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"We should be able to teach professionalism, to teach leadership. We took
the word 'working' out of our vocabulary for this program. Our students
aren't simply getting experience working. They're in contact with the
leaders and principals responsible for each firm's success. We're showing
our students how they can be leaders, not workers."
--Raymond Yeh, FAIA, Dean of the University of Hawaii School of Architecture
Hawaii's Architectural Doctorate (ArchD) program is not meant to be a model
for architectural education generally, and no one would agree with that
statement more than the Hawaii faculty themselves. It is instead an example
of precisely the sort of "Diversity with Dignity" that the 1996 Building
Community report implored the architecture profession to maintain and
encourage--a program responding to the unique geography and culture of its
surroundings.
As quoted in Building Community: "The University of Hawaii at Manoa is
planning to replace its professional bachelor's and master's programs with a
single, six- to seven-year doctor of architecture program. The new program
aims to provide more integration of academic and professional content, allow
students to take the licensing exam sooner and with better prospects of
passing it, and give students more opportunities to interact with other
disciplines on campus" (p.83).
The logistics of the ArchD curriculum are likely not of interest to most of
our readers, though we have included a brief summary below. What we have
instead tried to capture are the intangible benefits and potential of a
truly integrated experience. Perhaps of greatest surprise to us were the
statements from established practitioners of large international firms,
describing how much they learned from the experience of having an
upper-level student studying professionalism in their firms.
There is much talk about the importance of more work experience for young
people in architecture. In fact, what we need is more leadership
experience, as Dean Yeh notes above. Yet the most telling statement we
heard from many of the people involved in this program was from a full-time
employee who noted that the Hawaii ArchD student had more interaction with
the principal in her firm in four months than she did in three years. That
gap between professional interaction and mere work experience--not the
oft-repeated and almost necessary gap between education and practice--is the
true challenge for our profession.
contents:
1. Program Description
2. Program Strengths
3. Firm Principal Comments
4. Student Comments
5. Practicum Program
6. Practice and Leadership
7. Community Service and Leadership
8. Cross-cultural Experience and Leadership
9. Potential Challenges
10. Participating Firms
1. Program Description
---------------------------------------------------------
The Architectural Doctorate is a seven-year, 212-credit program leading to a
NAAB-accredited BArch degree and an ArchD. The program consists of two
segments: the four-year Pre-Professional Studies segment, followed by a
three-year Professional Studies segment. The Pre-Professional Studies
segment addresses the University of Hawaii liberal arts requirements in
addition to the study of architectural design principles and applications.
The Professional Studies segment comprises a concentrated study of
architectural design principles and applications and provides students with
opportunities for overseas studies that involve them in the professional
practice of architecture, incorporating real-time experience in notable
firms.
2. Program Strengths
---------------------------------------------------------
The following strengths were cited in the 2000 NAAB Visiting Team report on
the University of Hawaii's BArch program (the accredited degree program
which students complete concurrent with the ArchD):
- The location of the school between the mainland U.S. and the Pacific Rim
that provides access to specific and diverse cultures and environments;
- The diversity among students, faculty, practice orientations, and input
from outside professionals with international experience;
- The new seven-year program that prepares future leaders in international
practice with international experience, including a practicum and doctoral
thesis project;
- Practicum experience that involves students working with principals of
some of the most prominent large firms in the nation and in other countries;
- Collaboration within the program between education and practice, among
students, students to faculty, and among countries and cultures.
3. Firm Principal Comments
---------------------------------------------------------
"Our firm's experience was very positive in that we learned a great deal
about ourselves in responding to the intelligent curiosity of our student,
Adrian.... My experience with Adrian and with other students gave me an
appreciation for the interests of people coming into the profession."
--James Jonassen, FAIA, Managing Partner of NBBJ, Seattle
There is a required workshop for practicum faculty, all of whom are firm
principals who have had to commit themselves to teaching as a part of their
daily routines. Practicum students are not simply gaining work experience
working, as in many other programs. There is an explicit emphasis on
learning and on leadership.
"After 25 years of being out of school, you don't know what some of the new
people coming into the profession are thinking or dealing with. If I'm not
talking to Steve, my mind is on getting a letter out or talking to the
bank--all things I didn't go into this profession to do. Even though we
have always had interns, I haven't had the time to get to know them as
closely as I have to know the practicum student. It's very enriching."
--Kurt Mitchell, AIA, Chairman/CEO of Kober/Hanssen/Mitchell Architects,
Honolulu
The Practicum structure was based on IDP divisions and requirements (IDP was
first required in Hawaii in 2000). As a result, firms that participate in
the practicum experience--again, with a major principal as the responsible
faculty member--better understand the IDP structure for all their employees
seeking licensure.
"Paul's involvement in his eight two-week units of study provided an
opportunity not only for him to learn about us and our way of doing things,
but also forced the firm to be more rigorous in our overall practice. I
truly believe the firm benefited significantly from Paul's tenure with us.
Not only were we introduced to an energetic, thought-provoking student, but
the well-designed practicum curriculum has served as a model for us in the
continuing education of interns and young architects in our firm."
--Richard Green, FAIA, Chairman/President of The Stubbins Associates,
Cambridge
Additionally, as many Large Firm Roundtable participants were involved in
helping the Hawaii program to meet NAAB accreditation requirements, they
were impressed by the level of accountability and the diversity of
requirements measured for accreditation.
"We can never really cover everything in a traditional internship. When a
project could take three months, you could use it as an educational tool for
your younger employees. Now, projects have to get out the door. There's
simply no time for analysis and reflection. However, by working with the
practicum students from Hawaii, I have learned things we can do with the
rest of our firm."
--Kurt Mitchell, AIA, Chairman/CEO of Kober/Hanssen/Mitchell Architects,
Honolulu
4. Student Comments
---------------------------------------------------------
"Working in a firm, there's no structure, no curriculum. The IDP is a list
of necessary experiences, but it doesn't provide a means to achieve those
experiences. The reality is that firms need traditional employees to focus
on one part of practice for a long time. Our practicum structure gives an
overview that can only help add to IDP."
--Adrian Lin, from Hawaii
"For instance, Brian is a Project Manager at the firm I did my practicum
with. A friend of mine graduated a few years ago and has worked with Brian
for three years. She could observe Brian--but as a practicum student, even
without much experience, I had much more contact with him."
--Lan Wang, from China.
"Recently one of the interns at the office I'm assigned to saw me at school.
He said, 'Hey, you're a student?! I thought you were a project manager.'
That's the kind of exposure we get."
--Reynaldo Royo, from Panama
"The best way to learn is by doing. My Unit Mentor and I reviewed methods
of establishing a good design team as well as how to distribute team
members' work. She shared the firm's staff evaluation process and how she
counsels team members relative to their current work and overall career
goals."
--Ruoyun Sun, from China
"I was assigned to a team of four experienced architects responsible for the
shop drawing review and quality control of a 30-story building in the
Midtown area. I felt unqualified, but the team encouraged me and took me to
weekly site visits.... I observed for the first time an entire installation
process. I recorded the process by hanging outside of an adjacent structure
to capture sequenced photographs of the installation for the firm's and my
records."
--Paul Virulrak, from Thailand
5. Practicum Program
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http://web1.arch.hawaii.edu/soa_alt1/programs/archd_frame.htm
The two practicum semesters focus on either Project Initiation (design), or
Project Implementation (construction) issues, and NCARB's sixteen IDP
categories have been evenly divided into eight "units" of each practicum.
In addition to the principal faculty member, another firm staff
member--called a "unit mentor"--is assigned to coordinate each unit, based on
that staff member's particular expertise. Regular meetings with the firm
principal, unit mentors and the practicum student are required to evaluate
the effectiveness of the experience, as well as to provide feedback to the
student regarding professional behavior and participation.
Students shadow principals and project managers, perform occasional duties
to involve them in the design process, and then write about or otherwise
document their experiences after-hours. The 9-5 work qualifies for IDP
credit, while the documentation and reflection qualify for academic
credit--all based on the sixteen units. Often, the academic research or
documentation projects undertaken by students can substantively benefit the
firm, as in one example where a student developed a matrix for the firm to
do a cost-benefit analysis of adding personnel to fast-track projects versus
lower salary costs over a longer period of time. Additionally, along with
practicum faculty, unit mentors and peers, students periodically attend
presentations, seminars, and lectures as well as discuss readings of books
and professional journals. Finally, they maintain a journal and compile a
portfolio of all their work and professional experiences.
6. Practice and Leadership
---------------------------------------------------------
"We can have all the information possible about the consequences of what we
do, but we also need...to apply that knowledge appropriately, at the right
time in the right place. We call that design, but it also goes by the name
of leadership...."
--In the Scheme of Things, by Thomas Fisher (p.37)
Leadership learning is emphasized in all aspects of the curriculum,
especially through office management and project management. Upon
completion of the two-studio sequence, students will have gained knowledge
and experience in the entire project process from project definition through
project execution. Equally important, they will have been exposed to
administrative leadership attitudes and scenarios in office and project
management in a mentored learning environment, under architect leaders of
the firm rather than simply performing CAD, model-making, rendering, or
similar entry-level tasks. Reflections of leadership learning in the unit
examples illustrate that the program goal is to expose students to
application of leadership techniques used by senior executives in the design
profession is inspiring student learning.
7. Community Service and Leadership
---------------------------------------------------------
"The larger purpose of architects is not necessarily to become a
practitioner and just build, but to become part of the community that
enriches society."
--SCI-Arc student, as quoted in Building Community, by Boyer and Mitgang,
(p.149)
One of the real strengths of Hawaii's program is the recognition that
community service and community leadership are inseparable. Each practicum
requires thirty hours of community service in an area of interest to the
student, or related to an expertise of the firm. This activity should be a
sustained involvement that allows students to participate meaningfully in
community, educational or professional service activities. Often, the
primary benefit of this service is engage the culture of the locale, whether
it's Minneapolis or Malaysia. But the experience can be as professionally
engaging as a student interested in healthcare facilities volunteering in a
hospital—her experience informing her eventual thesis design as a user.
8. Cross-cultural Experience and Leadership
---------------------------------------------------------
"The University of Hawaii is island-bound. The whole impetus for developing
a new program was to get our students off the island and engaged in the
wider world."
--Joyce Noe, Associate Dean and ArchD Program Director
The only students who are allowed to take positions with firms in Hawaii are
students who have come to Hawaii from elsewhere. Hawaii residents are
required to take positions in firms on the mainland or in cities in Asia.
Each practicum student gives a presentation on his or her culture to the
firm, often emphasizing the diversity of cultures within Southeast Asia.
One student from Cambodia was placed with a firm in Minneapolis. After his
presentation on Cambodia, he was asked for his advice and perspective on one
of the first international projects the firm pursued in China. This is a
way for the students to add measurably to the expertise in the firm, and for
the mentors to learn from their students. The University of Hawaii's
multicultural student body uniquely enables this exchange.
9. Potential Challenges
---------------------------------------------------------
We want to make a clear distinction between the strengths cited above from
the NAAB accreditation team, and the challenges noted here that we perceived
through interviews with students, faculty and administration. Most are
relatively minor challenges relating to the financial and emotional
difficulties of moving half-way around the world for eighteen weeks, only to
have to move back to Honolulu and then do it all over again somewhere else.
There is an administrative awareness of the need to develop specific
practicum scholarships to mitigate the additional living expenses and moving
costs, but that reality is probably a few years off.
The biggest challenge will likely come from the program's success.
Currently, the program is small, and the options for the practicum element
are many. Once enrollment in the program fills out, will the school be able
to maintain the quality and diversity of opportunities for ArchD students?
A related question is how long the current practicum faculty, excited by the
newness of the program, will be able to sustain their simultaneous
commitment to the demands of teaching and the rigors of international
practice.
Finally, there is a question of receiving official IDP credit for practicum
and other professional experience obtained during the ArchD program. The
State of Hawaii has agreed to consider the ArchD experience towards
licensure in their state, but how will NCARB and other individual states
receive requests for reciprocity? Additionally, if you visit NAAB's website
you can sense their awkwardness about having accredited Hawaii's program,
without having a position on the degree itself. It was not Hawaii's
intention to force a lot of the issues that NCARB and NAAB (and the
profession generally) have been talking and posturing about for over ten
years, but they have. In this sense, Hawaii's program is a challenge to
these regulatory organizations, not the other way around.
10. Participating Firms
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http://web1.arch.hawaii.edu/soa_alt1/programs/practicum.htm
AM Partners (Honolulu, HI)
Anshen & Allen Architects (San Francisco, CA)
Architects Hawaii (Honolulu, HI)
Architecture International (Mill Valley, CA)
Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates (Butler, PA)
CDS International (Honolulu, HI)
Wayson Chong Architect (Honolulu, HI)
Gensler (San Francisco, CA)
Group 70 International, Inc. (Honolulu, HI)
Gruen Associates (Los Angeles, CA)
Haigo Shen and Associates (Taipei, ROC)
Hamzah & Yeang (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc. (St. Louis, MO)
HLW International (New York, NY)
INK Architects, Inc. (Honolulu, HI)
Kallmann McKinnell & Wood (Boston, MA)
Kober/Hanssen/Mitchell (Honolulu, HI)
Kauahikaua & Chun Architects (Honolulu, HI)
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (New York, NY)
NBBJ (Seattle, WA)
Okita Kunimitsu & Associates (Honolulu, HI)
Obayashi Corporation (Tokyo, Japan)
PageSoutherlandPage (Houston, TX)
Payette Associates (Boston, MA)
The Leonard Parker Associates (Minneapolis, MN)
The Stubbins Associates, Inc. (Boston, MA)
Studio 200 (Honolulu, HI)
Donna Yuen, AIA (Honolulu, HI)
Bryce E. Uyehara, AIA, Inc. (Honolulu, HI)
Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (Honolulu, HI)
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership (Portland, OR)
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