Abstract:

This research is part of an ongoing PhD investigation framed within the field of architectural education. The aim of this study is to examine an emerging phenomenon linked to new schemes of professional degree qualification in architecture. With this purpose, the research allow to analyse how a necessary renovation of the discipline could be informed in a current context that presents new demands upon architects and also a growing distance between architectural education and its changing professional field.

The main objective of this advance is to present the fieldwork information found around the case studies informed in Chile. In where the schemes for professional degree qualification of architects have evolved from the traditional architectural blueprint to address more practical experiences that are distanced from tradition and have diversified the objects of disciplinary responsibility. Each one of these new schemes is related to particular representation media and specific ways to develop professional skills. Contrast information of the identified case studies - ranging from written thesis to built work, including the development of patents and new materials - allows approaching to an update in the education of new architects associated with the expansion of established disciplinary edges and consequently professional skills.

The massed increment of professional education programs in architecture, and the increased competition observed within the profession field requires a critical review of a historically weak and highly conservative discipline (Monedero, 2003). And the findings of this study could turn to be an indicator of enrichment to the discipline. Facing a global context that increasingly demands more specialization and interdisciplinary work skills (Fischer, 2000) the research seeks to promote the sustainable development of the architectural profession and its education models (Teymur, 2011).

The investigation approaches the global discussion of the dislocation between education and the demands that new architects are soon to face in the real world (Billelo, 1991) with a bottom up methodology. Chile appears to be a context that allows the investigation to inform the actual state of dislocation that has been globally recorded in respect of the architectural system. Chile currently has is a context of interest to the study, with 37 schools of architecture, resulting in an annual graduation rate of more than 1,400 architects in 2013 (Urrutia, 2015) for a country of about 17 million.

Keywords:

Education, unconventional practices, professional degree examination, new competences, architect.