Petition to NAAB

Recommendation for the adoption of an Aspirational Curriculum Condition for Accreditation by NAAB


Given

that climate change is upon us, and
that its consequences such as global warming are an imminent threat to many forms of life on earth, and
that architects and engineers play an important role in how the building sector of the economy can mitigate rather than aggravate climate change consequences,

A. We recommend that NAAB replace its current format of prescriptive conditions for accreditation with the following simplified, comprehensive and Aspirational Condition for Accreditation:

That NAAB set as theCondition for Accreditationthat every US architecture schools curriculum provide all graduates with the theoretical and practical competence toconsistently design zero net energy built environments which balance ecological, economic and social sustainability with inspiration and beauty.

B. We recommend three criteria to evaluate whether a schools curriculum meets this comprehensive condition:

Does the design course sequence comprehensively lead to an ability to address this condition?
Does the institution provide the resources for the necessary interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve this condition?
Does the institution lead by practical example of ecological literacy to achieve this condition?

Evaluating these three criteria on a scale from 1 to 10, for example, would enable any NAAB accreditation team to judge whether an architecture school meets the comprehensive condition for accreditation.

Aspirational Curriculum White Paper


The recommended motion rests on the simple premise that our profession needs well-educated, well-qualified employees if we are to address climate change mitigation and meet the Architecture 2030 challenge or better.

This recommendation alerts NAAB, the sole national regulating institution, together with its collateral organizations (AIA, AIAS, ACSA and NCARB), that the need is great and that the situation is urgent if significant progress in overall sustainable design competence is to be achieved. The implementation of this common sense idea is left to NAAB. It asks that during this sea change period of adapting to climate change, it be recognized that the traditional mix of prescribed professional skills may not be sufficient to satisfactorily address this new, complex reality.

Innovative combinations of curricular components are needed, and these will best emerge when NAAB sets the challenge for the ingenuity residing in the human capital of the many different institutions - the trustees, faculties, students and administrations. For this reason the motion is aspirational, not prescriptive. And the motion is worded to ensure that the traditional goals of the profession to act ethically, justly and in search of beauty remain an integral part of this aspirational curriculum challenge.