Generating an architectural brief for a twenty-first-century engineering education working and learning environment

Context: This paper reports on the process undertaken by the Engineering Practice Academy at Swinburne University of Technology to broker and construct an architectural brief for a working and learning environment for a new engineering course. An architectural brief is a document that specifies the requirements and frames a project in regard to the project values, visions, and objectives. The construction of an architectural brief that is responsive to a specified espoused culture, values and objectives requires shared appreciation and meaning between the project stakeholders and decision-makers; this can be a complicated process as it entails the brokering of perspectives. In this case, representatives of the Engineering Practice Academy (Academy) who participated in the generation of the architectural brief were conduits of their own and collective desire for how engineering education and learning environments can be and should be delivered now and into the future. Purpose: To generate the conceptual content for an architectural brief that is viewed as a socio-spatial artifact. Approach: Stakeholders of the Academy participated in two participatory design workshops that addressed the built environment of the Academy as a signifier of an espoused culture. The workshops were organised around Schein's (2010) structural model of organizational culture and a reflection-in-action process was used to structure the workshop activities. Results: The workshops became a catalyst for the generation of the textual content for the architectural brief that was co-owned by the project stakeholders of the Academy who are advocates of the future environment and the emerging culture of the Academy. Conclusion: Brokering of shared meaning and practices is paramount to ensure that cohesive understanding of practices, identities and positions amongst project-stakeholders are negotiated, and ownership of a project and the eventual built environment are formed. The case presented in this paper is an example of one process for generating shared meaning and delivering an architectural brief viewed as a socio-spatial artifact for an engineering working and learning environment.