Only the Best Students should become Architects |
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INTRODUCTION
In Bangladesh there prevail some wrong conceptions about Architecture, Architect and the profession of the architects. Quite often students weak in Mathematics or having lower grades in the H.S.C. examination become determined in getting admission in this subject. It happens so because they know that this subject is taught only in the prestigious universities and there is a loophole of “drawing test” to enter in Architecture. The wrong and unethical system of “drawing test” followed by some universities has polluted Architecture by allowing worse students.
The reality is, Architecture is an extremely difficult subject. It is related not only with aesthetics or comfort of human being, but also with such grave matters like (i) Stability of the built form, (ii) Safety and security of the inhabitants and prestigious issues like (iii) Heritage of the country, (iv) Culture of the society etc. By that consideration, only the best students, i.e. best in all aspects, should be admitted in this subject. The above mentioned erroneous procedure in admission has already infused a number of inferior quality students in this profession. In Bangladesh we are already witnessing their affects. Any mediocre boy can understand that there should be some measure in the floors which are beyond the accessible limit of the fire-brigade ladders. In such a situation, when an experienced architect designs such a building without such measures, and there happens hazards, he in fact murders men. In Dhaka city we have painfully witnessed such deaths.
We know, the worst criminal has his own explanations justifying his activities. Naturally we should be prepared to hear an explanation like “the owner was not interested to provide the same”. That however, does not relieve the architect from his blunder. Architect is the top-most person, the highest leader of the building project. In case the owner disagrees to provide the essential features, the architect should have been indulged in fight against the owner, even with the risk of business loss. Only an architect with sound knowledge in the subject, sincerity to profession, deep concern and love for the country and the people and rational greed for money would acquire the confidence and courage to fight with his clients. Even though we cannot be sure of the other qualities at the time of admission, by giving less importance on their academic results and imposing additional obstacles we deprive the best students to become Architects.
In this article we shall discuss the above issues showing how the present admission procedure in Architecture helps in allowing the inferior-quality students in this noble profession.
ADMISSION IN ARCHITECTURE
After the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, there happened wide-spread instances of mal-practices in some sectors including education. In such situation, since it was not possible to evaluate any student from his certificates, the universities in general introduced additional “admission tests”. These admission tests on one hand increased the cost of admission for the intending students, and on the other, created opportunities for financial gain for some teachers and students. Not only that, it initiated a new business known as “coaching business” in the country. By this time normalcy in the education sector has been restored and any student can now be rightly judged from the grade sheets of his public examinations. In such a situation on many occasions there were proposals from the guardians and even from the government to abolish admission tests. By this time however, the coaching business centres turned so affluent and some university teachers, so fascinated in additional earning that all endeavours to abolish it has gone in vain. Now only a few universities have abandoned it and they admit students only on the basis of the students’ performances in the public examinations.
Even though the universities take admission tests on the basis of the students’ knowledge in subjects taught in H.S.C. Examination and general knowledge, what some universities do in case of Architecture is most unethical. They take tests in specialized drawings, none of which are taught in the S.S.C. or H.S.C. courses and which are known only to the teachers and students of Architecture. Naturally they act as the only resource persons in the coaching centres. I wonder why still now any conscious citizens did not go for a court case against this unethical system.
It is true that BUET on one occasion endeavoured to do something in order to nullify this unethical practice. As a matter of fact cordial relations between the students could not be established in BUET campus because of the above system, where all the students of Engineering are aware that students with inferior grades get admission in Architecture by benefit of ‘drawing tests’. The BUET authorities however, failed in their noble endeavour against those having vested interest. I remember, at that time some teachers of Architecture openly declared that by their experiences (in their language) “bad students turn to good architects”. I believe this wrong statement shall remain as a disgrace for the architect community in general and shall go on burning the hearts of the few good students reading Architecture. At the same time we shall go on seeing the murders committed by such “bad students turned to good architects” in the country.
At present various universities adopt the following systems for admission to Architecture :
(01) First selection on the basis if S.S.C. and H.S.C. results, then admission test on the H.S.C. subjects, general knowledge and drawing tests. Generally the public universities follow this system.
(02) First selection on the basis if S.S.C. and H.S.C. results, then admission test and viva. Some private universities follow this system.
(03) Preliminary selection and then Viva and donation. This system also is followed by some private universities.
(04) Strictly on the basis of S.S.C. and H.S.C. results and student’s option. This system is followed by a few private universities.
Needless to mention that, only the last system is capable of bringing in the better quality students in Architecture. When students for admission test are selected from a wide range, it is possible for the student with the lowest grade to get chance by dint of ‘drawing test’. Many parents who dream to get their children admitted in prestigious universities like BUET and then find the result ‘not so encouraging’ employ architect-drawing teachers as their last and only option and in most case they become successful. On the other hand, brilliant students in most cases get reluctant to apply in a subject where they would have to learn completely new things with the title “drawing test”. Because of this reason Architecture loses many superior quality students.
ARCHITECTURE AS A SUBJECT
"Architect", the very name of this profession and subject indicates how significant it can be. The term ‘Architect’ is used to indicate the ever best person with topmost leadership quality. The Architect plays the role of the leader in building projects, because :
(01) Only the Architect can visualize the entire building before its actual construction and
(02) Only the architect should have the capability of visualizing what would happen inside the building and in the adjacent sites for the coming one or two centuries (i.e. life span of the built-form).
All beautiful things of this world can broadly be classed into two categories : (01) Natural and (02) Man-made. Architects are the proud designers of all man-made beautiful objects. Now you might understand why it is natural for a subject with such wide varieties and extent to be hard and complicated. Of course the Architects also get the reward for doing such a difficult and significant job. His name is always associated with his creations. Not many professions enjoy this golden opportunity. Naturally when his irresponsibility causes innocent men to die, he is liable to get additional title, "murderer".
Now I come to Architecture, as a subject. With my experiences as professional architect for 11 years in Bangladesh and Nigeria, teaching in public universities for over 18 years and that of presenting papers in a number of countries, I really feel that Architecture to some extent is a challenging subject. What makes it so is the need for incorporating two completely different natured disciplines. These are : (01) Artists imagination and (02) Scientists calculated deductions. This complexity however, has rendered this subject kudos, challenge and greatness.
The job of a leader handling such complex project should never be taken lightly. The objective of an architect is not only to create nice and comfortable space for human living, but also is to create safe and secure built-forms in conformity with the prestige, honour and aspiration of his country. When the architect lacks in knowledge of all these, he creates machine for killing men. The end product of architecture needs to be extremely strong, durable and safe. Any lacking in these qualities is sure to result in disaster.
There is one wrong conception among the common people. They believe that only the structural engineers are responsible for the safety of the building. The fact is, being the leader of the design team the architect is responsible for all lacking and failures including structural design, aesthetics, safety etc. The structural designers need to work as per advise of the architect, so that responsibility also goes on to the architect. Being in such an important position, the architect at times may need to fight with the owners or clients even, specially if they try to ignore safety requirements.
TEACHING OF ARCHITECTURE
The teaching of Architecture in the then East Pakistan was initiated by a number of US architect-teachers in East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology in 1962. Naturally these foreign teachers taught what they knew and thought of Architecture in their context. By that way this country lost the scope for the discovery and development of its own architecture. Now Bangladesh is an independent country with 38 year age. Time is now ripe for creating our own Architecture. Vast research is the essential pre-condition of its creation. Also these researches are to be funded by the Government of Bangladesh. In this endeavour funding or sponsoring this research works by foreign or multi-national companies would not serve the purpose. The reason behind is, such companies strive for creating markets for their products and technologies, where as the objective of creating our own architecture is to discover, develop, highlight and utilize our indigenous knowledge, materials and technologies.
CONCLUSION
It is easier to create imitated replicas of foreign buildings than to design those on the basis of the country’s history, society’s specialized needs, people’s aspirations etc. When a man from rural areas visits Dhaka and sees the “dazzling buildings”, there remains ample reasons for him to be amazed. Someone with experiences from abroad, however, may not feel like him to see the ‘replicas of foreign buildings’. When a New Yorker finds replicas of their types of building in Dhaka, he can easily evaluate the ‘quality’ of the architect. Definitely such a foreigner feels pity for the country that could not still create its own architecture. In Bangladesh we are acutely suffering from this disease. Not a single building in any city of the country can be called as “Bangladeshi”. I strongly believe, the defective system of admission test in conformity with the adage “bad students turn to good architect” is to a great extent responsible for this situation.
Whatever advanced might be the logistic supports, whatever superior the physical facilities, whatever advanced the prudence and experiences of the teachers of a university, the finished product ‘Architect’ cannot be good unless the intake of students is good. It is a pity that many of our universities follow a system in which inferior students, having little quality of taking leadership in the design industry get the chance to study Architecture. In order to make our buildings nice to see, comfortable to live, less costly in maintenance, safe for human being and finally, objects of prestige for the country, we need only the best students in Architecture. The universities need to formulate an appropriate admission system for creating this scope.
Prof. Bijon B. Sarma is the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture & Planning and the Head of the Department of Architecture at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology