Resilient Design Curricula: for 21st Century Design Professionals

TU Dublin, UCD, WIT, UL, MTU/UCC(CCAE) and IT Sligo are delighted to be awarded HCI funding for the Resilient Design Curriculum from the Higher Education Authority of Ireland.  

This project will pilot a radical revision in architectural education to create Resilient Design Curricula embedded with the principles of the UN SDGs. The project’s approach will adopt agile models of co-operation, collaboration, and co-learning. The six partners delivering architectural education will work together collaboratively and with the profession and industry to engender the knowledge and skills necessary for architects to respond to the twin challenges of the climate and housing crises whilst demonstrating the societal value of inclusive, safe, and resilient design.

The project will run from April 2022- April 2025 and act as a catalyst to trigger an accelerated transformation process transferable to the wider sector of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) education, creating a working template for replication across all HEIs to deliver entrepreneurial and globally responsible citizens. The Resilient Design Curricula consortium is unique, encompassing an entire discipline area demonstrating the potential for meaningful global impact through national collaboration. Nationally, The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) is an important project partner, which is responsible for aligning European professional competencies with national standards and qualifications in architectural education.  Additional industry and enterprise partners are drawn from the building design, construction, and development value chain to ensure holistic and wide-ranging output potential. 

The project has two parallel strands: the development and implementation of curriculum-change pilots for undergraduate students and upskilling of academic programme teams through a new shared suite of CPD modules. The scope of the project spans across all modules to deliver curriculum revision. The curriculum change pilots will utilise the Architectural Design Studio modules shared by all partners as ‘sites’ for education and enterprise exploration, with a focus on the first three years of each undergraduate architecture programme. Each pilot will be generated locally to cultivate an ecosystem of impact unique to its institution and context using agile design processes for maximum exchange between students, education, citizens, local authorities, community groups, and industry. The CPD modules will also be developed collaboratively, with each partner developing and delivering at least one CPD module in response to the critical skills needs identified nationally. The modules will be designed and offered as a shared cross-institutional postgraduate award in Architecture for Climate Action. 

Further information is available here.