Abstract:

The Bologna Declaration introduced changes in the Portuguese universities which required a reorganization of Architectural programs in Architecture Schools. The University of Beira Interior (UBI), in Covilhã, was one of these universities.

The integrated master’s degree in Architecture, at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Beira Interior (DECA-UBI), is a 5 year program which combines undergraduate and postgraduate study into a single course of 300 ECTS (European credit transfer system). In the DECA-UBI master’s degree in Architecture, the basis of architectural knowledge, are given not only by technical curricular units but also by history and theory curricular units intertwined with the Project curricular units.

This degree, in 2015, had a curriculum design revision and consequently the allocation of more time to the teaching of History of Architecture and the need to assign specific syllabus to the Portuguese History of Architecture and City. Thus it was required a redesign and enhancement of the General History of Architecture curricular units as well as didactic methodologies defined for the more theoretical curricular units in order to shed the motivation of learning-related stimulus of Project curricular units through the scientific work dedicated to their contents.

It is intended to provide the student of base knowledge, in the context of the History of Portuguese Architecture, which will allow the insight and ability to understand the surrounding reality in their Project's activities. The new curricular units of History of Portuguese Architecture I and History of Portuguese Architecture II as well as across the disciplines of Theory of Architecture I, Theory of Architecture II and Theory of Architecture III will enable the student to pursue the review and analysis essential to architectural design.

This paper is focused on the integrated Master degree in Architecture at DECA-UBI and brings to debate the redesign and enhancement of the History of Portuguese Architecture curricular units underlining the importance of an integrated teaching of General History of Architecture, History of Portuguese Architecture and Theory of Architecture as basis for architectural design thus Project curricular units.

Keywords:

Architecture, History, Theory, Curriculum Design.