The value of creativity: Architectural divergence & regulatory convergence

Banou, Sophia; Hynam, Matthew

Abstract

At the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year, the architectural design community in the United Kingdom, is cautiously anticipating the Architect’s Registration Board, to provide the new guidelines and regulations for the delivery of architectural education and production. Following cross-country consultation in recent months, the new ARB directives are expected to provide more “inclusive” pathways to the architectural profession, which will certainly shift the delivery of education and, by extent, professional services. This presentation seeks to position such regulatory gestures in relation to the true social value of architecture as a mode of cultural production. Specifically, it is concerned with interrogating interpretations of diversity and inclusivity within professional regulation in relation to notions of divergence and difference as integral parts of the creative process, with regards to both creative conceptualisation and the expediency of architectural space as a place for the individual. Furthermore, the presentation will address the self-referential quality of regulatory bodies and authorities, against the global humanistic value of architecture as a discipline of divergence.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Architecture of Alterity: Body, Media, Space
• Start Date: Sep 7, 2023
• End Date: Sep 8, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 5, 2023
• Keywords: professional bodies; architectural education; architectural practice; architectural design; divergent thinking; architectural praxis
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11139243