RePost (Regarding Exhibition Publication Opportunities) features ongoing work by Waterloo Architecture students, faculty, and alumni that has been exhibited, published, or presented in other venues. This series starts up again with an article by former Director and current Associate Professor Rick Haldenby, as well as Lorenzo Pignatti, Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Rome Program. It originally appeared in English and Italian in the issue of . We welcome submissions at bridge@waterlooarchitecture.com.
[The] University of Waterloo School of Architecture was founded in 1967, Canada’s centennial year, reflecting the spirit of ambition and optimism expressed in this celebration, especially the landmark World Universal Exposition in Montreal (Expo ’67). It was the first Canadian school of architecture to be located outside a traditional metropolitan centre. The University itself was only ten years old at the time. The school was part of the launch of a new university committed to educational and technological innovation in a community that prides itself on leadership in industry and entrepreneurship.
The University of Waterloo has been ranked the most innovative university in Canada in the annual Maclean’s magazine rankings for the last dozen years running. The community is home to more than 1, 000 high-tech start-ups and has produced a steady stream of successful companies, starting with Research in Motion.
The School of Architecture is a fertile home for student initiative. From its foundation in 1967 the School of Architecture has been driven by three complementary characteristics. Waterloo is a co-op school: beginning in second year, all undergraduate students spend each alternate term working in the field of architecture and design, throughout their professional education.
They work for periods of four or eight months between academic terms, and the work is paid. Virtually all jobs are in private architectural practices, and more than a third of the jobs are with firms outside Canada. The network is substantial, and shifts constantly with the market and student interest. At any given moment students are working in 40 to 50 different cities on 5 different continents. The network of connection and conversation involves the school with the practice and discipline of architecture at a global scale. While Waterloo operates on the principle that there is no gap between education and practice, it does not simply train practitioners. From the outset the school presents architecture as a cultural praxis and a field of cultural speculation. The strength of the Cultural History Programme and the fact that the first half of fourth year takes place at the school’s campus in Rome – and has done so for the past 35 years – reflects the commitment to provide a serious conceptual and critical foundation that...
