Learning by Doing as an Architectural Education Teaching Method: Petnica Summer School Case Study

Abstract

In the last 10 years, in order to meet the distinct needs of contemporary profession and society, architectural education is once again addressing to its roots – “learning-by-doing” teaching approach. The main assumption of this “turn” is that getting back to basics will help in bringing studio, workshop, and practical experience together in an academia process that will be more responsive to local environment and challenges of spatial development. Starting from the widely recognized need to learn with deep understanding and increased interest in the spatial context, this paper analyzes the educational principles of "experience-based" and "place-based" learning, and their impact on the practice of architectural education. The aim of this study is to critically examine the perspective and scope of displacing architectural curriculum from the classroom into the landscape of real. Based on references of situated theories and by viewing the outcomes achieved at the workshop “Architecture and Nature” (Petnica Summer School of Architecture, 2012), this paper shows that “place-based-pedagogy” is one of the variety of learning by doing mechanisms that is helpful in overcoming the limitations of formal, class-based and context-free model in architectural education.