Word Connection

Industry stereotypes lead SU's architecture's program to include communication skills

By: Irene Manahan

Posted: 3/26/08

Hand architects a pen and a pad of paper. They'll draw, they'll plan, they'll design.

Now, try asking them to write. Architects are commonly misconceived to have the ability to create illustrations, but lack writing and communication skills. Sure, an architect's forte isn't exactly his vernacular, but his career depends not only in his art, but in his language.

The knowledge of such skills is understood to be learned in school, but in actuality many professional architecture schools often ignore writing and speech courses.

"We're so used to thinking about the fact that architects draw, and we forget how much of architecture has to do with words," said Norman Weinstein, an independent scholar and writer and part-time professor of Canadian Studies at Boise State University.

Weinstein, a contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education, recently wrote a column in the March 7, 2008 issue discussing the lack of communication skill he witnessed among even Ivy-League architecture majors.

Weinstein explained that an architect often has to deal with plans and contracts, write to members of the profession and explain his drawing using a huge amount of writing.

"For a profession that requires writing and speaking so much, I find it kind of strange that the demand for (these kinds of courses)" does not proportionally match up, Weinstein said.

In guiding students in the art of masterful design, university programs commonly lack communications studies, Weinstein said. A division typically lies between departments, whereas writing skills are seen as being owned by the English department.

It is important to break down barriers between departments, Weinstein said.

At the Syracuse University School of Architecture, students are encouraged to write and speak publicly, but no courses in the curriculum really specialize in producing the text or speech for their specific industry. Rather, students develop the skills through training in their courses.

"Writing is certainly something we try to concentrate one from day one in both the undergrad and graduate programs," said Mark Linder, chair of graduate studies and an associate professor at the School of Architecture.

In the graduate program, students are not required to take any specific writing classes, and undergraduate students are only required to take two as a part of the core curriculum: writing 105 and 205.

Students at the School of Architecture are mandated to take a studio course every semester in which they make regular visual and verbal presentations to their classmates or to the faculty.

"It's really crucial for a successful architect to be able to communicate to a client, a group or the public about the value of their designs," Linder said.

The School of Architecture programs also entail theory classes Linder said are basically writing courses.

The courses often involve a lot of writing in terms of papers and essays in conjunction with the diagramming and layout aspects, said Allison Guay, a fourth-year undergraduate student in the School of Architecture and secretary of the Women in Design campus organization.

The current curriculum is satisfactory for what students need to know, she said.

"The freshman writing classes are helpful in terms of basic writing skills, whereas the theory classes work more toward including students in the larger architectural discourses," Guay said.

Danton Spina, third-year undergraduate student and chair of the Warehouse Architecture Theatre organization, said writing and speech skills come out in other courses and professional electives.

"We learn not only how to graphically lay out designs," Spina said, "But also how to write well and how to be able to articulate our point."

In addition to writing, architects are also called to verbalize their work to architects and non-architects alike. There's a great importance for architects to be able to communicate ideas to their clients without jargon. Weinstein, the columnist, said architects use a professional language most people who hire them are clueless about.

"It requires translation," he said. "It's not that easy for someone to go out and buy an architecture dictionary."

Linder, from the School of Architecture, said it's necessary for students to orally make a case for their designs.

"Quality design is crucial, in that it happens at all sorts of level in the profession," he said. "It's one of the amazing things about an architectural education. Students are constantly standing up in front of peers, making presentations."

Almost every architecture class requires discussions, critiques and projects and presentations of them. In doing these, Spina, an undergraduate student, said the skills come almost inherently.

"Our courses make the assumption that we already know how to speak well, and from there, they just help us develop those skills further," Spina said.

Guay agreed.

"We're thrown in there the first week, and we just pick it up on our own," she said.

Nilus Klingel, a sophomore undergraduate and officer of the Architecture Student Association described the School of Architecture's way of training as "learning by fire."

"Presenting and communicating ideas happens naturally in the studio courses," Klingel said. "The public presentation requirement course points out how essential public speaking is in being success in the studio."

He said architects who want to contribute to discourse in any significant way or have to be much more eloquent and have a good command of language.

But Klingel sees that SU's program looks to prepare students for the industry.

"There is a stereotype that architects are bad writers, and a lot of times it proves to be true," Klingel said. "The school is trying to address that."

While some students and faculty are content with the levels of writing communications training currently offered in the program at SU, there can be room for improvement.

Klingel explained there is talk interdisciplinary courses that will connect graphic and industrial design with the communication, economic and political spheres.

"We have started to tackle this but hasn't yet filtered down into the classes, and they haven't started to address these issues," Klingel said. "It may be matter of students demanding these subjects or hands-on training, or it could be a matter of it just trickling down. But this issue is on the horizon for us, and it's coming to Syracuse soon."

imanahan@syr.edu