EDUCATING THE ARCHITECT in Hong Kong
The methods used in Hong Kong to produce tomorrow's archi- tects are described in this special feature. Members of the De- partment of Architecture of the University of Hong Kong discuss the approach to their own particular subject and express their views on the HKU system.
Introduction
by Professor W.G. Gregory
T is now generally accepted that architectural education should be carried out in full-time courses at schools of architecture in universities or establishments of equal status. There are many reasons for this change, but principally it is the realization that in courses of archi- tecture today the emphasis must be on education as opposed to training.
There is still a minority opinion in the architectural profession which states that schools of architecture do not provide the assistants which architects need.
This is not the function of schools of architecture. Their purpose is to educate people in such a way that they may take their place in the com- munity as architects at some time in the future. The training of assistants is another matter; although the gra- duate architect may be expected to work as an assistant these posts are better filled by those trained for the purpose and who may be designated as Architectural Technicians (though a better designation could have been chosen for them) and who might be trained in technical colleges or come from those who only complete the basic three-year degree course which many schools of architecture are adopting.
The graduate in architecture should quickly establish his value in an of- fice if given the opportunity to do so and if given the practical profession- al training and practical manage- ment experience to supplement the more theoretical knowledge in these fields which he has acquired in his education. It is the responsibility of the profession to provide this bond- ing of theory and practice in the two years experience that the graduate is required to have before sitting his final professional examination.
If an architect needs someone to produce an endless flow of drainage plans and expertise on drainage pro- blems or the like, he should not be employing the graduate in architec- ture if for no other reason than that it is a waste of the public money
Far East BUILDER, June 1968.
spent on the education of the archi- tect.
The graduate should have the edu- cational background which will en- able him to apply the professional training which he receives in the of-
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fice to becoming an executive who in this case is able to interpret the needs of clients and translate them efficiently into reality.
In the past there has been a lack of clear thinking by the profession as
Technical reference bureau—all documents are classified under the SfB system
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