| |9 SEPTEMBER 2018HIGHERReviewMost of the emerging skill-sets or knowledge areas that are so crucial to the very survival of the architectural profession in the current timeline seem to be conspicuously missing from the classroom teachings in the architectural colleges todayand is especially important and relevant in today's busi-ness-as-usual context.Bio-Design: Bio-design is a unique combination of Nature, Science, and Creativity - a much-needed portfolio of design learning approaches. Some of the bio-design con-cepts like the Bio-Philic and Bio-Mimic design are taught in bits and pieces and not as a cohesive design strategy.Generative Design: Is an evolutionary approach to design to find the best option, in other words, it's about `Designing the Design Process'. Since generative design deals with selecting the best option from among many alternative solutions, it needs the ability and maturity to trade-off certain functions with certain others.Goal-Driven Design: An extension of Generative Design, Goal-Driven Design involves working around functional, physical and cost restrictions. Goal-Driven Design is an emerging technology tool where software plays an active and participatory role aided by Artificial Intelligence and Simulation Technologies. Designing For All: Tailored for human diversity- like age, gender, physical & mental attributes medical conditions, cultural differences and so on -Designing for All is a forgotten approach in the architectural education and needs urgent revival. Though it is not about meeting all requirements with a single solution that fits everyone and not just about designing for the differently challenged section of the population, it never the less should be the primary objective for designing public spaces. Lean Design Principles: A rarely touched upon subject in the architectural schools, lean principles that strive to avoid wasteful design practices have become a must-consider aspect of any design project today. In a world with a cut-throat competition, eliminating waste ­ time, cost, resources, and efforts - is obviously of utmost importance and hence should be part of any architectural curriculum. Sustainability: Moving beyond `green building' de-sign, architectural education should include the larger sustainability issues like carbon positive developments, net-zero energy buildings, water neutral regions and ze-ro-waste communities in order to align the fraternity with the global Sustainable Development Goals. Wellness: As the buildings become green and effi-cient, the focus has now shifted to the wellbeing of the occupants of all built spaces. Since the building design as-pects like air, water, lighting & ventilation have a profound impact on the occupant's health and productivity, the in-dustry is expecting the architects to be well conscious of these impacts.Resilience: Whether it's the building or the commu-nity, climate resilience has become an urgent need of all living systems. With the destructive impacts of climate change being immensely visible, industry professionals are expected to be building resilience into architectural, structural and engineering aspects of a building. Enabling the buildings and its occupants rebound after every po-tential disaster by design should, therefore, be an integral part of every design solution.Virtual Design & Construction: VDC is a rapid-ly evolving professional expertise required to create and manage digital prototypes of buildings, also known as Building Information Modeling, during its design, con-struction, and operational stages. It is estimated that the real estate industry will be needing thousands of these VDC professionals, especially the architects, engineers, project & facility managers, in the next 3-5 years. Smart Built Spaces: Projected to become the next big thing in the building industry, the IOT enabled smart built spaces in the commercial and residential sectors are fast becoming the pre-requisite of many clients. In anoth-er 10-15 years, architectural professionals would probably not have an option but to go digital & smart in changing the way a building is conceptualized.The above are some of the key aspects of the architec-tural profession that, I think, need to be built-in to the curriculum - specifically and comprehensively ­ if the fu-ture generations of architects were to perform at par with the rest of their fraternity in the rest of the world.
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