This is a degree course that Margot Servières, architecture student, will never forget. “The professor announced that we would mainly focus on concrete construction, a material which consumes a lot of resources. How is it possible to still have this kind of course today? »says the 24-year-old young woman indignantly. If, in 2020, she is the only one to close her computer and leave the room of the National School of Architecture (ENSA) in Montpellier, there are many around her who feel a form of unease.
In 2023, “ENSA in struggle” – demonstration movement of a rare scale, which brought together students, teachers and administrative staff from all schools of architecture – demands better management of training needs. In a manifesto, a group of students from ENSA Normandie calls for the end of “the era of baby boomer starchitects”. They express a “total rejection of competitive, media and consumerist architecture in order to be able to build more humble and just architectures together”. So many thoughts which are shaking up the education provided in ENSAs today, and transforming the professional paths of young graduates.
Architecture must position itself in relation to the challenges posed by the century, summarizes Christine Leconte, director of ENSA Paris-Belleville: « Au XXe century, we wanted to accommodate everyone. Today, we are interested in climate change and the loss of biodiversity. » This is evidenced by the evolution of students’ end-of-study projects, continues M.me Leconte : “At the start of the 2000s, projects were still very focused on new construction. Today, most start from the existing situation and focus on rehabilitation. »
Director of ENSA Saint-Etienne, Cédric Libert made the same observation during the admission interviews: “What is an architecture school in a world where we are told that we must stop building? The young people who join us are less and less moved by the figure of the heroic architect, like Le Corbusier [1887-1965] or Zaha Hadid [1950-2016]. They consider architecture as a way of reconnecting with nature, through a different intervention on our environment. »
Students today are very informed, adds Christine Leconte: “They know that we have made the territory sick by the way we have settled. We must be at the forefront on these subjects, if we do not want to be accused of “has-been”. »
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