Why Factory1: The Spatial Significance of Architectural Education Buildings

Abstract

The educational space of the Architecture faculty is used to cultivate architects. At the same time, it becomes the carrier of architectural ideas and teaching methods. The type of architecture and its spatial organization reflect the architectural education philosophy and attitude. Back in history, as early as the Renaissance, there had study places for architects emerged. After the industrial revolution and the modernist process, the types of architectural education sites are more diverse, and their main features are the spatial form of hybrid and box-in-box. This article preliminarily analyzes the evolution of the outline of architectural education building and interprets the spatial ideas in each period. The study focuses on the famous Dutch architectural school–BKCity of the Delft University of Technology, analyzing the teaching space logic of its distinctive Why Factory and exploring how the related space could stimulate the vitality of architectural education. By the analogy of some architectural schools, it also tries to compare the differences and characteristics of Chinese and Western architectural academies, finding out the spatial significance in architecture discipline, education method as well as sustainable application.