Comparative Study of Architecture Education in France and Japan in the 2010s

Theme III : Design Education

This paper explores some features of architecture education in France in the 2010s by comparing the curriculum and teaching method of institutions of higher education in France and Japan. Until 1968, architecture education in France was virtually monopolized by l’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and its three annexes in Lille, Bordeaux and Marseille. Following the tradition of the department of painting and sculpture, the department of architecture at l’École des Beaux-Arts maintained a studio system which was seen as being outdated. After the May 1968 protests, André Malraux, the then minister of culture in France, detached the architecture department from l’École des Beaux-Arts and re-organized it into twelve branch schools of architecture, or unités pédagogique d’architecture (UPA). The establishment of UPA made a switchover from a studio system to a school education system in which social sciences and historical research were considered as important as vocational training. UPAs finally became écoles nationales supérieures d’architecture (ENSA) in 2005. Each of twenty ENSAs now offers the curriculum corresponding to European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Experiencing the reforms as above, what could be called the characteristics of architecture education in France now in the 2010s? Although answering this general question is impossible, this paper attempts to show some aspects of it by comparing the curriculum and teaching method of architectural in France and Japan. The comparative analysis is made on the bases of interviewing Japanese students who enrolled in l’École nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris-la Villette from 2016 to 2018. The interviews particularly reveal how architecture schools in France respect a student’s autonomy, and thus encourage art-oriented approaches toward designing architecture, which makes a sharp contrast to engineering-centered education offered by most universities in Japan.