Patrik Schumacher and Harriet Harriss clashed over architecture's long-hours culture at the Dezeen Day conference in October. The movie of the discussion shows Schumacher arguing that protecting students from working too hard would lead to "a kind of socialist world of stagnation".
The panel discussion featured a group of experts and innovators debating whether architecture and design education is fit for purpose, and what can be done to improve it.
The panel comprised Neil Pinder, head of design at Graveney School in South London; Stacie Woolsey, a graduate who created her own master's course; Patrik Schumacher, principal of Zaha Hadid Architects; and Harriet Harriss, dean of the Pratt Institute. It was chaired by Dezeen's assistant editor India Block. "Talk about protecting students from working too hard" is the "wrong story" said Schumacher
Schumacher clashed with the other panellists over whether students should be put under the same pressurised conditions found in the workplace.
"Talk about protecting students from working too hard, from late-night working in firms like ours, that's the wrong story," Schumacher said. Without prioritising competition and ambition in education, he warned, Europe would enter a "socialist kind of world of stagnation".
Harriss retorted that working long hours is counter-productive. "It's very important to just bust the myth here that longer hours equals productivity," she said. &...