The Zagreb EAAE 2019 Annual Conference, titled 'The Hidden School', will focus upon the subliminal quality of architectural education, that which is beyond the stated curricula and is hard to document through quality evaluation procedures. It can be observed through several indicative aspects, often contributing to the identification of what makes the ‘true’ spirit or substantial quality of the school and uniqueness or peculiarity of its educational path. It can also be the tacit meaning situated between the lines of the syllabus, or generated by the students that contribute to it and the educators that personify it, the various shapes of informal learning, or the spaces it takes place in.

In order to examine the less obvious but inherent qualities that constitute the specific process of architectural education, we propose five aspects to be considered as triggers. The five thematic areas are presented below, each offering a series of provocations to which contributors are invited to respond. We welcome other thematic responses too.

      1.  The Educator

Strong charismatic figures sometimes personify a school, leaving a lasting legacy forming its identity. Alternatively, they could be the less conspicuous educators just as able to generate meaningful educational experiences. They could be academy situated educators drawing upon a substantial body of research expertise, or they could be practicing architects teaching at architecture schools, informing the educational process with a vital connection to professional practice. Some are both. Is there a preference, or prevalence? What is the role of a teacher in the education of an architect? In what ways are they either a provocateur or a mediator? Which tools best encourage a student to conduct a creative research process? Should architecture teachers be taught to teach? Reciprocally, what forms of autodidactic expression begin to emerge?

      2.  The Content

What drives the content of design briefs placed before the student? What is the domain of teaching architecture and who is the architect that educators wish to produce? Is there a substantial frame within which an educator operates in order to achieve a required synthesis and how flexible is the path of achieving the mandatory set of learning outcomes? Where is the balance between abstract or universal and real-world subjects in developing a contemporary and timeless intellectual capable of a culturally and technically sustainable approach? What is the balance between local and universal, or do we aim to develop universal ability to adapt? How does the school communicate its set of values through the subject matter it puts forward?

      3.  The Place

What is the importance of the space in which education takes place? How does the space of a school influence the educational process and outcomes? Do the social or cultural contexts in which the school is placed make a difference in the inner and outer perception of a school, or the subject matter? What are the differences between schools that are isolated, remote islands, and schools directly embedded into the surroundings, even extrapolated and scattered into them? Can a particular quality emerging from the spatial character of the school be defined?

      4.  The Student

What distinguishes an architecture student from students in other disciplines? What are their common traits? The teaching process is greatly influenced by the exchange between the teacher and the student, and reciprocally determined by their mutual dedication. What motivates a student, and how do schools describe their prerequisites? Can resilience be taught? What are the aspects of horizontal learning? What role does peer-to-peer learning play in self-directed study and independent enquiry? The Bologna Agreement emphasizes the need for students to act as independent learners, but can for instance designing one’s own trajectory produce a clash with regulated outcomes?

      5.  The Process

The educators and the educated, the program and the places are agents of the educational process. How do they interact, and how does this interaction induce learning? In what way does formal education organize and manufacture these interactions? What happens when students become teachers, or places become content? What are the tacit examples of informal learning? In what way do informal educational experiences foster expanded study and bring benefits back to school? What examples of informal learning are individual, collective, institutional or supra-institutional? What is the role of accessible media or open-source communication platforms in manifesting the hidden school?

Submitting your contribution

In response to above suggested conference topics, we encourage you to submit your contribution and continue the discussion on the substance of architectural education. Abstracts can be submitted by teachers, researchers, practicing architects and students not exclusively from EAAE member schools.

Authors from other fields are invited to contribute to discussion as well.

To contribute to our call, please use the form available below.

The proposal should contain the title, names of authors, their brief cv, institutions or related offices, a 5000 characters abstract (including spaces) and up to five images. The submissions will be blind-peer-reviewed by the conference scientific committee and reviewers and, upon acceptance and registration, invited for presentation in two possible formats:

1. as an oral presentation in one of the conference sessions, or

2. as posters of the accompanying exhibition (layout will be provided for contributors)

The authors can state the preference of thematic division, as well as presentation format. These can be found within the form.

The selected abstracts will be published.

Conference presentation and publication rules

Accepted authors agree to either make a presentation, participate in thematic round table discussions or prepare their contribution in poster format at the Hidden School Conference.

Accepted authors must pay full conference registration to present at the conference and be eligible for inclusion in the proceedings and/or in the posters exhibition and online exhibit.

The conference scientific commitee reserves the right to withhold a paper or a poster set from the program if the author has refused to comply with the guidelines.

Failure to comply with the conference deadlines or request for materials in advance may result in an author being dropped from the program.

IMPORTANT DATES

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR NUMEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS, WE WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED!

SUBMISSION FORM

SCIENTIFIC COMMITEE

Oya Atalay Franck, Roberto Cavallo, Johan De Walsche, Harriet Harriss, Siniša Justić, Mia Roth-Čerina, Sally Stewart, Tadeja Zupančič

CONTACTS

For questions please contact: eaae2019@arhitekt.hr