Writing into design: An embedded writing course for architectural studies

K. Manià; A. Janse van Rensburg; R. Bird

doi:10.20853/31-5-1497

K. Manià University of the Witwatersrand http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5839-053X
A. Janse van Rensburg University of the Witwatersrand
R. Bird

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20853/31-5-1497

Abstract

Architects must be able to express their ideas clearly to communicate their designs; at the same time graduate professional degree programs demand advanced critical literacy and academic writing skills. Competence in this domain for high school graduates in South Africa often falls short of the expected proficiencies of first-year students at tertiary level. To address this gap, an embedded writing course was integrated into the first-year Design Studio and History of Architecture course. This intervention adopted the approaches provided by writing-intensive pedagogy, successfully improving students’ written expression, and their ability to engage with their architectural studies in deeper and more critical ways.

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Author Biographies

K. Manià, University of the Witwatersrand

Senior Lecturer, Academic Development Unit, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand.

Kirby Manià holds an MA in Modern Literature and Culture from the University of York in the United Kingdom and a PhD in English from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg. She works as a senior lecturer at Wits, teaching English and Critical Thinking to students in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. Her academic research focuses on the crossover field between urban studies and urban literature. She is particularly interested in gold rush imaginaries, postcolonial ecocriticism, and South African literature.

A. Janse van Rensburg, University of the Witwatersrand

Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand.

Ariane Janse van Rensburg, an architectural graduate of the University of Cape Town, heads the Architecture Programme and is a senior lecturer in Architectural Design at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Architecture and Planning, where she obtained her PhD in architectural pedagogy. Her research focused on transformational studio teaching to subvert the boundaries of architectural cultural capital. She founded the Africa-wide Architectural Education Forum, the educational programme partner at the 2016 UIA conference. She has an architectural practice and is also an established glass artist.

R. Bird

Randall Bird is a Visiting Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg, where he teaches the history and theory of architecture in the Graduate School of Architecture. Currently, he is the editor for the “African Vernacular Architecture” volume, which is part of the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World to be published by Bloomsbury Press. He completed his MArch degree at Washington University in St. Louis and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard University.

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Writing into design: An embedded writing course for architectural studies

Abstract

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References

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