ABSTRACT
The story of architecture's academy in America the pedagogies and practices of architectural education is the story of two dominant approaches to teaching design and how to articulate space. The Beaux-Arts approach, after the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where scores of American architects had trained since the mid-nineteenth century, represented one pedagogy. Moreover, a 1962 American Institute of Architects (AIA) report on education and professional competency stated that five years might not be as effective as a staggered system that began with a four-year undergraduate degree and ended with a two-year graduate degree in architecture. The fluctuating and often contentious relationship between practitioners and academicians led to frustrated students, as the shifting and conflicting requirements between the two camps often left them ill-prepared for practice. The integrity of a program, in architecture or in another discipline, depends upon continuity within a curriculum and skill building, which the Platform System authors recognized with what Schuman calls the alpha/omega concept.
