This book describes the work, ideas and pedagogy of Unit D, one of the vertical design studios within the School of the Built Environment for undergraduate students at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
The Unit operates within the broader context of architectural education, which is subject to constant questioning and debate about its relevance both to the profession and to our wider society. It is situated both as a critique of the orthodoxy of architectural education and as an alternative of that orthodoxy.
The Unit approach encourages students to investigate the impact of politics, resource choice, industrialised production, economic systems, discrimination, climate change, the ramifications of disasters on the urban context and heritage, and embark on the path of becoming a new type of architect.