This round table conversation will consider approaches to architectural education in the UK and Chile. The event will centre around the legacy of Chilean architect and educator Alberto Cruz for whom the observation of urban life, drawing, and architectural acts were the starting point for education and practice.
Ingrid Schroder, Director of the AA, will introduce the talk, contextualising the links between approaches to architectural education at the AA and at the Open City, Valparaíso, Chile. Professor Mary Ann Steane will then comment on the culture of hand drawing at the Valparaíso School instigated by Alberto Cruz, illustrating reflections with drawings not only by Cruz but also by his colleagues and students. Many have noted that observation of urban life has been critical to the curriculum developed at Valparaíso, a curriculum in which walking, sketching and analysing the city have always gone hand in hand. Francisco Adriasola, curator of the Alberto Cruz: Observation, Act and Form exhibition, will talk about the drawings and sketchbooks of Alberto Cruz that are currently on display in the AA Gallery.
INGRID SCHRODER is Director of the Architectural Association. She is an architect and academic and lectures in Architectural History and Theory. Before joining the AA Ingrid was Head of Design Teaching and Director of the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (MAUD) at the University of Cambridge Department of Architecture.
MARY ANN STEANE was until recently an associate professor in environmental design at the University of Cambridge. In recent years she has collaborated successfully with staff at the Valparaiso School on both a 2010 UK exhibition, Paseo, and a series of academic papers on the school’s innovative approach to architectural education, exploring the theme of openness and its enactment through design.
FRANCISCO ADRIASOLA is an architect from the Andrés Bello University (2010) and completed the Design and Make MA at the Architectural Association. He holds a Diploma in Museum Studies and a degree in timber construction from de Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Adriasola currently works in Santiago de Chile, where he develops his practice between curatorial and architectural design. He is the curator of the Alberto Cruz: Observation, Act and Form exhibition at the AA Gallery.
