way. We all feel fear and loss sometimes, but when it becomes systemic, and a school’s faculty withdraws from practice, I think we have to be aware of the consequences to our kids. The fact that SCI-Arc design studio faculty is made up of practicing architects is important- to have a practice is ultimately an act of optimism and courage, especially in these times.
So, to your question: our Liberal Arts curriculum is much more than a set of courses, although that is, of course, its core. It is an idea that architecture is the product of both its own disciplinary expertise and its outward-oriented social relevance in various contexts. To study architecture without studying its allied fields in the humanities, particularly in undergraduate education, would be to deprive students of the ability to revel in the messiness of it all: the way that architecture borrows from the world but also pulls back from the world. The way we teach the Liberal Arts is therefore not “interdisciplinary” per se-- in the sense of stirring everything together into a weak amalgam of non-expertise, which I cannot abide-- but rather a lot of experts side-by-side, teaching what they know, laying out a kind of menagerie of content for our students. Our students have to put it all back together, in their own way and with differential importance, which is maybe a good definition of a creative act.
来自Daniel Yu和Andrew Oh为Ramiro Diaz - Granados领导的3A工作室创作的学生作品。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Student work by Daniel Yu and Andrew Oh for 3A studio led by Ramiro Diaz - Granados. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
“如果学习建筑而不学习它的人文学科的相关领域，特别是在本科教育中，就会使学生失去沉醉于其中的能力：建筑向世界借鉴的内容最终也会回报给世界。”——Tom Wiscombe
我们通过公共讲座系列、文科大师班、SCI-Arc电影系列、专题讨论会以及我们所谓的Basecamp——即所有本科生以圆桌形式聚集在一起，与邀请的嘉宾讨论我们这个时代的思想，从而为我们的作品增添更多调味料。我真的很自豪，我们能够邀请到哲学家Slavoj Zizek、艺术理论家Michael Fried、科幻小说家Bruce Sterling、艺术理论家Sianne Ngai、生态哲学家Timothy Morton、种族与现代主义学者Charles Davis II，以及Stanley Kubrick过去30年的制片人Jan Harlan等人。当然，这一切的关键人物是Graham Harman，他是我们的文科协调员，在最佳学校排名的世界最重要的在世哲学家排名中名列第18位。他与Zizek的对话是SCI-Arc历史上参加人数最多的活动之一，人们当时为了那场活动远道而来。
几周前，我们举办的一个活动为建筑学院内部可能发生的事情设定了标准。这是Tom Nichols和Molly Jong-Fast之间的Basecamp对话，他们都是《大西洋》的作家和林肯计划的高级顾问。他们谈论了2020年大选的奇怪情况，并对幕后发生的事情进行了不可思议的洞察。把所有这些知识分子聚集在我们的大厅里，是我对公民空间的定义——打造一个多样化和思想自由的空间，与今天我们周围坚硬、无知的意识形态不同。
“我们这些在高等教育中的人常常会陷入给予和接受内容的事务性之中，好像教育主要是学习某些常规或规范的问题。作为SCI-Arc的历史与理论系主任，我另辟蹊径。”
MT：是的，我在那里参加了Nichols/Jong-Fast的交流，其实更多的是高级别的对答。那是一个令人振奋的过程。这类经历远远超出了仅仅是内容的范围，而是树立了强度和参与形式的典范，使生活更有价值。我们这些在高等教育中的人常常会陷入给予和接受内容的事务性之中，好像教育主要是学习某些常规或规范的问题。作为SCI-Arc的历史与理论系主任，我另辟蹊径。我们SCI-Arc的历史和理论课程的本科生面临着观察、调查和严谨思考的挑战，并被教导在尊重他人成就的同时，重视自己的见解和思想。我希望他们了解各种类型的知识和共识的形成方式，相对于建筑而言，这样他们就知道如何在时机成熟时改变他们所在的领域。一个类比是，学习如何制造汽车和仅仅被教会如何开车之间的区别。我们还优先考虑SCI-Arc的新的和多样化的学术研究，作为一个独立的研究所，而不是一个更大的大学内部的部门，它既灵活，也不太遵从于现有规范。当所有文化学科都在考虑种族和社会经济正义和赋权的需要时，我认为这是一个重要的优势。
“建筑学的超能力之一是它能够在普通甚至平庸的环境中实现非凡的事情，如果我们放弃这种超能力，我们就会失去大量的精神存在。”——Marrikka Trotter
“To study architecture without studying its allied fields in the humanities, particularly in an undergraduate education, would be to deprive students of the ability to revel in the messiness of it all: the way that architecture borrows from the world but also pulls back from the world. - Tom Wiscombe
We add more spice to the menu by bringing in experts from outside the school through our Public Lecture series, Liberal Arts Masterclasses, SCI-Arc Cinema Series, Symposia, and what we call Basecamp-- where all undergrads come together in a round-table format to discuss the ideas of our time with invited guests. I’m really proud that we have been able to bring in such voices as the philosopher Slavoj Zizek, art theorist Michael Fried, science fiction writer Bruce Sterling, art theorist Sianne Ngai, eco-philosopher Timothy Morton, race and modernism scholar Charles Davis II, and Stanley Kubrick’s Producer for the last 30 years of his life, Jan Harlan. And of course, a crucial figure in all of this is Graham Harman, our Liberal Arts Coordinator and recently ranked #18 in The Best Schools ranking of the world’s most important living philosophers. His conversation with Zizek was one of the most highly attended events in SCI-Arc’s history- I remember people flew in for that one.
One event we held a few weeks ago set the bar for the kinds of things that could and should be happening inside architecture schools. This was the Basecamp conversation between Tom Nichols and Molly Jong-Fast, both writers for the Atlantic and senior advisors to the Lincoln Project. They spoke about the strange case of the 2020 election in real-time and gave incredible insight into what was going on behind the scenes. Putting all of these intellectual beings together in our halls is my definition of a civic space-- a space of diversity and freedom of ideas apart from the hardened, uninformed ideologies all around us today.
“Often those of us in higher education get bogged down in the transactional logistics of giving and receiving content as if education were primarily a matter of learning certain routines or canons. As the head of history and theory at SCI-Arc, I’m committed to a different set of priorities.
MT: Yes, I was there for the Nichols/Jong-Fast exchange -- more of a high-level repartee, really -- and it was an exhilarating event. These kinds of experiences go way beyond delivering content to model forms of intensity and engagement that make life worth living fully. Often those of us in higher education get bogged down in the transactional logistics of giving and receiving content as if education were primarily a matter of learning certain routines or canons. As the head of history and theory at SCI-Arc, I’m committed to a different set of priorities. Undergraduates in our history and theory courses at SCI-Arc are challenged to see, investigate, and think rigorously and taught to value their own insights and ideation alongside a respect for the achievements of others, where earned. I want them to understand how various types of knowledge and consensus are formed relative to architecture so that they know how to change the field they are entering when their time comes. An analogy might be the difference between learning how to build cars and merely being taught how to drive. We also prioritize new and diverse scholarship at SCI-Arc, which as an independent institute rather than a department within a larger university, is both more nimble and less protective of existing norms. I see this as a significant strength when all cultural disciplines are reckoning with the need for racial and socio-economic justice and empowerment.
“One of architecture’s superpowers is its ability to realize extraordinary things in the midst of ordinary, even banal, circumstances. If we give up this superpower, we lose a great deal of our ethical currency in the world. - Marrikka Trotter
来自Deepak Agrwal和Gia Zhao为Tom Wiscombe带领的2020春季垂直工作室创作的学生作品。图片由SCI-ARC提供
Student work by Deepak Agrwal and Gia Zhao for Spring 2020 Vertical Studio led by Tom Wiscombe. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc
SCI-Arc对美学和形式的承诺也是独一无二的。当今流行着一种相当肤浅的思维方式，认为这种承诺是冷漠或脱节的，仿佛社会正义和美是对立的。而这种推理没有考虑到的是，伦理和美学的关联程度。希腊人对此有一个表述：kalokagathia，即 "善与美"。如果伦理学是鉴于对世界的了解，我们应该如何？那么美学则是告诉我们，世界可以如何。正如哲学家们早已认识到的那样，我们其实在用同样的判断力来衡量这两种价值。建筑学的超能力之一是它能够在普通甚至平庸的环境中实现非凡的事情，如果我们放弃这种超能力，我们就会失去大量的精神存在。
“我打赌，我们这个时代重要的关于建筑的事情将是参与这些新的环境。看到我们的学生在这方面表现出领导力，我很兴奋，我为他们感到骄傲，也很期待看到他们接下来的工作。”——Tom Wiscombe
TW：我们生活在一个充满生态危机、政治动荡和另类事实的时代，建筑师需要采取行动。同时，我认为我们需要小心，不要成为社会理论家或科学家，而应该像只有建筑师才能做到的那样，通过制作具体的、美学的东西来解决这些问题。这些东西让我们停下脚步，匍匐前进，或者让我们暂停思考我们在这个世界上的位置。我打赌，我们这个时代重要的关于建筑的事情将是参与这些新的环境。看到我们的学生在这方面表现出领导力，我很兴奋，我为他们感到骄傲，也很期待看到他们接下来的工作。
SCI-Arc is also uniquely committed to aesthetics and form. There’s a fairly shallow line of thinking prevalent today that sees such a commitment as aloof or out of touch, as though social justice and beauty were opposed. What this reasoning fails to take into account is the degree to which ethics and aesthetics are linked. The Greeks had an expression for this: kalokagathia, or “the good and the beautiful.” If ethics are how we decide we should act, given what we know of the world, then aesthetics tell us how our world could be. As philosophers have long recognized, we actually use the same faculty of judgment to gauge both kinds of value. One of architecture’s superpowers is its ability to realize extraordinary things in the midst of ordinary, even banal, circumstances. If we give up this superpower, we lose a great deal of our ethical currency in the world.
“I’m willing to bet that the important architectural things of our time will be those that engage these new contexts. It’s exciting to see our students showing leadership in this regard. I’m proud of them and excited to see what they do next. - Tom Wiscombe
TW: We are living in a time of ecological crisis, political unrest, and alternative facts, and architects need to act. However, I think we need to be careful about becoming dilettante social theorists or scientists and instead work on these issues as only architects can-- through the production of concrete, aesthetic things. Things that make us stop in our tracks, creep up on us, or give us pause to think about our place in the world. I’m willing to bet that the important architectural things of our time will be those that engage these new contexts. It’s exciting to see our students showing leadership in this regard. I’m proud of them and excited to see what they do next.
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