Why Architecture: The Intersection of Architectural Education and the City

Abstract

This thesis questions the potential relationship between a school of architecture and the public. Redefining the role of architecture education as advocacy for better designed cities, a new dialogue between the public and architecture will flourish. The ideas produced within a porous school will filter out into the city, changing it for the better. The thesis question was investigated through the adaptive reuse of the former Royal Alberta Museum, a Canadian Centennial Building contributing to the national effort to define itself through the use of architecture. Identifying the former exhibition volumes as the school, and introducing a perpendicular indoor street creates a moment to celebrate the intersection of architecture and the public. This monument once containing static artifacts, is reimagined as a dynamic exposition of architectural ideas. This school envisions engaging the public to discuss architecture, aspiring to empower its citizens to ameliorate the future of the city.