The Crit: An Architecture Student's Handbook

169 Pages·2007·16.35 MB·English

by  Rosie Parnell

The Crit
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
The Crit
An Architecture Student’s Handbook
Second edition
Rosie Parnell and Rachel Sara
with Charles Doidge and Mark Parsons

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD
PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Architectural Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Architectural Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
30 Corporate Road, Burlington, MA 01803
First published 2000
Reprinted 2004, 2005
Second edition 2007
© 2007 Rosie Parnell and Rachel Sara with Charles Doidge. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher
Permission may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights
Department in Oxford, UK: phone ((cid:2)44) (0) 1865 843830; fax ((cid:2)44) (0) 1865 853333;
email: [email protected]. Alternatively you can submit your request online by
visiting the Elsevier web site at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting
Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material
Notice
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or
property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation
of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid
advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug
dosages should be made
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 13: 9-78-0-75-068225-1
ISBN 10: 0-75-068225-6

For information on all Architecture Press publications visit
our web site at books.elsevier.com
Typeset by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India
www.charontec.com
Printed and bound in Great Britain
07 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgements ix
Preface xi
About the authors xiii
Introduction xv
1 What is a review? 1
2 Before a review 23

3 During a review 47
4 Learning from a review 73
5 Theories of learning and the review 97
6 Alternative reviews 111
7 Reviews and the future 131
Bibliography 143
Index 147
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
Foreword
Almost every architect will be able to recall their first experience of a
‘crit’. It marks a rite of passage, the moment when one crosses over
from being one of them to one of us. There is something about the
ritualised status of the crit which means that it is has endured over
time and over the world. Historically, the mysteries of the ‘jury’, ‘crit’, or
‘review’ have been enshrined in design education since the Ecole des
Beaux Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris in the 1890s and they con-
tinue to hold centre stage into the twenty-first century. Internationally
it is the standard method of reviewing student design work, and the
processes through which it unfolds are remarkably similar whether it is
a crit in Beijing or Ames, Iowa.

The crit remains unchallenged as the central method of reviewing and
discussing architectural design work. This means that many of the
values that it perpetuates are uncritically accepted. It may be argued
that many of the less attractive qualities that the outside world finds
in architects are first developed in the crit. It is generally a place of
confrontation rather than conversation, of power rather than negotia-
tion, of showing-off rather than modesty. And so is it surprising that the
attributes of not-listening, of imposition and of arrogance are so often
pinned to the figure of the architect?
Looked at from the outside, the crit can appear as a perverse form
of anthropological ritual. The macho, adrenaline fuelled atmosphere
means that the crit is too often a thing to survive rather than an event
to learn from. Many students think of the crit as an ordeal devised by
tutors to leave them feeling as though they have been undressed in
public. This need not be the case. This guide shows how to prepare for
the rigours of the ‘traditional crit’, but importantly it also suggests other
less confrontational models including student-led reviews. Instead of
thinking of the design review as the final judgement seat, it can be
developed as a celebratory and empowering experience. By implica-
tion, new ways of looking at the crit should contribute to the formation
of new professional values.
This book describes the game, identifies the rules, and advises on
tactics. It also suggests a more rewarding model appropriate to a new
professionalism that is less arrogant and sees clients and users as
creative partners in the design process. This was one of the signifi-
cant outcomes of the Clients and Users in Design Education (CUDE)
Project in the Sheffield and Leicester Schools of Architecture.
We recommend this book to all design students and particularly to
architecture students. It invites and challenges students to be partners,
rather than passive recipients, in their educational processes. The aim
is that it will help prepare students to be catalysts of the same proc-
esses with future clients. Finally, it is hoped that design tutors will also
use this guide and discover with their students that it is never too late
to learn.
Professor George Henderson
Senior Academic Advisor,

Centre for Education in the Built Environment, Cardiff University;
Emeritus Professor of Architecture, De Montfort University
Professor Jeremy Till
Director of Architecture and Professor of Architecture,
University of Sheffield
Acknowledgements
This guide is indebted to numerous tutors, practising architects, fellow
students and other writers who have taught, learned, shared experi-
ences and contributed ideas. In thanking them for their inspiration and
sometimes provocation, we would like to stress that the views are
essentially those of the authors.
The catalyst was a project called ‘Clients and Users in Design
Education’ (CUDE) sponsored by the HEFCE (Higher Education
Funding Council for England) fund for the development of teaching
and learning. CUDE was initiated in 1996 by John Worthington of the
Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies at York, Bryan Lawson at the

University of Sheffield School of Architecture, and George Henderson
and Judy Ashley at The Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort
University. The project included enhancing student skills of listening,
communication and teamwork, through a collaborative rather than con-
frontational approach to learning.
CUDE was directed in the latter stages by Simon Pilling with support
from Angela Fisher, David Nicol, Martin Brookes and Andrew Cooper.
To Simon goes the credit for negotiating this guide through its initial
stages.
At Sheffield, CUDE was co-ordinated by Angela Fisher, with work-
shops developed by Simon Pilling, Susan Stern and Martin Brooks.
The ‘in-school’ team was Derek Trowell, Mary Roslin, Helena Webster,