Interdisciplinary skills in architectural and engineering education programs: The pedagogical challenge

The architectural design and engineering of construction includes many multifaceted and interdisciplinary challenges. Consequently, cooperation and communication between architects and specialised engineering professionals are of greatest importance for the successful completion of a building project. Besides, new and more integrated forms of co-operation between the various actors make the prevalent professional disciplines more ambiguous and it compels into a need for trans-professional skills among the actors. In contrast to the requirements for interdisciplinary skills, the educational training programmes of architects and engineers are traditionally characterised by strict disciplinary boundaries. Thus, the prevailing educational system is challenged to meet the demands for trans-professional skills within industry. The purpose of this paper is to outline some pedagogical prerequisites and requirements for reinforcement of the interdisciplinary skills within the architectural and engineering education programs as to face the challenges from industry. The study claims that the development of interdisciplinary skills should be regarded a pedagogical issue that can be accomplished by integrative teaching activities in which the attitude between the different disciplines can be developed in a proper direction. The paper rests upon a preliminary theoretical analysis that is supplemented with some initial interviews with students and teachers from the educational program of Architectural engineering at the Danish Technical University.