Abstract:

This paper discusses curriculum design and revisions concerning the domain of practical activities at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning (FAUP) in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Practical student activities at FAUP are real-world opportunities to test acquired knowledge and skills. Such activities are organized as compulsory disciplines in each of the six study years at our faculty and are named ‘Practica’. Unlike other subjects, Practica takes place outside the university auditorium and the design studio, bringing students in direct contact with real circumstances of the study domain. Often overlooked as an easy-to-pass course, Practica is in fact one of the most important disciplines of architectural higher education, because of its considerable effectiveness and impact on architectural formation, by means of a direct exposure to praxis in real contexts and workforce. The ever-evolving economic and social environment in Cluj required the Practica curricula and procedures to be updated. The undertaken revisions concern expanding the range and type of practical activities, time scheduling over one study year, student choice of practice subjects, as well as expanding external partnerships for new opportunities for practical activities. In the follow-up of the first implementation, we observed the positive impact of the revisions of curricula, improving learning effectiveness, student involvement with architectural topics as well as facilitating student interaction across study years. Drawing important lessons from this experiment at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning in Cluj-Napoca, the overall aim of this article is to underline the importance of ongoing improvement of curricula of practical, real-world activities, as one of the core goals of architectural higher education.

Keywords:

Curriculum design, practical activities, architectural higher education, skill development, strategies and principles.