Dissident Professional Practice: How Critical Design Work Can Create Activist Architects While Supporting a More Equitable Profession

Using a case study of a required professional practice course at the University of Detroit Mercy with a survey of recent graduates from the program, this paper shows how students can be given the skills to incorporate their values into their work to become activist architects. Active and experiential learning techniques such as role play, reflective writing, small and large group discussions, site visits to firms with guest presenters covering topics such as salary negotiation, possible roles in a firm, and possible roles in allied fields give students the opportunity and confidence to take-on, practice, and implement their ethical beliefs on subjective issues such as social, economic, and ecological justice. The course is designed to be more akin to a design studio, giving students agency to determine their own value judgments, responsibilities, and goals, and to design a career path to match those limitations. Two main assignments, firm interviews with two existing architectural practices and the creation of a business plan, give the students the opportunity to first understand how existing architectural workers apply activism to their practice, and then to design their own method for applying their self-identified ethical goals. An analysis of the course is given using data from an anonymous survey of recent graduates from the program done in February of 2023, with a discussion of current literature.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Teach.2023.36

Volume Editors
Massimo Santanicchia

ISBN
978-1-944214-44-9